Page 102 of The Fated Hunter Wolf
The vampire’s laugh was soft, almost fond. “Oh, my dear confused child. You really have no idea, do you?”
He nodded in her direction, and she doubled over with a groan, grabbing at her stomach.
My vision went red. “You fucking?—”
“Language, pup.” His tone was mildly reproving. “We’re having a civilized conversation.”
Sable’s magic suddenly flared to life, silver light crackling around her fingers even though she was still hunched over with pain. “If you want me dead, then fight me.”
The vampire’s expression became almost pitying. “Oh, my dear, confused little abomination. You shouldn’t have been born at all.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “A Crux-vampire hybrid?The very thought is obscene. Had I known what your mother was carrying when she fled…”
He trailed off, but I could see the rage building in the way the muscle ticked in his jaw. Ancient fury that had been simmering for decades.
“She died protecting me from you,” Sable said, her voice shaking with emotion. “Died so I could live free, not as your weapon.”
“She died because she was weak! She could have been immortal. Could have ruled at my side. Instead she fooled me and polluted our bloodline with?—”
“With love?” Sable’s silver magic was writhing around her like a living thing. “Sable’s silver magic lashed the air. “She had the strength to claim her fate rather than bow to your will.”
The rage in his eyes was building to critical mass. Sable kept pushing.
“She told me about you. About the way you broke people, piece by piece, then convinced them they should be grateful for the privilege of serving their destroyer. About how you couldn’t stand that she was stronger than you in the ways that actually mattered.”
“Enough.” His voice cracked.
She wasn’t done. “She loved me. She could have loved you too, but you made her loathe you. She chose Crux over your empty promises of power, and you couldn’t handle?—”
The vampire moved faster than thought. His hand connected with Sable’s face with enough force to send her flying twenty feet across the chamber.
The sound of her jaw breaking echoed through my bones.
Pain exploded through our mate bond, white-hot agony that drove me to my knees. Her agony flooded through our connection like molten metal through my veins.
My wolf erupted inside me.
Before I could shift, before I could tear that bastard’s throat out for touching her, I was moving. Not by choice. Pure rage launched me at him with everything I had left.
For a split second, I thought I might reach him.
His hand closed around my throat like a steel vise, and he held me airborne. My feet kicked uselessly. No strain was visible on his pale face despite the fact that I had at least fifty pounds and six inches on him.
He was choking me, and I couldn’t shift. I was stuck in his grip despite my attempts to slash at him.
“There’s the fire I was hoping to see,” he said like he was commenting on the fucking weather. His fingers tightened, cutting off air. “But look at you, pup. So broken inside. Hollow. That little attempt at rejecting the bond did quite a number on you, didn’t it?”
Black spots started creeping in at the edges of my vision, and my body was desperate for a breath—but that wasn’t what made my blood turn to ice.
It was the sound behind me. Choking. Gasping for air that wouldn’t come.
Sable.
He was choking me, but she felt it too. I thrashed against his grip, trying to turn my head to see her. The vampire’s fingers dug deeper into my windpipe. Through our fucked-up bond, I felt her terror. Her lungs screamed for oxygen.
“Ah.” The vampire’s tone shifted. “How curious. The connection is still functional despite the trauma of rejection.” He adjusted his grip, angling me so I could see her. “Watch, wolf. Watch your half-breed mate die.”
Sable was on her knees, hands clawing at her throat, silver magic flickering weakly around her fingers as she struggled for a breath she couldn’t take. Her eyes were wide with panic, locked on mine.
“Fascinating,” the vampire continued. “Perhaps this will do it. At last, a part of this tedious story can come to an end.” His grip tightened further, and Sable’s face turned pale, her lips taking on a bluish tinge—same as mine, I was sure. “A sickly bond, allowing you to die together. How romantic.”
