Lex called out from behind her, but she didn’t pay heed to him. Her bare feet pounded against the floor as she sprinted through the hall. The smell of rain on the air guided her to the outside.
She threw the door open and froze at the ten shifted wolves snarling in front of her. Her wolf tried to rise to the surface, only to hit an invisible barrier thanks to the silver. She swallowed her panic and raised her hand to try and remove the silver. Burning her fingers would be worth removing it and gaining her wolf back.
Something took her from the side, and her body slammed into the ground. She flipped to her back to face Anthony. He pinned her to the ground with his forearm against her shoulders and his knee shoved into her stomach.
“That was a stupid move. I thought you were defenseless?”
She tried to catch her breath. “Remember when you let me wander the city drunk? Yeah, after a stranger took care of me, I took a self-defense course.”
He gave a small look of surprise and then shook his head. “How did I not know?”
“You never paid that much attention,” she growled.
“Let her up Anthony, and throw her to the wolves.”
“They’ll kill her.”
“They won’t. They have enough of their human mind left.” Lex smiled at her. “And if they do, then we’ll display her corpse for Kylian to see.”
Her body shook, and she looked up at Anthony, begging him not to send her to the wolves.
“Maybe we should let her shift.” He said suddenly. “It’ll be more of a fight, and she’ll last longer.”
Her gaze darted to Lex who hmmed for a moment. “No.”
There went any fighting chance she had.
“Now, let the wolves have her.”
Anthony stood, and Casey slowly climbed to her feet, looking around at the wolves surrounding her. She reached up to pull the silver chain off her, but the wolves attacked before she had a chance.
Pain laced through Ares’ body, causing him to pause in his run. Whatever was happening to Casey, he was going to make Lex and Anthony pay for it. She was in enough pain that he swore he was physically being attacked. When it came down to fighting, it’d be a distraction and very possibly a handicap.
His paws skidded to a halt as he caught Casey’s scent mixed with blood. He was close to the pack grounds. The image of Casey’s wolf was becoming clearer with each step that he took, but it faded into the air the moment he saw a small pack of wolves tearing into something…no, someone.
Casey.
He howled and ran towards the wolves. He grabbed the closest one by the back of the neck and threw him away. The next, he rammed into, knocking it off balance and away from Casey. He snarled, and the others backed away, before tucking tail and running, most likely to tell Lex that he’d arrived. He shifted back into his human form, giving him a moment to readjust to it.
He rushed to Casey and scooped her up in his arms. Blood coated her pale skin, enough to keep him from knowing exactly what the wounds were. He cradled her to his chest, trying to calm his panic. Her chest slowly rose and fell as she tried to open her eyes.
“Ares,” she whispered, and relief flooded through him. He kissed her head.
“Yeah, it’s me. I’m getting you out of here.” He brushed his hand down her cheek.
She raised her hand. “Silver.”
The pain in her voice broke his heart and nearly brought his wolf out. The moment he saw Lex he was going to kill the bastard.
“I’m taking you home.” He looked at her. “We can take care of you there,” he promised.
“Put her down.” Anthony’s voice came from behind him. Ares turned around with Casey in his arms.
“Did you ever care for her?” Ares asked, not putting Casey down. “At all? Or was she just a means to an end?”
Anthony met his gaze. “Of course I cared for her.”
“And then things changed? Do you know who it was that found her the night she wandered the town drunk? That was me. I made sure she was safe when you didn’t even know she was gone. When you left her standing outside the bar, it was me who made sure she got to a cab okay.” He slowly lowered Casey to her feet, making sure she could hold her weight before letting her go. “You have a funny way of showing that you cared for her.”
“Casey, step away from him,” Anthony warned. “You don’t want to be close by for this fight.” He flicked his hands, and his fingers turned into claws. “
“No.” She didn’t flinch or hesitate at Anthony’s nifty talent.
Ares had the same ability; partial changing was something found in stronger werewolves, he hadn’t expected Anthony to be capable of it.
