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Callen refocused on his challenger, and turned up the heat, getting down and dirty. Filthy even. Soon the soldiers were cheering the absolute depravity of the combat.Ultimately, Callen won the fight, leaving the other king gasping in the dirt as he stalked over and swept me into his arms. Rain washed away the blood and gore smearing him as he carried me toward the car.
“You did it,” I praised. “You kept calm.” I wasn’t surehowhe’d done it, but I was too cold to think up a possible explanation. “I’m so proud of you,” I murmured, snuggling deeper into his warmth. Despite the violence he’d wrought against the other man, I felt no fear.
He stopped long enough to tip my head up with his index finger and search my face. “Since when does the vicious Isobel not demand more blood while viewing a battle?”
Had she really? Well, enough of that. “Since today. I’d rather see people happy than bleeding, and I won’t apologize for it. I don’t care how much it embarrasses you.”
Did he just snort?
“Not caring about the feelings of your king is a serious offense.” He tsk-tsked. “Apunishableoffense.” He couldn’t hide the relish in his tone.
I slapped his shoulder. Or rather, I meant to. I somehow ended up slipping my palm up his chest and toying with locks of his hair. “You aren’t concerned by my seeming fragility?”
He kept his gaze straight ahead. “You are softer than I ever realized, and Ifind I am…glad of it.”
Was he beginning to see me, Elizabeth? Did helikeme? My heart leaped, as if jolted awake from a long slumber.
A wolf howled in the distance, a menacing sound drenched with malice, ruining the moment. Callen’s peaceable exterior vanished in an instant, his muscles tensing and bulging. New aggression pulsed from him.
A second later, total chaos erupted.
Chapter
Fifteen
Team Berserk: Slaying Challenges Together
From A Beginner’s Guide to Berserker Bliss
Author Unknown
Wolves arrived en mass, running and launching at soldiers. Grunts and growls blended. Fights broke out in every direction. Men against beasts. Or rather, beasts against beasts. Each warrior but Callenchanged.
Shock punched me, delivering one internal strike after another. Finally, I witnessed a berserker’s alteration, times forty! Rings of azure fire overtook the irises of Callen’s warriors. Men who doubled in size. Muscles bulged, tearing their clothing. Sharp claws grew from their nail beds. A blue glow framed them, while a red glow framed Malachi’s soldiers.
The wolves were just as huge. Darkness seeped from their scalps to give them a shadowy mane. Those shadowsalso grazed different parts of their bodies, resembling fur. Rather than being filled with glowing rings, their irises glowed crimson. Their faces remained a little too humanoid for comfort, while their elongated mouths possessed far too many fangs.I gawked at both sets of immortals as icy raindrops pelted my skin, collecting in my lashes. I’d known what they were—in theory. Seeing them live and in person, well, there was no way I would ever survive a berserker’s rage or an encounter with a wolf. And here I’d been poking at the monster all this time!
Expecting the untransformed Callen to toss me into the car and join the fray, I braced. Instead, he switched directions, sprinting toward the circle of stones, carrying me straight into the action.
“Take me home,” I screeched.
“Wolves can tear through metal. The safest spot for you is inside the circle. Wolves can’t enter.”
A beast charged at us, fangs bared, but Callen used his free arm to bat the creature aside as if it weighed nothing. Another wolf lunged and bit his thigh, but he didn’t even wince before punting it in the face.
Claws swiped toward me. Callen twisted, taking the blow. The sight of his torn flesh…
“I want to go home,” I cried.
“I will die before I allow harm to come to you,” he vowed, “and I cannot die.”
A laugh bubbled up; a hysterical, broken sound. He could so die. A wolf only needed to remove his heart. But now probably wasn’t the best time to remind him.
All around us, berserkers shredded wolves, and wolves shredded berserkers, each attempting to hobble the other. Severed limbs flew. Blood sprayed, tainting rain puddles that collected over the ground. But the truly frighteningthing? The berserkers were smiling. When they finished with one attacker, they purposely hunted another.
“The longer the wolves remain near the stones, the weaker they become,” Callen said, absorbing more blows meant for me.
I beheldweakenedwolves? What must these creatures look like in full force? “Why did they come here?”
