Page 107 of Cryptic Dreams

My fingers tighten on his face as my eyes narrow. “You haveonemore chance, just one, then we do it my way.”

Wilfred tries to straighten his posture as much as the chains allow, holding his head high and taking a deep breath that shakes within his battered chest. “I will not betray Gwendolyn and our cause, nor will I bow to a spineless bastard who’s trying to ruin what’s left of our kind.”

He emphasizes his words by spitting a mouthful of blood on my chest and the second the crimson liquid hits my dress shirt, I see red.

Declan grabs the gag and forcefully pulls it back into Wilfred’s mouth, jerking his head back as I grip the bones protruding from his thighs and give them a hard tug.

“Spineless?” I bring my face close to his, tightening my hold on his broken femurs. “Spineless, you say?” Wilfred screams around the fabric pressing back on his tongue as I twist my wrists, pulling until I hear the satisfying pop of both hips dislocating. “We shall see who isspinelesswhen this is all said and done.”

I quickly yank on the snapped bones, pulling and twisting them away from flesh and muscle and just as they begin to slide free from his thighs, I hear the last voice I expect in this moment.

“Wraith!” Zephyrs yells as she begins banging on the bookcase door. “Wraith, honey, I need to talk to you!”

“Bloody hell,” I grumble as I finish removing half of Wilfred’s femurs and spin toward the monitor’s.

Declan chuckles from behind me. “She’s home sooner than expected.”

“No shite. I…” Zephyr’s thoughts start flying through our bond, rapid fire words jumbled in a frenzy of emotions, all moving too quickly for me to decipher.

But the one word I hear clear, the one that resonates above the rest, is exactly why I forget that I’m covered in blood and holding bones, and immediately open the door of Declan’s room. “You saw Drusilla?”

My mate nods up at me emphatically before those beautiful golden orbs widen in surprise. “Are you bleeding?”

“How? Where did you see her? Did you speak with her?”

“Wraith, are you bleeding?”

I wave her off—femur and all—as I move to exit the room, only to be blocked by a feisty little female. “It’s not mine so you need not worry. And you can tell me what happened with my bitch mother while I get cleaned up.”

“Good lord…” My mate gasps, stepping around me to get a clearer view of the carnage Declan and I have been causing, and I let out a defeated sigh.

Thisis why I wanted Orion to take her out of the house.

The interrogation, the torture. The two naked, mutilated bodies hanging from the ceiling of a secret room in my home that Zephyr shouldn’t even know exists. I wanted to avoid all of this because I fear my gentle breeze wouldn’t understand.

She is too kindhearted, my mate.

Even with all of her newfound ferocity and spunk, Zephyr may not understand the necessity of something like this, and I’d rather not expose her to yet another ugly part of who I am.

She’s seen enough already.

“These two…” My mate swallows thickly as she walks inside, her heart thundering in her chest as she nears the female. “These are two of the people who were sent to—”

“Kill us. Yes.” I turn to face her as my mate’s gaze moves over Gwendolyn. “We passed them—”

“On the sidewalk.” Zephyr nods slowly. “I remember now.”

She does.

My gentle breezedoesremember the couple. I can hear her walking through that night in her mind, and oddly enough, the disgust I was expecting to accompany those thoughts is absent.

I carefully close the door as my eyes flick to Declan, my friend smirking like he’s daft as he too observes my mate, then I continue to watch as Zephyr’s stare moves from the female’s melting face to the pieces of her on the floor.

“You didn’t do this.”

“Do what, love?” Not that I have to ask, I know what she means, but I want to hear it all the same. I’ve been shielding her from my mind all night and will keep that up for now because I want to see just how good Zephyr’s intuition is when it comes to me. Since the Counsel meeting we’ve allowed each other far more access to what goes on in our grey matter than we did before, but I compartmentalize to spare my love the gruesome details.

Watching her now, though, I find it may be unnecessary.