29. Samuel

Chapter 29

Samuel

H e'd come too far to lose everything, but the look in Mylo's eyes was a very clear warning that it might not matter.

All this suffering may not be enough and he was going to lose them.

That silver wall he'd built in his mind was cracking under the pressure, creating new pathways his monster used to try to claw through, driving him mad with so many conflicting emotions and instincts that Samuel kept finding himself frozen in place.

Like now.

Winter wind whipped around him, whispering Vixen's words into his mind like poison.

You don't know anything.

He really didn't, did he?

His monster purred and Samuel considered the way she'd moved, dancing with an assassin like it was nothing. That woman had even dodged him and he'd been taught how to fight in a place she knew nothing about, but it hadn't seemed to matter.

What else could she do?

The forest towered over them, the trees like dark sentinels keeping his orderly world separate from the chaos he buried down over and over and over…

It almost felt like they were watching him, laughing at him.

You think you can command me? Vix taunted.

Samuel closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side until his neck popped, relieving some of the tension in his body, but not nearly enough.

The violence on the air was familiar, and his monster cackled when he wondered if Mylo would finally, truly challenge him.

"Do I need to step in?" Mylo demanded, his claws glinting in the morning sun. "Because I can."

He opened his eyes and held the other tiger's gaze.

Sharp alpha magic didn't slice through his own, at least not yet, but it was ready and waiting.

"Tell me what you expect me to do," Samuel growled, his voice just shy of human. His monster was leaking through the cracks, and he couldn't hold him back anymore. "If I can't do it, I'll let you manage them."

Mylo clenched his jaw, but his scent remained sterile, which was another warning Samuel couldn't ignore. Whatever his second was feeling, he refused to tell him which was a threat .

He smiled slightly, unable to help himself. This whole thing was too fucking amusing.

To save Rune, Samuel would have to give up everything. The price had to be paid somehow.

And it was his job to take responsibility, wasn't it?

"Do you have any idea what just happened?" Mylo asked, his voice deceptively calm. "Because I don't think you do."

Too many conflicting instincts roared at him and Samuel took a deep breath. "Then why don't you explain for us lesser mortals."

"Vix didn't break any of your stupid rules," Mylo told him, taking a step to the side, angling his body so he could react if Samuel decided to attack. What a clever tiger. "You didn't clarify she couldn't kill a threat, did you?"

"I clearly stated she couldn't kill anyone in my house." But Samuel knew that had been a little short-sighted. He'd trusted the others to follow the rules as well, and clearly that trust had been nothing more than an illusion. "Despite that, her reasoning was sound, and I'll adjust."

"It doesn't matter." Mylo actually bared his teeth, and that told Samuel just how fucking furious his second was even if he couldn't smell it. "You chose your cub over your mate, putting her in an impossible position. So, she left."

Samuel couldn't stop himself from flashing his own teeth. He knew all this already. "Tell me something I don't know, Mylo."

"Did you see it?" Mylo taunted, that psychotic grin spreading across his face so fast it was like he'd carved it with an invisible blade. "Did you see the moment she saw your weakness and looked to me?"

Even his monster paused at that.

"You were not capable of being rational, and she looked to me," Mylo murmured, rolling his shoulders back like he needed to settle in his skin. "Somehow, our little vixen knows I'm an alpha and she looked to me ."

Those words turned into a deep growl, a match for Samuel's monster and that horrible darkness rose up, slamming into whatever was left of his silver, making him growl in response to the challenge.

"No one knows. We made sure of it," Samuel argued, taking a step forward before he could stop himself. His teeth were sharp in his mouth and his claws ached to tear into flesh. "There's no way she could know since it's not exactly a mortal alpha, is it?"

Mylo actually laughed and Samuel felt the madness rise up to drown him.

This fight had been on the horizon for a long time, and somehow it seemed fitting that the mate he'd never wanted was the cause of it all.

"Why are you so fucking convinced she's clueless?" Mylo demanded, that laugh dying so fast it left a sharp note in the winter air to clash with the growl of his words. "Do you really think someone raised as an assassin – one without wings, isn't capable of figuring it out? She may just be the only non-avian raven assassin to exist, but there's more, isn't there?"

His chest was heaving with the effort it took not to rip out Mylo's throat. It didn't matter if he was right, because Samuel would destroy everything just because he could. Logic wasn't his strong suit when he got like this, and they both knew it.

Mylo was purposefully pushing him deeper into the madness, and he didn't have the fucking humanity needed to figure out why.

"She's a fox," Mylo practically purred. "A little vixen …which reminds me, what did that fox say while investigating our warehouse?"

His hand was around Mylo's throat before he'd even finished the question.

It was infuriating this asshole was just a little taller than him, and Samuel considered breaking his knees to force him lower.

"Oh, yes, I remember now." Mylo grinned and wrapped a hand around Samuel's wrist. "Foxes feed on chaos and pain."

The way his second just peeled the hand from his throat was a reminder that he wasn't dealing with a normal tiger alpha, and even his monster had to be careful of this one.

They'd never seen him quite like this before and Samuel stared into those ice-gold eyes that didn't show even a flicker of his animal, wondering what had given Mylo the foundation he'd needed to be so sure this was the right path.

"Do you know what that means?" Mylo asked, squeezing his wrist until the bones broke just like Vix's had. "She can see our pain and why it's there. I doubt she's looked too deeply, but I find it odd how much more bearable my agony is since she's arrived, don't you?"

