Wild Wolf (Darkmore Penitentiary Book 4)

I raced through burning halls, fire flaring in every direction, both Dragon and elemental. My mind was latched onto the man I’d seen with Vard, a thousand childhood memories ripping through my skull like a shot of ice. My blood was cold with it, the sight of him churning up a storm of emotion that I’d long pushed down inside me. He was the reason for my friend Merrick’s death, the reason for so many kids’ deaths. He had been sending them off to ‘Bliss’, a promise of nirvana, but it had been a sick lie. And now I saw him standing with Vard, a man who was responsible for the twisted experiments in Psych, I had a feeling I knew where those ‘lucky’ kids had ended up.

I broke through a burning wooden wall and sprinted up a stairway beyond, the almost imperceptible sound of fast footfalls ahead of me telling of where Roary was. With the speed we were moving at, it didn’t make sense that we hadn’t caught up with Vard and my bloodthirsty tormentor Benjamin Acrux until I glanced up, jarring to a halt as I spotted the huge hole Benjamin’s Dragon form had ripped into the roof.

A glint of bronze scales and the sound of a bellow spoke of his position on top of the building, the debris cascading down to where I stood.

I could still reach him, destroy Benjamin for all he’d done to me and take Vard down along with him. I could climb fast, I could get hold of them. But the sound of screams made my head whip back to look at the passage Roary had taken.

He was lost to the hunt of our kind, unable to draw himself from it. And I knew Vampires who had spiralled into that instinct and never come back. If he lost himself to it now, there would be little left of him remaining. His priority would be blood, no longer Rosalie.

I cursed myself and sprinted after him, the heavy beating of Dragon wings filling the air and warning of Benjamin’s escape.

But my mind was set and as I raced up a stairwell, I found myself in a ballroom of destruction. Fire bloomed up the walls and people screamed, running for their lives while Roary ripped through the heart of them, tearing out the throats of any Fae he could get his hands on. I didn’t care for these wretched souls who had a hand in this place of sin, but my love for Rosalie Oscura had me running for Roary, determined to bring him back from the brink of oblivion. He was like a newly Awakened Vampire and Roary had no one to teach him our ways, no one to show him how to control the urges or harness the bloodlust.

“Roary!” I shouted, racing for him as he sank his fangs into another victim’s throat.

His eyes locked with mine, a feral need filling them, one I remembered the burn of. I had been there and I knew the only way to pull back was to hold onto the things worth keeping your head for. And he had a hell of a lot more to hold onto than I had back when I’d faced these challenges.

He turned and sprinted from me, chasing down his next target, but I was hot on his tail, not letting him escape me this time. He was a fast motherfucker, but he was clumsy too, his body not yet adjusted to this new way of moving. I put on another burst of speed and slammed into him from behind, taking him to the floor and pinning him there with the bulk of my weight. I rolled him onto his back beneath me as he struggled and forced my arm across his chest, shoving him down.

He snarled at me and the natural rivalry between our kind flared inside me, making me bare my fangs right back at him. Blood stained his mouth and chin, his eyes wild as they slid away from me to a woman racing past us. He thrashed, frantic to get to her but I reared back and punched him in the face. He snarled, dazed by the blow as he met my gaze again.

“Think of Rosalie!” I barked. “Your mate.” I grabbed his arm, yanking it up to make him look at the mark that bound him to her. “She’s yours and she’s waiting for you to return to her.”

He snarled a second longer but then his gaze fell on the mark on his wrist and a frown creased his brow.

“For her,” I pushed. “Come back from hell for her.”

Slowly, the darkness in his eyes faded and his muscles slackened. “Cain?” he rasped like he was seeing me for the first time.

“Yes, asshole,” I muttered. “Now get up.” I pushed off of him, rising to my feet and offering him my hand.

His throat rose and fell then he slapped his palm into mine and I yanked him upright.

“Don’t go thinking this means more than it does,” I muttered, tugging my hand free.

Warmth coiled around my left arm and I found the leaves of the rose vine receding a little. Just a few inches, but enough to tell me I’d pleased the curse in my actions today, and for some reason, I felt more like myself than I ever had in my life.

A flash of bronze scales caught my eye through the window and a growl built in my throat as I spotted Benjamin swooping past it in his Dragon form with Vard clutched in his talons, gazing down as if searching for something or someone they had left behind. I could still get to them. There was still time. I sprinted off across the ballroom toward the exit, determined to destroy them both.

Roary raced along at my heels and we tore through passages filled with debris before finally making it outside. Inhaling deep, I tasted the fresh air washing into my lungs and turned my gaze to the sky, seeking out my enemies and promising them a bloody death.