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“R-Run, Nia. Run h-home as fast as you can,” I managed before everything went dark.

CHAPTER 5

Draven

Nothing but ash remained of the demons who had dared encroach on my territory, something that happened when you removed these fucker’s heads.

I snarled, adrenaline throbbing through me. I was covered in their blood, and one of them had pissed himself. I sniffed and scowled and searched for more. I wasn’t done, the tension inside me was far from burned out.

The wind swirled, increasing in strength—

I stilled and scented the air again.

Selene.

The witch was close. I scented again. Blood. Hers.

And demons.

I shifted back to my wolf and exploded through the forest. I should let them have her and save myself the trouble. But that wasn’t the way it was supposed to end. She didn’t get off that easily.

I broke free of the trees and into a large clearing. Magic hummed all around, saturating the place. Demons, five of them, surrounded a small fire.

A dog growled in the center, snarling, teeth bared, standing over Selene’s still and naked body. I’d seen the dog with her before, and the outnumbered beast snapped at the laughing demons as they edged closer.

The dog wasn’t a shifter, and it was going to get torn apart if I didn’t do something. It didn’t deserve that, not for being loyal to its master, even if she was a twisted, evil bitch.

A demon swiped at the dog, and I rushed them, taking the closest one down, tearing out its throat. Not dead but incapacitated. I took down another the same way, then shifted, grabbed the small blade lying by a pile of clothes, and, when the next demon came at me, slashed it across the stomach, spun it around, and stabbed it several times in the chest. It dropped, and I faced the next two.

One snarled…then ran away, like a fucking coward.

I waved the last one forward. “This ends one way, you decide if that’s now or later. You’re in my forest now, demon.” The stupid fuck charged, and I had him down and decapitated in minutes.

I worked my way around the others still writhing on the ground, removing heads, turning them into ash, and sending them back to Hell where they belonged. Then I turned and faced the dog. She was still crouched over Selene, her lips pulled back and trembling as she growled fiercely at me.

“I won’t hurt you, or your master,” I said, trying to keep my voice even. And it wasn’t a complete lie. The dog was safe from me. The unconscious witch she stood over, not so much.

I held her gaze and let the dog see my wolf, let her taste my dominance. Showing her that I meant her no harm and that I was strong enough to protect them. It was hard, but I held my aggression back, hiding my hatred for her master. She finally whined and stepped back, nudging Selene with her nose, then sat.

I bit back my curse and scooped up the witch, looking down at her beautiful, traitorous face. She was unconscious and there was no sign of her waking.

I could return her to her home, to her coven. But I had no intention of doing that.

I’d been waiting for my chance, and I’d finally been presented with it. It was obvious no one else was here with her, and—I scented the air—no one was coming. If she vanished off the face of the Earth, no one would ever know what happened to her.

I scooped up her clothes and set them on her, then hitched her higher in my arms and started for Wolf Hill and my keep. No trace of her remained here. I glanced down at the dog. I’d have no trouble finding a new owner for the creature among the young in our pack.

Selene was finally going to pay for her crimes. We’d lost people because of her, and those of us trapped, had lost half of our lives in that hellhole—in my pack, we were all about an eye for an eye.

A life for a life.

I ignored the howl of my wolf, the unwanted hunger for the female in my arms that was already growing in the pit of my gut and making my heart pound. The spell she had over me grew stronger whenever she was near. And when my wolf tried to push forward, tried to take over, and roared for me to claim her, it took everything not to obey, not to get lost in the euphoric feeling pulsing through me.

But it was a lie. A sick, twisted, evil, fucking lie.

I would not let her dark witchcraft destroy my life again.

This she-devil was not my mate, no matter what my wolf was roaring in my head. No, fate could not be so cruel.