Torment: Reckless Desires (Dark Wolves Book 1) (10 page)

All she needed to do was get to the treeline two hundred feet away. Once there, she could outrun them. She knew the land. Careful not to make a sound, she rolled onto her back. She’d only have a moment to gather the little guy and take off. But with any luck, by the time they figured out that she was up and bolting, she’d have enough of a head start to make it.

Malec chose that moment to squeal. “Kt, kt, kt, kt, kt…”

The men stopped talking, and her heart sunk.
Damn it.

“Well, look who’s finally awake. I thought we’d have to carry her sorry ass the whole way back,” CJ said as turned to look at her.

Like it or not, this was her best chance. With a quick roll, she gathered Malec in her arms and rose. Pain shot through her left arm, but she ignored it. She didn’t need it to run.

She only made it a few feet when a tall, towering figure came out of the treeline right where she’d been heading. A black ball swirled in its palm as it glared right at her. It threw its head back and roared.

The pounding footsteps behind her faltered. “What the hell?” She couldn’t tell which of the Mahehkan wolves uttered the words in such a high pitch, but it didn’t matter. The creature wasn’t after them. It was after her. One look in the hate-filled eyes, and her heart stuttered. It lifted its huge fist and released the energy it had been holding.

Delana lunged left. The shot missed her, but a short, agonized scream told her one of her captors hadn’t been so lucky. The smell of charred flesh permeated the area. She was still too far from the forest. The beast roared again, and the ground shook under her feet, making her stumble as the creature took huge pounding steps toward her. A bright flash streaked just above her head as she fell.

She twisted her body, landing on her back to keep from crushing the child. All the air exploded from her lungs on impact, leaving her gasping. She tried to move as the beast closed in, but it was fast. Faster than she would have expected for such a huge creature. The smell of wet fur and fetid swamp assailed her. Malec’s eyes grew wide, and he whimpered, tucking his face into her neck as though that would protect him from the monster. She scuttled back, trying to get more space, but it was too late. With yellowed claws extended wide, it rolled a charged ball in its palm again.

“Give the child to me, or you both die,” the gravelly voice grated, making her wince.

Delana scurried farther, the sticks and stones tearing at her palms as she crab walked as fast as she could. It wasn’t much, but she couldn’t give up. “Go back to the hell you came from,” she spat at it.

The Erritrol’s growl started low in its chest and exploded into a roar that had the earth shaking, and the birds in the nearby trees taking flight. It lifted its hand, ready to fire. Her heart pounded. Still clinging to Malec, she rolled. She tucked his body close to keep the beast from reaching the little boy.

She closed her eyes, bracing for the blast, but opened them again when a ferocious growl came at her from the other side. In a flash of silver fur, a massive wolf leaped over her, crashing into the Erritrol. The beast’s blast veered off course, hitting the ground a few feet away.

Scrambling to her feet, Delana ran. She didn’t stop until she reached the treeline. Malec stiffened and squealed. “Kt, kt, kt.” He made his grabby hands gesture toward the fighting beasts.

She ducked behind a large tree, putting the huge pine between them and danger. Khet. What little moisture she had left in her mouth dried. Malec had known what she hadn’t.

Delana held the little boy close as she peered around the massive trunk.

Blood oozed from deep gashes in the silver wolf’s side. His chest heaved as he struggled to breathe. The beast towered over him, its head thrown back in a roar that had her heart skittering to a halt, then pounding again at the sound. That
thing
was going to kill him. She had to do something.

Delana settled Malec down in the tall grass at the base of the tree. As long as he stayed put he’d be fine. She didn’t waste time stripping, allowing her wolf to shred her clothes as she shifted instead. If she were to have any chance at defeating the beast, she had to surprise it.

When she rounded the tree, her heart stuttered. In the hands of the beast, a massive black charge swirled and snapped. Deep in the pit of her gut, a growl rumbled, louder and louder. She was already upon the creature by the time it heard her coming. She leaped up, clamping her jaws around its meaty forearm. She didn’t let go until it stumbled back. The blast shot past her, hitting a tree a short distance away, sending bark missiles exploding through the air.