Ares turned to Casey and kissed her gently. “He can’t kill me,” he whispered. “Just remember that.”
“I know.” She turned to face Anthony, and Ares saw rage flash in her eyes.
She’d just feed off the rage and madness if they fought. He looked at Anthony. “Let’s handle this with pack rules. A fight against alphas, tonight. You’ve made your message loud and clear by torturing my mate. Let me take her home…”
Casey collapsed to the ground next to him. He knelt by her and brushed her hair. The sun glinted off the silver still laying on her collarbone, covered with blood and flesh. “Oh gods,” he breathed, remembering what she had said. Silver.
“Hold still,” he whispered. He looked around for something to hold the silver with, but he found nothing. “I’m so sorry Casey.” He pried up the loose end of the silver chain, hissing as it made contact with his skin. Casey closed her eyes as he ripped the silver chain off of her. Strings of burning flesh pulled away with it, leaving an angry red line behind. She screamed, her voice hoarse, and he threw the chain away.
He cupped her cheek. “Casey?”
She opened her tear-filled eyes. “I’m okay. It’ll be okay. Thank you.” She turned and kissed the burn on his hand.
A stabbing pain went through him, and he looked down to see the red metal of the adamantine sword sticking through his chest. He met Casey’s wide eyes. Her trembling hand touched the tip of the sword, and her eyes flashed yellow as the wolf started to come to the surface.
His fingers tingled as the feeling slipped from them. Blood ran down his chest in rivets, dripping to the ground below. He’d been distracted. His wolf tried to come to the surface so he could shift to heal the wound. But with the sword in him, there was no chance of that. The metal of the gods would stop the healing and keep the wolf at bay.
“Sword. Out.” He growled and grabbed Casey’s wrist. “Get it out; we go home.”
She took a shaking, deep breath, and moved around him.
“And what are you going to do?” Lex’s voice snaked across Ares. “Fight me? Bring it little bitch.”
Ares cried out as Lex twisted the sword, he tried to move away, but Lex only shoved the blade in further. The numbness started to weave through the rest of his body now. “Run Casey.”
10
Casey put a hand to her chest as the pain radiated through her. If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought she was having a heart attack, or that the blade was sticking out of her and not Ares. She met Lex’s gaze and snarled. Her mate was dying, and it was Lex’s fault. Ares was a god; he wasn’t supposed to be able to die. Yet, this asshole had managed to take a moment of distraction and shove a sword through him.
Her vision turned to red, and her wolf flowed out of her, there was no longer a fight about what was going to happen. She was going to let the beast out, and it would take care of everything. Feed from the rage and the grief flowing through her. As soon as the fur covered her body, the pain of her wounds disappeared, buried below the emotions and the goal she and the wolf had created. Kill Lex and anyone who got in their way.
Lex smirked. “Cute.” His already long face shifted to that of his wolf, he fell on his hands and knees as his spine bowed and twisted, taking new form, but Casey didn’t wait. She lunged forward, her jaw poised for his neck. She imagine
d the point of her teeth tearing into the soft flesh and ripping it out.
Mid-change, Lex knocked her out of the air and onto the ground. She rolled a few times and let out a yelp. She climbed to her feet and went after him again.
Her human mind went black, only giving glimpses of what the wolf was doing. Flashes of blood and teeth were all she could make out; even the pain was gone. There was no telling if she was wounded more or if she was winning the fight. All she could feel was the rage over Ares dying.
No. He wasn’t dead yet. He told her to get the sword out of him. She tried to tell her wolf to look toward their mate, but it refused, hyper-focused on the enemy they were fighting. Panic started to fill her. Of course, the animal didn’t understand, all the wolf knew was that there was danger. It was surviving off instinct. Kill the alpha. Get revenge. Neutralize the threat.
