CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE || JEREMY #2
Fear flared through the bond. Not the kind that came from facing Godric, or Magnus, or any evil bastard you might bargain with. No—this was the sick knowledge we were about to face something incapable of reason. A creature made of nothing but hunger and malice.
And then it hit: a nauseating wrongness flooding every cell of my body. I could feel—
It’s like reality is being peeled back. Thierry’s wide eyes met mine, alarm spiking through the bond. As though the world is being split in two. Is this what you always sense?
Yes, I agreed grimly. Every time.
The only reason Thierry felt it was because I did. Wolves could sense the natural axis of reality, the current that kept the world moving. And we could feel when it was disrupted. Right now, it was being torn apart.
Beside me, Reed stripped quickly, breath coming fast. Shirt, shoes, pants—all gone in seconds. The shift took him swiftly, man collapsing into a massive gray wolf.
I followed, only a beat behind. The evening air bit cold against my bare skin, but I ignored it. Soon it wouldn’t matter. This wasn’t undressing for Thierry—there was no heat, no intimacy—only urgency.
Silver moonlight filtered through the canopy, just enough to draw on. I let the change sweep through me.
As my fingers stretched into claws, I shoved my jeans down with practiced efficiency. Then I dropped to all fours and let the shift finish.
Red and orange bled from the world, leaving only blues, greens, and a hundred shades of gray. My lowered center of gravity made the earth’s disruption thrumming through my body impossible to ignore.
I snarled low. The sick sensation was unbearable.
From the fissure came the scrape of talons on stone, faint but growing louder, closer. A guttural snarl echoed from the depths.
Thierry crouched in front of us, fists clenched, his whole body a weapon. He didn’t need anything else.
And neither did we.
Then the creature crawled into view.
Eight feet tall, impossibly thin. Its body was a glistening black wood, blood-soaked vines twisting through it like veins and arteries.
Its claws scraped the earth with a shriek.
The face it wore—a deer skull threaded through with vines—was like something out of a horror movie.
Where eyes should’ve been was pure black, abyssal.
This was the creature that had killed Ian.
Conviction surged through me. If we didn’t stop it, it would kill Thierry, too. It would keep killing.
“You bastard,” Thierry spat.
The creature’s jaws opened, and it was exactly like it had been in the dreamscape. Rows of jagged, three-inch shark teeth. Viscous violet fluid dripped down, sizzling against the earth. Its mouth was impossibly vast, bigger inside than out—big enough to bite a man in half.
Two more creatures, identical to the first, crawled from the hole. A pack of nightmares.
A sick disbelief rolled through me. We couldn’t fight them all.
In the distance, howls cut across the night, cut off mid-note. It was a signal we’d set long ago. It meant serious trouble.
At least two sets of howls. Which likely meant creatures had breached in two other places nearby.
We’re outnumbered. Thierry, run.
No.
The first monster let out a guttural noise that sounded disturbingly like laughter. A chill ripped through me.
Dante had been wrong. They weren’t just hungry. They could reason. Worse—they enjoyed our fear. They relished knowing they were about to slaughter us. And likely the rest of the town afterward.
Beside me, Reed’s ears slicked back. He threw his head up and let out a howl—cutting it short, like the others we’d heard.
The lead creature cocked its skull to one side, an eerily human gesture.
Thierry moved.
I’d seen him fight before, but never like this. He wasn’t fighting to subdue, the way he had been in Rookwood. He was fighting to kill.
He didn’t rush head-on. In a blur, he scaled the nearest tree and vanished into the branches.
An instant later, he dropped from above, slamming onto the second creature’s back and driving it to the ground. His hands seized one vine-wrapped limb and wrenched.
A sickening crack split the night. The monster shrieked, thrashing.
The first creature whirled and lunged, claws slashing. Each one was a sharpened stake, lethal enough to end my vampire.
The third darted forward too, impossibly fast.
I snarled and leapt, crashing onto its back before it reached him. Reed was right behind me, both of us driving it into the dirt.
The ground shook with the impact. I lunged, seizing a vine in my teeth and ripping hard. Rot and copper filled my mouth. Reed tore another section free.
The creature shrieked, thrashing beneath us, claws raking furrows in the earth. Venom hissed as it dripped, burning holes into the ground.
