Page 72 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

Pried my weapon free. Swung again, this time successfully severing the thick spine. I threw my other hand out, blocking a swarm of crawlers that surged for my open flank.

“Ally,” August warned.

I turned—followed his eyes.

A blood wolf had slipped past me, headed straight for the house. “On it!”

I jumped, landing between it and the cabin. Its eyes—black and empty—fixed on me, and another lightning volley tore open the sky, scorching treetops.

God, I love that man.

I threw fire and the wolf rolled. Smart bastard. It came again, faster this time, but I missed the neck. Again. It was watching. Learning.

Kingsley’s energy flared with another jump. He was still evacuating.

But my focus was on the beast’s snapping maw, drool flying, as a deep growl rumbled from its chest. Another boom overhead sent it lunging. I spun, dodged, and hurled more flames before a scream brought me up short. Human.

Rage snapped through me, and I jumped, coming down on its spine, my sword plunging deep. Black blood fountained as I hacked, again and again, until its head dropped to the ground.

Lightning flashed as more demons surged. As I torched the treeline with fire, I knew it wasn’t enough—we weren’t enough. The crashing of their footsteps was nearly as overpowering as August’s livid storm. I could light up the forest, but this was Kingsley’s home. His people still inside these woods in their shifted forms, requiring precision.

Crack-crack-crack—August’s lightning rained down. Some strikes hit true, while other bolts went rogue. Movement to my left. Six humans running for the woods. No⁠—

A surge of energy pulled from the same direction, this one dark around the edges, sending my heart hammering as panic wrapped around my windpipe. Crawlers were tracking them.

“No!” I screamed, reaching for August—but slammed into his impenetrable shield. My mind lashed out in desperation as lightning fell. A dozen demons—instantly gone...

Along with two humans.

My heart shattered and I reached for the quiet space—where time stopped. Where it was just us. Nothing. Just blood.

Horror curdled my stomach at the sight of burned flesh—that mishap would haunt my mate.

But nothing could be more horrifying than the rapid jerk of their scorched limbs as the mangled bodies rose from death.

August

“Alvara!” I bellowed, her scream slicing through the chaos. A darkness rolled down the mountainside like a dam bursting—heavy and suffocating. The trees seemed to bow beneath it. Terror slammed into our Bond, and I jumped without thinking, tearing through the air toward the cabin.

We’d shared a thousand emotions over the past few weeks, but never terror. Not from her.

When my boots hit the ground, thunder still growling above us, I didn’t know where to look first.

At Alvara, locked in a vicious dance of blue fire, arms flung like wings.

At the fleeing humans, barely ahead of the pack.

Or at the charred bodies with skin split open, twitching like puppets on tangled strings. Bloody. Burnt. Moving in jerky, bone-wrong ways.

Humans and blood wolves alike.

What. The. Fuck.

The corpses won. My stomach churned as their ragged limbs began to move more fluidly, smoother, more purposeful, as if the puppeteer had mastered the marionette. I jumped between them and Ally—ready to defend—but froze.

They passed us.

Not toward us.