The Discarded

Chapter 29

Friday November 7th 2014

Cerberus blocked the stairs of the Serpens Lacum. Primed and ready for a fight, they were rolling five rows deep without an inch between them. They watched him come without a word, a mass of muscled hate with every reason to want him dead.

"Your bitch's going to get a surprise tonight." The voice was hidden in the crowd of soldiers.

"What would that be?"

"She had to keep pushing. Couldn't back off and suck the dick like she should. They'll break her alter and smear it with shit. Fucking whore will see what she gets when she sets foot where she doesn't belong. Let's see how she likes it when someone shits on her faith." Venomous smiles cut across their faces. "You thought you won. Big man covering us in shit. You thought it was over." He bolted for the Vulpes, chased by their laughter.

It had already been a full day, working out with Viktor, fighting with Tamlin, and then training with Anastasia. He'd been looking forward to a hot bath, not a sprint across campus with sore muscles. He hit the trail behind the Vulpes at a dead run.

The clearing opened up in front of him, empty and holy. Gulping air, his knees hit the ground with a thump, the stitch in his side twisting with a vicious burn. He pushed the pain aside, thoughts running fast. Should he ambush them on the trail or in the clearing? There were advantages to each, but he had to decide soon. It depended on who they sent. Blaez would butcher him on the trail, the wolf owned the forest. On the other hand, the cover would cripple Pantagruel.

When Blaez walked into the clearing, a small, tight smile spread across Cesare's face. It didn't last—it never does. Anastasia stepped into the clearing behind the wolf. Malicious glee danced in the wolf's eyes. "Well, well, well, looks like Fenris gave me a gift." Horror etched itself on Anastasia's face as she took in Cesare.

Blaez smiled, eyes sweeping the clearing for surprises. "I'll give you the chance to crawl away, cockroach." Anastasia shot Cesare a pleading look.

"Can't do that. How about we find a teacher and talk it over with them?" In the pain soaked darkness, it was the last defying hiss of a cornered cat, the poisoned curse of a dying man. Barbed and twisted, the words brought something slaughterous into the clearing, the holiness of the clearing embracing its blood-drenched cousin.

A sexual satisfaction saturated Blaez's smile, the deep pleasure of sheathing himself in a woman. "Nice to see your baby teeth, too bad it's too late. This'll be fun, for me."

Cesare tossed the three-pack of fog horns onto the grass. Sound exploded into the silent clearing, rupturing the stillness with savage delight. The Thagirion flinched back, hands jumping to their ears at the hammer of noise. The ear plugs Cesare had in smoothed out the hard edges.

Eyes threaded with pain, Blaez pushed through the punishing wall of sound. Beyond the bounds of safe, the volume slaughtered the filament of its ears. Anastasia was the more dangerous of the two. Her long-range attacks could destroy the entire plan, but one look reassured him. She waited on the sidelines, eyes darting between the two boys.

Teeth gritted, lips pulled back in a snarl, the wolf pushed forward even as spikes of pain drove into his skull. At ten feet, the wolf rushed him. Yellow with eyeshine, the animal glared out of the human lie. The moment enfolded Cesare in its cold precision. Stupid with pain and fury, Bleaz was out of step with the moment. The wild haymaker was telegraphed in a thousand ways. Ducking under it, Cesare's jab thudded into the wolf's face. It would've put Anastasia on her back foot, but the wolf shrugged it off with a grin.

Swinging for the fences, Blaez came forward with another looping punch. The moment pulled Cesare back enough to let it pass, a forward kick snapping into the charging wolf's center mass. The wolf stepped back, mastering rage and pain. His stance took on a professional polish.