Then with one jerk of its arm, the Erritrol sent her hurtling the way she’d come. Bones in her back crunched, and pain stabbed through her spine as she crashed into the massive pine. She landed in a heap at its base. Gasping, she tried to get back on her feet, but her legs wouldn’t budge.

A bright flash had her closing her eyes before everything went black.

Khet threw every ounce of energy he gathered at the Erritrol. The beast’s eyes rounded, and it shimmered as though it meant to return to its world, but it was too late. The blast crashed into it sizzling with power. The Erritrol fell to its knees, smoke billowing from its mouth in a silent roar. Seconds later, the creature was nothing more than a pile of ash.

He had to get to Delana. Why the hell had she come back for him? Scrambling back onto his paws, he turned in the direction she had been sent flying. Heart pounding, he took a step, then another. The invisible vice around his chest tightened, making it impossible for him to breathe. Where the hell was she? He’d heard her crash. There was no way she was moving on her own. Deep inside, the wolf wanted to howl. It had heard the sickening snap of her delicate bones and the breath wheezing out of her lungs, but Khet refused to believe it.

Delana was alive, and those bastard wolves had gotten to her while he finished off the Erritrol. A quick look around revealed what he already feared. Malec was gone too. His growl rumbled through him with ever step he took. The forest and everything in his sight flashed in various shades of red. He put his nose to the ground and followed the trail. They only had a couple of minutes on him. They wouldn’t get far.

He lost the scent for a moment at the edge of a brook, but one large leap over it, and it picked up again, stronger than ever. Fiery pain in his right side slowed his pace, and blood clumped the fur around his wounds, but he kept moving.

When he heard the sounds of deep voices just over a hill, he crouched onto his belly and crawled to the top. On the other side, a dozen men stood. Delana lay at their feet, eyes closed but her cheeks were pink, and her chest rose and fell. Malec sat next to her, tapping her cheek with his little hand as though trying to wake her. The men looked around, their wide eyes darting from one place to the next, the smell of their fear burning at his nostrils.

“What the fuck was that?” the biggest of the bunch asked.

One of the other men jumped when a bird flew off a nearby branch, taking to the sky. “I don’t know, but I say we leave the bitch and kid here to die and get back to Mahehkan land. I didn’t sign up for that shit.”

“We can’t leave her. Roger gave us an order.” the largest male said. “Besides if that huge fucking wolf is still alive, she’s our only bargaining chip. Now pick her up and let’s get out of here.”

When one man bent to pick Malec up, the little cub howled and clamped his teeth on the man’s hand. The man grabbed Malec by the arm, shaking him like a rag doll.

Khet leaped from his spot, landing inches away. With his lips curled back, he snarled his warning.
Hurt the boy, and you die.

In an instant, the man dropped Malec, and rather than run as his friends had done, he shifted. Khet took a step closer to the idiot wolf who dared challenge him. The fur on its scruff bristled, but it didn’t back down. All around him, growls came from the forest.

When the wolf lunged, mouth open wide toward Malec, Khet pounced. Khet’s beast reveled in the sound of the wolf’s neck snapping in its jaws—at the taste of its blood flowing over its tongue. And it wanted more. Another wolf came out, then another, circling. Neither stood a chance against the beast. It needed vengeance. It fed on death. And it wouldn’t stop. Not until everything it destroyed every threat, every enemy.

***

Delana became aware of bursts of heat shooting down her spine. Little hands tapped at her cheeks. Malec. She wanted to haul him into her arms and take him away from the horrendous battle being waged all around her, but her legs refused to budge.

Wicked snarls and growls surrounded them. A yelp and a crash a few feet away had her whipping her head around. Blood sprayed in an arc over her, landing on her skin—on Malec. She pulled him over her, getting him as far away from the fighting wolves as she could. A flash of silver fur, coated red, sprung over her, crashing into another opponent.

