Page 68 of My Salvation

Using magic, Thane cleaned Meryn and the mess up, then turned back to the box. “There’s only one?”

Meryn held her nose and peered in. “Yeah, it looks like he ate the other one,” she said, pointing to a place on a bone that bore teeth marks between the rotting flesh.

Pip had both hands over his nose. “It smells worse than poop in there.”

Neil steadied himself and exhaled shakily. “Still not worse than finding Augustus Pettier in sewage.”

Meryn’s eyes widened. “Really?”

Nigel nodded. “Yeah, that was way worse.”

“Dude,” she said, looking impressed.

The feral swiped at Aiden who knocked the hand away easily, looking annoyed. “Well?”

Kendrick stepped forward to look down at the feral. “Tell us what you know.”

“Why?”

Kendrick looked around the inside of the box. “Tell us what you know or we reseal you inside this box.” He eyed the rotting body. “That may hold you over for a few more weeks.”

The feral’s eyes looked spooked. “No. Anything but that.”

“Tell us what you know, and I will kill you quickly.”

The feral looked around as if calculating his chances of escape. Seeing no way out he slumped forward. “Okay.”

Cas went to step closer but her mate placed his body in front of hers. He was no longer laughing or concerned about Balder. He had gone into full protective mode. Gods, he was so sexy.

She reached out and ran her hand over one of his ass cheeks. He turned back gave her a smile, then a quick shake of his head.

Right, he needed to focus.

If he wouldn’t let her step forward without standing in front of her, she simply pushed him forward staying behind him. He stepped where she needed and she got a good look at the creature’s aura.

She thought it would have been pure black, but it wasn’t. It was a dark grey covered in what looked like a brown sludge that kept bubbling and coating the aura. She covered her mouth with her hand. The tumbling motion coupled with the smell was making her ill.

“Why kill so many fae?” Aiden asked.

The feral laughed. “The fact that you are asking means you don’t know as much as they feared.”

“Who is they?” Kendrick demanded.

The feral grinned, showing yellow jagged teeth. “The Eirsons, of course. The ones who discovered a way around becoming feral even before the necklaces.”

“How did they manage that?” Kincaid asked.

The feral snarled. “If I knew that, I wouldn’t need the necklace would I?”

Cas looked at him and was surprised at how she felt. She thought she would have felt anger or even grief over the loss of the people this man had killed, but seeing his rage, his own terror at the end he faced, she felt pity.

“What were you called? Before?” she asked softly.

The feral turned to her, shock in his expression. He looked down. “I was Raul, I had a wolf in me before.”

“Raul, do you have any family you would like notified so they don’t continue to look for you?” she asked.

He looked up, his eyes half-crazed. “They make you kill your family first.”