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How long were they all here? How much of my psychotic wolf meltdown did they see? Probably most of it, since they all seem stunned into silence.
“And you guys thought she’d forgotten how to fight and needed to be retrained.” Shade breaks the silence. “Clearly, you’re all stupid.”
Rune rolls his eyes, Legend shakes his head, and Shade winks at me.
“Nice job, sweetheart.” Shade cleans the blood off his knife on his pant leg. “You just saved me a couple hours’ worth of torture. Seriously, give me a few hours, and he’ll probably be ready to confess everything.”
“Confess what, exactly?” My voice is strained.
“Why he went after you, and why he was even in the Common Realm. Because, from the records, he was never banished there, which means he snuck in. The questions is: why?” Shade squats down beside Slate and wiggles the fire poker, eliciting a high-pitched whimper from Slate.
“Fuck you, Shade.” Blood drips from Slate’s mouth. “I’m not telling you shit, other than she’s going to end up dead soon.” A manic, choked laugh erupts from his lips.
Jules roars, tension rolling off him in waves. “If you ever fucking threaten her life again, I’ll cut out your fucking tongue.”
Slate continues to laugh, choking on a mouthful of blood. “Like you can. You’re so weak. Always have been.”
The sound of his laughter makes me sick to my stomach. Thankfully, Shade orders some guards to carry him out to the shed.
“And what happened in this room, stays in this room,” Jules commands as the guards prepare to take Slate away. “Understand? If anyone outside of this circle hears about this, you’ll all be punished.”
The guards nod. Then four of them drag Slate away by his arms, leaving a trail of blood along the hardwood floor.
Something needs to still be said, though.
My eyes zero in on one of the captives being held by two of Jules’ guards, and I gather up all the courage I have left. “Jules?”
He rubs his hands down my arm, soothing me. “Yeah?”
“That wolf over there … the one with the darker hair.” I sound braver than I feel.Where is my badass werewolf when I need her? “He was there with Slate. He helped him.”
The accused werewolf snaps his teeth at me. “I didn’t do anything,” he growls, struggling to escape the guards’ hold. “She’s a fucking liar.”
Jules releases me from his arms, stalks over to the werewolf, and cocks his head to the side. “You think I’m going to take your word over hers?” He folds his fingers around the wolf’s throat. “That would be an epic mistake on your part.” His lean arm muscles bulge as he throttles the werewolf.
“Please, Your Highness,” the werewolf wheezes, his legs giving out on him, but the two guards hold him up, not letting him sink to the floor. “I didn’t … I wasn’t the one who did it.”
“But you helped, which is just as bad.” Jules continues to strangle him, yet his voice remains chillingly calm. “But don’t worry; I’m not going to kill you just yet. I’m going to drag out your punishment until you’re begging for death. Then I’m going to drag it out longer.” Then he raises his free hand and slashes his fingernails across the werewolf’s face, peeling back the flesh. Blood seeps out from the wounds and drizzles onto the floor. “Put him in the shed, too, but in a separate room,” Jules orders the guards. “And put the rest of them there too.”
They nod then heave the bloody, whimpering werewolf out of the room, along with the other two.
Once the room is cleared out, Rune shuts the door while Jules wipes his bloody hand on the side of his pants.
“Well, that was interesting,” Shade muses. “Guess I’m starting to rub off on you.”
“Maybe,” Jules mumbles, hesitantly glancing at me. Uneasiness reflects in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that in front of you.”
“Why? I just mangled a werewolf with a fire poker.” The floorboards creak as I step toward him. “If anything, I should be saying sorry.” Tears veil my vision.Shit, I’m going to start crying again.
He snags the bottom of my shirt, jerks me toward him, and crushes me against his chest.
I decide that I could really get used to this. Being in his arms all the time. Hiding my tears against his chest.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Jules whispers, kissing my forehead. “Slate deserved what he got. He deserves worse and will get it.”
I bury my face in his chest as my guilt catches up with me. I reacted so savagely, so brutally, so unlike me.
I probably would’ve started crying again if it weren’t for Rune distracting me.
