“Sorry.” The apology sounded weak to her ears, probably because she was confused.
The plan was they all dealt with the fallen angels and then they took down the dragon.
Did Asteria plan not to help her with Zephyr?
Her fingers shook against the hilt of her blade as it dawned on her that the demoness knew she needed closure. She knew that dealing the killing blow would give her that, allowing her to move on with her life.
But was she strong enough to take on a dragon?
“Ready?” Anais clutched her sword in front of her and Loke fell into line beside her.
She glanced at the blonde huntress and her striking turquoise-haired mate.
She wasn’t alone. With their help, she could do this. She could put her past to rest, free Wolf and take her first step towards the future she wanted with him.
Loke twirled his knife, his aquamarine eyes locked on Zephyr. “I should have killed you when I had the chance.”
The green-haired dragon just smiled. “Now I will be the one killing you.”
He moved in a blur, so fast her eyes couldn’t track him, and Loke slammed into the ground, Zephyr on top of him. Zephyr raked claws down his bare chest, snarling and flashing all-sharp teeth as golden flakes lit his eyes. Loke growled and bucked upwards, knocking the dragon off balance. He was quick to roll, dislodging Zephyr and sending him to the ground.
Emelia moved on instinct, every second of her training kicking into gear as she focused on her target, feeling Wolf’s eye tracking her, sensing his concern as he continued his struggle against the chains that bound him.
She unleashed a war cry as she swept her blade towards Zephyr.
He twisted his body away from her and brought his left arm up. Her blade struck it, and she clenched her teeth and wanted to growl as green scales rippled over his skin, deflecting her strike.
It wasn’t going to deter her. He couldn’t defend against three of them. Anais launched into the fray, her blade swift and aim true, but meeting with the same result as scales formed over Zephyr’s side.
Emelia rolled when he grabbed for her, ducking beneath his hand and coming up on the other side of him. She drew her gun again, breathing hard as she reloaded it with the final dart. Her hands shook and she backed away, watching the fight between Zephyr, Loke, and Anais closely as she looked for an opening.
The last thing she wanted to do was hit either of her friends. The drug would slow Loke, and it might kill Anais. Loke twisted with Zephyr, giving her a clear shot at his back.
She squeezed the trigger.
Zephyr tensed, grabbed Loke, and turned with him. Using him as a shield. Loke was fast to shove out of Zephyr’s grip, barely dodging the dart. Zephyr dodged too, his eyes fixing on her as he shifted right and the dart flew past him, struck the wall of the cave, and clattered to the ground.
Before she could ready her blade, the dragon had his hand around her throat. He growled and shoved her back into the wall. Lightning arced down her spine, and she cried out.
“Emelia!” Wolf bellowed.
Fear crashed over her, memories pushing to the surface to steal her strength as they flickered across her eyes as she stared into Zephyr’s green ones. It was all going to happen again. She had been a fool to think she was strong enough to slay the dragon. She wasn’t brave. She wasn’t a warrior.
She was weak.
The dragon’s green eyes softened and darted over her face, his brow furrowing as he gazed down at her.
His grip loosened.
Hand rose to her face.
Thumb stroked her cheek as he looked into her eyes, conflict reigning in his.
Because he didn’t want to hurt her.
Because she was his mate.
As dark and vicious as he was, as violent and cruel, his instincts still controlled him to a degree, enough that he was torn between hurting her and soothing her.
Maybe she was weak, but she still had power, and she wasn’t going to waste it.
“Release the angel, and I’ll be yours.” She tried to keep her voice calm and her nerves in check, not wanting him to detect the lie in them.
He growled, flashing sharp fangs, and his gaze slid to his right, towards Wolf where he wrestled with the restraints, his good wing beating furiously as he shouted at her, things she blocked out because she couldn’t let him sway her. This was the only way.
“Be mine, and I will release the angel,” Zephyr countered.
Fuck.
If she took his blood, it would complete the bond, and she wasn’t sure what happened then. She became a mindless slave? She looked at Anais, where she was slowly circling around Zephyr. Her friend was mated to Loke and it hadn’t changed her.
No.
It had changed her.
It had made her immortal.
Stronger.
It was the only way.
She swallowed and nodded.
“No!” Wolf yelled and renewed his fight, his face twisting in desperation as the shackles still refused to give. She cast him an apologetic look, prayed he would forgive her for this, and turned away from him. “Emelia. No!”
Loke took a hard step towards them.
She halted him with a look, one she hoped conveyed that she had a plan and she needed him to hold back, just for a little longer. He looked to Anais, his aquamarine eyes bright with confusion. The blonde huntress shook her head, causing her ponytail to sway across the shoulders of her black T-shirt.
Zephyr grinned, raised his wrist, and bit into his vein. Emelia baulked as he offered it to her, crimson spilling over his palm. Damn, was she really going to do this?
She tried to shut out Wolf as he begged her not to do it.
She had to do it. Just not for the reason he thought she was going to do it. This wasn’t about giving herself to Zephyr.
This was about taking something back from him.
Her strength.
