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“Oh no. Werewolves are decent people. These are the Wolfmen of Ossuary. Sinners who took the form of a half man and half wolf for their crimes when they were human,” Callum stated as if in a schoolroom, teaching children math equations and not facing down the ugliest beasts Bryn had ever seen. “Watch their bite. It is poisonous. They have bitten several people in town in the past from the information I gathered, and those people died. I believe they blamed it on a sickness of some type.”
Bryn stared at Callum for a blink before her brain put the puzzle together of what he had said in her mind.
Arioch and Daran were the cause of the sickness.
The beastly men gained footing as they moved in their direction, but before Bryn could move, Finian was in front of her and Declan, pushing them back.
“Finian! No!” Bryn cried as the large dog launched himself toward Daran, the beast taking a swipe at Finian but missed as the dog spun around and bit into the left haunch of the beast.
Justin came up next to them with a rifle, aiming at Daran before taking a shot that clipped the monster in the shoulder.
“Don’t touch my dog, jackass,” Justin yelled, aiming another shot at Daran as Caden aimed at Arioch.
Daran managed to dislodge Finian and clawed him to the side, Bryn screaming as Justin aimed and hit Daran’s throat. She watched in horror as the beast that was Daran healed right before her eyes.
Finian had hit the wall of the town, but he was back up again, his canine eyes full of anger.
Most of the townspeople had fled in fear, as surprised and terrified as she was sure she would have been if she still thought she was human, and yet a few particularly less intelligent individuals still stood next to Daran and Arioch, not scared at all. In fact, they had removed their masks and looked positively gleeful. Their eyes shining with anticipation.
As if unlike the terrified humans, they’d already known who Arioch and Daran were.
“Just left us in the pan and looked to see who had the balls to hop out, huh, Danu?” Declan growled as he loaded a pistol and handed it to Jace. Jace had never touched a gun before, and the look on his face made it very obvious.
Bryn maneuvered to the side, looking for Mallory. She knew she was the type to come in from the flank when everyone was distracted, and she was right. There Mallory stood in the shadows, but she had yet to make a move; instead, she was frozen.
Frozen in fear at seeing her fiancé turn into a beast? Bryn wasn’t sure, and she sure as hell didn’t care to ask.
If only Bryn had the ability to release the torrent of fire within her, her aunt would have been charred and unrecognizable.
“You can tear them up like you did Bryn’s daddy. Full circle, Ari,” one of the men next to the beasts muttered, rubbing his hands together.
Everything inside of Bryn stopped at those words, her eyes moved to Mallory’s, but the shock on her aunt’s face told the same story. She’d had no idea.
Shaking, Cyerra dug her clawed feet into Bryn’s shoulder, trying to push a sense of calm and permeate the barrier of anger and fear that had engulfed Bryn.
“You’ll do no one here any good if you lose control,”Cyerra chided into Bryn’s mind. “Strategic battles over emotional ones, Phantom Queen.”
“There is no need to escalate to violence. Let us leave and we will take our so-called sinful behavior from this town.” Declan walked forward, his hands up in a placating gesture. From the corner of her eye, she watched as Kessler readied the truck to start on Declan’s command.
Bryn felt fire running through her veins as she held preternaturally still, watching Declan’s back as he faced off with the beasts. As she stared at each face behind Daran and Arioch, the ones who had called her a witch, who had wanted to burn her alive, she found them lacking.
Jace came around to Bryn’s side.
“Danu is fine,” he said from the side of his mouth. Bryn said nothing as she continued to watch the townsmen come back with rifles, shaking like leaves, but the idiots still stood next to the monstrous versions of Daran and Arioch.
“Just kill ’em!” Daran growled, his elongated mouth and sharp teeth making it hard to understand him, but the men next to him moved forward, some even ready to enjoy their kills from the looks of unfettered glee.
Mallory stood back with her arms folded, doing nothing to stop them as Bryn watched Jace give her a pleading look.
Her aunt’s only response was to turn her back. Maybe if it were just Bryn in the line of fire, but it shocked her that she’d turn away and let her own son be killed.
She knew she really shouldn’t have been. A woman who believed the religious droll she was served to the point she beat and harmed her own niece, well of course she could turn her back on her own child should that child not fall to his knees at her belief system.
If there had been any compassion left inside of Bryn for Mallory, it was dead and buried now.
“Grab the witches, kill the rest,” one of the men ordered since it was obviously far too difficult for the wolfmen to speak to the whole of the crowd and be heard in their state.
Rifles aimed their direction right as the horns blared.
