Page 118 of Bound by Vengeance
Joseph’s breath exploded out of him. He waslurching downward when Nathan swung an uppercut under his chin thatshot his head back and caused blood to explode from his mouth.Ronan snatched Joseph from behind, and his arm snaked around theSavage’s neck. Joseph was taller than Ronan, but Ronan lifted himoff the ground until Joseph’s eyes bulged and his feet kickedagainst Ronan’s shins.
Two Savages raced out of the smoke andcrashed into Ronan’s side, knocking his hold on Joseph free.Kadence cried out as Ronan spun to tear one of the Savage’s heartsout, but half a dozen more Savages jumped on him.
Nathan pounced on Joseph’s back and broughthim down like a velociraptor on a cow. He drove Joseph’s face intothe ground until blood burst free and his features became nothingmore than mush. Joseph’s teeth littered the ground, blood oozedfrom his ears, eyes, and nose, and still, Nathan continued tobatter him.
Vicky’s scent filled his nose as she steppedbeside him and rested her hand on his shoulder. “Nathan.”
He resisted her for a second, but then heshoved Joseph’s head away and jumped to his feet. His shouldersheaved with every inhalation as he stood over the prone body of theman who had inflicted so much damage on his family and his kind.Lifting his arm, he went to wipe away the blood splattering hisface before realizing it saturated every part of him.
He wanted nothing more than to drive a stakethrough the bastard’s heart, but for now, Joseph was more useful tothem alive. He would go into Ronan’s prison where they couldquestion him and learn everything he knew before destroying him.And Nathan would take great pleasure in killing him slowly.
Lifting his head, Nathan’s wrath ebbed as hemet Vicky’s troubled gaze. He was reaching for her when Josephsuddenly rolled and jumped to his feet. His face resembled pancakebatter, but he was still healthy enough to smash his hand intoNathan’s chest.
Nathan grunted, his body bowed backward asJoseph’s fist shoved through flesh and bone in search of his heart.This invasion of his body didn’t hurt as bad as the Savage’s bite,but pain still flared out from his severed nerve endings and brokenbones. Joseph’s finger scraped his heart, and the beat of italtered. It all happened so fast that Nathan didn’t have a chanceto react at first.
Through their bond, Vicky’s terror and panicengulfed him as her hands wrapped around Joseph’s wrist. She triedto pull Joseph back, but the Savage was stronger than her.
Nathan couldn’t die here, he wouldn’t allowherto die, and he wouldn’t let thisbastardbe theone to kill him. Over Vicky’s hands, Nathan seized Joseph’s wrist,restraining the Savage from wrapping his hand around his heart.
“No!” Vicky screamed.
She couldn’t lose Nathan, not aftereverything they’d been through, not when she’d finally allowedherself to envision a future for them.
“I killed the father. Now I’ll kill theson,” Joseph taunted, his words distorted by his toothless mouthand battered face.
Nathan held Joseph’s ruby eyes as he twistedhis wrist to the side. Together, he and Vicky succeeded in pullinghis wrist back an inch.
Red and black color swirled through Vicky’shands as power the likes of which she’d never known suffused her.Her muscles felt like someone had placed her on a rack andstretched for days, but her fingers squeezed down. Joseph hissedout a breath when she felt the give of the bones in his wrist; hedidn’t let up as his muscles flexed against her palms and his handslid a little way into Nathan again.
“No!” she spat. She’d tear Joseph to piecesfor this.
“Nathan!” Kadence shouted.
Kadence appeared at Vicky’s side. Her handsencased Vicky’s, and together the three of them finally succeededin wrenching Joseph’s hand from Nathan’s chest. Joseph swung hisother hand up, but Vicky caught it before he could hit Nathan.Kadence lifted a stake over her head and plunged it into Joseph’schest.
Blood exploded from Joseph’s mouth, but thestake had missed his heart. Joseph spun, tearing his hand fromVicky’s grasp and backhanding Kadence across the face. Kadencecried out as the blow flung her away, and Ronan’s roar reverberatedthrough the air. Joseph twisted back, but before he could smackVicky, Nathan jumped in front of her.
“Nathan!” she screamed as Joseph’s blowlifted him off his feet and threw him fifty feet away.
Joseph spun toward her, his shouldershunched up and his nostrils flaring like a bull preparing tocharge. Over Joseph’s shoulder, Vicky spotted more Savages comingtoward them through the smoke. Having finished off the last of hisattackers, Ronan launched to his feet to intercept a Savagebounding toward Kadence.
They’re coming for Joseph, Vickyrealized with a sinking sensation. Whether it was to save theirleader or destroy him before he could be captured and interrogated,she didn’t know, but the Savages wouldn’t be stopped.
“Killing you will kill him,” Joseph said,his voice sounding like what she imagined a talking snakewould.
And then he was coming at her.
Before she could react, a booming explosionrent the air. In what seemed to be slow motion, fire raced overVicky’s back and seared away her flesh. Bits of flaming debris,chunks of wood, and a kitchen sink flew by her as she was liftedoff her feet. She somersaulted through the air, flashes of ground,smoke, and sky filling her vision as flames crackled and screamsresounded all around her.
Then, she felt the air falling away as shefell back toward the earth. When she hit the ground, air burst fromher lungs and earth plowed up before her as she skidded ten feet onher stomach before coming to a stop near a tree. Dirt clogged hernose as she inhaled shallow breaths, and tremors racked herbrutalized body. It took her a minute to realize some of the smokeand snapping flames around her were coming from her charredflesh.
“I’ve got you, don’t move,” Declancommanded.
He pulled off his shirt as he knelt at herside and beat out the flames consuming her flesh. She thought itshould hurt, but she couldn’t feel anything. She only knew the firewas being put out by the dwindling noise and smoke coming fromher.
“Nathan?” she whispered.
“He’s fine. He was thrown fifty feet in theother direction. You were the closest; you got it the worst.”
