Page 73 of Jagged Souls

Squeezing Maddox’s limp hand, I shake with rage.

With helplessness.

There’s nothing I can do to stop them from desecrating his body.

The other two wolves start to howl, throwing their heads to the sky as Hourglass starts to pull. Maddox’s body arches back, and I know the fucker has hold of his spine.

My grip on him tightens.

My fury rages.

He pulls hard, and Maddox’s spine rips free with a loud squelch. Blood sprays all over Hourglass, painting him for death. Intestines and organs pour from the hole in Maddox’s back, splattering across his feet.

Werewolves can’t speak in their animal forms, but the rage in Hourglass’ eyes is there. He’s doing all this because I fucking stabbed him. What a tantrum-throwing pussy.

Dropping his foot to the ground, squelching through the mess, Hourglass raises the spine in the air. Bloody nerves and tendons dangle off it.

Maddox slides down the cage.

His hand slips from mine.

“I’m going to kill –” I start, only to immediately jump back as his entire body slams into the cage. I didn’t even see the pride demon enter the gym, but he’s here now, his wings spread out, his dark-blue fur covered in blood and bits of brain matter. He pins Hourglass to the cage with one meaty paw on the back of his head. The two werewolves that were howling in celebration now stop short and try to rush him.

Pride’s wings flick almost lazily, and his feathers, the beautiful midnight-blue, golden-tipped feathers, slice across their necks like knives, decapitating them so quickly, they still take a few steps before they fall to the ground. He keeps his eyes on me, and I stare at him in shock, wondering what thefuckLou was thinking when she called this demon forth for a booty call.

I’m so going to kill her.

Hourglass snarls as he tries to turn around, his frothing fury snapping my attention back to him.

“Let me out of here,” I growl at the prince. “I get to kill him.”

“I do not take orders.” He yanks Maddox’s spine out of the wolf’s hand, then he wraps it around Hourglass’ throat and pulls back hard, his thick biceps flexing, his eyes never leaving mine.

My jaw drops free as Hourglass thrashes around, gasping like a fish, his eyes bugging out of his skull. He reaches around him to try to scratch his way free, to cut out Pride’s eyes, but the demon doesn’t release him.

I’ve seen a lot of shit as an assassin.

A lot of imaginative deaths, but this…

My eyes tear up.

This is so fitting for Maddox.

He would’ve loved this so much.

“Okay, wellthatwas worth the pain to see.”

I scream as Maddox’s voice comes from behind me.

I spin around, my heart thumping wildly. I swing for his face, wanting to both check he’s real and to just hit him for being a fucking little shit if he is.

“Ow!” he yelps as he throws up his hands.

“I held your hand as you died!”

“I said don’t cry! I had a plan!”

I throw my arms around him as my emotions run wild. The amount of stress in my system right now is making me shake hard. He shoves me away.