Dark Bites (Dream-Hunter #1)(55)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

The fact that he was this wounded and in human form had to be excruciating for him. Anytime they were wounded, they reverted to their natural form. For her it was human. For Fury…

He was a wolf.

Trying to keep that in mind, she knelt by his side.

He growled threateningly until he looked up and met her gaze. The pain and torment in those dark turquoise eyes made her wince. And as she dropped her gaze, she saw the scar on his chest. The wound where she’d stabbed him.

Guilt tore through her over what she should never have done.

“Why don’t you just finish the job,” he said, his tone hostile and deadly.

“We don’t want to hurt you.”

He laughed bitterly. “My wounds and the glee they had in their eyes when they gave them to me tells me a different story.”

She brushed the hair back from his forehead to see a vicious cut that ran along his brow. Blood poured from his nose and lips. “I’m sorry.”

“We’re all sorry for something. Why don’t you be an animal for once and just kill me?” He glared at her. “You might as well. I’m not going to tell you shit.”

“We need to know what happened to the lion.”

“Go to hell.”

“Fury – ”

“Don’t you f**king dare use my name. I’m nothing but an animal to all of you. Believe me, all of you made it more than clear to me four hundred years ago when you beat me close to death and then dumped me out to die.”

“Fury – ”

He barked at her like a wolf.

“Would you stop?”

He continued making wolf noises.

Sighing, Angelia shook her head. “No wonder they beat you.”

Baring his teeth in true canine fashion, he growled, then woofed. There was nothing human in the sound or his demeanor.

Angelia stepped back.

The moment she was away from him, Fury slumped on the ground and stopped making any sounds at all. He lay completely still.

Was he dead?

No, his chest was still moving. She could also hear his faint breathing. As she watched him, her thoughts turned to the past. To the young man she’d once been friends with. Even though he was younger than her by four years, there had been something about him that had touched her.

Where Dare had always been arrogant and bossy, Fury had held a vulnerability that had made her protective of him. More than that, he’d never treated her as inferior. He’d seen her as a partner and confidant.

“I’ll be your family, Lia.” Those words haunted her. It had been Fury’s vow to her once he’d learned that her family had been killed by the Katagaria – by his own father’s pack. “I won’t ever let the wolves hurt you. I swear it.”

Yet she’d stood by this morning while they’d tortured him relentlessly.

It’s nothing compared to what you did the last time you saw him.

It was true. She hadn’t stood by him then either, and he’d been beaten a lot worse than this.

“Fury,” she tried again. “Tell me what we need to know, and I promise you this will stop.”

He lifted his head up to pin her with a furious glare. “I don’t betray my friends.”

“Don’t you dare say that to me. I was protecting my people when I attacked you.”

He let out a disbelieving snort. “From me? They were my people, too.”

She shook her head in denial. “You don’t have people. You’re an animal.”

He twisted his lips into a vicious snarl. “Baby, you untie me, and I’ll show you just how much of an animal the man in me really is. Trust me. He’s a lot cruder than the wolf is.”

“Told you,” Oscar said as he joined them in the tent. He angled the red-hot poker toward the flap. “You should leave. The stench of burning flesh is going to be hard on your nose.”

She saw the panic in Fury’s eyes as he tried to scoot away from them.

Oscar grabbed him by the hair and rolled him over. Fury kicked at him, but there wasn’t much he could do given how tied up he was. Still he fought with a courage that was admirable.

“Get out,” Dare said as he entered the tent.

As she started for the flap, Fury let out a howl so fierce and pain-filled that it shattered her soul. Turning, she saw that Oscar had dropped the poker across his left hip where it burned in a foul stench.

Right or wrong, she couldn’t let them do this to him anymore.

She shoved Dare out of her way, then kicked Oscar back from Fury. Before they could recover themselves, she knelt by Fury’s side and placed her hand on his shoulder. Using her powers, she took them out of the tent and moved them farther into the marsh where they’d been camped. Since she didn’t know the area all that well, it was the safest place she could take him.

When he met her gaze, there was no gratitude there. Only rage and a hatred so sharp it was piercing. “What are you going to do now? Leave me here for the gators to eat?”

“I should.” Instead, she manifested a knife to cut through the ropes that held his hands.

Fury was stunned by her actions. “Why are you helping me?”

“I don’t know. Apparently I’m having a moment of extreme stupidity.”

He wiped at the blood on his face as she cut the ropes on his feet. “I wish your stupidity had kicked in sooner.”

She paused at the sight of the raw blister on his hip where the jackal had laid the poker. It had to be killing him. “I’m so sorry.”

Fury snatched at the collar on his throat and jerked it free.

Angelia gasped at the action. No one should be able to remove their collar.

No one.

“How did you do that?”

He curled his lip at her. “I can do a lot of things when I’m not being shocked.”

She started to leave, but before she could, he snapped the collar around her throat. Shrieking, she tried to use her powers to either attack him or remove it.

It was useless.

“I saved you!”

“Fuck you,” he snarled. “I wouldn’t have been there had the two of you not jumped me last night. You’re lucky I don’t return the favor you did for me.”

Raw panic tore through her as she realized he could do anything to her and she’d be powerless to stop him. “What are you going to do?”

There was no mercy in his expression. No reprieve. “I ought to rip your throat out. But lucky for you, I’m just a dumb animal and killing for revenge isn’t in my nature.” He tightened his grip on her arm. “Killing to protect myself and those in my pack is another story. You’d do well to remember that.”

