Page 82 of A Curse So Cruel
Craig chuckles, adjusting his grip on his weapon. “And this is why I like you, babe. You never shy away from violence.”
The guys holding me knock the back of my knees, forcing me to kneel, and I bare my teeth, still struggling.
Craig strolls forward casually, like he’s trying to savor this moment. Shadows pool around his body, and I can’t help it. Shaky laughter bubbles out of me, because in comparison to my guys, his shadows look like baby snakes darting through the air around him. It seems ironic that I’d been worried that Knox would kill me, and yet it’s going to be this guy.
“Something funny?” Craig asks, his lip curling as he stares down at me with disgust and irritation.
“Nope,” I reply, but I’m still smiling. I guess I find some comfort in knowing I’ll be going out with a smile on my face. Then, there’s also the fact that I know if Blake finds out he’s the one who killed me, things are not going to end well for him. In fact, I’m pretty sure she’ll torture him before she kills him. How’s that for a silver lining?
Craig comes forward with his sword, and instinctively, I reach for my shadow magic. While I’m glad Blake will make him pay for killing me, it doesn’t mean I’m going to stop fighting. Using shadow magic hasn’t helped me much in the past, but I don’t have any other options. Magic floods my body, pain tearing apart my insides. The sensation of broken magic rolls through me, and I’m not sure what happens, but when I look up, the world looks…different. There’s a red haze around the edges of my vision, and I’m not looking through my eyes. No, trees stand to either side of me, and I’m staring at Craig’s…back? It takes me a moment to realize that I’m not looking through my eyes, but…someone else’s. I remember what I’d been told about the animali. That when you bond with your creature, one of the benefits is that you can slip into their mind. I try not to freak out, because I’m pretty sure that’s what’s happening.
My creature shuffles just beyond the trees behind Craig, and an ancient, dark power ripples through its muscular body. I can tell that whatever it is it’s big, much bigger than a crow, but it’s all still too chaotic in my mind to figure out much more than that.
“What was that?” Paiton hisses, peering back to stare into the trees, no doubt having sensed something is there. She looks directly at my beast, but she mustn’t be able to see it, because she peers away quickly, her attention going elsewhere.
“Hurry the fuck up, Craig,” Satine snaps, and suddenly, my vision changes again. My mind is thrown back into my own body, and I’m staring up at Craig’s ugly face again. Okay, so he’s not really ugly, but his personality certainly makes him unattractive.
A slow smile crawls over my face, because I may not know what my beast is, and we might not have bonded, but I do know that it’s not about to let me die. Well, that’s my hope anyway.
A branch breaks in the direction of where my beast waits, but just as I think the animali might attack, there’s a scream from somewhere not too far in the forest and the sound of clashing steel. My head snaps up, and more shouts and screams come from different directions through the trees.
Craig doesn’t look the least bit surprised, but he does look a little unsettled, and his hold on his blade wavers. Smoke coils into the air above the trees not far from us, and I frown. I’d known some of the students would kill each other, but something about it all feels…wrong. A strange smell wafts near my nose, like rotting corpses and something I can’t place.
Izzy shifts uneasily on her feet.
Like he comes to his senses, Craig lifts his sword, driving the blade forward as he aims for my chest.
Chapter Thirty-Six
~ Shade ~
“No!” I shout.
Something rustles in the forest behind Craig, and just as I think my beast is going to dart from the trees, right as my power starts building in my chest, a deafening roar stings my ears. A mass of black fur seems to come from nowhere, and there’s a rush of air past my face. One moment Craig is in front of me, and the next, he’s in the jaws of a giant black beast.
“Bonfang?”I rasp.
The huge shadow wolf grabs Craig, his wicked fangs clamping down onto his flesh, and Bonfang tosses the man into a nearby tree like the motion is effortless. Craig slams into the wood, and there’s a sickening crack before he falls to the dirt in a crumpled heap and is swallowed by the thick fog. He doesn’t get up again.
Paiton, Izzy, and Satine back away in terror, and Bonfang growls at the two men who are still holding me. The noise is soloud it makes my bones rattle, and I’m showered in wolf spit. The men holding me scramble to get away, tripping and falling over themselves.
“Fuck!” one of them curses, his gaze going to Craig’s still form before he looks away quickly.
A mass of shadows swirl beside Bonfang, and Knox steps from them, materializing before me. The professor scours the scene around him, and fury ignites in his dark eyes when his gaze settles on the men who have released me.
“The academy is under attack,” Knox states coldly. “Get back to the main building. The hunt is over.”
The men look bewildered, but they don’t question him. They stagger through the forest, weaving between the trees without looking back. Satine and the other girls barely spare me a glance before they flee as well.
Trying not to look Bonfang in the eyes, I keep my attention on Knox. His gaze flicks to my portal ring, and the anger in his eyes intensifies. “Where did you get that?”
Before I can answer, Kazer appears, prowling out from somewhere behind my tree. He rubs against me, peering at our surroundings like he’s wishing he had an excuse to get his fangs bloody as well. Thane’s bear appears next, grunting as it tears through the trees and comes to a halt near us, its massive claws ripping up the ground. Arizak, is the last to arrive, and he whinnies as he gallops into view, snorting and frothing at the mouth.
Thane, Raith, and Galen glide from shadows as well, striding from shadow pathways with their weapons in their hands. My mates are all splattered with a strange white goop, and so are their shadow creatures.
Raith and Galen both come straight for me, and all I can do is gape as they sheath their weapons and start prodding me like they’re searching for wounds. Raith lifts my left arm and scansmy torso, and I’m too stunned to stop him. The strange smell that I couldn’t place earlier grows stronger, and I wrinkle my nose as I drag in a breath.
As recognition dawns, my eyes flare wide. The men all look like they’ve been to some kind of freaky demon sex party, and I’ve seen a few in my time. “Oh my god, is that cum?”