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"Of course." The other mage laughed as a warm trickle dripped down my face. "I've been looking forward to slicing up our Savior even longer than you."

Despair pulled me deeper into the darkness.

Don't think. Don't feel —

No! Gritting my teeth, I clenched my fists, forcing myself to feel every prick of that fucking pain.

I'd sworn to myself I wouldn't go back to that place. That I'd not become like Frexin — cold and unfeeling, hardening my heart until it was stone.

I looked over at Jaiel, crumpled and broken, lost to that damn shadow, and I forced myself to feel the pain inside my chest.

FUCK — it felt as though my heart were breaking in half!

My bonds pulsed, as if in response, and I … felt something beckoning to me.Pleading …

What is that?

It thrummed with warmth and power, fueled by the man it connected me to, and the feelings I held for him.

As I reached for it, I felt myself become lighter… faster… stronger.

For once, I could protect what I fucking cared about.

I let my mind come back to the present — Holden pushing me into the ground,his knee digging into my midsection as he pinned down my right arm.

He laughed as he shifted to pin down my left arm , and I opened my eyes, lips curling into a dangerous smile.

Holden froze.

Before he could react, I leaned up on my right shoulder, putting all that shifter strength into my left arm, and SLAMMED my fist into his jaw.

It landed with a sickening crack, and Holden swayed.

"You know how fucking long I've been waiting for that?" I snarled.

Blood poured from his torn jaw, hanging broken and limp. But it barely phased him. Almost immediately, he began to shake his head clear, quickly coming to his senses.

I wasn't evencloseto done, though!

Tightening my fist once more, I pulled back for another heavy punch and slammed it into his groin so hard I felt flesh crunch and burst.

Holden let out a strangled high-pitched scream so loud it made my ears ring. Staggering backward, he dropped my blades, clutching hisdestroyed flesh.

Shouts sounded around me as Korym and the guards reacted, but I was already moving.

Shoving the howling shifter back into the wall of soldiers, I snatched up the daggers, and moved to stand before Jaiel in a protective crouch — beautiful blades raised.

Korym halted his advance. "How?"

"I have no idea," I admitted, grabbing my collar with one hand, crushing the metal between my fingers, tearing it from my neck as if it were no more than brittle clay.

What the fuck?!

"YOU BISH!" Holden screamed, stumbling to his feet. His cheeks were wet with tears, and the groin of his pants was bloody and dark with piss.

His eyes burned with a deep fury as he shifted to gray smoke then a large, brown wolf.

I lunged for him before he could finish the shift and thrust a dagger up into his thick fucking neck.