Except Samuel didn't feel pain the same way these two did and that might just be why he was going fucking insane.

Because he was brimming with chaos.

"You hurt her," Mylo stated, holding his wrist so it wouldn't heal. "Twice."

Before he could stop him, Mylo slammed his hand into Samuel's side, claws slicing through flesh the same way Vix had stabbed that blade into her side.

It was a fitting punishment, so Samuel didn't bother defending, even when that monster inside Mylo managed to make it hurt in a way he actually felt, forcing a snarl from him, but he grabbed onto Mylo's shoulder and held on instead of pushing him away.

Rune's brutal strength was a cannon that could destroy the strongest enemies, but Mylo was the impenetrable fortress that shattered mortal cannons like they were nothing more than pebbles. Getting him to use that strength though…it had been impossible.

Until now.

"That golden-eyed raven is actually a fox," Mylo whispered, his eyes merciless as he watched Samuel suffer the pain. "But she's more than that, which is why Morgan is being such a bitch right now."

Samuel shoved the other tiger off of him then, not bothering to stop the bleeding. It would take a while to heal thanks to whatever shit Mylo did when he used that strength. The other tiger had never explained it to him.

Never had to.

"I told Morgan I would do everything in my power to keep her safe," Samuel reminded him. "That is a promise I refuse to break."

"Vix was right. You're making a mistake because you're too inflexible ." Mylo eyed the blood on his claws. "It would be a lot easier to keep that witch safe if we put her in a cage until she explains why she's been withholding information, why she is creating complications between you and the woman she crossed her heart and hoped to die is your mate."

The mate Rune had nearly lost because he'd been too conflicted.

"We can't keep her in a cage," Samuel reminded the other tiger. "She's too powerful."

"Then tell her to leave ," Mylo snarled, wrapping his hand around Samuel's throat, his eyes finally glowing gold. "She is creating unnecessary conflict because she wants to. I almost lost him today because of that fucking bitch , and if you don't handle it, I will."

He couldn't deny the truth of that no matter how much it hurt.

Rune would have chased their mate to the ends of the earth if he had to, and that was why Samuel had gone after her.

He had taken a risk and called his favorite witchling to help him, so he wouldn't lose his bond mates when he'd already lost so much, but now she was creating the very problem he was trying to prevent.

Why was she doing that? She always had her own reasons, but Vix was right. Morgan could have told him what was going on as one of the few mortal mind readers in the world.

The gaping madness threatened to swallow him whole as he considered the possibility that the child he'd raised was betraying him.

"Vix told me Gabriel was the one who took her," Samuel said softly, giving in to the chaos. He smiled slightly when Mylo's grip on him loosened. "Do you think you can take on an archangel and win, Alpha? "

A flicker of that creature inside Mylo danced in his eyes before it died, turning to ash once more. "If that's what it takes to keep Rune safe, you know I will."

"Not her?" Samuel knocked the hand off his throat and kicked Mylo's ankles out, grabbing his shoulder and slamming his second into the snow. He knelt beside the other tiger, grinning down at him with all that chaos he usually ignored. "You were so keen on avenging her earlier. Where did that go?"

"You think I need to worry about keeping her safe from an angel?" Mylo scoffed.

His uppercut was fast and brutal, shaking Samuel off of him just long enough for the other tiger to pounce, shoving him into the earth so hard he could have sworn it shuddered underneath him.

"If you think she needs any help in that department, you haven't been paying attention, Sammy ."

Another punch dazed him, reminding his monster how much he loved a good fight before bathing in blood.

The roar that came out of him shook the snow from the trees, and Sammy grabbed Mylo, throwing him into the nearest tree so hard it cracked and fell. But the other tiger barely noticed considering the way he landed on his feet and moved .

It sounded like mountains crashing into each other when Mylo attacked and Samuel blocked. There was no pretty dance like the raven performed with their mate. This was brutal and vicious, aiming for what would hurt most, what would do the most damage.

Whatever they'd done to Mylo was a match for his monster and Samuel laughed , digging claws into flesh as they both tried to get the upper hand and failed.

"You're both idiots."

Everything just…stopped.

All the madness slid back down into the cracks and Mylo's eyes became nothing but frosty gold once more at the sound of that bored, male voice.

They turned as one to stare at Vix's raven in disbelief.

He was large for a smaller shifter, probably about 6'3" give or take, but it was the assassin's garb that covered him from head to toe in inky black that made Samuel pause.

They'd completely forgotten this guy was on their property. How fucking disconcerting.

Vixen would never stop scrambling his brain, would she?

"Excuse me?" Mylo finally demanded, but he still refused to let go of Samuel.

"I said, you're idiots." The way the raven enunciated every word reminded him of Vix for some reason and Samuel narrowed his eyes. "Do you need me to say it again?"

Shoving the other tiger away from him, Samuel studied the assassin who claimed to be their mate's father. "You made yourself very clear, thanks."

The raven chuckled, eyeing the two of them closely. "You're just like her and I can't decide if that's a good thing or not."

"I'm sorry, but you're wrong," Mylo snapped, wiping the blood from his chest and flicking it onto the snow. "I am not a fox or a witch."

"But you're not just a tiger, are you?" The raven grinned when Mylo snarled at him. "They took you apart real good, but the seams are a bit infected. You should probably get someone to take a look at that."