Page 97 of Run Like the Devil
In fact, all the men were in their other forms, and standing together, they made quite the sight.
Hale was the only one whose demon form I’d never seen, and he reminded me of a wolf, his body hunched forward, his face having shifted to look more dog-like. His ears were long and pointed, and as he snarled, his sharp teeth shined even in the dark.
Cain only had a moment to react, to turn and look at them, before Yazmor leapt forward. He grasped Cain by the throat, holding him up so his feet dangled.
“I’m so close,” Cain whispered. “So close to finally getting there…”
Hale and Tyrus moved behind Cain, each grasping one of Cain’s wings.
Tyrus leaned in, his voice full of fury as he spoke. “I have no control over who gets into the Plains, but I can assure you, anyone who dares lay a hand on my woman will taste hell.”
“Fuck you,” Hale added on.
The two of them yanked hard, pulling Cain’s wings from his back and throwing them aside like junk. The scream that left Cain chilled me, but I didn’t have time to think about it long, not when Guardian yanked at my leg as if to take me on another ride.
Before I could go anywhere, a hand caught my wrist, wrapping strong fingers around me. “I have you,” Gorrin said, “and I won’t let go.”
I gripped his hand back, holding tightly no matter how hard Guardian pulled.
Yazmor stared into Cain’s face, not releasing him, not letting him down.
“Just kill me,” Cain whispered, pain drenching his words.
“No.” Yazmor tossed Cain to the side, letting him strike a tree before he fell to the ground. “You can live knowing you failed, that you will never even smell Paradise, that you sacrificed so much for nothing. You don’t deserve death—I want you to live through the pain and the regret. I want you to suffer here forever knowing you are trapped.”
A shiver ran down my spine at Yazmor’s words, at the anger in them, the bottomless rage that I knew he had, that he usually kept so carefully hidden.
“Hey, you think you could lend a hand?” I snapped when I felt Guardian trying to grasp my other leg as well, as the dirt crunched beneath those creepy, spindly legs of his.
Things should have spider legs or tentacles, but not both!
Hale rushed over, raking his claws over the tentacle that held me, causing Guardian to let me go. It didn’t retreat, however.
Instead, it seemed to grow before us, shifting its weight to its back legs, rearing up.
“Looks like it’s done playing around,” Hale said.
“Yeah, well, so am I,” I said, getting to my feet, grasping the dagger tightly in my fist. “I’ve run from this fucker, been afraid of it, almost got sacrificed to it, and I’m done. This ends here, one way or another.”
* * * *
“Who the fuck put this thing on steroids?” I held my arm against my side, having no doubt that the bitch had busted one of my ribs. I struggled to breathe in, but still, I stayed on my feet.
For once, I wished I was the loser in the situation. I would have been perfectly happy to look around and find that everyone else was doing great, to have the Lords sweep in like heroes.
Unfortunately, that was far from the case.
They looked every bit as beat up as I felt.
No matter what we did, Guardian never stopped, never rested. Even when hurt, it didn’t even slow.
Hale used his claws to slice a tentacle, but before the blood drops could hit the dirt, it had already grown a new one. Even my blade didn’t seem to work. No matter how I sliced it, it would heal almost instantly.
The dagger would kill anything living or dead, but it seemed Guardian was not quite either.
“Loch, you need to run,” Gorrin said as he moved in front of me, catching one of Guardian’s tentacles and tearing it free.
“I don’t think we can outrun this thing.”