Page 39 of Bound By Love
It might not be a good life without her mate, and it would still be short, but at least she would get tolive.He wished he could give her everything she deserved, but he’d learned years ago that wanting something didn’t always make it happen.
Hands tore at his back, shredded his shirt, and sliced open his skin. The sounds the Savages emitted mimicked ravenous animals fighting over their prey.
He’d once been one of these things, obsessed with the kill and endlessly excited by blood. He’d thrived on the hunt and distress of his victims. It was his sole reason for living, but these things disgusted him now.
No matter what they did to him, he wouldneverbe one of them again. They could inject him with their blood, it could rot his mind and steal his body, but he would find some way to stop that madness from ruling him again.
Despite not having his sword, he still had his knife and stakes. He wielded his blade with the most effect as he ducked a Savage charging at him and swung out to eviscerate the idiot.
When another emerged from the crowd, he spun his knife and plunged it into the creature’s thigh. The Savage howled as he twisted the blade before ripping it free.
Blood sprayed into his face from the severed artery, but he barely noticed its sticky warmth as he cut the Achilles tendon of another. It went down like a tree felled by a saw.
He ducked the next one, but the following Savage hit him with a punch that knocked his head to the side, rattled his teeth, and cracked his cheekbone. Knocked backward, he was still trying to clear his blurred vision when the Savage leapt at him.
He regained enough of his senses to plunge his knife into its belly as the creature’s fingers clamped around his throat. When Saber thrust upward, intestines spilled over his hand.
The Savage howled and leaned back. Jerking his knife from the creature’s belly, he plunged it up and into the Savage’s chin. Prying the beast off him, he yanked the blade free and watched it fall like a sack of potatoes.
Before he could completely recover, another one gripped his throat from behind. A second one wrapped its arms around his waist and shoved him to the side.
Saber plunged his blade into the back of the one trying to tackle him while the one behind him cut off his air supply. He tried to wheeze in a breath but barely got enough air as its skeletal fingers bit into his windpipe and white stars erupted before his eyes.
Swinging his arm up behind him, he plunged the blade into the Savage. He wasn’t sure where he got the thing, but it screeched as its fingers eased enough for him to gasp in oxygen.
His vision cleared enough for him to see a cloaked figure emerging from the trees and gliding toward him. From behind it, more cloaked figures spread out through the woods.
They kept their hands clasped within the bell sleeves of their robes. Their hoods hid their faces, but their brilliant, white-blue eyes shone out from the shadows.
Saber didn’t have to see its face to know the one in the lead was Kirkau. That beast had led the demons and Savages when he was one of them, he wouldn’t have given up his position, and his vast height gave him away; the beast was over seven feet tall.
It was only a matter of time before the sheer number of all these Savages overwhelmed and took him down, but the arrival of the demons intensified their fight. It also intensifiedhis.
Saber smiled at Kirkau and waved before shifting his attention back to the fight. If Kirkau was here, then he’d been right about the demons centering themselves in this area. At least the Alliance might still have a chance of defeating them, especially if the monsters killed him and they found someone else to claim his sword.
It probably wasn’t the best idea to antagonize Kirkau, but he didn’t give a shit. He was going to die.
It would be ahorribledeath, but these fuckers wouldn’t have the satisfaction of thinking he was afraid of them. As long as Caro was free, he didn’t care what they did to him.
He spun and plunged his knife into the eye of another attacker while two others tore at his hair and shredded what remained of his shirt. A burst of fire drew his attention to the woods. His heart sank as he realized Caro hadn’t gotten away.
The agony that clenched his heart and stole his breath made the pain of the injuries the Savages inflicted on him vanish.No.
The word was a broken whisper in his mind. She hadn’t gotten away, and these things were hunting her through the trees, pushing her back toward him. He’d hoped to become their main focus and to buy her time to get her free, but he’d failed.
With renewed vigor, Saber ignored his growing number of wounds, and as the Savages beat, kicked, and stabbed him, he unleashed more brutality upon them. They weren’t trying to kill him; the demons wanted him alive, but they had no problems weakening and incapacitating him.
Grabbing two Savages, he smashed their heads together. The impact shattered their skulls and rendered them useless as he dropped them to the ground.
He tore free of the other hands clawing at his back before backhanding the one chewing on his leg. He knocked the thing aside as Caro sprinted toward him with a horde of Savages on her heels.
Managing to tear himself free, he raced for Caro. Her hair had come mostly free of its ponytail, blood and dirt streaked her face, and her eyes were a virulent shade of red.
When she was close enough, she threw his sword at him. “They cut me off,” she panted. “More of them pulled up in cars. There’s so many and no escape.”
“I know,” he said.
Instead of crushing her against him and kissing her as he longed to do, he turned and put his back to her as a wave of Savages bounded toward him.
