Chapter 13

Orzesh

The rest of the day and night were a torment. I heal quickly, so the pain from the fight didn”t bother me. My bruises had already nearly faded. The unquenched lust that my mate had left me with was harder to distract from. The feel of her tongue had driven me almost out of my mind. And soon we would fight.

I wasn”t sure how hard to push with a human in a mating fight. I would win. That much was sure. I didn”t want to hurt her or frighten her. I would hold back, as hard as it would be. Although I wouldn”t be able to hold back during the claiming. If she was my mate, then I knew she was built to withstand me. To take me in her small body. She would wrap around me so snugly. I stayed in my cell with a near permanent erection. She had forbidden me from touching myself. Fire raged through my body. This was a true battle. I would pay her back in kind once she was fully mine. I would torment her endlessly with need until she begged for me, and then I would remind her of this day.

A high-pitched whine sounded through the intercom system briefly. It was piercing, and I jumped up off my bed. I”d been here for years and had never heard it make such a sound. My senses focused and my body tingled. Something wasn”t right. I didn”t know what, but my gut always knew. Memories flashed through my mind like lightning on a dark night. The brief lockdown and broken alarms. Hyena and bald guard acting shifty. The shadow demon acting even more strangely than normal. An attack of some sort was coming. I cursed myself for not spotting it sooner. My mate had distracted me, and now I had to hope that she didn”t suffer for it.

I stood quietly and listened. I could hear a kerfuffle, voices rich with excitement and menace. I strode out. A group gathered around the minotaur”s cell. Had something happened to him?

”Away,” I whispered to Bloodletter, who had been napping in my sash. I felt his little body moving as he crept out and flew off to his high corner.

I moved to the minotaur”s cell and started shoving people out of the way, getting a few insults in return. Before I reached the door, the lich stepped in front of me. My eyes immediately moved to the familiar object in his hand. My body swelled with emotion.

”Descaris said to give you this.”

I took the axe from him. My axe. Excitement flowed through me at the feel of the cold, heavy metal. That sneaky little shadow demon was always one step ahead of what was going on. He”d be an excellent ally if there was time for that.

”He said that you”d probably do okay without it, but a promise is a promise.”

I grinned and placed a hand on the lich”s shoulder. Cold ran up my arm, but I didn”t move away.

”Thank you, friend.”

”The guards dumped the minotaur”s mate here. They are up to something.”

I didn”t need to ask which guards.

”Well, then. Let”s pay ”em back for whatever it is.”

The lich nodded at me. I turned back to the cell and barged in. Monsters surrounded the human that had shouted at me in the medical wing. She looked terrified and was stabbing ineffectually at a snake monster. He”d been the first one to come for Bloodletter, and he”d tried to get at him numerous times since, calling him a bite-size snack. As he picked up the therapist, I gripped my axe. My beloved axe. I felt nearly whole again. I just needed my mate by my side now.

I moved my axe with a quick, efficient swing, taking the snake”s head clean off, but missing the woman. Gasps echoed all around me and I knew I”d made some enemies. I grabbed the little therapist and dragged her out of the cell where she stood a chance of getting out of the cell block if the opportunity arose. A slight vibration rang through the walls, followed by a roar in the distance. I swung the woman behind a table. There was no time to be gentle. I could hear the other monsters behind me getting riled up.

”Stay in here, out of the way. There”s about to be a ruckus.”

”What? A… what ruckus?”

I felt my muscles twitching, ready to fight.

”The one I”m about to start. I wouldn”t like these fellas looking at my mate like that. So, I”m gonna tell them off till your boy gets here.”

”Cam?”

”Aye, I can hear him coming. Seems right mad.”

With that I turned to the group forming behind me. There was no time for messing around. I needed to deal with this lot and get to Serena as soon as I could.

I charged and leapt through the air before I crashed down on the shocked looking monsters. Their bodies crunched underneath me. I managed to roll awkwardly and get back to my feet still holding my axe. I began swinging before I even took a breath. Anyone this close to me right now did not have good intentions. I counted a good twenty monsters around me in varying states of disarray. I let my rage take me. I swung my axe back and forth with joy and anger. Bodies fell around me. Some screaming, some silent forever. This was a dance with no fixed steps. I moved where my instincts told me, trusting my brain after decades of fighting to gather all the information from my senses and tell me where to move. I sliced through flesh and bone with ease, at one with my weapon.

I could hear the minotaur getting closer. It sounded like he was just plowing right through the walls. Two bears came at me at once from opposite sides. I couldn”t get them both.

”Take his eyes out, Bloodletter.”

As I swung at the bear on my left, my beloved bird dive-bombed the other bear, straight at his face, beak first. He plowed into him and then bounced across to the other eye and pecked hard at that one. The bear screamed and Bloodletter pulled the damaged eyeball clean out of its socket and dashed away with it, just managing to get out of reach of the flailing bear. I screamed with pride as the bear to my left also fell, joining the bloody pile surrounding me.

The walls behind me exploded, and everyone who didn”t get flung out of the way stopped to look. The minotaur was red-eyed. They didn”t rage like us; he was probably maze-mad if he”d been charging around this place. But he was here for his mate and he”d given me a handy exit.

”Behind the table,” I yelled as I ran towards the hole. I glanced back and saw the lich hot on my heels. As I darted out I felt a tiny flutter of wings as Bloodletter kept pace with me, one trophy eyeball hanging from his beak by its nerve.