Shattered - Completed

26 - Fiend's Obsession

I suck in a deep breath that makes my lungs scream in pain. My voice trails off into nothing. Her heart stutters before it weakly beats again.

The rage bubbles up and spills over. The cage doors swing open. I won't let her die. If I wipe MoonGlist off the map, so be it. The fiend steps out of his cage. I feel my elite ringing me, their eyes grim, mouths held tight, claws ready. The brute is loose.

He turns our head. "We were a good male to you," we whisper hotly against her paper-thin skin. "Is that your secret power? You've bewitched an evil male, beloved. That's your fate. You bit us, first."

We run our nose down her cheek, inhaling her. When we find the juncture of her collarbone and neck, we bite. Our canines sink into her slight, thin frame, so deep we hit bone. A favor for a favor, right? 'All's fair' and all that shit.

Mating venom spills over. The bond snaps tight. We laugh. In the distance, we hear the rustling of wolves creeping closer.

We pull our fangs out reluctantly. "We can hear you," we hiss out. The noise stops. The paws retreat. All but a few. "We can smell you," we growl. "Don't come close to our mate. Ours."

"That's amazing, Sire," is the soft, stunned answer, like the wisps of smoke still rising from the village below.

"Yesss," we hiss like the King himself.

Shouts, muted, angry. An alpha has lost his mate. Not us. We have gained everything. "Silence him," we snarl. Our wolves obey. The puny weakling falls quiet. "No one bothers us. Bring food," we order. We use the last of our waning strength to stumble down the hall with our waif.

The room that holds her sunshine scent stinks. It reeks of despair and sex and our precious mate. Her only comfort here was a thin, raggedy blanket. Specks of vomit still coat the farthest wall. We can smell the poison from here. They fed her bad food. We will return the favor.

We tuck her against us. This foul place is not good enough for her. Turning, we stumble out. Away from the reek of blood and death. The air outside is filled with smoke. Not good for our sweetheart. Where can we go?

The room down the hall smells of the alpha and luna. Enemies, but this is better. We are close to collapse. We take her there, using our nose to guide us when our eyes can no longer see. Inside, we fall to our knees.

"Sire, let me clean it for you," our Beta murmurs.

"No," we grunt. "Get Javi."

Levan retreats without another word. We trust the male. Trusted the male, but the female in my arms didn't like him in her dreams, so he will no longer be the one who stands on my left.

My wolf collapses to his belly. His eyes flicker shut. Shit. Not yet, you dumb fuck. Another set of footsteps. A familiar scent.

"Javi," I grunt. I'm drenched in sweat and now my wolf abandons me. I curl around my little witch protectively. "Clean this pigsty. Only you."

"I understand, Sire," he replies quietly. I know he doesn't understand. He doesn't know anything. This isn't his bond. It's mine. My wolf opens one eye and flashes a fang. Ours. I listen, my eyes closed, as Javi cleans the room with bucket after bucket of water from the sink in the bathroom. When the den smells fresher, he sets down a hot bowl of soup next to us. "Food, Sire."

I grunt my thanks as my wolf's eyes close again, my consciousness wavering in and out, too. Javi leaves, and the grotesque den falls silent. I pry my eyes open and stare at the princess in our arms. She's dying. I can feel it, the faint flutter of her heartbeat against our much stronger one. Her pale face with the darkest shadows under her eyes. When was the last time she ate something that wasn't poisoned or rotten?