This was about making him pay.
She would have her revenge, and the bond he had wanted to force on her would be the catalyst for it. He would damn himself with this offering of blood, and hell, she loved it.
She closed her eyes, lowered her head, and licked the blood from his palm.
He shuddered and moaned, and she frowned as heat swept through her, a strange haziness that wasn’t unpleasant. It bloomed in every inch of her, sank deep into her muscles and bones, seemed to raise her up as she took more of his blood. She felt the connection as it formed.
Felt the relief that ran through him.
Felt the strength that ran through her.
“My mate,” he murmured, stroking her cheek with his other hand, his tone distant.
The bond was affecting him more than she had expected.
His guard was down.
She slowly lifted her head and looked into his drowsy eyes.
“Release the angel,” she husked, trying to keep him off balance, doing her damnedest to sound all compliant and lovely when really she wanted to cleave his head clean off his shoulders.
“Emelia.” Wolf grunted as he yanked on the chain, gripping it in both hands and planting his feet against the wall of the cave as he arched forwards, attempting to use his body weight to free himself.
When it still wouldn’t give, another white feather in his right wing turned black. And then another. And then two more. Until they were rapidly changing, more and more each time, a domino effect she had started.
“Release him!” she snapped at Zephyr, because if the dragon didn’t free him soon, he wouldn’t have any white feathers left, and she wasn’t sure what happened then.
Zephyr had the audacity to smile. “No.”
“I thought you’d say that.” She didn’t give him a chance to react.
She plunged her blade into his gut.
His hazy eyes instantly cleared, disbelief colouring them as he looked down at the sword protruding from his side.
“You are my mate!” he snarled.
“Not for much
longer.” She grunted as she gripped her blade in both hands and heaved it sideways.
He fumbled for her, claws barely missing her as she swayed to her left to dodge them and forced her sword onwards, cleaving through his stomach. He reached for her again and she couldn’t dodge this time, braced herself as his hand came down towards her shoulder. It slammed into her but just rested there, and she looked up at Zephyr’s face.
He coughed, blood pouring from his lips as he continued to stare at her, shock lighting his green eyes.
Because his mate had turned on him?
He was getting what he deserved for what he had done to her, and what he had done to Wolf.
She held his gaze, wanting the last thing the bastard saw to be her, to be the contempt she felt for him, and wanting him to know that even his fated one, a female who was meant to adore him and be loyal to him according to dragon lore, hated his guts.
Guts which spilled onto the black ground as she finally worked her sword free.
She retched as he went down, dry heaving as the two halves of his body separated, attached only by a small strip of flesh.
Her hand flew to her mouth and she swallowed the bile that rose up her throat as Loke calmly took the sword from Anais and brought it down, severing Zephyr’s head.
The connection she had felt blooming inside her died.
But the strength remained, flowing in her veins, lifting her up.
“Incoming!” Asteria yelled.
Emelia didn’t have time to react before the entire cave shook, a shock wave knocked her off her feet into Loke and red light blinded her. Liquid rained down on her, and the sound of wet slaps sounded all around her. She baulked again as something hit her, soft and squishy, and the rank odour of blood and entrails hit her nostrils.
“Oh, my dark lord.” Asteria sounded as disgusted and close to vomiting as Emelia was. “Ew… get it off… get it off!”
“Well, you will fight a fallen angel in a contained space.” Rey’s deep baritone filled the cave. “What did you expect?”
“You could have told me she would explode!” Asteria’s voice gained pitch. “Oh… ew… what is this? Is this an ear?”
Emelia really didn’t want to look now, but she had to check on Wolf.
“Steady now. She is safe. Let it go.” Rey.
She opened her eyes to find him standing in front of Wolf, covered from head to toe in blood, his bare hands framing Wolf’s face. Wolf breathed hard, his one good eye bright gold as he stared at her.
But there was a black corona around the edges of his iris.
He gritted his teeth and snarled, the sound inhuman.
Like a fallen angel.
She was on her feet and muscling Rey out of the way in a split second, her hands replacing his on Wolf’s cheeks.
“Wolf,” she whispered, but he didn’t look at her. He kept staring at where she had been when Zephyr had been giving her blood. When she had accepted a bond with him. “Wolf… I’m here. Listen to my voice, Wolf. You have to let it go. Please?”
He breathed harder, his bare chest heaving as the band of black surrounding his iris thickened and started to turn crimson.
“No… no… no… Wolf.” She smoothed her hands over his bloody cheeks, feathered her fingers over his left eye that was swollen shut, ugly claw marks cutting over the puffy blackened flesh. “Listen to my voice, Wolf. It’s me. Emelia. I’m right here. I’m right here, and I love you… so you have to listen to me. I love you, Wolf. Only you.”
The darkness receded a touch, the band narrowing again and the scarlet fading.
Her eyes darted to his wings, scouring the bloodstained feathers, her heart jamming in her throat and beating there at a dizzying pace. Everywhere she looked, his feathers were black.
“He’s going to fall.” She looked to Rey.
