Feral Wolf by Caroline Peckham

29 HOURS UNTIL THE FIB ARRIVE…

 

“Well.” Gustard pushed to his feet. “Looks like the pup has abandoned you all. Maybe she’s crawling through the pipes like a sewer rat looking for a way out right now. Which means you’re all dead weight to her. Literally.” He cast a wooden bow and arrow in his hands, taking his time as he aimed it at my head.

I growled at him, facing my death without flinching.

“Get away from him!” Roary barked.

“Dead, dead, dead,” Sin sang and at first I thought he was singing that song at me before he went on. “You’re all pretty little bird’s eggs in a nest about to fall. My raptor is coming and she’s going to tear you all to pieces. Better hatch – better fly! Ca-cor!”

“Oh I’ve waited a long time to silence your insufferable tongue, Wilder.” Gustard aimed the arrow at him instead and I lunged forward to try and knock him off balance.

Strong hands pulled me back and Gustard released the arrow, making my heart rate ratchet up. It whooshed through the air towards Sin’s head and he jerked backwards at the last second.

The arrow sank into Plunger’s leg a few feet away and the guy didn’t even react.

“What the fuck?” Gustard growled as Plunger stared down at the arrow and the blood seeping out around it.

“I’m made of moleskin, sir,” he laughed. “My thighs are the epito-mai of robust.”

“Enough of this,” Gustard snarled and Hastings whimpered from his position tied to the ceiling above us. “Kill them all. Make it bloody.” He dropped back into his chair, tossing the bow and arrow away as his men closed in around us.

A cold, silver knife was pressed to my throat and I howled a long note, praying Rosalie would hear the goodbye and hating that I’d never see her face again. I wasn’t afraid to die, but I was afraid to lose her, torn away from my mate by death. It wasn’t fair. We had barely begun to love each other.

The knife slashed across my jugular and pain splintered out across my flesh, blood rising in my throat, my mouth, and my back hit the floor as I was released. A blur in my periphery made me turn my head as I spluttered and felt my bond to Rosalie calling to her, begging her to come to me in my final moments.

My cheek pressed to the cold floor and my gaze settled on Sin as the blur of motion collided with the two big guys behind the Incubus who were trying to keep him still long enough to kill him. They hit the ground beneath a huge weight and my eyes focused on Cain as he swung around, slashing the binds holding Sin in place and freeing his hands.

“Freedom!” Sin whooped and a blast like a tornado exploded from him, knocking down The Watchers closest to him like they were a bunch of skittles.

I had no idea where he’d gotten the lust from to recharge his magic, but as Plunger came into view beyond him with a clear hard on, I had a feeling I could guess.

I tried to call out to Sin, but no words passed my lips as he sent The Watchers blasting away from us and Cain worked to free the rest of the prisoners, shooting between them in a blur as our enemies tried to take him down.

Suddenly hands were on me, rolling me toward them and I found myself looking up at Roary, his face fixed in a frown as he pressed his fingers to my throat.

“Don’t die, brother. You’ve got a family to forge with me and Rosalie. We can’t do it without you, alright?” he said roughly, trying to hide the fear in his golden eyes.

I couldn’t answer, the pain in my throat blinding as his fingers ran over the wound and worked to heal it. His face fixed in concentration and I reached toward him, locking my hand around his arm and squeezing in thanks for what he was doing for me. He’d given up his chance to run because of me.

“Lions don’t leave anyone in their pride behind,” he said in a growl, apparently reading my thoughts.

My eyes widened as an ugly, bearded guy loomed over his shoulder with an ice pick cast in his hand, but as I shook Roary to get him to turn around, Plunger barrelled into the asshole, knocking him to the ground beneath him. The Mole’s leg was now healed and he’d stripped down naked for some unknown, star damned reason.

“No one disrespects my authori-tai,” Plunger snarled before kneeling either side of the guy’s head and slapping him repeatedly in the face with his dick, using his earth magic to hold the unfortunate fucker down.

Air poured down my throat as Roary finished healing me and he pulled me to my feet as I wiped the blood from my mouth. People were fighting everywhere I looked and The Watchers were pressing their advantage quickly, their numbers too great for us to take on for long. As Cain slammed to a halt in front of me and Roary, I could tell we were far from out of the woods yet, but I latched onto the hope in his eyes.

Sin closed the gap between us and I realised he was shielding us from the onslaught of magic, but his strained expression said he wouldn’t be able to do it forever.

“Where’s Rosalie?” I demanded.

“Don’t worry about that. We need to-” Cain started but he was cut off by a booming voice that filled the whole room.

“GUSTARD!”

I looked over Cain’s shoulder, spotting a frighteningly large guy there with his fangs on display. I recognised the Vampire who’d been sent to isolation years ago for killing several guards after he’d found out his appeal had been denied.

“Hey buddy!” Sin jumped up and down. “Remember me? Oh, you grew your face back, yay!”

Gustard turned pale and that was about the closest I’d ever seen him to pissing his pants as the Vampire tore through the room and started ripping out throats with his fangs.

“Kill him!” Gustard cried in alarm and his people surged towards the Vampire as one, casting magic his way.

