Beyond the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #6)(68)

There was a nasty crunch as Hess hit his head against the unrelenting stone, falling boneless to the ground.

“Ah. What a beautiful sight,” Briggs hissed as Salvatore lay flat on his back, the wound in his shoulder deep enough to take an effort to heal. “The mighty King of Weres wallowing in the dirt. Exactly where he belongs.”

“Screw you,” Salvatore muttered, swallowing his whimper of pain as he forced himself to his feet.

Instinctively his gaze went to the cur lying broken and bleeding on the hard stone. Hess. He lived, but he was seriously injured. Just another motivation to hunt down Briggs and make him pay for ever crawling out of his revolting grave.

Moving across the cavern, Salvatore hissed in frustration. His head ached from where it had bounced off the ground and his shoulder continued to leak blood as the flesh struggled to knit back together. The uncompleted mating bond was making it difficult to repair his injuries, but he wasn’t going to wait.

Briggs had to be close.

He couldn’t have held Hess in thrall unless he was.

Which meant that this time, he wasn’t going to escape.

Trusting his instincts, he clutched the knife tight in his hand and circled the edge of the cavern.

“There’s no one left to hide behind,” he taunted, using the increasing cold to lead him toward a connected cave.

“I don’t fear you.”

“You always were an idiot,” Salvatore muttered, his skin prickling as a foul clamminess washed over him. God Almighty. Briggs was just…wrong. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.” He abruptly halted, the overwhelming stench of rotting flesh breaking through the spell that had been muting it. “Bingo.”

There was a cold rush of air and instinctively Salvatore ducked, growling as the sword whistled less than an inch above his head.

He’d been expecting magic, not mundane weapons.

And nearly got his head chopped off.

With a furious howl, Salvatore shifted.

Heat and magic poured through his body, altering and changing him from the inside out. His bones popped, his muscles thickened, and his skin shivered as his heavy pelt flowed over his body. A combination of pain and bliss exploded through him at the transformation.

It was a sensation that Weres craved like a drug.

The prickles in the air warned that Briggs was shifting as well, and Salvatore was prepared when the pureblood charged, knocking him to the ground. Turning his head, he sank his fangs into the wolf’s front leg and was rewarded by a shrill yip.

His satisfaction vanished as the Were’s blood, tainted with decay, spilled into his mouth. Dio. He tasted as bad as he smelled.

And that was saying something.

Releasing his grip, Salvatore gained his feet in time to dodge the teeth snapping at his throat. He growled, the days of frustrated fury searing through him as he coiled his muscles and attacked.

The cold that shrouded Briggs bit into Salvatore like tiny ice daggers, but he ignored the stinging pain, far more concerned with the savage swipe of the Were’s massive claws and the fangs that were desperate to rip out his throat.

He was beyond battle tactics and campaign strategies.

This was going to be raw power against whatever vile magic Briggs could conjure.

Salvatore barreled straight into his opponent, sending them both rolling over the hard ground. He accidently hit the lump already forming on the back of his skull, and stabbed a sharp rock into his hind leg as they skidded across the empty cave, but his teeth managed to slice a deep gash in Briggs’s chest before the Were blasted Salvatore with an invisible flare of magic.

Salvatore flew through the air, smacking into the wall with enough force to rattle his teeth. He was back on his feet in a heartbeat and charging across the floor of the cave without feeling his injuries. He’d waited for this moment for days.

Hell, he’d waited for years, although he hadn’t known it was Briggs he was hunting. Nothing was going to stop him now.

Briggs darted to the side, no doubt trying to summon another burst of magic, but Salvatore again slammed into his wolf form. Screw this magic shit. He rolled Briggs closer to the opening of the cave, using his heavier body to firmly trap the Were beneath him. Then, before Briggs could guess his intention, Salvatore shifted back to human form, grabbing the knife he’d dropped earlier and plunging the silver blade into Briggs’s chest.

It was a risk.

Salvatore didn’t have a clue if he could kill the already dead Were. But he intended to give it his best shot.

He twisted the knife deeper, searching for a heart and listening with grim pleasure as Briggs’s breath became a rattle. The pureblood’s lips pulled back in a snarl, clearly in pain, if not actually dying.

The silver burned through Briggs’s flesh, at last forcing him to shift back to his gaunt, fragile human body.

“No.” The crimson gaze shifted over Salvatore’s shoulder, as if searching for someone. “Master.”

“Do you want me to wait so your big bad master can come save you?” Salvatore sneered. “Or do you prefer the whole resurrection process?”

“He’ll never allow you to harm me.”

“I’m willing to test that theory.”

Yanking out the dagger, Salvatore was on the point of driving it back into the narrow chest that was already bleeding in a strange, sluggish way when there was the sound of a low hiss from behind him.