Page 57 of Silver Claw

He was the purpose of all the different parts of me. The woman, the psycho, the wolf.

He was the goal.

Even though they didn’t send an army of supernaturals to fight me, the ones who did show themselves were very nearly too much for me. I could have fought them one-on-one as my wolf or as my woman without too much trouble. But there was no one-on-one. They attacked me in batches, and I had no magic. My wolf was a wall of fury and unbelievable muscle. She was slow to feel pain, fast to heal, and more than a match for any vampire.

But they didn’t fight fair, and it was like they were cutting me down little by little, taking pieces of me until finally, I was weakened. I was less. I hadn’t been full-strength to begin with, not with my recent battle with Voss.

I wasn’t sure how I did it, but I found Joe.

I heard him roar, and when I finally got a moment to look, I saw him.

He was in a small vampire-safe holding room. Silver-wrapped bars through which he could peer but not touch. A padded table in the back with silver straps hanging from it, for when his captors might need to strap him down.

He was alive.

He was also injured, but not overly so. They hadn’t had time to do serious damage. His wounds were caused by his attempts to escape his cage. Magic would have knocked him out cold so he could have been whisked quietly away. I hadn’t even noticed he was gone until I’d turned to look for him.

But now he was awake, aware, and enraged.

Two guards stood outside his cage, one on either side of the door, and neither was armed. I was betting they had a key to the door, and I wasn’t going to ask nicely for them to hand it over.

I could feel my injuries, but they were like a background noise that buzzed quietly, waiting for me to take notice. Icouldn’t afford to take notice. Not yet. Not until I was in the car with Joe and my people.

Then I could cry like a little baby.

But right now, I was the big bad wolf. I would take my hits, kick enemy ass, and save my vampire friend.

Alpha goals.

In the end, when my wolf leapt over a mound of dead or too-injured-to-move supernaturals, I lowered my head and growled at the guard who remained at the cage door. The other one had apparently run off, though I hadn’t seen him go.

The guard was a huge, muscular woman with short red hair and light green eyes. She held up a meaty hand. “I will kill you,” she said.

I rushed her, intent upon ending it quickly so I could shift and find the key. Unlike her friend, she wasn’t about to leave her post. She didn’t seem particularly scared, either, despite the fact that she’d just watched me rip the heads off a dozen supernaturals just like her.

“Kait,” Joe yelled. “Behind you!”

I whirled, a little more sluggish than I liked. Fucking vampires were always going to bleed a person, one way or another.

I knew who I’d find behind me before I saw him.

Not Ael.

The demon elder. Kronor.

Not even Ael would be quite as gleefully brutal as the demon. And more than stopping me from retrieving Joe or taking out his savage wicked rage on me, he was going to want my damn blade.

Everyone did, and he was ademonelder. The blade would be calling to him.

Could I kill him? I honestly didn’t think I could. Even if I hadn’t fought my way through the building and was completely healthy, and even if I’d held onto my magic, I didn’t believe I could take on an elder and come out the victor.

Joe hissed and I heard a sizzling noise, then smelled flesh burning. He’d forgotten he couldn’t touch the bars and had likely grabbed them, burning his palms not just from the silver, but from bars laced with magic.

He groaned. “Run, Kaity Bug. For now. I’ll be okay. Run.”

I lifted my nose to the high ceiling and howled, and then, because fighting a demon elder would require using a demon blade, I shifted. I didn’t want to. I’d have healed a hell of a lot faster in my wolf form. But Kronor wasn’t going to stand back and patiently wait for me to heal so he could teach me a lesson and steal my blade.

The guard continued to stand at the cage door, where she’d stay until the elder released her. I doubted he even saw her. He didn’t so much as glance at the bodies on the floor, and he didn’t attempt to step around the blood on the floor.