Chapter 14 Lazriel
~Lazriel~
Battling hidden demons.
That was why I’d originally come here.
And spent so much time in that fucking ring.
Graverun.
Where I’d established my rep not only as the king of the brutal underground fight venue here at Wraeven Academy, but as the king of the entire place itself.
Being revered for what I could do in the ring was the first time I’d experienced anything other than rejection from non-hybrid beings.
I’d gotten a little carried away chasing that high, needing to feed that addiction for three and a half fucking years spent here.
Until they’d come into my life and shifted things in so many ways.
After that, the thrill hadn’t been the same.
The damage, the scars, feeling like a caged beast in my own body… all that had been redirected into something else, reframed entirely.
I hadn’t needed this place anymore.
I’d realized it properly the first night I’d come back here after Velra and I had been away for a while—and while Sylas had been underground. I’d taken on a fight with a Light Fae and it had done very little for me.
Until I’d used it for another purpose.
It had become about training, putting my wolf and vampire into practice in equal measure—often both at once because I’d become so adept at it—under high pressure combat situations. Taking my dad’s advice and basically running with it.
Those original demons I’d been fighting for so long had faded.
Thanks to our foursome and what we did for each other—and to each other.
Settling into that special bond… it had meant everything to me and soothed me. In a way I’d never actually imagined being possible.
And there’d also been my dad, finally being able to build a relationship with him, the things he’d shown me and taught me.
But then after the… the captivity… it had destabilized that for me.
Or at least threatened to.
I’d been trying to focus on my classes, taking comfort in the break from all the insanity. And mostly, in the incredible, unbelievable news that Velra was pregnant with our baby.
That was what had kept me centered and kind of grounded, preventing a whole lot of painful fallout from that nightmare Victor had subjected me to from slamming into me.
Our little baby.
Our growing family.
But I hadn’t seen Velra much today. She’d been in classes for hours and then studying to catch up on what she’d missed as well.
And I was supposed to be doing the same.
I was actually late for one of my classes right now.
Inter-Realm Relations: Treaties and Cooperation with Professor Lenos Caldrith.
I’d just needed to clear my head.
Then I’d be good to go.
Just… there was nobody available to be with right now or even to talk to.
It was just bad fucking timing, honestly.
Velra was in classes.
Cassius was with Ketheron—he’d taken him back to work at Haven Initiative for the first time since Ketheron had suffered that mind-meddling torment during the CRS facility battle.
Sylas was still above ground, but he was meeting with Kai.
Apparently Kai had been reaching out wanting to know the deal with Sylas’ return to power, seeing as though, until he’d witnessed Sylas back in the game during the Morien CRS situation, he’d last known Sylas as having been bound completely without his magic.
And as Sylas had explained to me, Kai had been there with him for months prior to all of this fighting to find a cure for him.
So Sylas was giving him the rundown. Although, I knew he wouldn’t reveal the existence of the Mystic Heart to Kai—my dad’s uber trump card, and what had made the necromantic core transplant actually possible.
Knowing Sylas, he’d talk around it, hopefully even to Kai’s satisfaction.
My mom was with Jaxon and Vorzyr, having taken Ryker’s instruction to heart.
Well, she didn’t do something from orders alone, so it seemed like Ryker’s words to her during my extraction had just been the little nudge she’d needed.
She was going to bring back a better, stronger, more tolerant version of Vyrn Hollow Wolf Pack.
Once she was done with that meeting, it was actually something I wanted to talk to her about.
I’d texted my dad, but he’d had one of his most trusted lieutenants, Arthur, text me back to inform me that my dad would be unreachable for most of the day, but he’d check back in later.
I scrubbed my hand over my face and tried to focus on the fight as I watched from the sidelines near the exit. I felt like I needed to keep out of the crowds right now. I needed to know I had a straight-run exit available.
Argh! It was all that shithead’s fault!
That fucker hadn’t managed to get under my skin from the standpoint of undercutting what I knew to be true with my love for Velra, Sylas, and Cassius, nor all the progress I’d made, nor even my strengthening relationship with my dad.
Besides, my power here was my peace—in myself and with my loves. Nothing else mattered.
That was what I’d held to while I’d been tormented by that fucker. And I’d done really well with it.
But there were… bits and pieces of the… physicality he’d subjected me to that kept… surfacing.