But she needed to get the sword out of Ares. She conjured up thoughts of him. The way his hand felt against her skin. The smell of freshly fallen rain and dirt that he always carried with him. The way he spoke her name with the utmost care. The way their wolves danced together when they first mated. He was hers to take care of.
The world came back to her with a punch. Lex lay on the ground, blood pooling from multiple bites and wounds. Casey stumbled as her wolf retreated and she was human again, the pain came in a crash, taking her down to one knee, but she didn’t have time to examine her wounds.
She turned to Ares, slouched over with the sword buried to the hilt in his back, the blade the only thing keeping him from falling to the ground. Casey rushed to him. She gripped the hilt and slid the sword out of him, dropping the blade next to her. Her arms cradled him to her, his dead weight testing what strength she had left.
“Ares, please,” she whispered, touching her forehead to his. “Please don’t leave me.” She lifted her head to look at the wound in his chest, and she saw the skin slowly start to knit together through the blood, and she let out a sob of relief. If it were healing, he’d wake up. He’d be with her.
The sound of feet dragging against the ground caused her to lay Ares on the ground and reach for the sword. Her fingers wrapped around the hilt. She jumped to her feet and swung around to face Lex standing behind her, his body half formed into a wolf, standing on hunched back legs, leading to a rounded spine and the elongated face of a wolf man.
He raised his dangling arm, the claws glinting in the fading sunlight. She lunged forward, shoving the blade into his stomach and thrusting up through the ribs. The sword didn’t hesitate at the bones and continued through the chest, slicing the wolf man’s upper body into two.
The blood ran over the blade, and she smiled, something deep in her broke out of its shell. A stranger that she didn’t know, and it wasn’t her wolf counterpart. In the back of her mind, she vaguely heard someone call her name, but she paid no heed to them.
A hand grabbed her arm, yanking her away from the body of the dead man. She met the wide eyes of Anthony. He snarled and brought down clawed hands. She jumped back, the claws catching her stomach. The pain didn’t register, and he flicked the blood off his claws before giving her a sickening grin.
“Are you going to cut me in half too?”
She tilted her head to the side and tightened her grip on the hilt. “You and every one of your pack,” she snarled and lunged toward him.
Anthony jumped back and out of her reach. She called on the strength and speed of her wolf. The rage and the madness pushed her mind away. Her sanity slipped further away the more she thought about revenge. Revenge for what they did to her, for what they did to Ares.
Ares came to with a gasp. His chest struggled to rise as the wound finished healing the internal damage. Casey must have pulled the sword out before he bled out. Speaking of…where was his mate? He felt miscellaneous wounds on his own body, but he was at least conscious.
He heard a battle cry of rage coming from behind, he and his heart sank when he realized that it was coming from Casey. He jumped up and spun around to see her rushing towards Anthony with the sword held over her head. It wasn’t a battle tactic, it was a hack and slash method, and judging by the blood covering the two of them, neither of them were winning.
She was taking care of Anthony now, so that meant someone had already taken care of Lex, or the man was standing by watching his second fight. Ares’ eyes scanned the area, and he found exactly what he was looking for. Lex’s body was laying on the ground in human form. In nearly two pieces. He looked over at Casey and realized the madness had taken over her human mind. She was channeling all the rage that she’d taken from him. Holy. Shit.
He rushed towards Casey. If he could get ahold of her, maybe his wolf would speak to hers and calm her. Anthony snarled and his body shifted to the half man- half-wolf form and Casey didn’t even hesitate.
“If you’re that strong, why didn’t you take over the pack?” he called out. Anthony’s gaze shifted to him, and Casey darted forward.
With a swing of his arm, Anthony knocked Casey away, sending her to the ground. Ares tensed at the new pain that lanced the side of his body, feeling Casey’s pain, but she flipped up without hesitation.
Anthony looked at Ares. “You turned her into this.” His voice sounded odd coming through the half-formed muzzle. “A monster, gone to the madness. Is this what you wanted for her?”
