It Isn't Good - Kendric's POV

It Isn't Good - Kendric's POV
My senses are all wrong. They’re warped and twisted like mirrors in a nightmare. Colors are too sharp. Sounds are too loud. Every flicker of light cuts through my head like a blade. I don’t know what that woman did to me. Her name was Seraphine, I think, if that’s even her real name, but whatever poison she poured into my mind is working.

And it isn’t good.

My breath comes fast and shallow, but I can’t slow it down. My lungs feel too small and my body is too big. My skin is too tight, like I’ve outgrown myself and the seams are threatening to rip. There’s a fire crawling just beneath my flesh, something angry and ancient thrashing to get out. It coils like smoke through my chest and burns behind my eyes.

I can’t control it.

Everything inside me pulses with a need I don’t recognize. Not hunger. Not thirst. Not even rage. It’s something worse. Something primal. Something that doesn’t think or reason. It only feels.

My claws dig into the floor as I crouch low. Whatever material they used to cover the ground is long gone, shredded by my own hands. What’s left is bare, cracked concrete, and every movement sends sharp clicks and scrapes echoing off the walls. My claws spark against the surface, and the sound alone makes me twitch.

I want to kill something.

I want to tear the walls down. Rip the metal from the doors. Shred the air itself if it doesn’t stop pressing against me like a suffocating weight. My mouth is wet, but I don’t know if it’s blood or drool pooling there. The coppery taste coats my tongue, thick and maddening. It only makes things worse.

I let out a sound I don’t recognize. Part growl, part whimper, part warning to anyone foolish enough to come near me.

Then something flickers to my left. Not visually. A shift in the air. The faintest whisper of movement through the vent. My nostrils flare involuntarily.

And there it is.

That scent.

Sweet, warm, maddeningly familiar. A flash of memory. Her skin, her breath, her voice. Valeria.

It slams into me like a freight train and I lurch to my feet without meaning to. My body moves on instinct, not thought. I throw myself toward the wall, toward the vent, toward that scent that’s driving me to the edge of something dangerous and wild.

But the collar around my neck yanks me back with a vicious snap. It tightens instantly, like it knows what I’m doing, and for a heartbeat I can’t breathe. I stumble, gagging, vision blackening at the edges as it constricts.

No. No.

I snarl, clawing at the collar, but it won’t give. I choke on the growl rising from my chest, falling to my knees as the scent lingers just out of reach. My pulse thunders in my ears. My veins feel too full. My bones ache with pressure.

I need to get to her.

I don’t know why. I don’t know if it’s protecting her or to rip her apart. The lines are blurring, cracking under the weight of whatever’s happening to me.

And the terrifying part is I don’t care.

Just. Let. Me. Out.

My mouth opens, allowing the drool to drip onto the floor. I hear a gasp.

Oh, a woman.

My eyes flutter as I think about what it will feel like to rip her limb from limb as I bathe in her blood.

“As you can see, he’s no longer there.”

What do they mean by that? I’m standing right here?

Then I hear her voice. “Is that really Kendric?”

Her voice brings me back from the brink of my insanity. I feel as if a dark cloud has been lifted from my mind and everything becomes clear. My mate is there.

I lunge faster and harder as I try to escape. Nothing is going to keep me from being by her side. I can’t let them harm her.

“Now, make your choice, Valeria. He is no longer able to be your mate. Just look at him. Really look at him. He’s nothing but a monster, yanking on his chain and ready to devour anyone who walks into the room. If you don’t believe me, let me show you.”

Suddenly, I hear the familiar screech of a door being opened. Then there are footsteps.

Someone throws something at me, which pulls my wolf to the forefront. Without another thought, I lunge for the scrap of meat in the arena and devour it.

It’s only when I hear her screams that I realize the creature in my mouth was fully alive and there is fur. I killed something without thinking twice and now its bones are crunching between my teeth as if I don’t have a care in the world.

I finally drop the animal and realize it is a small deer. No wonder she is upset.

I turn to look back at the window, only to see her standing behind the glass, looking back at me. Her hands are pressed to the other side of the window, with tears streaming down her face. It’s not something I ever want to see again.

“Oh, if you think he reacts quickly, you should see what he does when someone enters the arena.” The man pauses before pressing something on his shirt and speaking into it. “Drop in the traitor.”

