Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,195

shit wasn’t normal. Knox spoke to Lennox, calling him a pussy, grunting when I’d snarl in warning. It was violent. It was beautiful. It was fucking everything wrong, yet nothing had ever felt more right.

We hadn’t left the tent because the moment one of us rose to do so, the other would call them back with a simple rattle or purr. There were a lot of worried gazes, side-eyes, and what-the-fucks displayed on our faces.

On the fourth day, I dressed and slipped from beneath the broken tent we’d toppled this morning. Lore’s eyes held mine as I almost escaped, only for a rattle to sound behind me. Knox grabbed my ankle, and I smiled coldly as my teeth elongated, and my nails pushed through my fingers.

Knox howled, and Lore screamed. “Fuck that shit. Daddy doesn’t want that!”

We screamed and ripped each other apart until we’d torn one another down to our genetic make-up, which wasn’t even close to being human. Knox escaped from the tent next, and I followed him.

The men slid their gazes over the wounds they could see. Brander bent, picking up his med-kit while Knox snarled at him, and I echoed the warning with a rattle. Brander dropped it, and all three men stepped back at once, fear and worry flooding their gazes.

Knox was torn up, and he’d covered me in bruises from where he’d held me down to prevent injury. Knox issued orders, and Brander nodded to something. I slid my attention to the other tent, and Knox turned to smirk at me. I lifted a finger since my voice was hoarse and barely able even to speak. Knox rolled his eyes, and I rattled. He turned, hefting me up over his shoulder before entering the new tent. Hours later, we emerged a little more beat up and missing more flesh.

“You two aren’t right,” Killian whispered, so softly that I wasn’t certain he’d meant for us to hear it. Our heads snapped in his direction, and he straightened, preparing to run.

“So, listen, guys.” Brander flinched as we turned our battered faces toward him, giving him our attention. “People are afraid,” he announced. We stepped closer, and rocks crunched beneath my bare feet. I glanced down, noting the mixed crystals as if they’d tried everything and had given up their attempts to dispel our anger management sessions unfolding in the tent.

“Who the fuck is afraid?” Knox asked harshly.

“Everyone,” Brander stated.

Our eyes rose to the camp that had moved, barely visible from where our tent sat in a heap of singed, charred piles of leather. I laughed, turning to look at Knox, who stared at me with a smoldering look in his eyes.

“No,” I groaned, but Knox rattled, and I followed, jumping onto him as he walked forward. I shredded his shirt, sinking my claws into his shoulders, and he destroyed me the moment we were out of sight. We emerged again, and the men all groaned, staring up at the sky while we marched past them, heading toward the water.

“This isn’t normal,” Knox snapped.

“You’re not normal!” I returned.

“Who keeps attacking whom?” he shot back.

I paused, looking at his back that held a multitude of claw marks. I smiled, stretching my arms, continuing to follow him. Shedding the dress the moment we entered the water, I dove into it. I came to the surface, shivering at the iciness of the water as Knox watched me, smiling while the water healed our wounds. Opening my mouth, I grinned at him as something grabbed my ankle, and I peered down before being pulled beneath the water.

Chapter Forty-Nine

I was pulled deeper in the water and slammed onto the river bottom. Fighting against whatever held me, I thrashed my arms and legs until pain tore through my leg. Spinning in the water, I took in the huge leviathan that held my ankle between his teeth, not breaking the skin. Bubbles exploded from my lungs as I reached down and sunk my nails into the leviathan’s mouth.

It was like a creature from a science fiction movie. Blue fins covered its back and all along its long, slender, snake-like body. Its sightless eyes were sunk far into the back of its head, blinking at me in surprise. Blood filled the water from the leviathan. I kept slicing against the beast until blackness threatened to take control of my mind as my air ran out. Its tail wrapped around me, pulling me deeper into the murky depths, slamming me back against the sandy bottom, and