I could feel it coming again and I fought to focus on my surroundings instead.
Needing the roars, thuds, grunts, and screams of both pain and excitement from the rowdy crowd to drown it all out.
Even though it was the middle of the day, Graverun was hopping.
Each circular tier was packed with spectators yelling, clapping, and jumping in their seats as they watched the brutal battles going down in the glowing amber fight circle.
Right now it was a sorcerer and a Light Fae, one hell of a brutal magical whirlwind taking place.
I’d walked in here thinking I needed a fight like the old days—not just for training.
But as I’d watched, I’d realized that wasn’t the case.
My breathing quickened.
And then it happened again.
“Mmm, I’m delighting in the way you growled my name. Do it again.”
I growled against Victor’s repulsive voice sounding through my fucking head.
“Shh, pretty thing.”
Clenching my fists, I urged my talons and claws not to break free.
In directing my energy toward that self-control, it left the way open for that shithead’s taunts to blast into my mind once fucking more.
“You think you’ve found a way out? There is no alternative to me! I am it for you! And you’re going to experience that full force right now!”
I blinked, coming out of it, to see wolf hair had sprouted on the backs of both my hands. They were fucking trembling. My pulse was jumping. And I couldn’t… I couldn’t breathe properly. I was gonna lose all control of my own air in a… in just a moment of—
A hand slipped into mine, jarring me.
The touch was so familiar, the jolt of it was for the right reasons.
I sucked in an unsteady and strained breath.
Emotion welled in my eyes.
Then I turned to my right to see Cassius standing with me now.
“Cas,” I choked.
Instead of softening with me, which in my current state would probably have fucking crushed me, his eyes darkened, his hand tightening in mine.
And then he leaned in and whispered in hot words at my ear, “Unleash on me, wild one.”
“How did you… how—”
He eased back—just a little. “Sylas gave Velra his holoscreen. It’s specially crafted to evade even your astute senses and perception.
She’s been watching you all day.” He stroked the wolf hair on the back of my hand.
“She also knows you won’t admit that you need to unleash, because she’s pregnant. ”
“I know she could take it, but it feels… the baby is…”
“I understand.” His lips quirked. “Although, to be clear, she won’t tolerate the walking-on-eggshells approach much longer.”
No, she wouldn’t.
Velra was the farthest thing from fragile.
This was just… new for me… for us.
Cassius leaned in close again, his warmth breath fanning over the side of my neck. “So, then, if you will… make me understand the rest.” He nipped at my ear. “Make me bleed for you.”
His rumbling voice rolled through me.
And that was it.
In the very next second, I clamped my hand down on his shoulder, then vamp-sped us the fuck out of Graverun.
I came to a jolting stop right at the far end of campus in the forest, just within the confines of the powerful reinforced wards.
A brief spark of white magic filled my vision as I slammed Cassius into a massive age-old oak tree.
“Your spell to protect me from the mind-fuck high of your blood?” I asked as I fisted both my hands in his teal tee, the one that did his mammoth ripped arms a shitload of justice and pulled nice and taut over those carved-from-stone abs.
“Blended with a glamor to conceal us and magic to protect the natural environment.”
The glamor concealment I got, especially with him being my professor. But the other part? Not so much.
“Environment?”
He stroked the hips of my tactical pants.
“You’ve barely had time to take an objective step back to analyze it, but since you’ve fully embraced the vampire in equal measure with your wolf, and learned well how to also draw on the Ancient blood that courses through your system, your strength has truly surged.
You have great control, but we are out here now for you to unleash. Hence the safeguard I’ve put in place.”
“You’re saying I have the power to decimate this forest?”
“Indeed. My spell took effect a moment before you slammed me into this oak tree. If it had not, the tree would have ripped from its very roots.”
“Damn, that’s really—”
He grasped my jaw.
A shudder rolled through me when it should have been a thrill, desire heating up.
And it was all because of that fucking psycho, Victor. The jaw grab had been one of his signature moves.
Judging by the look on Cassius’ face, he was well aware of that—Sylas had clearly told him—and this was his attempt at helping me to disassociate it from Victor, to take away its power.
“Decimate me,” Cassius rumbled.
I sucked in a breath.
Yeah.
Yeah, I could do this.
I needed to—and I fucking wanted to.