“First, though, you’ll feed me.” This is directed to Svend. He’s well-trained. Finaan is not. Yet. “Where’s the bag you brought with us?”
Svend’s face drops, his gaze darting around the cavern and toward the water, as if our food will appear from wherever that useless sop must have dropped it. I count to ten as he looks everywhere except at me. And then I drop Finaan’s wrist andstalk forward, my hand lashing out to wrap around his neck and shove him up against the rock a man’s-height behind him.
“What the fuck did you do?” I demand, squeezing tight enough to stop his breath.
His eyes are fixed on mine now, the pathetic bastard. I suspect he’d like to explain why we ended up in this cavern with no fucking food, but I’m never going to hear whatever excuse he plans to offer. Wrath has been craving his death for a long time and it looks like this is the day I’ll give it to him.
Not this way. That wouldn’t satisfy my beast. The weasel’s death will be slow and bloody. Wrath will rest for days after that offering.
“Yes, that’s what we’ll do,” I promise the terrified elf as I release his throat, a grin splitting my cheeks when he falls to the rock below. “Stand and give me your back,” I command, Wrath’s excitement warbling in my words.
Svend sighs from deep in his gut, but he doesn’t hesitate.
The idiot thinks he’s getting away with a few swipes of my whip. I’m almost giddy thinking about his face when he realizes what I plan to do to him today. And that he’ll take his last breath in this cave.
“What the fuck are you doing, Wregen?” Finaan demands, grabbing my arm to spin me toward her. I let her move my body—this time—because she’ll be pissed, and I’ll enjoy that nearly as much as Svend’s sacrifice.
“I’m going to punish him,” I explain with a shrug. “He knows the price of failure.”
“It’s okay, Finaan,” Svend whimpers as he starts to lift the hem of his shirt. “I don’t mind.”
“Leave the shirt,” I bark out as he tries to expose his pasty flesh to me. More importantly, I stop him before my mate rests eyes on another male’s naked chest, even this worthless piece of shit. If I weren’t already planning to kill him, I’d need to end his life just for that.
“Stop it, Wregen,” Finaan growls from beside me. “He made a mistake. Let him be.”
“The fuck I will,” I yell. “I brought him to serve you and he’s failed at the most basic part. You must be fed. And if your meals won’t come from the pack he should have carried, they’ll come from his flesh.”
She scoffs, eyes blasting open so wide, I nearly laugh. Taking two steps backward, she lifts her hands, like she hopes to ward me off. “You think I’m going to eat him?” she whispers, her lips curling as she forces a swallow down her throat. “You plan to kill him for food?”
“I’ll kill him because I crave his death,” I declare, reminding her who she’s mated to. “I’ve suffered his presence too long. My beast will be sated for days with the blood I’ll draw from that little weasel. When I’ve taken all I need from him, his body will sustain us on our road back to Helheim.”
“What in all the worlds are you?” she chokes out. “You can’t kill him.” Now she straightens, throwing her shoulders back. She sets her jaw and takes a step forward, holding my gaze the entire time. “I forbid it. And I’m sure as fuck not eating him.”
“His flesh will be better than anything else we might find in these caves,” I tell her, my voice low. “You will not like your meals if Svend’s puny ass isn’t on your plate.”
“Then I won’t eat,” she screams, poking a finger into my chest. “And you won’t either, because we aren’t hurting Svend. Not today. Not ever.”
“He belongs to me,” I snarl, as I turn to look at the trouble-maker. Instead of him cowering as he awaits my pleasure, though, I find only empty rock. “Where the fuck did he go?”
“Probably away from your psychotic rambling,” she responds with a laugh. “You want to kill him. Of course he ran away.”
“Fuck. Me.” Spinning, I scour the cavern for the weasel. Wrath howls inside me, snarling and tearing at my gut as his need for Svend’s death drives him into a frenzy, but I can’t have him fucking with me too. So I pause, shifting my neck from side to side as I force my clenched hands to relax. Gathering every bit of strength I can muster, I shove Wrath into his hole, shuddering as he fights back. I’m stronger than him, though. Hel’s power whispers to me here, and even my formidable beast can’t stand against her.
And then I turn to glare at Finaan. “Keep up, or it’ll be you I’m punishing. And not with death. Your punishment will be more elaborate. It will last much, much longer. And it’ll involve different body parts and fluids.”
She twists one side of her mouth, baring teeth at me, but I grin. I hope she runs away. She knows I’m connected to her, that I followed her to that camp the rebels established. Shemust realize I spoke true, and our link also led me to her in the caves. But my reckless mate is going to test me many times before she finally gives in.
I scan the ground for any hint of his footsteps, my smile broadening when I see his path. And I start running. For a moment, I think Finaan is going to try to escape again, but she must realize how foolish that would be. I’ve barely gone a dragon’s-length when I hear the steady pounding of her feet behind me.
Within a few minutes, the light from the cavern disappears, leaving us to run blind. I call Wrath up again, letting him guide us, because my beast thrives in the dark. We should be finding Svend—he has nothing to guide him—but the tunnel in front of us is silent, empty.
And I don’t like it. When we’ve gone a viku or more, I draw to a halt and click to Finaan, making sure she knows where I’ve stopped. Her steps slow and pause a man’s-height away and I smile to myself at her endurance. Her breathing is strong and steady. Pulling Wrath even more into my consciousness, I let him have all of our senses.
He recognizes the threat a moment too late.
Finaan’s scream pierces the cave around us, bouncing off the walls to pound in my ears, a declaration of my failure to protect my mate.
So I give myself fully to Wrath. One moment, I’m a man enraged at whatever dared to attack her. The next, my body is stretching impossibly long, scales erupting across the hide thatused to be skin, leathered wings stretching from our back. And I’m shoved into the place he stores me when he takes control.
