Page 63 of Of Blackened Blood (The Blackened Blade #3)

I think some small part of me was holding on to the memories of the kind and protective boy I once knew, hoping he would return someday. Even if only as a friend.

But that small piece is now gone. His hatred is too strong. I could almost taste it in the air around us ... He wanted me dead.

And I can’t forgive him anymore.

Xander needs to now learn his place. Below me.

I dash forward just as fur begins to form on his chest and kick his legs out from under him, hearing a bone crack as his transformation comes to a halt.

I twist around before he can even whimper, landing a blow to his spine that has him arching his back in pain before letting out a guttural growl.

“ Bitch— ” He tries to reach for me with his clawed hand, but I grab his arm, twisting it backward until I feel the shoulder dislocate and his wrist bone crack under the force of my grasp.

A pained howl leaves his lips as I continue to grip his broken wrist.

“I gave you and everyone else too many chances, but I’m done with it all now.” I give his wrist a little squeeze as a low grunt leaves his mouth. “You can stay blind and buried in the darkness; I’ll even help you dig the hole. But I’m done being the scapegoat for all your problems.”

He tries to pull himself up, but his legs give way, his bones too broken even for his shifter healing to recover from this quickly.

“I ... always knew you were an evil bitch,” he grits out through raspy, pained breaths.

I tower over him. “No, Xander. The only bitch here ... is you.”

I raise my fist, ready to return the pummelling he gave me when a shout rings out from behind me, quickly followed by the sound of footsteps.

“Xander!” Kane and Ander shout as they rush toward us through the forest trees. But just before they reach us, they fall to the ground, black coils wrapping around their feet, stopping them from moving a step further.

Creed appears behind them, his dark gaze set toward Kane and Anders now flailing and thrashing below him, before his eyes wander toward Xander.

A glare more murderous than I’ve ever seen before on him takes over his expression.

It’s a look that promises a pain worse than death.

And it has an instant shiver running up my spine.

“Take your time,” Creed calls to me, his voice low and cold as his black coils wrap further around Kane and Anders, covering their mouths and quelling their voices.

He meets my gaze for a brief moment, something strange and unfamiliar flickering through his amber eyes as his lips part. “No one will interfere or stop you.”

Creed’s POV

I watch on as her small fists smash into the dark-haired boy below her, again and again pummelling the ass for what he’s done to her. Blood covers her clenched knuckles, a look of vengeance taking over her soft features. Taking what she’s clearly owed.

I had made my way into the forest after hearing her voice and the sound of some sort of struggle. I thought I’d find her wrestling with Annex or messing with Ezra and Mallyn.

But the moment I saw her dishevelled clothes and hair tangled with blood instead, fighting some ass who was ready to shift and try to hurt her ...

I clench my fists tight until my knuckles whiten. My power had broken loose before I could even try to contain it, seeping out around me until it found the two dickheads lying below me.

It didn’t matter if she was winning, the fact that she had to fight, to defend herself—I shake my head, my gaze narrowing at the idiots writhing in my coils. It wasn’t their place to stop this. Micai deserved her revenge.

Whatever retribution she wanted to exact, I would help.

They fucked with the wrong one. She was one of my people now. And if you hurt one of us ... you get the wrath of us all.

I wrap my coils tighter around the stupid assholes on the ground, silencing their whimpers completely as I watch Micai work.

There was no hesitation in her hits, no guilt or regret written across her face as she made him look more and more like a bloody corpse than a human.

The look on her face as each hit lands on him ... She needed this.

Whatever past she had with these assholes, she was declaring it done with each blow given. I could see the pain and anger in her eyes and the resolve she has to sever their ties once and for all.

But they deserved much worse for what they’ve done than just this.

Ezra filled me in before on the shit they’ve said and his speculations of their past. He was already planning his own payback for them, but I guess Micai beat him to it.

I feel a satisfied grin stretch my lips. She looks like a bloody Valkyrie.

I guess she really is a perfect fit for my brothers. Pity I didn’t see it before.

