#12: Nyra

Nyra

Lucien snarled, the sound no longer fully human. Bones cracked, fur erupted across his broadening shoulders, his clothes shredding as his body exploded into the massive black wolf that was his true Alpha form. He lunged forward, closing his jaws around a vampire’s arm, and tearing it clean off at the shoulder. Blood arced across the wall in a hot splash that spattered my cheek.

I wiped it away with the back of my hand and grinned.

Draven and the other guards poured in behind him. Draven stayed human, his sword flashing as he parried a strike and drove the hard steel through a vampire’s chest. The second guard shifted mid-stride, grey fur rippling over muscle, hitting the floor on all fours and ripping into another attacker’s leg.

Lyr surged in response, pressing hard against my chest eagerly, her pleasure bleeding into my veins. My pulse kicked higher with anticipation. The corridor narrowed in my vision, everything sharpening into edges and movement and threat.

More came. I met them gladly.

A female vaulted the bed, her fangs bared straight for my throat. I caught her mid-air, shadows snapping around her wrists, twisting until joints popped. She screamed. I pulled her close, stared into those glowing red eyes for one brief second, then drove darkness straight through her heart. Her body went limp in my grasp and I let it fall, already turning for the next.

Blood slicked the floor now, making every step treacherous, but I moved through it easily, my body humming with energy. Each kill fed the next. Each spray of blood painted the room in patterns that felt almost beautiful.

Lucien’s wolf tore through two at once, massive paws pinning one while jaws crushed the throat of another. He shook his head sharply, flinging the corpse aside, then shifted back to half-human form in a ripple of muscle and fur, naked and streaked with gore, eyes glowing gold.

“Nyra!” a guard shouted. “Behind you!”

I spun, already moving, shadows whipping out to intercept the next attacker. The vampire flew backward, slamming into another, the two of them collapsing in a tangled heap. One didn’t get back up. The other did, staggering, clutching his side.

I advanced on him, enjoying the panic in his eyes with each slow measured step I took. He crawled back, uselessly trying to put as much distance between him and I as possible. His fear was loud. It made my blood sing.

I lifted my hand to strike the final blow, he flinched, burying his head beneath his arms, then–

“Stop,” Lucien growled.

I barely spared him a glance.

The vampire tried to rise again, teeth bared, blade clutched weakly in one hand. I tightened my fingers, shadows responding instantly and coiling around his throat.

“Nyra.”

Lucien was between us now, half-shifted, fur bristling along his arms and spine, claws extended. Blood streaked his dark coat, none of it slowing him.

“He’s still breathing,” I said, voice calm, steady.

“I'm aware,” Lucien snapped. “Guards. Get a healer to attend to him. Quickly.”

Hands grabbed the vampire, hauling him upright. He fought weakly, hissing and spitting blood as he was dragged away.

“Get the... what?!” I turned on Lucien, heat flashing through me. “Are you serious? You’re just going to let him go free?”

“I never said anything about letting him go free,” he replied, shifting completely back to human now.

“Oh my bad, you want to treat him and then let him go free,”

Lucien’s golden eyes locked onto mine, dominance rolling off him in a palpable wave. “I gave an order.”

Hot anger coiled low in my gut. The shadows around my hands flickered, agitated, feeding off my irritation.

“I don’t care,” I said flatly. “He’s a liability.”

“I said,” Lucien stepped closer, towering even half-shifted, his voice dropping into something cold and absolute. “I gave an order. Do not forget your place.”

The corridor seemed to hold its breath.

The guards moved without hesitation, dragging the wounded vampire farther down the hall. I watched them go, jaw clenched, the itch under my skin screaming at being denied the finish.

I rounded on Lucien the instant we were alone.

“What the hell was that?!” I demanded.

His eyes flashed. “You undermined me in front of my pack.”

“Your pack?” I scoffed. “Is that what this is about? You needed to look in control? Your pack wasn’t even in the room.”

“I am the Alpha and you cannot question my decisions.”

“So bloody what?!” I snapped. “That title doesn’t automatically make you right.”

“It doesn’t make me always right,” he said, jaw tightening, “but it means I know how to look beyond the immediate urge to kill instead of reacting like an emotional teenage girl on her monthly flow.”

Like a...

For a heartbeat, everything went white.

My fist tightened, muscles coiling as I stepped toward him, fury screaming through my veins. Lyr surged with me, snarling, shadows writhing under my skin, ready to tear something apart.

But before I could drive my fist into his smug face, movement caught the corner of my eye. A shadow detaching from the deeper shadows near the broken window. Another vampire was crouched low, his blade already swinging in a vicious arc aimed straight at Lucien’s unprotected back.

I didn’t think.

I shoved Lucien sideways hard, just in time as the steel whistled past.

The darkness exploded outward, slamming into the vampire like a living wall. He hit the opposite side of the corridor with a wet crunch, bones shattering on impact. His scream cut off as the shadows twisted, snapping his neck cleanly.

He dropped to the floor in a boneless heap.

I turned back to Lucien, breathing fast, my blood humming in my ears.

“Or did you want to save this one t–” I started.

The words died in my throat.

Lucien was hunched slightly with one hand pressed hard to his side, as blood seeped between his fingers, and dripped onto the stone at his feet.