Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 24

There was a time when I might have run and recoiled from such a man. He'd taken something from Verando that I could never give back to him, with every fiber of my being I wanted to destroy the man before me. He'd nearly cost us both our lives with his selfish reasons and in believing that my husband belonged to him, the personal offense I took to his continual draw on the planet's air made my stomach churn. 

But his life was not mine to take. 

Wrinkling my nose, I stomp roughly on his foot with the heel of my shoe. With a snarl, he clutches my chin firmly in his hand and I flick my eyes towards the watching guard. "Go ahead, make your move and out yourself, you psychopath." My voice drips with venom, "You came here for a reason, obviously there's something you want to make you slither out of your hiding place."

His fingers tighten, digging into my cheeks and causing my jaw to ache but my bones are no longer that of a mortal. I'd be much more difficult to break this time around. "A lot of talk from someone who's breaking their own laws." Inhaling deeply, his nose skirts over my cheekbone. "You've been naughty. You smell like-" Running his tongue over his teeth, he chuckles. "Enhancer. Oh my, Nicolas. Have you been using?"

Swiftly, I move to knee him in the crotch and he quickly blocks my attempt. "Eat me." I spit. Jerking out of his grasp, he clutches my wrist with his free hand. "Disgusting bastard-"

 Flashing his teeth, the golden eyes glimmer in the dark rings of his lashes. Peering at me from the depths of blackness that surrounds those piercing pools of molten liquid. "With pleasure." He hisses, even with my newfound strength I was still a relatively young lycan. Much as I was stronger physically than I'd ever been, contending with Caspian was something not even Verando was capable of.

 My wolf thrashed in its mental box, desperate to get out and defend the honor of my soul mate. Yet, much as I called it forward, I struggled to let go. My body felt as though it was fighting with itself from the inside out. Chuckling as I flinch, he rolls his eyes in disappointment. "Can't even shift, you truly are pathetic. Go ahead, take more super drug, you'll do me a huge favor when you burn out." 

Quicker than I can deflect, his teeth sink into my throat yet I refuse to cry out. Removing the sheathed knife from my belt, I plunge it into his collar bone and kick away from him to clutch the savaged hole he'd left at the base of my neck. In the depth of the music and the lights, there would be no way the guard would see me clear enough to extract me from this fight and go unnoticed.

 Chispa had outdone herself, she'd aimed to provide ample entertainment in case I'd wanted to make a hasty retreat. I'd prefer not to have another bloody stain on my family's record when it came to causing mischief. Backing into the crowd, I willed my husband to find me, trapped in my mortal body my wolf was practically a hindrance with the agony of it clawing its way out.

I clutch my stomach with my free arm, holding pressure over the hole in my neck with the opposite hand. "Stop." I plead with the beast under my breath. "I can't function like this."

My wolf alerts me to the eyes locking in on my position, I note that the attention I'm gaining from the crowd is not those of friendly eyes. The casual stalking pass of a predator moving through the camouflage of the crowd. He'd placed more than enough bodies in this party to be a formidable force. I shouldn't have expected any less from Caspian, he was no amateur, he was as experienced as my warlord was without the conscious of desiring to keep people alive.

"Need I remind you, again, that if you kill me you'll kill him, too?" I just needed to buy some time, this neck wound would heal but it would take longer than I had with the numbers closing in around me. "Take your toys and go home Caspian."