Micai pulls herself up, my eyes trailing up her blood-splattered uniform and messy, crimson-tipped hair, her blue eyes shining even brighter.

Somehow, even with all the carnage and blood dripping down her, she looks even more ... perfect .

My brows furrow as I shake the thought from my head and take a step toward her.

She pulls her gaze from the half-alive corpse dripping blood below her to meet my stare.

I gesture toward the morons still thrashing and rolling on the ground wrapped in my coils, before pulling them over to us. Moving my coils upward, I dangle them upside down with my power and peer her way. “Do you want a little time with these too?”

She stares at them for a moment, her eyes narrowing toward them both as they go completely still. “They’re not worth it.”

They both watch as Micai takes a step closer to them, and my coils tighten around them, not liking the look in their eyes.

“I hope you both remember today ...” She leans down closer, peering into both of their widened eyes.

“And stay the fuck away from me. There are no more chances, and I could give zero fucks about all your bullshit. I’m tired of it.

All the pity or hope in me is well drained.

So stay away, unless you want to end up like him.

” She points toward the half-dead body lying on the ground a few feet away.

She pulls herself up straight, fixing her uniform before peering toward the bloody body and then meeting their gazes again.

“I suggest you keep him far away from me too ... because I won’t leave any blood in his body the next time he comes at me.” She turns away from them, giving me a small nod before heading back in the direction of the dorms.

I wait until she leaves the treeline and stealthily makes her way into her dormitory before turning toward the leftovers behind me.

I drop the two idiots to the forest floor as my power seeps out from me, covering the area around me and flowing toward each of them and the bloody body beside us.

“I could kill you all so easily.” My coils wrap tighter around them, their eyes widening.

“With just a single thought, you would all be consumed ... and not a trace of you would be left behind.” I take a slow step toward them as they try to roll backward, but my power holds them tightly in place.

“Any of my brothers could do the same ... just a little messier .”

A whimper leaves one of their wrapped mouths as I meet each of their eyes.

“I don’t care what you believe or what you think you know.

What happened to your little friend Knox wasn’t Micai’s fault .

.. she even tried to help him.” My eyes narrow, my anger rising at the look on their feeble expressions with my words.

“But you’re all too stupid and blind to see it. ”

I made my mistakes with Micai, driven by own stupidity and misunderstandings. But even with all that, I knew she wasn’t like the rumours that were spread about her in the academy.

So how could her own childhood friends not see that? Instead, they only added to her torment and misery.

Even if their memories were messed up like Knox’s, at least he tried to apologise. But these bastards ... they still continue to hurt her.

My anger rises as I look at their fearful gazes, my power wrapping itself around them over and over again until their bodies are completely covered, only their eyes peeking through.

They should have been strong enough from the start to break that bitch’s spell and protect Micai. They should have been able to see through the bullshit when Micai was in pain instead of burying her further in it.

But they didn’t. They let her suffer and still try to hurt her.

My power rolls throughout the forest, seeping out like black waves as tears form in the smallest one’s eyes, whimpers leaving all their lips.

It would be so easy to make them disappear; with the snap of my fingers, I could obliterate them, and any trace left behind ...

Then I remember Micai’s resolved gaze, the strength in her shoulders as she turned and walked away from them. She could have killed them herself, but she didn’t. If it was her will to let them live their pathetic lives ... then I could concede for her.

My power recedes reluctantly back inside me, slowly unwrapping the pathetic bastards as they gasp for air, every inch of them trembling on the forest floor.

I glance toward the girls’ dormitory and look toward the smallest window on the third floor. Micai’s.

Micai was one of us and we protect our own. Always.

My brothers and I would take care of her now.

I turn and make my way toward the dormitory but give my power one last flick, sending the three assholes slamming into the nearest and thickest trees. Their pained moans ring out and sound like music to my ears.

A grin tilts my lips. Just because I let them live now doesn’t mean I can’t make their lives a living hell.

They’ll wish they never fucked with one of mine.