All of a sudden, something slides open above me, and someone is thrown down into the arena. It confuses me why they went with this approach instead of just dragging them in here, but I guess they are scared to come near me.

I take one sniff of the man’s scent, but the rage building inside takes over. My mind isn’t all there nor am I thinking straight. All I want to do is shred flesh and crush bones.

The man begins to beg for his life as he scoots away. But there is no escape.

Once you enter the arena, you are mine to devour.

Mine to end.

The part of me that was good is now long gone and I don’t know that I can ever bring him back. Even though I want to be good and be with my mate, I can’t control myself.

The man gasps. I smell his fear filling the air like a sweet aroma, enticing me to take a bite.

My vision slowly fades to red until it’s all I can see.

This is the end of the line for you.

I stalk closer, wondering what his bones will feel like as I crush them between my teeth. Will he scream? Will he holler out and beg for me to stop? Maybe he’ll beg for me to end him swiftly so there isn’t much pain.

But who am I kidding?

All I want to do is cause pain.

“Kendric, please stop.”

There’s that woman’s voice again, and it makes me pause. I know she’s my mate, but my brain can’t decipher what that really means. Am I supposed to care? Am I supposed to do as she asks?

I don’t want to, though. Chaos, destruction, and blood are all I know. It’s all I’ll ever know.

I turn my attention back to the man before me. He’s moved on to pleading now, with his hands clasped together in front of him. As if that will save him.

I’m on top of him now, looking down at him. The look in his eyes is almost pathetic. What kind of man snivels under the gaze of another?

I hear her shout again, but the need to end this man’s life is too consuming.

Right as I go to attack him, something darts in front of my mouth. By the time I realize what I’ve done, it’s already too late.

She screams out in pain.

I look down, only to see that my teeth have sunk into her shoulder. Blood is gushing into my mouth. Her blood.

What have I done?

“Kendric, this isn’t you. You were never meant to be feral. Please, fight it.”

I let go of her, blood dripping from the wound I caused.

The man behind her gets up and runs toward one of the various doors lining the arena, banging and shouting to be let out. I go to get him to kill him, but she stops me.

“No, this isn’t you. Fight it. Harder.”

But I want to end him.

“No, Kendric. You can’t do this to me,” she says, gripping my face in her hands as if that will stop me.

It almost sounds as if she’s answering my thoughts, but I dismiss it. She tenderly touches my face and fur, patting me. The desire to kill is growing stronger, and she’s next if she doesn’t move in the next few seconds.

“Valeria, what are you doing in there? How did you get inside? I’m coming.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see that man that was with her in that room behind the glass.

He’s entering the arena now, passing the seating, without even an expression of fear crossing his expressions. “You work for me, you feral mutt. Let her go.”

I’m too stunned to even move as he comes closer and yanks her off the floor.

As he drags her off, mostly using her unharmed shoulder, something inside of me snaps.

How dare he touch what is mine.

That woman is not his nor should he be touching her.

Rage consumes me.

All I see is red.

I hear his screams as I tear into him.

But I don’t remember much else.

Valeria screams as blood splatters the ground and I hear the man cursing my name. Mostly for ever saving me from my fate all those years ago.

“I thought by saving you, I could use you. No, I should have ended you the moment you were born to save myself from this farce.”

His claws reach for me, and I narrowly escape. At least, I thought I did until I looked at my side and saw blood gushing from the wound left behind.

All it does is tick me off.

I go to lunge for him, but my vision dances before me, making everything and everyone swirl. My feet can’t move, and I collapse onto the ground, with my eyes looking up at the man who wounded me.

“What did you do to him?” Valeria snaps as she turns her head to look up at him as well. “Why is he laying on the ground?”

“Did you really think I’d come into the arena without any insurance? You might as well say goodbye to your precious ex-fated mate. His time is limited.”

Valeria cries out, which causes him to drop her arm. She moves closer to me, her hand trembling as she reaches out to touch my fur where he hurt me.

I don’t understand why I’m growing colder by the second.

Everything feels weird.

“No, this can’t happen. He can’t die.”

“Yes, poor pitiful him. Now say goodbye, Valeria. You will live on with me without any further issues.” That man sounds cold and calculated.

Ramsey, isn’t it? He’s the one who caused all of this in the first place. If it wasn’t for him trying to interfere with fate, I’d have had to make a deal with the witch that has cost me my nature.

“Kendric, please don’t go,” she whispers.