AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Thirty-Two
Blake
I lose myself to my wolf and to the battle. I am muscle and teeth and claws and fury. Blood and ash cover my body. Time passes as we cut through the enemy, demon, skeleton, and warlock alike, though we show clemency with the warlocks when we can.
And then I see him. The traitorous bastard Aengus.
I break away from Colin and Daniel, who I’ve been fighting beside the whole time, and I streak across the field. Aengus is the only wolf attacking other wolves. Because the Blackstock Clan is the only one that can shift into wolf form—we’re not meant to fight amongst ourselves. It’s perverse in every way.
But then, some people just don’t understand loyalty.
Aengus has his teeth around the throat of one of my younger warlocks. I slam into him from the side, sending him rolling across the snowy ground. A growl rips from my throat. He narrows his yellow eyes at me and lets out his own low growl.
I charge him, crashing into him again and flipping him over. My teeth find his throat and I bite down, shaking him. He slashes at my ribs with his claws, and I feel a deep burn as gashes open along my side. I lose my grip on him and fall to the side, my blood spraying across the crystalline snow.
Aengus and I circle each other, and he leaps for me. I spin to the side, my teeth latching onto his back leg. I hurl him into a nearby boulder. He lets out a yelp as he hits the rock, and when he falls into the snow, he shifts back into human form. I approach and tower over him. Another growl reverberates from my throat.
I shift back into human form so I can speak.
“You treacherous snake,” I snarl. “You have disgraced yourself and your clan. All because you got your feelings hurt when Tamsin fell in love with me instead of you.”
“If she loved you, she never would have left,” Aengus says, spitting blood onto the ground. He’s got a gash in his forehead that’s gushing blood down the left side of his body.
“Think whatever you want, it matters not to me.” I stare down at him. “A woman can love whoever she wants. You don’t have claim over her, nor does any man over any woman. Only weak men think otherwise.”
“Just kill me and get it over with Blake.” Aengus glares up at me, hatred burning in his eyes. “Have your revenge, or justice, or whatever the hell you want to call it.”
“I’m not going to kill you, Aengus. Not today.” I meet his wolf eyes with my own. “I’m going to strip you of your clan magic and banish you from this land. Then you can live the rest of your days in dishonor, without friend or family, and without a home to call your own. That’s a fate far worse than death.”
Aengus snarls and tries to shoot a spell at me, but I beat him to it, my own magic devouring his. I raise a hand in the air, tugging at the power that lies within him, the power bestowed by the Blackstock Clan. His eyes turn from yellow to brown, and a howl escapes his throat as his spirit wolf flies loose from his body and gallops away into the black sky. Aengus’s howl turns to a ragged cry and he slumps forward onto the ground, defeated.
“I pity you,” I say, sorrow rising in my chest. “You were our brother. But no longer.”
Then I turn and walk away, leaving him alone and magicless as the battle rages around us.
I catch sight of Colin and Daniel in the distance, and I summon my magic to shift back into wolf form. That’s when something swoops down out of the sky, digging sharp talons into me, and carries me off into the air.
Agony shoots through my body. I look up, and all I can see are swirls of shadow and a mouth full of jagged teeth. Some sort of winged demon. Its leathery wings beat the air, and it drags me higher and higher into the sky. I can feel blood dripping from my shoulders where it has me pinned.
Then something silver flashes in the night and a huge dragon comes at us. It opens its mouth wide, revealing glittering teeth as long as daggers, and it grabs the demon by the throat and shakes. The hell creature is vanquished in a swirl of ash and flame.
I plummet through the air from a height I cannot possibly survive.
Wind rushes around me, stealing the breath from my lungs as I fall. I call my magic around me, hoping to cushion my fall. But the dragon swoops down and grabs me in its claws, then deposits me safely back to the battlefield.
“Thanks!” I call above the sounds of fighting around us.
The dragon shifts back to human form, and a tall blonde man grins at me. He’s covered in Viking tattoos. “No problem. I’m Erik, Xander’s friend.”
“I owe you one, Erik.”
We nod to each other and then plunge back into battle. Except the battle seems to be winding down. Clan Cameron has begun to flee, and I see only a handful of demons remaining. My eyes move up to the stone altar, where I see Tamsin ascending the steps, flanked by the other witches. She is covered in soot and blood, as I am, and she looks like an ancient pagan witch queen from times before. My heart swells.
And then I see Darkness and her brother materialize before them.
I let out a howl to summon my clan, and we converge on the altar at the center of the valley. We come up behind Darkness and her brother, and the witches flank them on the other side. In terms of numbers, the woman of shadows and the man of light are vastly outgunned. But they are beings beyond our comprehension. I don’t know the extent of what they can do.
“You cannot win this battle,” Darkness says to Tamsin.
