War of Hearts (True Immortality) - S Young Page 0,134

he can’t do that with that kind of legacy.”

Melancholy filled Ashforth’s eyes. “Thea—”

Three moves.

That’s all it took.

A step toward him. A punch through flesh, muscle, and bone. And he gaped in shock, like he hadn’t expected it. Thea fisted his heart, not surprised to find it small. “You never had any use for it anyway,” she whispered.

Then the third and final move.

She tore Ashforth’s useless heart from his body.

The light dimmed from his eyes and he dropped with a juddering thud. Thea let go of the warm, bloody muscle and wiped her hand against her jeans a little desperately. She shuddered, feeling cold.

“You did it.”

Turning, Thea watched as Devon limped toward her.

“I’m sorry.” She gestured to his leg. She hadn’t meant to push him so hard.

He waved off her apology, his eyes on his father. “I heard what you said.” His voice was soft, his eyes glazed over with shock. “Thank you.”

“Devon, we need to get out of here. If we’re found—”

“Don’t worry.” He shook his head. “I set this place to blow in ten minutes.”

Thea’s eyes rounded. “What?”

He didn’t look at her but fell to the ground beside his father’s body. His shoulders shook. “I wanted it all gone. All evidence of what he’s done. The vamps who helped him … they’ll die too.”

“But the castle …” Thea gestured to the hall. Maybe it shouldn’t be her first thought, but this was a medieval castle. It seemed like sacrilege to destroy hundreds of years of history because some asshole took up residence in it.

“Fuck the castle. Fuck Scotland.” Devon sniffled. “I’ll meet you outside. Just give me a minute to say goodbye.”

Thea wasn’t particularly happy about leaving bombs to detonate, killing vampires and destroying a piece of important Scottish heritage. But she also didn’t know how to defuse a bomb and she only had ten minutes to get whoever was left in the castle out.

Thea looked down at Ashforth’s body. There was no time to process his death. It would have to wait. Hurrying from the hall, she searched the castle. The vamps couldn’t leave but any werewolves could.

Sadly, the ones she found, Devon had already killed. Including the guard whose neck she’d broken. Devon had returned to the pantry to put a bullet in him before he searched out his father.

Rushing out of the entrance, down the uneven concrete steps, Thea felt the heat from the large boat ablaze down at the dock. She dashed across the courtyard and took the steps down onto the dock, wary of how close the flames were getting to the wooden structure. She found a man and a woman, but they were already gone. Bodies floated in the loch beyond the boat. Thea damned Devon to hell. Why did he have to kill everyone? Wasn’t Ashforth enough?

A shout carried across the water and Thea turned from the blazing boat to shore.

“Thea!”

“Conall,” she breathed, hurrying toward the opposite end of the dock. People gathered on the shore.

The Pack.

And Conall was getting into a speedboat with James and Callie.

Relief flooded her. She waved and Callie waved back. She could feel Conall’s intensity from here.

Footsteps from behind drew her around. Devon limped down the planks toward her, his expression grim, his cheeks tearstained.

“Help is coming. Unless you want to tell me how to defuse those bombs, we need to get everyone as far away from here as possible.”

Devon stared out at the approaching speedboat and then turned back to Thea. He stumbled and Thea reached out to steady him.

He grabbed onto her, and she pulled him upright. “Devon, are you okay?”

He shook his head, his eyes meeting hers. “I needed you to do it. I couldn’t do it.”

“I know,” she reassured him. “I know.”

More tears slipped down his cheeks. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t blame you. You saved me … but you also ruined me, Thea. Just existing … you ruin lives.”

Hurt shattered through her. “Devon …”

His expression hardened. “It has to end.”

Pain exploded through her heart seconds before Devon stumbled back, sobbing.

Agony ripped through her chest, taking her to her knees again.

Thea glanced down, her hands wavering uselessly over the iron dagger Ashforth had slammed into her ribs, missing her heart.

Devon hadn’t missed.

“THEA!” she heard Conall’s roar in the distance.

Tears spilled down her cheeks.

It really was the end.

“That’s Devon!” Callie shouted over the speedboat’s engine. “Ashforth’s son. Creepy as fuck too, just so you know!”

Conall narrowed his eyes on the man as they approached Thea. “Thea spoke affectionately of him. He’s like a