As she opened her mouth to respond, Fury flashed them out of the marsh and into his brother Vane’s large Victorian house.

Vane’s mate was in the living room, standing by the couch where their son was napping. Tall and curvaceous with short, dark auburn hair, Bride was one of the few people Fury actually trusted. She let out an almost wolf-sounding yelp before she spun about and gave them her back. “Good grief, Fury, warn me if you’re going to jump in here nak*d.”

“Sorry, Bride,” he said, trying to keep his focus. But it was getting hard given his wounds.

“What happened to you?”

He looked over his shoulder to find Vane standing in the doorway. He wanted to answer, but the drain on his powers combined with the wounds was more than he could take. His ears were buzzing. The next thing he knew, he was a wolf again and exhaustion was overtaking him.

“Don’t let her escape and don’t take that collar off,” he projected to Vane before he let the darkness take him under again.

Angelia jumped away from Fury in his wolf form. Realizing he was unconscious, she started for the door only to find a man there who bore a scary resemblance to Dare. This guy, however, was a lot more intimidating and even more handsome. “I need to leave.”

He looked past her to the woman by the couch. “Bride, take the baby and get upstairs.” Though his tone was commanding, it was also gentle and protective.

She heard the woman leave without questioning him.

As soon as she was gone, he narrowed those eerie hazel eyes on her that were more wolf than human. “What are you doing here and what happened to my brother?”

She tilted her head at his question. His scent… it was unmistakable. “You’re Arcadian. A Sentinel like me.” But unlike her, he chose to hide the marks on his face that designated him as one of their rare and sacred breed.

He curled his lips. “I’m nothing like you. My allegiance is to the Katagaria and it’s to my brother. He told me to keep you here and so I shall.”

Anger ripped through her. She had no intention of staying here. “I have to get back to my patria.”

He shook his head, his face set by determination. “You’re part of my mother’s patria which makes you my mortal enemy. You’re not leaving here until Fury allows it.” He stepped past her to where Fury lay.

She was aghast at his actions. “You’re kidnapping me?”

Effortlessly, he picked Fury up from the floor. No small feat given the size of the wolf. “My mother kidnapped my mate and took her back to medieval England where the male members of your patria then attempted to rape her. Be grateful I don’t return that favor to you.”

Those words were so eerily similar to Fury’s that it sent a chill over her. “I just want to go home.”

“You’re safe here. No one’s going to hurt you… unless you try to leave.” He turned and carried Fury up the same stairs the woman had taken just a few minutes before.

Angelia watched him until he was out of sight. Then she ran for the front door. She’d only made it three steps before four wolves appeared in front of her. Baring their teeth and snapping, they blocked her way.

Katagaria.

She could tell from the smell of them. That scent of wolf mingled with human and magick. It was daylight which meant it was hard for them to appear human. Not impossible, but difficult, especially if they were young or inexperienced.

She tried to press forward, but the animals prevented it.

“Do what Vane told you.”

She turned and froze in shock. In human form, this werewolf looked similar enough to Dare to be his twin. “Who are you?”

“Fang Kattalakis, and you better pray to whatever god you worship that nothing happens to Fury. My brother dies and I will have your throat.” He looked at the wolves around her. “Keep her guarded.” Then he returned to a wolf’s form and ran up the stairs.

Angelia backed slowly into the living room. Catching the sight of another door to the outside, she started for it only to find more wolves in front of her.

Fear sliced through her as she remembered being a helpless child as the wolves ravaged her mother. Over and over she heard the screams and relived the nightmare of them tearing her parents into shreds. She tried to blast the wolves before her, but the collar rendered all her powers useless.

She was at their mercy.

“Get back,” she snarled, throwing a lamp at one of them.

The others snarled and woofed, circling her.

She couldn’t breathe, as panic set in. They were going to kill her!

Vane wanted blood as he saw the deep wounds on Fury’s body.

“What happened?”

He turned to find Fang standing in the doorway. “It looks like the Arcadians grabbed him and had some fun with him.”

Fang’s nostrils flared. “I saw one of their bitches downstairs. Want me to kill her?”

No.

Vane frowned as he heard Fury’s voice in his head. Fury opened his eyes to look at him.

Where is she?

“Downstairs. I have the pack guarding her.”

Fury turned human instantly. “You can’t do that.”

“Why?”

“Her parents were killed by our pack. Ripped apart in front of her when she was only three years old. She’ll be terrified.”

Before Vane could respond, Fury vanished.

Angelia kept swinging at the wolves with her broken lamp as they closed in on her. Terrified, she wanted to scream, but the sound was lodged in her throat. All she could really see was blood, and feel the same horror she had the night her parents’ screams had echoed in her head.

She couldn’t breathe or think.

The next thing she knew, someone was grabbing her from behind.

She turned, trying to hit her new attacker, then froze as she saw Fury there in human form.

His touch gentle, he took the lamp from her hand and set it on the floor. His expression stoic, his eyes were every bit as blank, “I won’t let them hurt you,” he said, his tone soothing. “I haven’t forgotten my promise.”

A sob came out from deep inside her as he pulled her against him.

Fury cursed at the way she trembled in his arms. He’d never seen anyone more shaken and it pissed him off. “Back off,” he barked at the others. “You’re acting like f**king humans.” Angry at their cruelty, he led her toward the stairs.