Chapter 196: Blood and Silver

Kaelen's POV

Twenty yards. Fifteen. He tried to juke right but I anticipated it, cutting the angle. Ten yards.

You're mine.

Five yards. I launched myself into the air, all muscle and fury and white death. Damien tried to dodge but momentum carried me into him like a freight train.

We hit the ground hard. Rolling. Tumbling through snow in a tangle of claws and teeth. He was bigger than I expected—stronger too. His jaws snapped inches from my throat, close enough that I felt his hot breath. I twisted, using the momentum to throw him off, but he latched onto my shoulder before I could get clear.

Pain exploded through my nerves as his fangs sank deep. I howled and slammed him into a crumbling wall. Once. Twice. On the third impact, his grip loosened and I tore free, leaving chunks of my flesh in his mouth.

Doesn't matter. Nothing matters except ending him.

He circled me, limping slightly but still dangerous. Blood—mine and his—dripped from both our muzzles. We were matched in size but I had rage on my side. Pure, burning fury that made pain irrelevant.

He lunged first. I ducked low and went for his legs, catching his foreleg between my jaws. Bit down hard enough to feel bone scrape against my teeth. He screamed and tried to shake me off but I twisted my head violently.

The snap of breaking bone echoed through the ruins.

That's for the collar.

Damien crashed onto three legs, snarling through the pain. But instead of retreating, he went for my throat—desperate, vicious, no longer fighting smart. His teeth caught my neck just below the jaw. Not deep enough to kill but deep enough to make black spots dance across my vision.

I couldn't breathe. Couldn't shake him. His weight pressed down on me, suffocating, crushing.

No. Not like this. Seraphine needs—

The bond flickered. That tiny, dying ember of connection.

She's waiting. Get. UP.

I planted my back legs and exploded upward with everything I had. The force threw Damien off balance. His jaws slipped. I twisted hard and got my teeth into his throat—not the killing grip I wanted, but enough to rip through muscle and sinew.

Blood filled my mouth. Hot. Copper. I spat it out and lunged again before he could recover.

This time I caught him square in the chest. We went down together, rolling through snow turned red with our blood. His claws raked my side, opening long gashes that would've dropped a normal wolf. But I was beyond pain now. Beyond anything except the need to destroy.

I got my jaws around his broken foreleg and yanked. The limb came away with a wet tearing sound. Damien's scream was barely wolf anymore—pure human agony forcing its way through his shifted form.

That's for every burn on her skin.

He tried to shift back. Tried to run. Tried to do anything except face what was coming. But I was faster. Slammed into his hindquarters and brought him down hard. My claws found his belly and I didn't hesitate.

Raked downward. Through fur. Through skin. Through muscle. Opening him from ribcage to groin.

His intestines spilled out onto white snow, steaming in the freezing air. He made sounds I didn't know a wolf could make—half-howls, half-screams, completely inhuman in their terror.

You wanted to break her? I'll show you what broken really means.

He tried to crawl away, dragging his guts behind him. Pathetic. Weak. I circled him slowly, letting him see death stalking closer with every step.

His eyes—still wolf-gold but fading—met mine. In them I saw what he'd become. What I was becoming. The same kind of monster.

But I don't care. Not anymore. Not after what you did.

I went for his spine. Right at the base of his skull where one good bite would sever everything. But I didn't bite fast. Bit down slowly, letting him feel each tooth puncture through fur and flesh. Letting him feel the exact moment the vertebrae began to crack.

His back legs went limp. Then his front legs. Until only his head could move, eyes rolling in terror as paralysis spread through his dying body.

Feel it. Feel helplessness. Feel knowing death is coming and you can't stop it. Just like she felt.

I released his spine and moved to his throat. This time when my jaws closed, I didn't stop. Bit down with everything I had—all my rage, all my grief, all my love for the woman dying because of him. Tore through windpipe and artery and spine. Ripped his throat out so completely that his head nearly came away from his body.

Blood fountained across the snow. His body convulsed once, twice, then went still. I stood over him, panting, making absolutely sure the light had left his eyes.

When his heart stopped, when I was certain he was beyond any resurrection, I threw my head back and howled.

The sound carried across the ruins. Part triumph. Part anguish. The cry of a wolf who'd just killed his mate's murderer but knew it changed nothing.

It's done. Now get back to her.

I shifted back to human form and ran. Naked in the snow, covered in blood—his and mine—but none of it mattered. Only getting back to Seraphine mattered.

The courtyard came into view. Cordelia knelt beside Seraphine's body, hands glowing green. Roland stood guard. Lucian paced nearby. All of them looked up as I stumbled back.

"The collar," Cordelia said urgently. "We can't get it off. The silver—"

I looked down at Seraphine. That fucking collar was still locked around her throat, burning her even now. Her skin beneath it was raw meat, black with silver poisoning.

"Get back," I growled.

Cordelia scrambled away. I knelt beside Seraphine and reached for the collar with both hands. The moment my fingers touched silver, pain exploded through my palms. The metal seared into my skin, burning through flesh down to bone.

I didn't let go.

You don't get to keep hurting her. Not anymore.

I grabbed the collar on both sides and pulled. The silver burned deeper. I smelled my own flesh cooking. Felt my palms splitting open. Didn't care.

I pulled harder. The metal groaned. My vision went white with agony but I kept pulling. Kept tearing. Kept breaking that fucking thing apart.

The collar shattered.

Pieces of silver scattered across the snow, smoking where they landed. I threw them away from Seraphine and collapsed forward, my ruined hands pressed against my chest.

"Now save her," I gasped at Cordelia. "Whatever it takes. Save her."