A Kingdom of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 3)

But I couldn’t. If I did, I knew I wouldn’t want to go back to Finley. I wouldn’t want to stay. I’d leave with Weston and maybe never see her again. Wolves like Weston didn’t settle with dragons, they just didn’t, and I couldn’t bear to leave Finley behind. Or Leala or Hannon or any of those crazy fuckers I’d been through hell with in the castle. I’d stay a misfit forever if it meant I could remain with my newfound family.

A light-skinned demon—gray in the moonlight—darted toward Hannon from the side as we neared a clearing of sorts. He met the attack with a very lazy duck, followed by a very fierce uppercut with his knife into his enemy’s sternum. He shoved the demon off nonchalantly, glanced back at me to make sure I was okay, and continued on. The guy always checked on Leala and me after he slayed a demon. He was like some sort of lethal babysitter. Why was that so hot?

A whip cracked and a girl screamed, almost at the same time. I looked at Leala in confusion as she snapped her whip again, wrapping the end around the neck of a demon and yanking. The demon tried to grab the whip, choking, and was tackled in the back by a lunging wolf.

Leala released the whip as the cry sounded again.

So not Leala, then.

“What’s…” I glanced left, into the field, and saw a demon haul out a little girl. Three other demons fell in around her, like they were taking her hostage.

Hannon looked at the same time, then froze for a moment. A shock of color burst out around him, like a glimmering aura, before he exploded into action. He ran in the girl’s direction, axe in one hand and knife in the other.

A demon launched at him, out of nowhere. It latched on to his back and slashed with claws, tearing across flesh.

Leala cracked her whip, slicing the demon in the side and making it convulse. It was all the time Hannon needed to throw the thing off and chop down with his axe.

Bye-bye, demon head. Or near enough.

Another burst of light and color shone around Hannon, like no magic I’d ever seen. No animal I’d ever heard of. He tore his fragment of a shirt away, exposing a tableau of rippled and bruised and slashed muscle, having taken a lot of damage and not shown one ounce of pain.

He jogged now, moving through what I recognized as everlass plants, Leala and I trailing behind him. The demons dragged the kicking and flailing girl farther into the field before stopping and raising a knife to her throat. In a moment, I saw who it was.

Sable. Hannon’s sister.

Why the fuck was she all the way out here?

One of the demons said something, but I didn’t catch it as Leala murmured, “Closer, Hannon. I’m out of range.”

Hannon held out his hands, one weapon in each, bending a little like he might put them down. He slowed to walking—almost creeping—his movements slow and thoughtful, underplaying the threat he posed.

“Closer,” Leala whispered as we walked.

“Hannon!” Sable shouted before the knife tip was pushed against the front of her throat. She winced but didn’t stop. “I’d heard the roars and wanted to go check on Dash and Daddy. I didn’t want to sit here if they were in danger—”

The demon shook her, and light leaked from around Hannon, curling and misting. The moonlight filtered through his wild hair like it was glowing, sparkling through that strangely pulsing aura.

“Let her go.” Hannon kept creeping forward, slow and methodical, as though he were just looking for a place to sit and take a rest. “Let her go, and I’ll put these down. I can’t shift. I’ll have no defense against you.”

He bent as if to do just that, then—

“Okay.” Leala’s voice was a soft hum. Her whip made a sharp crack.

It hit before they’d registered she was moving. Dead on target, slashing against the demon’s hand that held Sable. The demon hissed and pulled back, turning his body a little to pull his wrist to his chest.

Hannon exploded into action, that bend he’d been doing turning into a lunge, his big body aimed right for Sable. Her eyes didn’t widen. Instead, her brow pinched in concentration. She ducked at the last second, then rolled out of the way.

Hannon crashed into the demon, his knife already working.

Leala pulled back her whip for another strike, but the jumble of bodies didn’t give her a clear shot.

I jumped to the rescue, shit with a knife but really good at breaking up fights and sex-capades gone wrong. I slapped at hands and peeled a demon away from Hannon as he shot out his axe and got that demon in the upper chest. He turned in a smooth movement, stabbed another through the belly, and then turned and sliced his knife across the third demon. Leala hit the first with her whip, but he was long dead, and soon they all were.