Chapter 76: Chapter 76: HE CAME WHEN CALLED

VALORIA WILDEROSE

“You idiot!” Azrael screams at me, enraged and breathing hard like he’s just run a marathon to get here. “What part of fucking stay in your goddamn room did you not understand?!”

Hands are suddenly all over me; ripping the sheets, covering my bare body, wrapping me up like a human-sized burrito with gentleness before I can react. Shielding me in warmth despite his icy tone.

I’m too stunned to be bothered by his yelling, staring at a man who wasn’t here a second ago — appearing out of thin air without using the only door in this room.

He appeared out of nowhere like magic again.

And after seconds, my shock turns into instant relief and a wave of emotions I’ve subconsciously held away flooding into me all at once.

I burst into tears, wailing like a preschooler and sobbing out loud.

I thought it was over — that I was going to die again, tossed into the fiery pits of hell to suffer for all eternity. I thought I was going back there with no one by my side… all by myself again.

But he’s here. He’s really here. It’s not just my shattered mind conjuring up images of Azrael, and that fact alone is oddly the most comforting, cozy feeling ever.

And it makes me cry harder.

His outwardly pissed-off countenance cracks almost instantly the second he sees my tears. The deep-set frown and anger melt into confusion, creasing his eyebrows — then panicked worry.

And finally, guilt.

“Shit!” he swears, running his hands through his hair, fighting some kind of internal battle and fidgeting with his fingers before he kneels right beside me.

Arms awkwardly and slowly wrap around me in a hug. He hugs like he’s never done it before — not knowing where to put my body or how to hold on to the fragile pieces of myself.

“Shhh, it’s— it’s okay…” he says in a surprisingly gentle, almost soothing voice I never knew he could speak in. “I’m here… and I’m going to fucking kill him, so just— just relax, okay? Deep breaths, Valoria.”

He mimics taking deep breaths, watching me closely with a gaze that silently urges me to do the same.

It’s easy to follow him, copying the way he takes in air until his lungs are full and then exhales it all out.

I do it over and over again until a deep numbing exhaustion fills my brain and I’m too tired to cry or think about almost dying. Until I’m fully present again.

But it’s far from being over.

From the large man-shaped hole in the wall, a deep growl bellows within the darkness. Inhumane. Animalistic.

It takes a second for it to click in my head that he’s morphed into a wolf… foolish enough to threaten a fight with a Lycan.

Azrael’s anger returns — directed at beast Ronan this time, creeping out of the dark space and stalking closer again.

Azrael’s hands slowly release me, taking all the warmth away against my will.

“Wait here. I’ll handle this quick.” He reassures me, and I don’t doubt him.

For the first time he hints at killing someone in front of me… and I don’t feel the slightest urge to retch.

Rather, I’m waiting in anticipation of it. I don’t know what’s changed — if perhaps his wickedness has begun to infect my heart and fester — but I want the bastard put down once and for all.

Deep down, I know it’s the only way I’ll be free of him. And if I could do it with my bare hands, I would.

Beast Ronan howls at Azrael, rushing at the king the second Azrael faces him to fight.

Lunging into his arms, and Azrael catches him with ease, like an oversized stuffed teddy bear — with too much ease.

Blue eyes show no hint of tomfoolery like he usually does when killing. He means business this time, aiming to kill quick and swiftly — maybe for my sake, maybe for his.

Ronan struggles to attack or slash, and Azrael exerts enough force that in a second I hear bones snap and break. A holler of pain bursts from the animal before its body goes limp.

Azrael drops him like a sack of meat, staring at the corpse with cold, dead eyes before looking away.

He walks back to me slowly, going on his knees again the second he’s close enough and stretching out his hands my way.

“I’ll take you back to the room.”

I hesitate for some reason, staring at those outstretched arms, trying to think through the incessant pounding of my chest.

I decide I’ll ponder everything later — Ronan’s behavior, my thoughts about Azrael being here in my final moments, and why my heart is racing at 400 mph while staring at him offering his hands.

He’s a monster that just killed my former mate and my sister’s fiancé, and yet the fear that should follow is absent — replaced by unusual anticipation to be taken away by him.

I’ve truly finally gone mad.

I reach out to hold him, but clicking sounds from behind him draw my attention away — to the supposedly cold corpse that suddenly begins to move and twitch.

I turn to stone, petrified by horror, my mouth hanging wide open. Azrael swerves to look at it too.

His dead beast rises again, slowly. Bones bend and break, taking on a second transformation unlike anything I’ve ever seen before as his body swells and grows twice his size.

Until we’re both staring at a large, tall, disfigured bipedal wolf — drooling and foaming at the mouth in the most deranged manner as he pants out hot, steaming air. Clicking and growling with blood-red manic eyes.

My vision fades, tempted to faint from shock, but I hold on to my consciousness, speechless.

“What in the…” Azrael gasps, showing full-on surprise for the first time.

He’s just as taken aback as I am — even more, for a man that’s lived for a thousand years and seen everything.

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