Beautiful Violence
RHYS
I watched my mate—our mate—curl beneath Saint’s massive wolf like she was something fragile.
Pathetic, really. That black beast loomed over her, jaws parted just enough to flash those long fangs at me in warning.
A low, rumbling growl vibrated through the clearing, shaking leaves from the branches above.
Saint’s ice-blue eye glowed feral red at the edges, the other hidden behind a curtain of black fur. Protective little puppy.
Don’t come closer.
The message was clear and my blood sang.
My cock throbbed harder at the sight.
Good, I thought, lips curving into that smile they all hated and craved. Fight me. Make it hurt.
Scarlett’s sobs filtered through the wolf’s bulk, tiny, gasping sounds that made her scent spike: terror, slick, and that sweet, stubborn defiance I wanted to choke out of her with my knot.
She was drenched for us already. My perfect little Omega, pretending she wasn’t ours while her body screamed the truth.
I took one step forward. Then another, my eyes locked on Saint’s.
“Move,” I said softly. The command slid through our pack bond like a blade dipped in honey.
Saint didn’t. His hackles rose higher, teeth bared wider, saliva dripping onto the dirt beside Scarlett’s trembling shoulder. He shifted his weight, one massive paw planting possessively over her waist, claws flexing just enough to pin her without breaking skin.
*Mine to protect,* his wolf snarled back through the bond.
Kane’s dark laughter rolled from the shadows behind me. “Oh, fuck yes. Big boy’s finally snapping.”
I tilted my head, calm as ever, even as my blood sang. “You forget yourself, Saint.”
In the next breath I moved.
I lunged low, shoulder slamming into the side of his thick neck like a wrecking ball.
The impact cracked through the air, bone against bone, muscle tearing.
Saint roared, a sound that shook the ground, and whipped around, jaws snapping shut inches from my face.
Hot breath, razor teeth, the metallic tang of fury.
I laughed.
We crashed together in a blur of violence.
His paw raked across my chest, claws shredding fabric and skin in four deep, bloody furrows.
Pain bloomed bright and sweet. I grabbed a fistful of his ruff and yanked, slamming my forehead into his snout with a wet crunch.
Blood—his—sprayed across my cheek. Saint staggered, then barreled into me, all brute force and guilt-ridden rage.
We rolled across the forest floor, dirt and leaves grinding into fresh wounds. His weight crushed me for half a second; I let him, savoring the way his power tried to dominate what could never be dominated.
Through the bond I felt it all: his love, twisted and desperate. His hatred for himself for wanting to tear me apart and still crawl back begging for my touch afterward. *Beautiful.*
I drove my knee up between his ribs, heard something crack, then flipped us.
My hand closed around his throat, half wolf, half man now as he started shifting back in the frenzy and I pinned him down hard enough that the ground trembled.
My blood dripped onto his fur. His claws raked my sides, opening more gashes that burned like liquid fire.
Scarlett screamed somewhere close. “Stop! Rhys, Saint please!”
Her voice only made me harder.
Kane was circling now, eyes black pits of glee, cock straining against his pants as he watched us destroy each other.
Saint bucked beneath me, shifting fully back to skin, naked, bleeding, massive cock half-hard from the violence and the bond. His ice-blue eyes met mine, wild and pleading and furious all at once. “She’s scared,” he growled, voice shredded. “You’re hurting her.”
I leaned down, licking a slow stripe up the blood on his jaw, tasting copper and pack and home. My lips brushed his ear. “She’s ours to break. And you’ll thank me when she’s dripping with all three of us and still begging for more.”
I bit down on his throat hard enough to bruise, not kill and felt his massive body shudder in submission even as his fists slammed into my ribs. The bond flared white-hot with pain and twisted pleasure.
Kaiden stood off to the side, arms crossed, looking almost bored. But I saw the hunger in his eyes. Lily was still shrieking from the tree like a broken record.
And Scarlett… my fierce little princess had pushed herself up on shaking arms, tears and slick and dirt streaking her perfect face. Her green eyes were wide with horror, pupils blown. She couldn’t look away.