“Buddy! Hey, hey!” Sin flicked his fingers as he continued to jump up and down, shifting some of his power into shielding the murderous Vampire so he could continue to kill The Watchers in droves.

“Stop it,” Roary snapped at him. “Don’t get that psycho’s attention.”

“But he’s my friend. My one true buddy. My bestie from another nestie,” he said, batting Roary away as he tried to slap a hand over his mouth. “Buuuuddy!”

Thankfully, the Vampire didn’t seem to hear him as he continued to kill members of The Watchers, but that didn’t stop Sin from waving at him.

Brett, Sonny and Esme howled as they fled from the room and Cain jerked his head in an order that told us to follow him that way too.

There was a scream from above us and I jerked aside as Hastings fell from the roof, the vines that had been holding him up there now severed.

Cain grabbed his hand and yanked him to his feet a moment before Hastings flung his arms around his neck and hugged him tight with a sob of relief.

“You came for me, Mason!”

“Err, sure. Of course I did,” Cain replied though the look of confusion on his face said he’d had no idea the dude had even been here.

My connection to Rosalie suddenly flared hotter and my head snapped around as I spotted her among the fight, snapping the neck of some worthless Watcher who was working as a team with some of his friends to try and take down Pudding.

I took one step to move that way, but she had it well under control and I was captivated by her for a moment, watching as she killed with such skill and such perfect fury that I swear it made my heart race for her. She pulled Pudding from the bodies when she was done, towing him towards us and we ran to join her. She was so beautiful among all the destruction, like an angel carrying death on its wings.

The spell was broken as I spotted Plunger slapping The Watchers’ corpses with his turtle tattooed cock and I decided I didn’t need to scar myself further by witnessing any more of that, howling as I ran to my mate.

Sin, Roary, Cain and Hastings kept close and Rosalie and Pudding slipped smoothly into the protection of Sin’s air shield as we reached them. There was no time for greetings as The Watchers noticed us pulling ranks and Gustard ordered some of their attention onto us once more. But we were already running, tearing towards the exit while Rosalie started ripping the floor apart behind us with her earth magic, blocking anyone from following.

As we spilled through the door, she twisted around and yelled out in effort, building a huge wall of earth over the only exit and the screams of The Watchers carried to us beyond it as the psycho Vampire drew more blood.

A twisted smile pulled at my lips and I hoped Gustard met a bitter end at his teeth, but I was disappointed I wouldn’t be there to see it. He’d had Harper killed and she hadn’t deserved that. She’d been good to me, loyal. And she hadn’t even had long left to serve in Darkmore.

A whine left my throat and as Rosalie stumbled from the exertion, I caught her, turning her in my arms and crushing her to my chest as I nuzzled against her head.

“No time for that,” Cain snarled, shoving my shoulder. “We need to move.

“Wait,” Roary hissed. “The wall…it’s moving.”

“What?” I looked up and Rosalie pulled back to look too, her hands raising as she prepared to cast once more.

The dirt was shifting in the middle and Rosalie’s upper lip peeled back on a growl. “I’ll blast whoever comes through to pieces.”

A naked ass suddenly shoved out of the dirt and Plunger slithered backwards out of it onto the ground, falling dramatically to the floor. “Oh my hiney, that was a close call, wasn’t it, friends? So when is our great expedition concluding? I have been most anticipating your summons and have collected all the equipment you requested, Miss Rosalie.”

“Well go get it then,” Rosalie said, fighting a grimace at him as Hastings shuddered and turned so he didn’t have to look at Plunger any longer.

“The potatoes are on board.” He patted his ass and I shuddered, holding Rosalie tighter.

“Are the potatoes up his ass?” Sin whispered in my ear.

“Yes,” I gritted out.

“Right up his ass?” he pressed.

“Yes, Sin,” I hissed.

“That’s impressive,” Sin cooed. “That’s more than you’ve had up your ass, isn’t it? How many do you think he has up there? Also, I’m kind of hungry. Do you think we’ll be eating soon? Ooh, we could have roast potatoes.”

“I need you to get some carrots too,” Rosalie said. “Can you do that?”

“I will find a way, ma’am,” Plunger said, saluting her then he ran off down the corridor into the stairwell.

“Thank fuck for that,” she breathed as more blood curdling screams rang out from behind her earth wall.

I raised my hands, freezing it up tight as Roary added his magic to it too. It wouldn’t hold forever, but it might just stay in place long enough for The Watchers to be destroyed. Here’s hoping anyway.

Rosalie led the way down the corridor and we ran behind her, my shoulder rubbing Roary’s as I shared a relieved look with him.

“Thanks for saving my neck.” I smirked and he smirked back.

“No problem, brother,” he said.

Sin barged through us, nearly knocking me off my feet and I snarled.

“Woops,” he called as he joined Rosalie and I growled in anger.

He started talking to her, but she didn’t talk back and I had the feeling she was pissed, but I wasn’t sure why.

As we ran deeper into the prison, I didn’t know where we were heading, but my mood descended as the relief of escaping wore off and gave way to a morbid fear that took root in my bones. We may have been alive, but now the whole population of Darkmore knew what we were up to and would be out for our blood. Not even the Oscuras would be a safe haven anymore. So we had to hide, and fast.