Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 137871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 689(@200wpm)___ 551(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 689(@200wpm)___ 551(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
“Cerberus!” her father growled, but it wasn’t enough to stop him from dragging his slick nose down her mother’s cheek.
Her mother’s body hung limply in his arms, but then her head slowly lifted, her stare directed to Adriel’s father’s. Something private whispered between them, spoken through the sacred link shared only by mates. Adriel feared it was a goodbye.
Eleazar watched cautiously, waiting for a signal to strike. Wind tunneled through the cave, and the scent of their fear overpowered the sea air. Dane fumbled with a small leather pack, his hands trembling violently as a vile of crushed herbs slipped out of his grip and rolled across the cave floor.
“The aconite,” he hissed, lunging forward to catch the tiny jar. He passed the vile to Christian. “Go. It will sedate him.”
Adriel caught her son’s arm. She couldn’t let him risk getting that close. “He’s won. Save yourself. Go home to your mate.”
“He hasn’t won,” Christian snapped, evading her grasp.
“Christian, I cannot lose you too.”
“You won’t.” Dane shoved her back into Christian’s arms and snatched the vile, running directly toward Cerberus.
Chaos exploded. Cerberus bit into her mother’s throat, and her father went ballistic, exploding with uncontainable rage. Eleazar ripped her mother out of Cerberus’s arms the moment his grip loosened.
“Now, Juniper, strike now!” Adriel’s father yelled the moment Eleazar and Lilias were out of the cave.
Cerberus sprung, but her father tackled him to the ground. A landslide of stone crumbled from the far wall.
Juniper hesitated when Cerberus threw Adriel’s father backward with bone-shattering force.
“Papai!” Adriel’s voice cut above the noise, and Juniper turned, her eyes wide as Lazarus’s body lay heaving for breath as blood pooled beneath his hulking form on the floor.
Juniper raised her glowing hands and shouted, “Vi maris, vim lunae—”
Cerberus rammed through her forcefield, slamming Juniper into the wall. Adriel screamed in horror as she collapsed to the ground, a puddle of blood forming beneath her head.
“You bastard!” Dane leapt over Juniper’s fallen body and time stilled.
Adriel screamed as Christian restrained her, forcing her to watch helplessly as Cerberus raked his claws down Dane’s chest. Blood sprayed, and he gripped his throat, but it was too late.
A vicious growl ripped through the cave, territorial and female. A new, tiny form bolted into the cave and caught Dane before his body hit the ground. A sharp cry of distress pierced the air as his limp body fell into the female’s arms, and Adriel’s eyes widened at the sight of Grace Hartzler.
What was she doing there?
“We must go.” Christian lifted her into his arms.
“We can’t leave them.”
“This is our only chance.”
Adriel looked back at the chaos. Juniper wasn’t moving, and Gracie cradled Dane’s limp body in her lap. She begged him to open his eyes and look at her, but he only gasped for breath as blood choked him and spilled down his pillaged chest.
Cerberus straightened, his eyes locking with Adriel’s as his body heaved and his shoulders puffed with rage. He smiled slowly, his eyes scanning from Gracie to her parents and settling on Juniper.
Adriel fought her son. “I can’t leave her.” She broke free of his hold, but her legs were still too weak to carry her.
“Mother, we must leave. Now!” Christian hauled her toward the opening.
“No! I won’t leave her like this!” The wind howled at their back as he dragged her.
Gracie sobbed over Dane. Juniper still wasn’t moving. Adriel’s father crawled to her, his arm slashed open and outstretched. He struggled to reach her. Cerberus kicked him to his back. He slammed his fists into him, lifting his hulking body over his head and hurling him toward the cliffs. Her father’s body slammed down, sliding dangerously close to the ledge.
It was over. He won.
Throwing back his head, Cerberus cackled, blood dripping in black rivulets from his jaw, his evil glare settling on Dane. Gracie set his body down carefully and stood, her dress drenched with Dane’s blood and her eyes lit with uncontained fury.
Christian tugged Adriel to keep moving. “Mother, you will die if we stay here!”
“Then I will die!” She ripped her arm free and lurched toward Juniper. Her body gave out when something feral lanced through the air, knocking her off balance.
Adriel slammed onto her knees. Cerberus raised his claws and leapt through the air, prepared to strike Gracie down, when a roar ripped through the cave. A hulking animal-like form collided with him mid-flight. The clash was a horrific explosion of growls and feral intent.
A clawed fist—that of a man but with tufts of fur and dark grey talons—swept violently down Cerberus’s body just as her son threw himself protectively over her. “Don’t look!”
Time silenced and she heard the exact moment his scream cut off. Life flashed before her eyes. Childhood. Joy. Sorrow. Grief. Pain. Longing. Loss. Escape. Her son. Love. Juniper.
She jerked her son’s hand away from her eyes as Cerberus’s body collapsed, his head rolling toward her, his eyes blindly staring.