I smiled at her over Saint’s bleeding body, golden eyes promising every filthy, unhinged thing I’d whispered earlier.
Saint snarled and surged up again, teeth aiming for my shoulder.
I slammed him down, pinning him for half a second, my blood dripping onto his fur.
“You dare bare your teeth at me for her?” I hissed, voice ragged with pleasure and rage. “She’s ours, Saint. Not yours. Ours.”
Saint roared and flipped us, slamming me into the trunk so hard the entire tree shook. His claws raked down my chest, opening deep gashes that burned like liquid ecstasy.
I grabbed his throat, squeezing, smiling through bloody teeth.
“I love you, you know that?” I whispered, voice soft even as I dug my claws deeper. “That’s why I’m going to hurt you so beautifully right now.”
Saint’s eyes flashed—pain, devotion, that same sick, twisted love that kept our pack chained together in blood and obsession. We were monsters. But we were *each other’s* monsters.
And Scarlett… she was the pulsing heart we would carve the world open to keep.
I headbutted him hard, breaking his nose with a wet crack, then kicked him off me. He crashed into another branch, snarling.
Blood poured from both of us, hot and metallic, painting the forest floor.
Scarlett’s scream sliced through everything. “STOP!”
I rose slowly, chest heaving, wounds already knitting together with that delicious itch of accelerated healing. I looked straight at her, trembling, dirt-streaked, slick still gleaming on her thighs, green eyes wide with raw horror. My smile returned, gentle and terrifying.
“Come here, little one,” I murmured, holding out my bloodied hand. “Or I’ll make Saint bleed until he learns his place.”
The canopy fell deathly silent.
Only the drip… drip… drip of blood from leaves remained.
And the frantic thunder of Scarlett’s terrified heart.
Then…
“Bloody hell, what the fuck is going on here?!”
A deep, authoritative male voice cracked through the air like a whip.
We all turned.
Professor Ryan stood at the edge of the clearing, face twisted in pure shock, eyes darting between the blood-soaked ground, Saint’s half-shifted form, my shredded chest, and Scarlett curled on the dirt like a broken doll.
“You’re all eliminated,” he barked, voice tight with disgust. “Clean yourselves up and get to the damn tent. Now.”
Lily dropped from the tree like a missile, landing hard. “But Professor, it was the Triumvirate’s fault! They….”
“I don’t want to hear about it,” Ryan snapped, cutting her off with a sharp hand. “Go.”
Lily didn’t hesitate. She rushed forward, grabbed Scarlett by the arm, and yanked her up. My princess stumbled, legs shaking. Lily wrapped an arm around her and they bolted, disappearing into the trees.
Ryan’s gaze locked on me.
I just smiled, blood still running down my jaw. “What?”
The professor’s jaw clenched, but he said nothing else. Smart man.
Behind me, Saint finally forced the full shift back. Bones cracked and popped wetly as fur receded, leaving him naked, towering, bleeding from a dozen wounds. His massive cock hung heavy between his thighs, still half-hard from the fight and the bond. He looked… wrecked and… Glorious.
I stepped toward him, reaching out to brush blood from his split lip.
Saint knocked my hand away with a vicious shove, eyes burning ice-blue. Without a word, he turned and walked off, broad back rigid, blood trailing behind him like a cape.
I frowned, irritation flickering through the calm for the first time tonight.
Kaiden exhaled sharply. “Real mature of you, Rhys.” Then he turned and followed Saint.
Kane sauntered up beside me. “Our puppy will come around. He always does after you fuck him up just right….”
A sharp, stabbing pain exploded in my chest.
I gasped.
Kane doubled over at the same time, clutching his sternum. “Hell no… did he….?”
I rubbed the spot hard, feeling the pack bond… twist and slam shut. Like a steel door crashing down, cutting Saint off from us completely, but temporarily.
I stared into the trees where he had vanished, my smile faded.
A brutal, throbbing void where his presence used to pulse.
He’d blocked us.
Our puppy had just slammed the bond.
For the first time in years, I couldn’t feel him.