Kadence cried out, and when Joseph staggered away from the tree, she released her hold on him and hit the ground. Ronan, having fought off the other two Savages raced over to kneel beside her as Nathan, still hanging off Joseph’s waist, gripped Joseph’s crotch and twisted his hand. Joseph howled as his dick and balls were almost ripped from him; he lifted his hand and swung it back to deliver a crushing blow that snapped Nathan’s neck to the side and caved in the left side of his face.
“Stay here,” Killean commanded Simone.
He ran through the trees at Joseph, and as the Savage freed himself from Nathan, Killean lowered his shoulder and drove it into Joseph’s back. The Savage was thrown ten feet forward and hit the ground with enough force that the earth and trees shook. Killean didn’t give him a chance to regain his feet before he closed the distance between them and slammed his foot onto Joseph’s back to pin him to the ground.
Joseph rolled faster than Killean anticipated, and before he could pull his foot away, Joseph grabbed it and jerked him off his feet. When Killean’s back crashed onto the ground, his breath wheezed out of him as Joseph rose into a seated position. When Joseph leaned toward him, Killean gripped his head and shoved it down as he lifted his knee and smashed it into Joseph’s nose.
A whistling sound issued from Joseph’s crumpled nose as he lurched forward to grasp Killean’s shoulders. His fingers shredded Killean’s flesh as Killean drew his knees up and wedged them between their bodies.
He shoved up with his feet but couldn’t fully dislodge Joseph. A purebred vampire who was trained by Ronan and had killed countless innocents since turning Savage, Joseph was far more powerful than the other Savages Killean slaughtered.
Instead of trying to shake him free, Killean gripped his shoulders and rolled him over. He had only a second on top before Joseph rolled him again. Killean dug his fingers into Joseph’s shoulders and tore away chunks of flesh and muscle before smashing his fist into Joseph’s face.
Lifting his knee, Joseph rammed it into Killean’s crotch. Killean grunted as pain lanced throughout his body. His distraction gave Joseph a chance to release a rapid series of punches into Killean’s stomach. The blows left him nearly as breathless as his aching balls, but as the agony spread through him, his body absorbed and twisted it into a strength that fed him.
“Your little mate was the best thing I ever tasted,” Joseph taunted.
Killean thought he’d experienced rage before, but those words pushed him into an entirely different state of it. A sound, more monster than man, issued from him as, grabbing Joseph’s hair, he rolled with him again. There was no reason left to him as a yawning pit of darkness rose up to engulf him. He tore and beat at Joseph with the intensity of a rat burrowing through the earth to escape a fire.
Simone gawked as Killean’s skin became almost entirely pitch-black. It was so deep a black, it looked like tar coating him as an inhuman sound she would associate more with a demon than a man issued from him.
Simone’s hand went to her throat as Killean and Joseph pummeled each other. Joseph had appeared to have the upper hand in the beginning, but Killean had turned the tables and Joseph’s blood now drenched him.
“What’s happening to him?” Simone whispered out loud.
She’d thought she was alone and didn’t realized Kadence stood beside her until her friend replied, “It happens to purebreds when they’re enraged, or their mate is threatened. He’ll be… he’ll be okay.”
Kadence’s words would have been more reassuring if she hadn’t sounded so uncertain. Simone glanced behind her to find Ronan and Nathan battling more Savages. When she turned back, she discovered that Joseph and Killean were rolling toward the edge of a clearing. The sun streaming through the trees spilled across the leaf-strewn ground only feet away from them.
“Killean!” Simone screamed as she ran toward him, but they were rolling again.
Killean feasted on the pain of Joseph’s fingers digging into his throat as the Savage sought to kill him.
“You’re going to fucking die,” Killean promised as he drove the heel of his hand up under Joseph’s nose and snapped his head back.
Gripping Joseph’s shoulders again, the distant sound of screams barely pierced the bloodlust thundering through his veins as he once more rolled with Joseph. Agony blazed down his spine, the sound of crackling flesh filled his ears, and it took him a second to realize that he’d rolled them into sunlight.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Simone watchedin horror as Killean rolled into the clearing with Joseph and smoke coiled from both vampires. “No!” she cried.
Simone,her name was a cry of longing in Killean’s head. What had he done? He couldn’t leave her; he had to survive this or else she would be lost too. Focusing on the memory of her scent, her smell, her laughter and love, Killean gathered his dwindling strength to roll Joseph on top of him.
“Killean!” Ronan shouted.
Flames erupted from Joseph’s clothes and crackled in the air. Holding Joseph above him, Killean turned his face away when fire shot down toward him. Joseph bellowed as he rained punches down on Killean’s face. Pulling his hand back, Joseph aimed it over Killean’s ribs and directly above his heart. When he drove it downward, Killean captured his wrist before Joseph could sink it into his ribcage.
Killean struggled against the weakness seeping through his sun-ravaged body; his arms shook as he held Joseph’s wrist over his chest while Joseph bore his weight down on him. “Fuck you,” Killean gritted through his teeth.
His eyes clashed with Joseph’s red ones until flames burst from Joseph’s eye sockets and licked his hairline. Joseph was far from done though as he lifted his other hand and delivered a staggering blow to Killean’s temple. Like a spastic caterpillar, Joseph began to jerk and squirm to break free of Killean’s hold.
Killean clung to Joseph as the sun seared away the flesh and muscles of his hands before spreading up his arms and crackling over his chest. Not having killed as much as Joseph, he was better able to withstand the sun’s rays, but Joseph’s flames were fueling his.
Killean closed his eyes when fire seared over them, but he didn’t know if the flames were coming from him or Joseph anymore. Pain no longer fueled him as flames seared his nerve endings. He only knew the fire was still devouring him because of the stench of burning flesh.
“Let go of him, asshole!” Simone shouted.
Killean’s eyes flew open when Simone’s words pierced through the roaring fire. Despite his growing certainty that he was going to die, he felt a trickle of amusement as she planted her foot against Joseph’s side. Simone’s shoving against him did nothing to dislodge the burning Savage as Joseph’s muscles were locked tight. Reaching through the flames, Ronan seized Joseph’s shoulders, lifted him, and tossed him aside.
