Chapter 23
La Bête
BASTIEN
Ihad no idea what game Gorrath was playing.
Did he truly believe that if he collected enough blood from me—enough pain, enough offerings—that he could free himself from his prison in the Underworld?
But there was no time to consider what this all meant or to mourn the death of a good man.
Because from the depths of the cavern, I heard sounds.
Footsteps fast approaching. Heavy breaths. And the low rumble of a growl.
Claws tapped lazily against the inside of my ribs. “Your wife. Your child. They need protection. They don’t need you. They need me.”
The ruthless, angry thing inside me. The one that had torn through witches in that graveyard and felt nothing but relief afterward. He wanted out. I had an army to command, and that thing didn’t lead. I swallowed it like poison.
“Lord Tyson,” I said, already drawing steel. My voice came out in the tone of a commander who did not have time to grieve the dead. “Give the prisoner to a guard. I need you with me.”
Orders were easier than feelings. And if I stayed cold and detached, I could keep that thing inside me at bay. I’d fought in the Lawless Lands countless times. This was no different.
Claire gave me a murderous look from where she sat on the ground beside Tansy, who was crying uncontrollably. “She’s just a scared girl. She didn’t want to do it.” She turned to Tansy. “I know she didn’t mean to do this.”
“But she did,” Tansy sobbed. “She did.”
Devlinn’s body lay between them, and I forced myself not to look.
Irons were clamped around the girl’s wrists with a clank and a snap. Her wand was taken, tossed aside like a broken toy. She didn’t fight. Just stared through us with hollow eyes.
“Get Tansy up,” I told my wife. Neither of them moved. “Trouble’s coming. We need to move.”
“What? We can’t just leave him here,” Tansy choked out. “We have to take him with us.” She was clutching Devlinn’s cloak as if she held tight enough he might wake up. “Your Grace, please!”
The footsteps were close. The growls, too.
“Fall back!” My wife, however, wasn’t listening.
She had her arms beneath Devlinn’s shoulders, trying to help Tansy lift him.
Something in my chest seized so violently I almost barked at her to stop.
I’d carried plenty of friends to the pyres once battles were done.
Plenty. But his death hadn’t happened because of war. It had been so senseless.
His head lolled to the side as they lifted him, and I was forced to look him in the face. He was so pale and lifeless. So unlike him. Black rot oozed from his mouth. The same oily blackness that Claire had thrown up.
The rot. The disease. Gorrath couldn’t be on the mortal plane. I’d ensured that. But somehow his influence was seeping into the world again. I glanced around the cavern like I might find him standing among my warriors.
But it was no use searching for ghosts.
“Soldiers,” I snapped, already moving. Already pointing. “Help them.”
Two men rushed forward, taking Devlinn’s weight from Claire and Tansy before they could protest. The relief that flickered across my wife’s face only made the guilt worse.
I should’ve been the one carrying him. He’d died because I hadn’t done my job properly.
Natalia burst through the dark with the warriors I’d sent to Chastity’s Stronghold. I was so relieved to see her face. To know she was alright. “Reform your lines! Weres!” she shouted. “Three of them!”
I tucked the grief back inside my chest and told myself I had to lead these soldiers. I had to be their commander now in order to protect my wife.
“You heard Lady Natalia! Reform your lines!” I commanded. My vision darkened at the edges as the change happened. The world stripped down to the things that mattered—heat signatures, heartbeats, the wet rush of blood through veins.
And somewhere ahead, three new pulses moved through the dark.
I planted myself in front of Claire. “Fall back with the others,” I told her. “Go with Sir Gavin.”
“No! I have magick too. I can fight.”
I gritted my teeth. If anyone else had spoken to me like that before a battle, I’d have barked them into place.
But this was my wife.
Yes, she finally had control of her power, and I’d seen what she could do with it. But she knew no spells, only raw power. And once the wolves knew she was the biggest threat, they’d come right for her. I couldn’t let that happen.
I turned just enough to look at her. Her chin was lifted. Grief and fury burned in her eyes. Blood and smeared black rot on her face and hands.
Natalia slid into position at my right, sword read. She didn’t spare Claire a glance. “That is not your place.”
“My place is with His Grace.”
