Chapter 43: Chapter 43

CASVAN

Vampires, werewolves, Dakkuth warriors, and warlocks descending on the queendom. Women fighting, beasts being slaughtered, blood, smoke, fire and screams—chaos everywhere. Reyna strapped down, defenseless, in pain—so much pain!

My eyes snapped open and I gasped, my body drenched in sweat and blood. The chains all around me clanked and rattled with my movement.

I felt like I’d been run over by a fucking train; even breathing was a chore. There was something in my lungs, heavy, suffocating. I tried to breathe, but all I could manage was a choked gurgle.

Same recurring vision—a fucking shitstorm was headed our way. My warriors were on their way here, led by Kayak. I just hoped they got here faster.

Before the city was overrun with the other creatures of the lore, who also wanted the women. By the aethers, it was going to be a fucking bloodbath.

I inhaled, pain so hot and blinding it coursed through me. I dug my claws into my chest, feeling my insides even as I felt nauseous and so close to passing out.

I closed my claws around the first little fucker and dug it out, my claws soaked with blood. I threw the metal away and repeated the process twice more, and then a third time.

I gasped loudly, sucking in air greedily. I stayed like that for a couple of seconds, painfully aware that every heartbeat could potentially cost me the life of the most important person in my life.

I’d never felt this helpless, this useless, in my entire existence. The time I’d been waiting for was finally here—my mate was in danger, waiting for me, and I was so fucking weak.

I thought of everything I was going to do to that doctor while my body tried to heal itself. First, I was going to rip off her hands.

Then I was going to feed them to her accomplices and watch them choke on her bones. After that, I was going to rip out her tongue for daring to talk to my Reyna like that.

After which, I’d rip out her insides with my claws. I was suddenly elated when I tried to sit up and found that I could actually do it.

I just needed a few minutes, then I could go and save my female. I needed to see Reyna fast.

My mate was in danger, probably in the hands of that deranged doctor. I needed to get to her and take her away from here.

My warriors would bring the rest of the women back to Dakhur. Though my plan wasn’t much different from the vampire’s.

I knew even with our volatile nature, my warriors were more stable than the vampires and werewolves. Those fucking leeches!

But fuck, I felt so fucking weak. I was paying the price for underestimating my opponents.

Those women weren’t playing around—they’d kill anyone they deemed a threat to their queendom. Fortunately, I was regaining my strength, even though I was not nearly at my peak.

I stood up, leaning heavily against the wall. I needed to get rid of the chains.

I fisted the chains and pulled, my muscles bulging and straining with the effort. I was so damn shocked that it was taking me this long to break the chains.

Must have been those damn torture sessions. I’d been feeling weak for days with the injections and the blood loss.

I wasn’t at my full strength. But I could do it—nothing could stop me.

Just then, an agonizing scream pierced my brain, accompanied by pain so intense I suddenly dropped to my knees. I clutched my head; it felt as though a nail was being hammered into my skull, even as other parts of me screamed in the same agony.

Hot tears slipped from my eyes, blinding me, then more liquid from my ears. I reached out to wipe the tears, but there was nothing.

My heart lurched with the sudden realization that this was not my pain. My mate was in danger.

~Reyna!~

Anger and fear for her fueled me, lending me a burst of energy and strength. With a roar, I yanked the chains, breaking them loose.

First from the ceiling, making debris rain down on my head, but I didn’t care. Then I strained and pulled until the silver chains gave and broke.

Finally free, I didn’t stop to think. I only knew one thing: my mate needed me instantly.

With a single hard kick, the barred iron of my prison clanged to the ground. I stepped over it.

I’d done it, but it had cost me—blood was trickling from the new wounds inflicted on my body by the bullets and arrows, experiments or whatever they were earlier today. My body was trying to heal itself, but the injuries were many and immense.

My plan and patience—to wait until I’d won over my mate and for my brother and sentinels to arrive—had cost me one of my strongest warriors and my own health. And now it was about to cost me my mate.

I prayed I would get to her in time. If I did, then I would have finally gotten everything I’d wished for, and all the pain would be worth it.

My mate would be safe and protected, and I’d have also saved my race from madness and extinction—and that, more than anything, was what was important. Though now, saving my race was ranked second in my heart; my mate was of the utmost importance.

But what kind of male would I be to my female if I didn’t do my duty as a king? I knew now was the time.

My vision had only confirmed what my instinct had always told me. I could feel my brother’s and warriors’ essence getting closer and closer still; as their king, I was connected to them.

With my brother Kayak, it was a two-way bond, as my family and subject. Same as it would be with my Kitten when we finally completed our bond.

But first, I had to get to her—save her from the demented doctor—because any time now, the queendom of Marlenia would be in utter and complete chaos. I raced down the dungeon, heading straight in the direction my heart was pulling me, following that thread that bound me to Reyna, from that first day when I tethered her to me.

Suddenly, what felt like a hundred feet raced toward me from all directions—which was just from my front and back in the hallway to the infirmary.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” I growled, glaring at the women warningly.

Over two dozen women dressed in brown uniforms rushed me, trying to do me in, attacking me with deadly intensity. My claws slid out, my fangs getting sharper.

I swatted, kicked, batted, and clawed—my intentions were to maim, not kill. I wasn’t going to let the women provoke me into killing them and ruining the lives of my own people. Not after everything I’d gone through to make sure my race got a chance at survival.

I wanted them to have the chance of getting a mate, just like I was fortunate to have Reyna, my queen.

But these women were tenacious, trained for war and destruction. They kept coming at me like a swarm of locusts.

Though they were human, they fought with ferocious savagery. I had to up the ante in order to not die at their hands before I got to my mate.

Now that I knew they weren’t as fragile as they looked, I punched, slashed, and slammed the women away from me hard enough to incapacitate.

A deafening, loud, blaring sound suddenly pierced the air, distracting the women.

“Finally!” I thought.

Knowing what that sound meant, my ears twitched as loud growls and snarls carried all the way to where I was fighting.

I used the women’s distraction to my advantage, hitting hard and fast until they all fell around me, groaning in pain. I didn’t stop to check on them—I knew they weren’t fatally injured.

I’d made sure of it.

I raced down the hall, my heart pounding with dread and anticipation.

“If anything happens to my Kitten, there will be hell to pay.” No. I had to stop thinking about that right away. “Nothing! Absolutely nothing will come to my Reyna.”