Wicked Soul (Ancient Blood #1)(36)

No more!

That simple thought flamed deep in my mind—and it was as if it lit a fuse.

Fire exploded behind my eyes, raw energy crackling down my arms and out.

Bright green light burst out of my palms, sending a shockwave through the small clearing. The wolves flew backward several feet, landing on the ground with pained yips.

My breath came in short heaves as I stared at my outstretched hands until I thought my eyes were going to fall out. My palms still tingled, as if I’d held onto an electric fence.

What…?

I didn’t have time to wonder what the hell had just happened any further. Furious snarls rippled all around me as the wolves got to their feet once more. And then they pounced.

Teeth snapped shut around my shoulder, buried into my side through my coat, and I had enough presence of mind to know that this was it when a thud sounded next to me—and suddenly there was no longer a wolf biting into my shoulder.

A pained yip, and the jaws locked on my side and limbs released as well. Growls, snarls, the crunching of bones and tearing of flesh filled the clearing, followed by more pained yips and howls.

Still very much in fight-or-flight mode, I kicked against the ground, forcing my aching body up. That was when I saw him.

Warin was in the clearing with me, fangs bared and blood dripping from his lips. By his feet, two broken bodies lay crumpled. It took me a little while to realize that their heads were no longer attached to their bodies.

The three remaining wolves were spread out, crouched and ready to pounce on the lone vampire, but he didn’t give them the chance.

Moving swifter than I could follow, he tore through the clearing. The wolves spun, but it was too late. One of them fell to the ground, followed by a wet clonk as his now human head landed nearby. His vertebrae was sticking out of where his head had been attached only moments prior, shining white against the dark blood.

It took less than half a minute before the two remaining wolves lay motionless as well.

An eerie silence fell over the clearing as Warin stared down at me, eyes wild and fangs gleaming in the faint moonlight that made it through to the forest floor.

It lasted for maybe three long seconds—until I lost the final shred of control over my convulsing stomach and had to roll onto my knees to throw up.

“Liv?”

The soothing voice was accompanied by a cool hand stroking gently against the small of my back. It was only when I felt his touch on my skin I realized my coat and top had been torn so badly they no longer covered me.

“Liv, I need you to breathe for me.” Warin rubbed his hand soothingly against my skin, avoiding the many scrapes and cuts. “I need to you calm down so I can feed you my blood.”

I shook my head vigorously in between sobbing and retching up bile. I knew he was trying to help, but just the thought of ingesting blood while still being surrounded by broken and bleeding body parts was more than I could stomach.

“No blood,” I managed in between dry heaves.

Warin didn’t respond, but he moved his hand from my back to my forehead, and I pressed gratefully against it, relishing in his cool touch. Slowly, my breathing became less labored, and my stomach’s convulsions eased.

Once I was breathing normally again, Warin scooped me up into his arms and cradled me against his chest.

Safe.

“I need to heal you,” my savior said, voice gentle but firm.

I looked up into his face, touched by the obvious concern I saw there. He’d retracted his fangs while I’d been vomiting, leaving only a faint blood smear as evidence of the monster he’d unleashed to save me.

“I’m… I’m not that badly hurt. You came in time.” It was the truth. I was covered in what felt like a hundred scrapes and bruises, and my shoulder and side hurt from where the wolves had clamped down, but it could have been so much worse. Certainly nothing that required ingesting vampire blood. “And… and if you try to make me drink blood, I think I’ll throw up again,” I said, my stomach twinging in warning just at the thought.

The vampire frowned, letting his eyes roam over my face and body as if to confirm my claim. Lips pinched, he nodded once. “As you wish. I will attend to your wounds later.”

Without losing his grip on me, he fished out his phone from his pocket, pressed a couple of buttons and raised it to his ear. “Carina? Send a cleanup crew to McMahon Woods. Bring iron. Five skinwalkers—one’s still alive.” He hung up without saying goodbye.

One is still alive? I was hesitant to look back at the carnage, but his words made me overcome my queasiness.

Sure enough, one of the last two men was faintly twitching on the ground. His body was badly broken, far beyond what any normal human could have hoped to survive, but when Warin walked around the front of him, I saw his eyes were half-open.

Warin turned halfway to let me slide to the floor, ensuring I could stand before he released his grip on me. “Stay behind me,” he murmured.

I was only too happy to obey. The wolf might be on the ground, but I didn’t know how long he’d stay there.

Warin put his foot on the man’s—the skinwalker’s—broken neck. The skinwalker gurgled in pain, but snapped his eyes open to look up. The moment he did, Warin asked, “Why did you attack the human?”

“Deadwhore,” he groaned. “Traitor.”

“Who sent you?”