The Coven (Coven of Bones, #1)(70)

The next bolted forward, and I shoved my arms in front of my body. Crossing them, I muttered beneath my breath as the trees followed. A thick, sturdy branch from each side of the clearing surrounding us followed suit, crossing to wrap around one of the beast’s front legs on the opposite side.

I squeezed my hands together as the creature tripped. The branches tightened as they wound tighter around his limbs. I pinched my eyes tightly closed in regret when he came closer still, stopping just in front of me when the branches held tight.

“Lacrima,” I whispered, wrenching my arms apart.

The branches pulled quickly, uncrossing and tearing the animal’s legs from its body. Its howl of pain filled the woods.

My bottom lip trembled, hating the death and violence as the ground soaked up the monster’s blood. Taking the sacrifice I’d offered, even if it was not my blood that fed it. The next beast pounced in my moment of distraction, and I flung myself backward as fast as I could to avoid the swipe of claws.

Burning pain cut through my cheek, narrowly missing my eye as three talons tore through my flesh. My fingers worked in front of me, tying knots in the branches like a net. My back struck the earth finally, the creature’s jowl only a few breaths from my face when the branches slid between us and connected, forming a barrier as they shoved him back.

He sprang up quickly, lunging at the branches and tearing at them with teeth and claws. I turned and sprinted into the woods.

My face throbbed, and my hands began to clot. I’d given too much, and my body moved more sluggishly than it should have. That breath that had seemed so easy to exhale before was impossible to reign back in, the magic wanting the freedom it had been denied for so many years.

I gasped as I tried to pull it back as I ran, needing the extra energy within me to get my legs to move. The magic tickled my skin, a taunt and a tease as I winced back from the feeling.

Something struck my back, knocking me flat on my face in the dirt. I rolled quickly, staring up at the beast as he prowled around me and moved his body over mine.

His legs were so tall that even as he stood over me on all fours, there was no contact between us. His deep, dark eyes glared down at me, his teeth bared and dripping saliva on my face as he brought his mouth close to my face. His breath stunk of rotten meat. The stench grew stronger as he opened his jaw.

He drew his head back ever so slightly, his mouth parting. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the end. I dug my fingers into the earth below me, seeking reassurance in my final moments and waited for the pain of teeth sinking into my face.

Pain that never came.

The beast yelped. My eyes flew open. Hands grabbed the creature by the mouth, one holding his upper jaw and the other grasping the bottom. I stared straight into his throat. He’d come so incredibly close to biting me.

The hands holding the creature pulled, a roar filling the air as the beast’s jaw separated, snapping as it broke. The hands ripped and tore until blood burst from the creature like an explosion. It covered me, raining down on me. I blinked through it and shuddered on the ground.

I pushed up to my elbows, staring at what remained of the creature as the man holding him tore him straight down the middle, severing his body from head to groin into two halves.

He discarded the halves to the ground in a pile of mutilated flesh, those steely blue eyes rising to meet my shocked stare.

Fuck.





35





GRAY





I spun away from Willow as the last of the wolves leapt up behind me. Thrusting my arm forward, I drove it into the creature’s chest and stopped him with my other hand on his mouth. Grasping his snout in my grip, I pinned it closed with a growl of my own as I leaned in to show my teeth.

“Mine,” I snarled.

I held its gaze as I yanked my hand free from his chest, taking his heart with me and dropping both the dead body and still pumping flesh to the forest floor. Willow moved behind me, getting to her feet.

I spun just in time to see her staring down at the piles of remains in horror. She stepped over the gore from the one I’d torn in half, and I couldn’t decide if she was approaching me or moving away—putting distance between us.

The last werewolf had a knife in its chest, but it pushed to its feet and lunged for Willow, anyway. I closed the distance between us quickly, grabbing it out of midair by its throat and tearing it out. Willow’s arms were covered in even more blood by the time I dropped it to the ground. I lifted a hand to wipe the creature’s blood from the side of my face.

“Gray,” she murmured as I narrowed my rage-filled stare on her. I adjusted my suit, taking another step toward her as she backed away slowly.

“What. Were. You. Thinking?” I asked, enunciating the words slowly. I extended a hand, touching the wounds on her cheek.

“I…” She trailed off, and for once, she seemed to not have any words.

She pulled out of my grip slowly, dropping to her knees and collecting a handful of dirt. She pressed it into the slash marks, letting her magic heal her. I watched as the skin knit itself back together.

Something about her choice to use dirt rather than my blood set me on edge.

“You could have been killed,” I growled, reaching down to take her hand. Guiding her back toward the school, I watched from the corner of my eye as Willow glanced behind her and to the boundary with Salem.