Sulfur began to seep into the cavern from every corner. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where it came from. My wolf howled, changing her focus from Selene to the new threat. I kept my hold firmly on Selene, my magic still keeping us intertwined. “You really did it, didn’t you?” I sneered at her in disgust. “You sold your entire soul to the Underworld. Not just part of it. You were banking on me being stronger than you, that I was going to win, so you sold yourself to the Underworld for help.” My hands slid up and clamped around her neck. “You’re nothing but a fraud, Selene. You deserve to die and go straight to hell. Lucky for you, it’s a very tangible place. I’m sure the Demon Lords have something special in store for you. It’s a shame we won’t be able to witnesses it.”
Selene twisted in my hold, her face hateful. “I win, you wench. Don’t you get it? The price of my soul makes me impossible to defeat. I made the deal of the millennium. Ultimate immortality. Nothing can best me now, so I can never truly die. The Underworld can’t take me if I can’t die, so they will never have me.”
Incredible power enveloped me. It was dark and smelled like thick, rancid eggs. It pulled at me, tearing my skin. “What—” I yelled as I was flung backward, like a giant hand had swiped me off my feet. My wolf snapped at the blackness that began to infiltrate our golden protection. I hit the wall and slid to the ground. “No.” I uttered the single word with all the power I had inside me and the blackness danced back. It came at me again. “I said, NO!” I interlaced the word with the color inside my mind, bonding my golden strands to my words.
The blackness shrank back and stayed away.
I stood.
Selene staggered back a step. “Impossible!” she screeched. “My power combined with the Underworld is no match for you. It can’t be—” Rourke took hold of her from behind, grabbing her by the hair, and slammed her into the wall. She crumpled, momentarily stunned. The sulfur smell wavered.
“I’m glad to see you,” I told Rourke, who had shaken off her spell this time on his own.
He growled menacingly. “Nothing is going to keep me from you again while there’s breath still left in my body.”
Shivers ran up my spine.
Selene moved, ruining the moment, and I paced toward her. “Looks like your Underworld bargaining skills need a little work, Selene. You should’ve asked for more. Maybe a basilisk or a Demon Lord sidekick? Something more than immortality, which you already had. Do you really think the demons are that stupid? Do you honestly think they’d offer you something so great without a single hitch?” I stopped in front of her. “I’d like to introduce myself as the hitch in your well-designed plans.”
“I’m not out of the running yet, mongrel.” Selene stood. But before she could pop out of sight, I lunged. My magic intertwined with hers immediately.
We tumbled to the ground.
“You were out of the running before you even started,” I whispered.
Selene snarled. Her body reverberated like a gong, and blackness enveloped me again. This time it shot into my nose and mouth.
I gagged.
“Looks like you just needed a bigger dose—” Selene broke my hold and flew away from me.
Rourke took her by the neck, snarling savagely. “You will not hurt what’s mine again. Do you hear me?”
I grasped at my throat.
Get it out. My wolf tore into it. She pulled on our resources as adrenaline shot through us. The black wavered, but continued its assault. I rolled onto the ground, trying to breathe. I looked up and saw Tyler and Danny, in their wolf forms, standing at my sides, each of them snarling. I turned on my side, raging at the blackness. “Get out of my body!” I yelled, my power shooting outward, electrifying the darkness in one single blaze of light. The black mass retreated like a smoke machine plugged into a vacuum. I coughed and stood up, catching my breath.
Selene twisted in Rourke’s grasp and popped out of sight. That was getting old.
Tyler put his big muzzle in the air, scenting, and then took off to the right. The moment she materialized he had his teeth around her throat, bringing her easily to the ground. Danny charged after them, circling, waiting for an opportunity to get in the mix and snapping his jaws. I met Tyler’s eyes for an instant before Selene reached up and took him by the neck. “Bye-bye, wolf boy.”
Red lines engulfed him.
“No!” I ran hard, colliding with Tyler, knocking him out of the way with my body. Before Selene could stand, I fisted her shredded leather bustier with one hand and forced her back to the ground. Her neck was torn—Tyler’s canines had bit deeply—but it was healing quickly.
She laughed up at me, trying in vain to dematerialize. “Can’t you see you won’t win? No matter what you do, I am stronger. I will keep defeating you until you are all on your knees, begging for your lives.”
“That’s not how this is going to work.” I punched my other hand deeply into her chest cavity. She gasped, her body spasming, surprise lining her features. I was going for the kill. I just had no idea how I was going to do it. Her heart sounded like the best idea. There was no way I was doing another run around with her. One of us would win; I just hoped like hell it would be me.