I hated how much I loved hearing that. Her place was with me. But we had new responsibilities now.
“If you stand and fight against orders,” Natalia said with forced calm, “then you risk all our lives. Because His Grace’s attention will be divided. By standing down, you are doing your part.”
Tyson took my left. “I hate to agree with my cousin, but Natalia is right.”
Claire’s heart pounded out a too-fast rhythm, and I could feel her fury building behind me. She wasn’t going to move. Every instinct screamed to pick her up and carry her back myself, but it was too late now. The stench of the wolves was everywhere.
Wet fur and blood and that same stinking rot.
Three men stepped into the circle of torchlight, and I realized they weren’t exactly men.
They had snouts where faces should’ve been, and fur split through torn skin.
The only weapon they had was their claws, which were long and hooked.
They weren’t fully transformed werewolves.
But there was something else wrong with them. Their bodies were speckled with black pock marks, and thick, inky saliva dripped from their jaws. A bit dribbled onto an opalescent necklace.
I snarled, and they stopped when they saw the number of good swords behind me.
“They’re living in the tunnels,” Natalia explained. “Which is why Chastity sealed them.”
“Ah, that would’ve been good to know before we opened the door,” Tyson added unhelpfully.
“We don’t want no trouble, Lord Vampire,” one of them said in a thick, guttural voice. His long tongue licked over his sharp canines. “We only want those naughty little children, and we’ll be on our way.”
“We need to capture one of them,” Natalia whispered in Sanguisi.
Tyson chuckled. “You recruiting new consorts, cousin?”
“For questioning!” she bit back. Natalia was always three steps ahead of everyone else. “There’s something about those necklaces I don’t like.”
“They aren’t yours to take!” Claire shouted.
Every head turned in her direction. The wolves’.
My soldiers’. Mine. Frustration clawed up my throat.
This was a standoff. Predators assessing one another.
My objective, always, was to reduce casualties.
And if that meant using my influence as a commander and the threat of violence to get these creatures to back off, then that was my duty.
The biggest wolf, who appeared to have taken on the role of the pack alpha, scented the air. I didn’t need heightened senses to know what he smelled. Me. All over her. My bite. My blood. My claim. My seed. One breath and he knew she was my heart beating outside my body.
His attention drifted back to me, and he dragged a long, wolfish tongue over his jowls like he’d just found something interesting to tear apart. “Your mate speaks for you, Lord Vampire?”
With one sentence, he’d exposed the secret of our relationship to my entire army. Claire was my vulnerability. And now everyone knew it.
“Uncle,” Natalia breathed beside me. “Say something.” The fear in her voice was unmistakable. And even though something had broken between us, I knew she still bore love for me. The same love I had for her.
Before I could pull the attention back where it belonged, Claire shoved her wand through the narrow gap between Tyson and me and fired. The spell cracked through the air and struck one of them square in the shoulder, bursting into a spray of black blood.
The wolf staggered back with a snarl, more surprised than wounded. “You’ll pay for that, witch!”
Natalia and Tyson closed the space between us, creating a shield between Claire and us. The monster inside me that wanted out banged against my ribs. But I still hoped for diplomacy. Fighting was always the last resort. Always. “Look around you,” I told the wolves. “You are outnumbered.”
One of the little girls started crying, and the young witch who had killed Devlinn grunted against her bonds. “There’s a village of them down here!”
The big wolf snapped his jaws. “Shut your mouth.”
Listening, I sensed more footfalls. More snarls. More grunts. Others were coming. “And you, you’re their leader?” I asked, trying to keep him talking.
“We’re Shayla’s chosen.” He slapped his furry hand against the opalescent gem. “She knows who is loyal.”
“Where is Chastity?” I asked Natalia, keeping my features schooled in neutrality. “Tell me her witches are on the way.”
Natalia shook her head. “She let us through her wards, but didn’t follow.”
More wolves appeared out of the dark. Creatures caught somewhere between man and beast. But none of the others wore the same stones that these three did.
I had a feeling this wasn’t going to end with negotiations.
“Go stand with Sir Gavin,” I told Claire, not taking my eyes off the dark. “Do not make me repeat myself.”
“No. I can fight.”
“If you’re carrying my child, then your job is to protect him. Mine is to protect you.”