The Hollow Moon (Downworlder Series, #2)

Epilogue: Wipe It Clean

I slowly peeled off the male's scalp, the blade slipping in my hand as I finally cut it off. I grinned at the token I had taken from the male who had taken so much from my female. His screams still rung in my ears, I had drawn thousands of them from him as I had taken his life from him. I looked at his mutilated body from my crouched position. I smirked at the art piece I had made with him. The entire area was splattered with blood, I had let him crawl around, gave him hope he could escape me before I would pull him back into the screaming and the pain.

"Hold this for me, will you?" I tossed the scalp onto his flayed chest before jamming the silver blade through his arm. I pulled out the black book, opening the book to his name. He had visited my female over a dozen times. I ground my teeth together as my wolf shoved at me, his teeth bared at the corpse we had created. He wanted to shred him more, he wanted to try pulling even more screams from the dead man.

I drew my blood finger through each of the repetitions of his name. I would coat each name in the blood of the males who had used my female in such a way. I used my thumb to smear the lily beside his name. My chest clenched at the sight of it. I didn't like seeing her symbol beside these filthy males. I sneered at the corpse of the male. He had deserved so much more than he had received. I wanted him alive so I could draw his life from him again and again.

I closed the book, a loud clap reverberating through the air as the two sides met. I reached forward and pulled the switchblade that Emily had given me as a mating gift from his arm, closing it up and sliding it back into my back pocket. Before my female I had been one who enjoyed using my actual claws, but the metal claw she had given to me certainly had its benefits.

I leaned forward and snatched the worthless piece of flesh that I had carved from the worthless male, "A pound of flesh for my queen, though she deserves much more than that for what you took from her." My wolf snapped his teeth, wanting to ravage what was left. I might have let him if I hadn't already let time get away from me. I had slipped away from Emily early this morning before the sun had even come up over the mountain peak. It had been hard to leave our bed of furs will her curled into my side after a long night of passion. She had woken me up during the night with her lips wrapped around my cock.

My blood heated at the memory, my need for violence was what had carried me away from her. Now that I had satisfied that need my other urges were calling to me. I stood up, kicking the limp corpse one more time before I turned away. I looked towards the sky, noting that the sun was already past it's peak.

Being in the city after growing accustomed to life in the mountains felt odd. It felt like it had taken several weeks to wash away the stench and the grime of the city from my skin. I wasn't sure if I could ever wash it from my mind, but my female helped to chase the shadows. It made me wonder who was the first of our kind to forsake what was natural for something that men had made? Whoever the fucker was, he was a fucking idiot.

I kept to the shadows of the streets, making sure to keep from being seen by people that might recognize me. I wanted to become the reaper that they had so feared. I wanted the whispering of my name to have them cowering in dark corners. My prey had changed, however, no longer did I care about the impurity of blood. I'd come to realize that blood was the same color no matter who it came from.

The kingdom I wanted to build for my queen would be one washed in the blood of her abusers. I would have her seated on a throne made from the bones of the bastards who had defiled her. The throne room would be adorned with the trophies I had carved from each one as a payment for the debt they owed. Those that came before her would know that she was to be honored and respected above all else.

I gave a toothy grin as I looked down at the bloodied scrap of flesh I held in my hand. This was only the beginning. I had more names to cross out of the ledger, more gifts to present to my female. I quickened my steps, excitement to be free from the filth of the city and to see Emily's face when I she saw what I had brought her. The overgrown ruins marked the edge of the Doyen power struggle to reign supreme in the iron jungle. Beyond here it was simply the rules of the Wild, kill or be killed.