Would it be such a bad thing if he did fall? Rey had retained his Echelon powers and he didn’t seem evil.
Concern shone in his crimson eyes. “It is not too late. Keep talking. I am not sure what will happen to him if he falls this way.”
The way he said that had her pushing onwards and refusing to give up, because he looked as if he believed it would be a very bad thing if Wolf fell.
Thorne had told her about fallen angels, about how darkness consumed and twisted them, vanquishing their softer emotions. All the ones Thorne had encountered had run slave rings and nefarious businesses, building empires on blood and death, using their power for their own gain. The way Rey kept glancing at her, silently urging her to keep trying to reach Wolf and pull him back from the edge, warned her that if Wolf fell, there was a danger the darkness she had seen in Wolf from time to time would turn him into a man she wouldn’t recognise.
“I’m sorry about what I did. It was the only way. If I had known… Wolf… I wouldn’t have done that to you.” She squeezed his cheeks in her palms, hoping to get him to look at her. When his good eye still remained locked beyond her, her patience slipped. She shook him slightly. “Wolf, will you bloody listen to me!”
His golden eye slowly edged towards her.
Locked with hers.
Her brow furrowed as she gazed up at him and whispered.
“I love you. No matter what happens here. I will always love you.”
CHAPTER 36
I love you, Wolf. Only you.
Those words pierced the dark clouds in his mind like a shaft of purest light. The shadows writhed away from it, then gathered strength and rose up to meet it, easily extinguishing it. They beckoned him when darkness fell again, promising things that had him taking a step towards them. Strength. Retribution. Freedom.
Absolute power.
Heat suffused him at just the thought of grasping hold of that. How many times had he craved the strength to crush his foes? To destroy the demons who infested this world? With such power, he could achieve that dark dream. All would quake before him.
In the black abyss, the soft voice echoed, his sensitive hearing picking up her words even as they faded from existence.
Loved him?
She had betrayed him.
Pain cleaved his chest in two, cut straight through his heart to kill it.
I’m sorry about what I did. It was the only way.
The shadows hissed at the voice, warned him not to listen to it, but his heart stitched itself back together, began to beat once again as those words swam in his mind.
Not betrayed?
If I had known… Wolf… I wouldn’t have done that to you.
Truth or lie?
The shadows whispered it was a lie. She meant to deceive him now that her mate was dead.
Dead?
He frowned as a flicker of light pierced the veil of darkness again.
She had killed her mate.
Spilled his entrails across his own floor.
The black abyss shook, the assault so violent that the ground bucked beneath him and he barely managed to remain standing.
Wolf, will you bloody listen to me!
He was listening. There was no need to grow violent. He tried to sweep the shadows away, irritated by them, but they curled around his legs, and wherever they touched, his white armour blackened.
“I love you. No matter what happens here. I will always love you.”
Emelia’s voice rang in his ears, sang in his heart, each word a bright beam of light that penetrated the darkness. The shadows slunk away, snapping at the ground, moving to a distance as the light engulfed him. He looked at them, aware they were only waiting, biding their time until the light stuttered and died again.
“Wolf? I think all your feathers are black, and I’m scared it’s my fault.”
Her fault?
She had betrayed him. Of course it was her fault.
He shook his head. No. It wasn’t entirely her fault. He had courted this darkness, had always failed to leash it, and had relied on it too much throughout the years, giving it a hold over him.
And she hadn’t betrayed him.
She had done it to free him.
And to set herself free too.
His arms suddenly dropped, the weight of them falling taking him to his knees. The light moved with him, wrapped around him, and warmed him. He sank into it.
“All his feathers are black. What can I do? If he falls, will he be like you?”
A male voice answered. “I am not sure. Wolf has a darkness inside him the likes of which I have never seen in another angel. If he falls…”
He would become a monster.
She had said she would love him no matter what happened, but would she?
He tried to turn his head, blinked to clear his vision of the darkness. Everywhere he looked, it remained, stretching around him.
Endless darkness.
Perhaps it was too late for him after all.
He would become a monster, and she would leave him.
His eyes snagged on a bright white dot in the field of blackness.
He crawled towards it, his movements sluggish as he fought the hold of the light. Eventually, it moved with him, and he frowned as he saw what the dot was.
A single white feather.
He frowned at it and carefully gathered it into his palm. It shone in the light, blindingly bright, reflecting a thousand colours.
“Is that… oh my God.” Emelia’s voice echoed through the darkness as the feather disappeared from his palm.
Her relief rushed through him, flowing from the warmth touching his lips right down into his weary soul. She filled it with light until it blazed and the darkness around him finally receded.
Revealing her.
She sat before him, her hands framing his face, her lips pressed to his.
He groaned and couldn’t keep from kissing her back, ached to hold her but didn’t have the strength to move his arms.
“We should take him somewhere safe.” Rey’s voice sounded distant as Wolf kissed Emelia, lost himself in her and his thoughts, all the things he wanted to tell her.
“Not my bloody castle,” a male grumbled. “No Echelon allowed.”
Avenged by an Angel Page 35
