Page 66 of Rebel Fae
I had pissed everyone off. Adaline, her brother, Karen, Crescent, and now Vaughn, and there would be hell to pay for it.
With a sound that was at the same time a bark and a roar, Vaughn came for me. Guided by pure instincts, my wings fluttered behind me, but when I tried to fly, it was as if someone had sucked all the air out of the room.
Vaughn’s massive bulk coiled, and he lunged.
As Vaughn soared in my direction, I barely managed to throw myself to the side, narrowly missing the savage wolf that shot by me.
As I fell to the floor, I rolled over my shoulder and quickly scrambled to a crouch, whirling to face him. He skidded to a stop and spun around. His eyes glowed with the light from the nearest tank. His face was an unforgiving mask of wild fury. Sharp teeth snapped open and close with a threat to rip out my throat.
“Vaughn, don’t do this,” I said his name, hoping it would bring some humanity back into his eyes, but there was no glimmer of recognition in them, just the blind determination of a wild beast.
He came at me again. I tried to fly once more, but I couldn’t catch any air. Desperate, I turned and ran.
The wolf’s sharp claws scratched against the floor as he skittered in pursuit. I darted between the tanks, zigzagging left and right, pivoting out of the way. Teeth snapped by my calf, barely missing me. My eyes scanned the walls for a foothold, somewhere where I could climb out of the way, but they were slick, with no ledges. The tanks were the same, made of smooth glass. There was nowhere to run.
My heart pounding, I glanced back. The wolf was still coming. He would tear me to pieces, of that, I had no doubt.
I got to the metal entrance door and pulled on its handle. It didn’t budge. I whirled around, pressing my back to the steel, crushing my wings.
Vaughn was already in the air, soaring in my direction. I ducked, letting my legs go limp. Vaughn hit the metal door with his front paws, bounced off, did a pirouette in midair, and landed on all fours, facing me.
With another leap, he attacked. Screaming, I lifted my legs to block him. His vicious jaw got hold of my ankle, closing around it with bone-crushing pressure. I howled in agony as a wet crunch rent the air. Pain shot up my leg like liquid fire.
He would rip my leg off if I gave him another second.
Blindly, I kicked with my other leg and connected with something. There was a high pitch snarled and whine. He set my ankle free. I scrambled backward until I hit the wall. My leg dragged uselessly after me. My vision swam with white flashes as pain rolled over me in waves. Blood soaked my pants. I was sobbing, tears blinding me as I stared at Vaughn.
The wolf shook his head, and his crazed eyes regained their focus on me. As I sat helplessly on the floor, he stalked closer, black lips pulled back as if in a satisfied grin. I was going to die, and it would be Vaughn who would kill me. After all, we’d been through, I thought we’d formed a bond strong enough to overcome anything this place could throw at us, but I was wrong.
The wolf’s nose came within inches of mine. The rumble in his chest spread fear through me like water sliding down my skin. Resignation descended on me along with the fear. It had been ludicrous to think I would not only survive this place but also save Arryn, Vaughn, his cousin, and the others. I had been doomed since the day Karen and Alonzo kidnapped me from the Supernatural Academy.
But escaping meant nothing anymore—not without Arryn. I had failed, and it was okay to let go. What did I have to live for, anyway? Faerie was destroyed. My aunt had betrayed us. Arryn was dead, and Vaughn…
I looked deep into his green eyes. Those eyes that were so undeniably his, eyes that I had seen so many times, leaving no doubt that they belonged to him.
I tried to convey that it was all right, that I didn’t blame him, but he just stared right through me as if I wasn’t there. Something cloudy swam in the depths of his dark pupils, something that reminded me of... Crescent.
An eerie certainty washed over me, and I finally understood what was happening. This was just like the time she’d probed my mind at the camp, only worse.
Anger raged in my chest like a tornado.Oh, no! Not today!
I pushed up, raising my legs, wrapping them around the wolf’s neck, and even as pain ripped from my ankle and up my leg like a bolt of lightning, I twisted my legs to one side while throwing the rest of my body in the opposite direction.
The wolf’s neck cracked with a brutal sound, then the creature felt dead and everything dissolved around me.
Chapter Twenty-Five
I came to,lying on my side in a fetal position, disoriented and confused. An alarm was blaring, loud, and insistent, above my head. I groaned as I realized where I was. I’d never left the suite where we had found Arryn and Courtney. Everything I’d seen and done had been inside my head.
That meant Courtney and Arryn might still be alive!
An urgent thrill buzzed through my body insisting I needed to get moving because… Crescent.
My eyes snapped open. From where I lay, I could see under the bed to the spot where she’d been standing before, but no one was there now. And yet, I still had to question everything. Was this even real? Was I truly awake?
I stared at my curled-up legs.
Phantom pain shot up from my ankle, reminding me of what I’d just escaped. A puff of air left my lips as I confirmed my leg was uninjured. There was no blood. I had been right to kill the wolf because it hadn’t been real. It had all been an illusion. All in my head.
