Page 17 of Consume Me (Immortal Vices and Virtues: All Hallows’ Eve #4)

Noctan

K endall’s resistance to my wolf is agony, but it’s not wrong. My wolf would destroy the demon—and I can’t allow it until I know doing so won’t harm my mate. It takes every ounce of control I have to pull back the beast and shove him down rather than let him out to defend.

My inner battle costs me.

The dagger-wearing-a-man’s-shape moves first. One second, he’s standing there, grinning like this is all some kind of twisted reunion.

The next, he’s on me, faster than anything made of flesh has a right to be.

Muscle and shadow slam into my ribs, and I hit the far wall hard enough to crack the plaster.

The impact barely registers before he’s swinging again, nails like blades aimed at my throat.

I duck, feel the air shear past my ear, and come up swinging. My fist connects with something solid, and the demon stumbles back with a snarl. Not much damage, but enough to make him pause .

It’s all I can do.

If I kill him now—if the dagger dies before we break its hold—it’ll take Kendall with it.

He knows it, too. I can see the realization in the way he fights, reckless and grinning, the arrogance of something convinced it’s untouchable.

Behind me, Kendall’s breathing quickens. “Noctan?—”

“Run,” I snap, eyes never leaving my opponent.

She doesn’t move. Of course she doesn’t.

The demon lunges again. I sidestep, grab his arm, and use his momentum to slam him into the cabinet. The wood splinters, jars rattling to the floor.

He laughs, a disgusting sound, and I snarl.

“You’re not going to win,” he hisses, voice low and dark enough to crawl under the skin.

I bare my teeth. “Neither are you.”

His gaze flicks past me to Kendall. “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure.”

He yanks free of my grip and straightens. I plant myself between them, my pulse a steady roar in my ears. “I said run .”

Still, she stays put.

Her stubbornness is going to get her killed.

Or me.

The demon presses harder now, every strike aimed to drive me back. To get to her. I block, parry, land a hit when I can, but every blow is measured, restrained. If I go too far—if my claws or teeth touch him—it’s over for Kendall.

And he knows it .

His grin widens every time I pull my punches. “What’s wrong, Amarok? Afraid to fight me for real?”

“Not afraid,” I growl, breath coming hard. “Just waiting for the right moment to end you.”

His eyes flash gold. “There won’t be one.”

He feints left, comes in from the right, and his claw-like nails catch my side—not deep, but enough to sting. I grit my teeth and force myself not to shift. My wolf is a storm under my skin, clawing to be free, to tear this thing apart.

Behind me, Kendall’s voice cuts through the haze. “Noctan!”

I don’t dare look away from my opponent. “Get out of here,” I roar.

“No!”

Her voice is fierce, immovable. Stubborn as the gods themselves.

The demon laughs, low and sharp. “You’re protecting her because of the mate bond, aren’t you? Poor little sentinel, tied in knots over something you can’t keep.”

Kendall steps forward, her eyes locked on him. “I’ve seen what a mate bond can do,” she says. “The curses it can break. In fact, I’ve seen quite a few things lately.”

The demon laughs, head tipped back, the sound scraping down my spine like rusted metal. “And what would you know of curses, girl?”

Kendall’s blue eyes go ice-cold. “Why don’t I show you?”

Her gaze goes distant, and white clouds in, coating her irises .

The demon’s sudden gasp is the only indication that something is happening between them.

The demon staggers, mid-lunge, his grin faltering as a guttural snarl rips from his throat.

I blink, thrown. “What are you doing?”

Her voice is low, strained. “Giving him a taste of his own medicine.”

He stumbles back a step, then another, clutching his head like it’s splitting open. I yank Kendall out of the way to avoid us both getting trampled.

“And while I love your initiative, I’m going to need you to be a little more specific,” I tell her as we continue to dodge the demon’s chaotic stumbling.

“I’m making him relive all the deaths he’s caused—experiencing them from the victims’ eyes. Just like he’s been making me do for months.”

The demon lets out a howl, writhing, clawing at the wall like he can tear his way out of his own mind. “Stop this sorcery,” he demands.

Black ichor drips from his nose and ears.

I ignore him, looking at Kendall, whose eyes are now coated in white glaze. I grip her shoulders, half-panicked that she’s going to lose herself to whatever she’s doing to him.

“Is it safe?” I ask.

Kendall’s knees buckle, but she doesn’t stop. “It beats the alternative.”

The demon lashes out blindly, his clawed hand whipping through the air. It’s sloppy and reckless, but the strike connects. Kendall is thrown sideways, her body hitting the floor with a sickening crack.

“Kendall!” The word rips from me, raw, as I pivot—too slow, too fucking slow—rage choking me like a noose.

I slam into the demon, driving him back into the wall, raining blows onto him. My fists meet flesh and bone, but he’s laughing through the blood. Still locked in whatever mental nightmare Kendall has trapped him in.

“Touch her again and it’ll cost you,” I snarl, fangs lengthening, my wolf breaking free under my skin.

“I don’t think so, mutt.”

“Think of your own fucking mortality. Killing her will end you, remember?”

He blinks, his gaze finally clearing. I startle at the sight of him focused on me, and my grip loosens a fraction.

His grin splits wider, teeth stained red. “Not anymore.”

Dark magic ripples off him like smoke, foul and thick. My rune sears white-hot on my arm, my skin burning as it melts to the bone.

Behind me, Kendall groans as the demon’s magic reaches for her. I let go of him and rush to her side, shoving myself between them to shield her, but the shadows pass right through me.

I roar, a desperate, predatorial sound—helpless to do anything but watch as phantom hands envelope my mate’s heart.

There’s a hollow pop .

Kendall sighs.

The hands retract.

I look back at the demon .

He straightens, red eyes glowing brighter now, triumphant. “It’s time I found myself another wielder. Our bond is severed eternally.”

My chest fills at that.

The bond is severed. I can at last slay my enemy. We can both be free.

But at his words, Kendall still doesn’t stir, and my fury turns to a cold, gripping fear inside me. The rune’s burn ices over with that fear as I use my fae sense to search for a pulse. Some sign of a life force inside the woman I’ve just found. The woman I’ve just begun to love.

One moment passes.

Then two.

The demon snickers.

My head falls but there ?—

A tiny breath lifts her chest. Her eyes flutter open—clear, glacier-blue so I know it’s her—and the sight of it reignites me.

My knees threaten to buckle with relief. But I gather every ounce of strength I possess, fae and beast alike, and prepare to fulfill my blood vow once and for all.

The demon merely gazes back at me, hollow-eyed and eternally evil. “I will carve that rune from your bones. And then I will kill her slowly while you watch.”

“You will not touch her!” My roar shakes the walls.

The wolf tears free—unstoppable this time, ripping through my skin and bone in a blaze of white-hot agony and release. Fur erupts, claws rend, teeth lengthen until the beast I’ve held caged is loosed at last .

The demon manages a single step toward my future wife.

And I lunge.