Wild Wolf (Darkmore Penitentiary Book 4)

The guards swarmed at us in a tide, but Roary and I cut through them like a storm of death, racing between their ranks and killing them with magic. My fire flared out around me, carving through their ranks, consuming them before they had a chance to cast back at me. Roary’s attacks were equally fierce, blasting shots of ice at our enemies so they dropped like flies.

A Medusa lunged at me with snakes bursting into life from her head, each of them snapping at me and trying to get their immobilising venom into my veins. I burned them all, moving fast enough to avoid the strikes and those snakes screamed along with the Fae they belonged to before her whole head was swallowed in flames and she fell dead at my feet.

I was already moving on to my next opponent. The man cast vines at me, one latching around my throat and trying to choke me. He had enough strength in his magic to make me stagger to a halt and two of his friends came at me from the sides.

I blasted fire at the unFae fuckers while simultaneously burning away the vine at my neck and putting on a burst of speed, tearing towards the earth elemental and ripping out his throat with my fangs.

His screams cut off in death and I tossed him away from me, seeking out Roary as the last of the guards fell prey to his shots of ice. Bodies lay around us in the snow, the deep crimson of their blood staining the white red.

“That’s it?” Roary said, looking to the iron gates they had exited through at the base of the tower.

Heavy footfalls carried from the twisting stairway beyond the gates and I lit fire in my palms, preparing to face whoever was coming our way. My throat tightened at the sight of Benjamin Acrux stepping out into the moonlight, casting fire just as I was and narrowing his gaze on me.

“Mason,” he said in his deep voice. “This fight has been long fated. I’ve owed you death for far too many years.”

“I almost killed you once. This time I will ensure the job is done thoroughly,” I hissed, glancing at Roary and giving him a nod. “I’ll handle this.”

Roary hesitated only a second before sprinting past Benjamin in a blur of movement, causing a wind that made Benjamin’s hair flutter. He glanced over his shoulder then back at me, cocking his head to one side. “He won’t get far.”

“He’s not your concern,” I growled, stepping to the side as I readied to face him. He took a step in the opposite direction, eyeing me up like a meal to be devoured, but I was no such thing.

“You promised those kids a real life, but all those years you were sending them to the butcher,” I hissed.

“And I made a pretty price out of them too,” he said with a grim sneer. “You think a bunch of dead runts gives me any less sleep at night?”

“No,” I said coldly. “Cowards like you couldn’t gain any true power in the world, so you sought to control and abuse kids who didn’t even have magic to fight back with. You think that makes you a big man? It makes you a fucking weakling.”

“How dare you,” he snarled. “I’m an Acrux, a Dragon, a-

“Cunt,” I finished for him then lunged, sending fire spiralling towards his face to blind him while circling around the back of him at speed, readying to snap his neck with my bare hands.

Before I got close, his Order form burst from his skin, his Dragon knocking me to the ground as bronze wings flexed above me and hellfire burst from his jaws.

I raced for cover inside the tower, hiding in an alcove as the heat of that almighty fire scored into the stairwell, racing up and away, but not finding its way to me in the shadows.

I waited for it to die back and Benjamin let out a roar of victory, clearly believing his fire had done the job for him already, but I wouldn’t be put down so easily.

I turned and threw my weight into the wall, sending bricks flying as I leapt from my hiding place and pouncing straight onto his back.

He roared in utter fury as I built a spear of flames in my hand and drove it toward his skull. He bucked and I was knocked onto my front, clinging to his scales as he beat his wings and took off into the sky, climbing vertically and making me hold on for my damn life.