That left me with two to deal with. Since time was of the essence, I wielded Brenda like a scalpel and skewered them both in a precision move.
“Nice,” Rasmus commented with a smirk as the mages choked on their own blood. One tried to cast a last-ditch spell, but I severed his hand before it manifested.
The kitsune barked to get our attention. He hopped off the table and sprang onto my shoulder. Rasmus reached for my wrist, and we blinked away, landing in a reception area.
A snooty female witch with shiny red hair screamed when she clocked my handsome face.
Was it the blood? Or perhaps the severed hand I tossed at her? Honestly, it was hard to tell, so I screamed back in solidarity.
The witch fell off her chair in a dead faint.
“Where to, little K-dude?” Kasumi blinked up at me. Did he not understand?
“She’s on the floor above,” Rasmus said, his head cocked.
“How do you know?” I couldn’t sense my pet at all, which bothered me more than I cared to admit. I’d grown used to the sound of her thoughts and the chaotic buzz of her emotions. It healed a wound I didn’t know I had.
“She still wears my ruby necklace,” he replied. “I can track her.”
I made a mental note to buy my pet a gift when we escaped this place. She deserved all the gifts. Damn that vampire for one-upping me on the gift front.
Would she like a trophy necklace of severed fingers?
I’d clean them up first, obviously. Maybe even add a touch of polish to the nails. It would be an artistic gift of love. Highly appropriate since my love language involved killing all her enemies.
Rasmus didn’t seem convinced by my idea when I voiced it. Kasumi hissed, which I took to mean he thought I was mentally unwell for even suggesting such a thing.
We jogged up a stairwell as dragon fire rained down on the plaza below. Human media vehicles exploded, cars burned, and spectators fled for their lives. If I weren’t here to rescue my mate, I’d be enjoying the colorful show.
“The Nightshade witch is here,” Rasmus hissed as we reached the next floor. “Her dark magic taints the air.”
Kasumi barked and flicked his tails in agreement.
Sudden pain speared me, and beside me, Rasmus fell to his knees, gasping as a mate tether in our chests snapped. I’d never known pain like it. Not even the agony of seeing my father executed before my eyes could compare.
One of my pet’s mates had died, which meant she might follow him through the veil if I couldn’t reach her in time.
“We have to go to her,” I gasped, dragging myself to my feet, huffing up the vampire’s pain to fuel me even though it tasted worse than wolf piss.
“This way.” Rasmus wrapped his cool hand around my arm, and we shot away at vampire speed.
49
Raven
Alaric wasn’t dead. I refused to believe my storm mage had left me to deal with his asshole parents alone.
I searched for signs of life in his face, but there were none. Emerald-green eyes stared up at me, sightless, while black tendrils of poison snaked down his neck like toxic spiderwebs.
This was Brianna’s doing.
Her fucked-up magic had killed my mate.
Tiberius sniffed as he observed his dead son. “Not so powerful after all. I confess I’m disappointed.”
Rage flared to life, fueled by Tiberius’s casual dismissal of the son he’d never cared about.
“Children can’t help but be a disappointment, darling,” Brianna sighed, side-stepping Willow’s corpse as she moved closer.