Reed tore away a mouthful of vines in one brutal motion, exposing the central column—two inches thick, oozing inky-black ichor.
I struck, jaws closing around it. With every ounce of power I had, I bit down. It snapped between my teeth.
The creature went limp beneath us. Dead.
The other two screamed in fury.
I looked up just in time to see one of them lunge, claws spearing toward Thierry’s chest. If he’d been mortal—or even an instant slower—it would have ended him.
But he spun away, moving in a blur, and the strike cut only air. He darted behind the monster, seized its skull in both hands, and tore.
The creature roared and staggered.
Its partner charged.
I hurled myself forward, Reed at my flank. Our paws ripped at the earth.
Thierry crushed the skull in his hands. The creature nearest him dropped to the ground. Dead.
Its partner shrieked, alone but undeterred.
Thierry had spent that split-second destroying the skull—and it cost him. The creature’s claws reared back, ready to impale my mate with its spindle-like talons.
I didn’t think. I didn’t weigh choices. There wasn’t time for that.
Instead, I moved.
Jeremy, no! Thierry’s voice shattered across the bond.
I slammed into him, driving him down to the ground, putting myself between him and the killing blow.
Claws punched into my back. For an instant there was searing, blinding pain.
And then nothing. No sensation at all.
I had just enough time to feel a savage gladness: Thierry was alive. Whole. Safe.
Then numbness spread through me like wildfire.
“No!” Thierry’s scream tore the night. His wide, horrified eyes met mine.
Reality grayed out around me. It shouldn’t have been a surprise. My body was mortal, after all. Hard to kill, but not invulnerable.
The creature withdrew its claws.
I felt nothing. No pain. No sensation at all.
That was… very bad.
I collapsed onto my side. My wolf fell away, leaving me human and naked. The night air was cold against my face, but the rest of me didn’t feel like anything at all.
I tried to breathe. My chest wouldn’t obey.
Panic ripped through me. I was going to die.
No no no no no! Thierry’s mental voice was ragged, more desperate than I had ever heard. He dropped to his knees beside me, his face twisted in horror and disbelief. Jeremy!
The creature lunged again.
Reed snarled and leapt, sinking his teeth into its back.
It flung him off like it was nothing. He slammed into a tree with a sickening crunch. His yelp rang out—but I couldn’t move to see if he lived. My body was already shutting down.
Thierry vanished from my side.
Through the bond came a blast of black, feral rage—so raw it made me dizzy. Then the sound of snapping wood, followed by a body hitting the earth.
None of it mattered, except that Thierry was safe.
It was worth it. He was worth it.
I tried to suck in another breath. My body wouldn’t obey. Black dots crept into my vision.
I was slipping away.
But with these creatures slain, at least he’d be safe for the moment. My beautiful, kind, infuriating vampire. He would touch thousands of lives. He had an eternity. He’d save them all.
Then he was back, kneeling over me. Though I couldn’t feel it, I knew through the blood bond that he held my hand. Jeremy, stay with me. Please, you stupid, foolish wolf! I cannot lose you!
Thierry… I’m sorry. I love you.
He sobbed a breath. “No.”
But it was happening. My body knew it, even if he wouldn’t accept it.
My vision dimmed. Peace washed over me, horrible and final. I looked up, wanting his face to be the last thing I saw.
“No,” Thierry snarled, yanking his wrist to his mouth. His fangs flashed, his lips stained a red so dark it was almost black. “You’re not dying tonight.”
He pressed his wrist to my lips.
Warmth and copper flooded my mouth.
And suddenly, I understood. He wasn’t healing me. I was too far gone for that. He was trying to turn me.
But wolves couldn’t become vampires. Nowhere in pack lore was there even a hint of it. It wasn’t possible.
“Please don’t leave me,” Thierry begged, voice ragged, tears burning down his cheeks. “I love you. Stay with me.”
You are love, I told him silently. I couldn’t speak aloud, but I pushed the words into the bond. I prayed he could hear me.
The world seemed further away than it should have been. As though I was rising up from the ground, reality slipping through my grasp, making it feel like nothing mattered anymore and never would again.
But I wasn’t moving. And it did matter. Thierry mattered.
I would do anything for you, I told him. Always.
Then, with the last trace of my willpower, I swallowed.
And the world went black.