The battle only lasted a few minutes, but when done, wolf bodies were strewn all around her. Only the silver wolf she knew to be Khet remained.

He came to her then, his head low, his lips still pulled back in a snarl. He sniffed the air, then circled her so that she had to crane her neck to see him. So much blood. It dripped from gaping wounds all over his body.

Malec tapped her cheek again, sending another jolt of pain down her spine. Crying out, she tried to grasp the little boy’s hand.

Khet was there in an instant, his cold, dark eyes trained on the boy. His growl rumbled deep. His pointed teeth dripped a mix of blood and saliva.

“No, Khet, he’s not hurting me,” she told him, keeping her voice soft and steady. And he wasn’t. Not really. The initial jolt down her spine had morphed into a warm tingle after the initial shock had rushed through her. And after what the child had done before, she was almost convinced he was trying to help her.

The wolf sniffed her neck, then down her side before he whined and sat next to her.

“Kt, kt, kt, kt,” Malec whispered and dug his fingers into the wolf’s thick fur.

“That’s right. Khet’s here to help us,” she cooed at the child, hoping to soothe the wolf at the same time.

Khet looked at the boy, then whined again before laying next to her. One of its long claws scraped against her leg, making her hiss at the long burning scratch. She gasped a moment later as realization set it. She felt the scratch.

“I think he’s healing me. Is that even possible?” she looked at Khet, then back at Malec, who was waving his chubby little fists around.

Khet nudged the boy with his nose, making him giggle before he toppled over. When he righted himself and reached for Delana again, the heat rushed from his little palms, warming her spine once more.

“He is. I know he is,” she whispered, but before she could test out her theory and try to move her legs, a huge wolf, bigger than even Khet, leaped into the clearing. Its gray fur rippled over its body as it moved, getting closer with each step it took.

Khet was up and between them in an instant. The hair on his scruff stood on end as he growled and snarled at the intruder.

A moment later, a female came into the clearing. The black wolf strode right up to the larger of the two, nudged it with her nose, and then went over to Khet. She didn’t hesitate, not even when he growled louder. When the wolf stopped, she shifted, and Miga stood in her place. “Thank you for saving Malec, Khet,” she said, before heading straight for her son.

Delana stood on shaking legs. Khet’s arm supported most of her weight. It hurt like hell, but she wasn’t about to make a peep. Who knew how little it would take to set the men off again?

After Argram and Miga had stormed the clearing, and upon seeing Malec with his skin covered in blood, it had taken everything Miga had to keep Argram from tearing everything in his sights apart.

Wesken and Joss had followed right behind, and again, the snarling and growling had erupted. Even now, she was sure the only thing keeping the men from shifting was the fact that Malec slept peacefully in his mother’s arms.

“I’ll take the lead. Joss is at the back,” Wesken said, giving Argram, a glare that dared him to argue.

When none came, he nodded and started off, expecting the others to follow. Delana took a deep breath. She was able to stand, but until her wolf finished the healing the little guy had started, walking would be next to impossible.

Without warning, Khet swooped her up into his arms. He hissed a breath between his teeth, but set his jaw and took a step.

She wiggled to get free. “No. Stop. Your wounds—”

“I’m carrying you.” He took a step, then another.

“But—”

Khet looked down at her, his brown eyes set. The growl coming from deep within his chest cut off her argument. He was in control, but not by much.

Rather than fight him and cause him pain, Delana relaxed in his arms, laying her head upon his shoulder. She breathed his scent, took in his strength, and allowed herself to drift into a hazy half-sleep until the sounds of the village roused her again.

A few of Argram’s men were at the center of the village, directing the others and the Komoro wolves as they extinguished fires and repaired damage all around them.

When Khet turned toward her home, she would have argued, but there was no point. He wasn’t ready to hear reason, and nothing would dissuade his purposeful strides. If her instincts proved right, she was about to be tucked into bed.