Casey swung the sword wildly at Anthony. Ares shook his head. She’d never forgive herself if she slaughtered Anthony, and if she killed him, she’d just continue on, trying to kill the pack. Revenge.
“Casey.” Ares sprinted the short distance to her and wrapped his arms around her.
She froze against him, her hands loosening around the sword. He could sense her wolf below the surface, also wanting to hunt and kill. But her wolf recognized him. “Ares,” Casey whispered, and he nuzzled her neck.
“It’s me, love.” He kissed her neck before slowly turning her around. He skirted his hand over her arm, wrapping his fingers around hers. “I’m safe. You’re safe, drop the sword.”
She met his gaze, and the hazel of her eyes flashed to yellow and back. He lowered his head and kissed the mark on her shoulder. “Your mate.”
Casey let go of the sword and looked over her shoulder. “He has to pay,” she whispered.
He wrapped his arms tight around her. “And he will.”
Rapid footsteps crunched across the ground, and Ares pushed Casey out of the way. He dipped down and grabbed the sword. Kneeling on one knee, he thrust the sword into Anthony’s stomach just as he attacked. The motion too swift for the werewolf to avoid. “You did this to her. When you bit her and abandoned her.” He twisted the sword, watching the blood coat the blade. “And now you’ve lost everything.”
He watched the light fade from Anthony’s eyes and smiled at the feeling of victory. He pulled the sword out, and Anthony’s body fell to the ground. Ares looked at the wolves who were starting to gather, coming from the shadows to see how the fight ended. “I am your alpha now. Anyone who disagrees may leave without questions. Those who choose to follow me will be welcome in our pack.”
He picked Casey up, cradling her against his chest. “I’ll send my second to come retrieve you and show you to your new pack lands.”
Using his ability to take Casey home wasn’t an option, he needed his energy to take care of her and make sure that she didn’t drop back into the madness.
She looked up at him with tears in her eyes, before she could speak, he kissed her. “I’m going to call Julia to come get us and take us home. Until then, sleep.”
She curled up against him. “Don’t leave me?”
“Never.”
11
Casey opened her eyes and looked into Ares’ gaze. A small smile appeared on her face, but it faded as flashes of the fight came back to her. “Oh god, I killed Lex.” Her eyes widened as panic started to climb inside her. She hadn’t just killed him; she’d sliced him in half.
“Shush, he deserved it.” He leaned down and
kissed her before pulling her to his side.
She laid her head on his chest listening to his heartbeat. “I lost myself. It was terrifying. Like my mind was locked in the dark, and I couldn’t find my way out.”
“The madness. Something sent you into it. You were determined to kill every pack member.” His fingers smoothed up and down her back, sending shivers through her.
“I thought Lex had killed you,” she confessed. “I wanted to take out as many of the wolves as I could for revenge. I didn’t even care which form I was in.”
He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. Remember when we talked about my rage and how you seemed to take on some of it.”
It had been a brief conversation, but it was one that she found so fascinating because it had to do with their new bond. “You think that’s what caused it?”
“I’m sure it didn’t help.”
She sat up. “I wouldn’t change any of this.” She met his gaze. “Had Anthony not changed me, then I wouldn’t be with you. You’d still be lonely and dealing with your rage all on your own.” She kissed him gently.
“Do you remember that night that you wandered around drunk?”
She put a hand over her eyes. “Really, you’re going to bring that up now?” Why on earth would he bring up something like that right now? She didn’t want to think about Anthony anymore.
“When I walked you back to your apartment…I didn’t want to leave you. The moment you told me that Anthony hadn’t even noticed that you left…the amount of anger I felt over it, all of it was wiped away by the touch of your hand.”
“I was human then.” She raised a brow. “So you’re saying that you could have mated a human?”
“I’m a god; it’s not unheard of. Why do you think there are so many demigods?”
She snorted. “Because Zeus can’t keep it in his pants.”
The Fall of War (Gods of Olympus Book 4) Page 10