Page 61 of Shadows of Light
The dark fae sought to use the power of the air; it gathered air around him but couldn’t push it beyond the bars. As he tried, two other warlocks gathered fire in their hands.
Cole’s muscles cracked as they bent and shifted into something else. His joints took on his wolf form as his jaw elongated.
Behind him, Becca screamed, “No! Don’t hurt him!”
But her words didn’t matter. These assholes had decided he would die, and they would do everything they could to make it happen.
A ball of fire hit Cole’s shoulder. It seared across his hair and the muscle of his flank as he leapt at the bars.
Throwing the full power of his weight into it, he smashed against the bars with everything he had. He ignored the agony of his burnt shoulder and the magic continuously zapping him as he shoved his snout through the bars while snapping at the fuckers beyond.
They were so convinced their magic would keep him contained, they didn’t move away from him. But though it didn’t make any noise yet, he felt the metal giving way beneath his weight.
When they threw another ball of fire at him, the dark fae’s power somehow rose and knocked it aside. Disbelief rippled through him at this new development.
Usually, when he was in wolf form, his dark fae abilities were suppressed, but now, the lycan and fae worked together to keep the wolf protected while it tried to break free. All around him, the shadows bobbed and weaved; if possible, they would have salivated at the idea of breaking free and unleashing terror on all who dared to trap them here.
Metal screeched as the wolf pressed into the bars. That thrumming, painful sensation intensified until it vibrated his ears, battered his bones, and shook his muscles, but he refused to give up.
The wolf stifled a whimper as the power racing through him amped up until every part of him quaked and zapping noises pulsed through his ears. The warlocks unleashed three more fireballs on him and more of those lightning bolts.
With its ability to control the elements, the dark fae part of him knocked aside the fire, but a lightning bolt slammed into his head. An explosion went off in his skull as lights erupted before his eyes; his body jerked and swayed as his claws tore into the stone.
Cole had no control over himself anymore and he’d lost his vision and some of his hearing, but his instincts told him to move, or die.
“Stop it!” Becca screamed. “I command you tostop!”
“We don’t follow your commands,” someone stated.
Fire singed his right shoulder, but most of the blow missed him as he rolled across the floor and bounded onto his paws. Still unable to see, his instincts guided him as the lycan charged into the bars again. He would see them all dead, but he had toseefor it to happen.
Crashing into the bars, he shoved against them until they twisted with a screech before something finally gave way beneath his weight. Shaking his head, he couldn’t stop a grunt when more lightning bolts blistered his flesh, but he didn’t cease his efforts to break free.
These soon-to-be-dead fuckers had underestimated his strength, and they would pay for it. The bars sliced across his flesh; one bit into his shoulder but using his jaws, he ripped it free. He shoved himself the rest of the way through the bars.
When he emerged on the other side, the shadows surged as he regained control of them again. His vision started to clear and delicious screams filled his ears. He relished every one of those agonized screams as the shadows tore their victims to pieces.
With his paws thudding against the ground, the wolf barreled toward one of the warlocks. The man released another fireball that exploded in Cole’s face.
The stench of burnt hair filled the tunnel, but as the fire burned him and his skin sizzled, his jaws clamped on the warlock’s waist. Cole lifted him off the ground and bashed him into the rock.
The warlock’s head burst like an overripe tomato. His arms and legs kicked against the floor, but Cole wasn’t finished with him as his jaws sank onto the warlock’s head, and he tore it free.
Swinging his head, he launched the skull at a vamp running deeper into the cave. The head crashed into the back of the man’s knees. It knocked him off his feet as another warlock heaved a fireball at him.
Cole darted to the side in time to avoid the fireball as a dark fae gathered the power of the air and shoved it at him. The blast would have thrown him back if his dark fae powers hadn’t blocked and pushed it back.
The air hit the dark fae and slammed her into the wall. Before the fae could recover, the shadows ripped away her skin and plunged into her chest to tear out her heart.
When the rest of his enemies fell beneath his claws, teeth, and the shadows, Cole turned to where he last saw Becca, but she was gone. He didn’t have time to deal with the bars on the other side of the cage, so he plunged deeper into the tunnel as he searched for another way out.
He would find her and make her pay.
CHAPTERFORTY-NINE
Brokk steppedfrom the portal into an outer realm with the female dwarf who’d come to get him. Cole had been spotted, and the dwarf knew where. Brokk could only hope his brother was still here.
As he searched the night, another portal opened, and Orin emerged with Skog at his side. Brokk didn’t have time to acknowledge his brother before motion from the corner of his eye drew his attention. Becca sprinted across the grass as she raced toward a building and the portal opening before it.
