Wolf's Hunger (Mafia Monsters #5) - Atlas Rose Page 0,58
lifted a hand. “I’m n-not here to h-hurt you.”
But they didn’t stop, edging closer with a slow, predatory gait. I wrenched my gaze around.
“Phantom.” I let out with a rush. “I know Phantom.”
The low, throbbing, inhuman sound grew louder. My guts turned to water at the sounds, panting breaths as they closed in, the scrape of claws. And that unmerciful, savage sound built…and built and built.
These Wolves weren’t Phantom’s pack…they were rogues, just like the ones from the forest. The ones I’d barely escaped from last time. I closed my eyes, my knees trembling so hard they were about to give way. I couldn’t stop the chattering of my teeth, the clinking sound filling my head until the consuming blast of a breath came against my face.
I wrenched my eyes opened, and found myself face to face with a beast.
Silver glinted like reflections on a lake.
But there was no life in those eyes.
Only madness. Unhinged, vindictive, madness.
“You know, don’t you?” The words spilled free in a rush of breath. “You followed me. Hunted me.”
That glint only brightened. Triumph.
A whimper escaped from the back of my throat. I didn’t have to ask what they wanted. I already knew. Three Wolves. Three Wolves. The Unseelie chaos in my mind was quiet. I swallowed hard. Even she’d deserted me.
“They’ll come for you,” I warned. “My Wolves, they’ll—” The gray beast lunged through the air, and all I saw was teeth.
I threw my arms up, shielding my face. Pain lashed deep and cruel…all the way to the bone. I cried out and stumbled backwards as all three came for me. I turned and ran. My feet felt strange and alien.
But there was nowhere to go.
I was cornered…the iron gates glinted in the background, a cruel taunt.
Still that snarl echoed around me, no longer a warning now. We were well past that.
I turned slowly, agony carving through my arm at the heady scent of my own blood.
I’ll never see them…
The thought hurt more than any bite ever could.
I’ll never see them again.
A strange calmness came over me as I sank into that bottomless pit of pain. Nothing mattered now—not if I couldn’t have them. My world closed in. There were no more gates in the darkness, no more Fae to help. There was only me…and them, the three who’d come for my death.
Their snarling faces were all I saw as I lowered my hands. Warmth slipped along my arm…trickling as I found my enemy’s gaze and whispered, “They will tear you apart.”
17
Phantom
My chest was a wall of fire, blistering and raw. Torn down the middle between need…and want. I wanted to run…was desperate to run…But I couldn’t. Not yet. Not until I took care of business.
FIND HER!
The beast threw back his head and unleashed a howl. One that made me desperate. One that that made me dangerous. A whimper followed…and it wasn’t mine.
Spitting and gurgling came from in front of me like a split hose on an overworked engine. Droplets of blood flew through the air to splatter warm against my hands. I breathed deep and looked down.
“No,” he whimpered and lifted a hand to me. Broken fingers, blood steaming along a savaged arm, face blurred. They all looked the same in that moment. “Please…no more.”
My body quaked as I stared at the silver of his eyes. There was only killing now. Only hunger to ease that consuming ache…the one I felt for losing her. “You attacked the wrong car.” I breathed hard and lifted my hand, claws aching, coated with blood. “You hurt my second. You took what wasn’t yours to take.”
“Mercy,” the rogue Wolf pleaded.
There was no mercy left now. Only a finality. Claws and brutality won out, and in that moment that’s all I was, a beast. A broken-hearted monster.
His blue eyes widened, droplets of blood shot high in the air…a second before I struck, tearing out his throat with one last blow. Crunch. Bones snapped, shining neon white in the darkness, before I dropped what was left of the male on the ground. The beast urged me on, strengthening my fingers and sharpening my senses.
The sound of an engine roared in the distance. The low growl of an SUV, drawing my gaze behind me. I left what remained of the Wolf at my feet and lunged away. A flash of white tore through the clump of towering fir trees ahead, head down, charging toward me, all teeth and savagery.