Page 98 of Eternally Bound
The last of his words took on a hysterical tone. Ronan’s unblinking stare mixed with the demon-color was the most frightening thing Kadence had ever seen.
“No,” Ronan finally said. “You’re a purebred, and you’re a dead one.”
“You won’t do anything to me while I have her, and you’ll do anything we say once I give her to Joseph.”
Ronan’s skin swirled and pulsed with those colors as his eyes burned like hot coals. “You won’t make it one more step, let alone reach Joseph.”
Kadence’s fingers inched toward her side as the knees of the Savage literally knocked together. Slipping the knife Ronan had given her from her pocket, her fingers slid over it as she worked to free the blade.
The Savage gave a harsh bark of laughter. “You think you’re so strong, Ronan, so powerful, but you don’t know what’s coming. Not evenyouwill be able to stop it, andIwill be standing there laughing when you’re finally taken down.”
Kadence finally succeeded in opening the knife and turned it in her grasp. “I can’t wait to see you destroyed,” the Savage growled.
Gripping the handle, Kadence kept her arm close to her side as she swung the blade back and drove it into the Savage’s thigh. She threw her weight to the side to keep from taking a stake to her heart as she twisted the blade in his flesh and jerked it to the side. The putrid scent of his blood hit her as he grunted and fumbled to keep his hold on her. His hand twisted around her braid and he yanked her back.
Kadence never saw Ronan move until he was on top of the Savage, driving him into the ground like a jungle cat taking down its prey. She bit back a cry as her head jerked forward and she was brought to the ground with them. Before she could try to free herself, Ronan tore the hand holding her from the Savage with a brutal twist of bones and sinew. Bile surged up Kadence’s throat when the fingers of the severed hand remained entangled in her hair as she scrambled back.
Fumbling awkwardly, she managed to tear the hand free and throw it aside. The Savage wailed in horror as blood sprayed from the stump of his wrist and Ronan remained perched on his chest. With methodical ruthlessness, Ronan tore the other hand away from him.
Kadence crab-crawled backward across the ground, looking to get away as the sour stench of urine filled the air, and she realized the Savage had pissed himself. She didn’t blame him.
Hands seized her arms, and her head fell back to take in Nathan standing above her. His mouth fell open when Ronan’s head swiveled toward them. Ronan’s nostrils flared, and the red of his skin took on a scarlet hue.
“Let her go!” Declan snapped and yanked Nathan’s hands away from her.
Nathan released her and took two steps back, but Ronan continued to watch him. Kadence realized the Savage had pushed him too far and he was on the verge of completely snapping.
“I’m okay,” Kadence choked out. He’d said that because of their bond he wouldn’t turn Savage, but if the man before her wasn’t Savage, then she didn’t know what was. “Nathan was just trying to help me!”
Nathan lifted his hands in the air as if to prove her point. Ronan watched him for a second more before his attention shifted back to the Savage.
“Don’t touch her again, not when he’s like this. He won’t hurt her, but he’ll shred every one of us,” Declan warned, and Nathan nodded.
“Where is Joseph?” Ronan snarled.
“I… I don’t know!” the Savage wailed. “Not here. He left me here yesterday and went somewhere else!”
Ronan leaned so close to the savage that their noses almost touched. Amusement slithered through him as the man’s misery battered him. This vampire had no idea what suffering was yet, but he would by the time Ronan was done with him. The vamp’s eyes rolled in his head as his stumpy arms beat against Ronan’s sides. Ronan slid his fingers around the vamp’s throat, drawing blood as he dug into the Savage’s flesh.
“What is coming?” he demanded.
Spittle flew from his mouth when the Savage violently shook his head back and forth. Ronan dug his fingers deeper in until he could feel the Savage’s spine. He scraped his fingers across the bone and the Savage blurted out a reply. “A war! Your death!”
“Not my death, but yours. I’ll make it quick if you tell me where Joseph is,” he promised.
“I really don’t know!” the Savage cried.
“Ronan, he doesn’t know,” Kadence whispered.
His attention was drawn to her, sitting on the ground ten feet away from him. Her neck was still red from where the vamp had choked her. Thisthinghad dared to touch her. Yet, he couldn’t tear this creature leisurely apart like he longed to do, not in front of her. She understood his darker side, but he wouldn’t expose her to such cruelty, not when he knew she was right; this thing didn’t know where Joseph was right now.
With a growl, he jerked his hands apart, tearing the savage’s throat in half and rending its head from its shoulders. The head rolled away before the rays of the sun lit upon it and flames licked over its skull.
He inhaled a shuddery breath as he struggled to regain control of himself. He’d seen what could happen to a purebred when infuriated or when their mate was in jeopardy, but he’d never experienced it before. He gazed down at the red and black coloring of his skin as he wiped his blood-drenched hands on the ground.
Despite the fact the Savage was dead and Kadence was safe, the color wouldn’t retreat from his body. Turning, he looked to Kadence again as she gazed at him in wordless wonder. She’d witnessed him at his most brutal and out of control, yet he saw no revulsion in her eyes.
Scrambling across the ground, she flung herself into his arms. Ronan remained motionless for a second, unwilling to touch her with the putrid blood still on him, but he couldn’t resist holding her. His arms closed around her and he drew her against him.
