3.1 | Animal Instinct ✓

21 | fight

2 1

f i g h t

THE FEAR WAS paralysing.

Azazel had become no different from a stranger, a terrifying one who didn't seem to be swayed by any pleading on my part. I bit down on my tongue to suppress the instinctive urge to beg him for my life, and Jed's, and instead met his gaze as bravely as I could, my fingers tightening around the pendant and in my palm and keeping the silver edge out of his sight.

"Well?" The smirk on Azazel's face widened when he saw how truly terrified I was. No amount of facades I put on could get past him. "Cat got your tongue?"

"Azazel – Adrian," My throat felt like sandpaper but somehow, I managed to force the words out of my lips. Delay time. Wait for someone, anyone, to arrive and change the tides. That was all I could think off as I sat there, my back pressed against the wall of the cupboard. "Why're you doing this?"

His grin faded and his lips tightened in a grim line. "Jed was never supposed to become Alpha. Claudius didn't want to hand the mantle of Alpha over, and for years, I had my eye on the seat. Then that bastard had to kill Claudius and ruin everything," He snarled, sounding well and truly angered by the thought. "Turns out that selling out Titan to another pack gets you far more money than expected. And you destroy what you can't have."

"You wanted to be Alpha?" I couldn't help but ask, watching him warily and bracing myself for any potential movement on his part. "What about Malthus? Wasn't he next in line?"

"Malthus?" Azazel's eyebrows shot up sardonically. "That fucker couldn't give a shit about being Alpha. All he ever wanted was revenge on Jed for Claudius's death." He shook his head in mocking pity and smirked. "Daddy issues."

"And Spike? Did you have a hand in his death?"

For a split second, he hesitated.

I didn't.

Bracing one hand on the pile of clothes beside me, I launched a swift kick right in the centre of his chest. But his reflexes were far quicker than mine, and he snuck a hand up, wrapping his fingers tightly around my ankle and yanking me to the edge of the closet. I yelped in pain, thrown off balance with the sudden shift in position, the corner of the closet digging into my spine. I pushed myself up, jerking my foot away from his grasp and swiping my knife right across, catching him by the skin on his other arm. The sharp edge drew a thin line across his arm and I felt the sudden splatter of blood across my fingers as he flinched and yanked away.

Adrian swore furiously under his breath and grabbed my wrist before I could do anything else. "I knew you'd pull something like that," He hissed, as I futilely struggled against his grip. With his other hand, he yanked me closer to him by the collar of my jumper and pressed his knees against my legs to prevent me from escaping. "But you made the wrong move. And this is going to be so painful."

My heart leapt to my throat at the glint in his eyes, the coldness in them reminding me so much of Malthus's that I felt myself panicking, my breath coming in shallow gasps. "What're you going to do to me?"

He detected the underlying message in my words almost immediately and smirked. "You think too lowly of me," He remarked and shook his head. "I'm nothing like the Neanderthal tribe of Trevinos who get off on their sexual fetishes. Besides, I have a goddess of my own to do with however I please," He added, before his gaze sharpened and his fingers inched towards my throat. "I'm just going to enjoy killing you."