Loving The Beast Within (Sequel to Shifting Love)

Chapter 21: Taking Control

I didn’t wait for Cooper to finish unlocking everyone before I jogged out of the cage room. The lab was empty and so was the stairway back out of the basement. The moment I stepped out into the sunlight I knew I was no longer alone.

A small hand wielding a very sharp knife shot forward as she tried to stab me. Her eyes blazed in anger and her lips were twisted in a wry smile. She was out for blood, for revenge. Dante killed her mate in cold blood. She wasn’t going to leave me alone until I was dead.

I didn’t’ have time for a long drawn out battle with her. I needed to find my mate before he got himself killed. I thought about reasoning with her but I knew my words would fall on deaf ears. I understood her pain. If Tristan hadn’t killed Johnny, I would have gone after him myself.

My hand shot up and blocked her arm. The knife narrowly missed my head by centimeters. I kicked my leg out and knocked her feet off balance. She quickly fell to the ground. Her knife dropped out of her hand in order to catch herself.

I threw my body onto the ground and scrambled to get the knife before she did. She slammed her body onto mine just before my hand curled around the handle. Her elbow jabbed into my shoulder blade and I screamed out in pain.

“I am going to make you pay for what your mate did to mine!” she shrieked at me.

I didn’t get a chance to respond as her hands curled around my hair. She yanked my head back then slammed my forehead against the hard ground. My nose snapped under the pressure and blood flowed down my face.

The metallic tang entered my mouth when I opened it to scream. But I didn’t allow myself to wallow in my own agony. My pack was counting on me to bring my mate home in one piece. Lyndsay was just a distraction that I needed to get rid of now.

I reached out one last time and choked back a sob before gripping the handle of the knife. I twisted my body around underneath her and swung the knife at her neck. Her hand clasped around my wrist as she attempted to stop me.

She slowly began to turn my hand and the knife started to aim at my own face. My hand shook and my heart raced while I tried to overpower her. She was running on pure rage, a powerful and dangerous emotion for a wolf shifter. I had to channel my own rage if I was going to have any chance of beating her.

I forced myself to unbury the fear of Johnny and Shane; Johnny, who had taken Tristan and my father away from me, and Shane, who brutally tortured me for almost twenty-four hours straight. I couldn’t let Shane destroy my life. I had to get to Dante before he could.

Dante was the push I needed. I had to save him, from Shane, from himself. My hand shoved forward and the knife slid into the top of her chest. It wasn’t a fatal wound but it was deep enough to get her off of me.

I pushed myself off the ground and started running towards the barn. Teague hadn’t waited for me like I instructed him. But I could smell Dante’s trail. He had released all the other shifters from their cages in the barn. After that he headed into the woods.

Shane must be leading him somewhere. He was the only one Dante cared about killing right now and Shane knew it. I had to find him before it was too late.

‘Teague, where are you?’

I looked around the barn and gasped at the sight. Horror and fear wracked my body as my eyes took in the destruction my mate had caused.

At least twenty bodies were scattered on the ground, mangled beyond recognition. Blood was splashed all along the trees and the back barn wall. The metallic smell penetrated my nostrils all at once.

My hand flew up to steady myself against the wall as I bent over to throw up. The sight and smell were just too much for me. I felt like I was in a daze. This couldn’t be happening. Was this real? Had my mate really done all this?