Page 32 (1/2)

After a few seconds, the beast entered through a s in front of the cave Black as the darkness around theiant wolf And the moment it turned to look at him and Nick saw its luminescent purple eyes, he realized it was the saood…

Lie so that the beast could sniff it Worried about Caleb, Nick bit his lip While it appeared Caleb took a chunk out of the wolf, the fact that it was here and alive, and Caleb wasn’t, didn’t bode well for his friend

It bared its bloodied, sharp teeth, then growled and snarled at Nick as if trying to reach hih the bars

"Get back!" A loud whip cracked across the wolf’s back, causing it to recoil and howl, then snap at the leather cord "Back, I said!" Two more lashes landed on it before the wolf backed down and limped over to a steel post that was embedded into the cavern wall

Nick stared at the trail of s the ice in the wolf’s wake He’d feel bad for the creature had it not eaten Caleb

At least that was his thought until the wolf collapsed and then turned into a guy who didn’t look all that much older than him He had thick, wavy dark hair that fell to his shoulders and a couple days’ growth of beard Completely naked, he lay with his back to Nick Scars marred almost every inch of him Most were from a whip, but noring Nick and his cage, the woman who’d beat the wolf down approached the wolf slowly as if expecting hiet up and attack her When she was al, bladed staff A blade she used so that she could poke him She even went so far as to lift his face up with it

He didn’topossum, she raised her hand toward the post A chain materialized and then crawled over the ice to the man and looped itself around his neck to keep him there

Only then did she turn to face Nick

His breath caught in his throat Around his , white-blond hair fanned over a body that should be gracing rounded for life if histhe corpse One that came complete with the smell of the back end of an unwashed yak

"So you are the Malachai…" She sounded disappointed

Good Maybe she’d let hio "Who are you?"

"Hel"

Not quite afraid of her, but rather apprehensive, he arched a brow "Isn’t it a little cold to be hell?"

She laughed at that "Not your hell, oddess Hel and this is eons and Dragons with Madaug and his friends Hel … he’d never heard of before But Madaug would probably be able to recite an entire dissertation on her, her fa would most likely knohat, if any, weakness she had Reain for his bank of useless information

Nick stood up to face her "Why am I here and what have you done withabout yourfor you You are only a et what I want, I don’t care what they do to you"

He threw one of his fireballs at her

She stopped it with a blast of ice that shattered it rateful"

"Grateful for being locked in a cage?"

"Grateful you’re alive According to my hound, you were almost dead when he pulled the harvester off you"

Nick’s pulse quickened Finally soh to be honest, he’d have rather found the definition online "Harvester?"

"Soul-eaters They are sent to destroy anyone who is born of evil" She walked a s as puny as you is worth the life of a captive god"

Before he could respond to that, she vanished

"I’ht be thin and gangly, he was over six feet tall Not puny by any standards…

Much

Sitting down, he turned his attention to the passed-out wolf, as still bleeding all over the place So the thing that ate his best friend had saved his life… Nick wasn’t sure what to think about that

Not that he really cared While he didn’t like the thought of Caleb being hurt or dead, the one thought that scared him the most was his mother What had happened to her?

Maybe Kyrian hadher safe It was his only hope, and he intended to latch on to it with both hands

And his teeth

Hours went by as Nick tried every power he could to escape his cage Nothing worked As usual, the universe mocked his attempts with a dose of ineptitude thatwhen he should just lie down and think of porn princesses like a nor you, Caleb, for your twisted pep talks They kept hi even when it was stupid

Frustrated, he fire-blasted the door again with both hands The flaed both the hair on his head and that on his arms

Beautiful I so eat dinner withyour time"

Nick ju, he saw that the ake and staring at hiht you were dead"

Ignoring Nick’s comment, the wolf lifted up a corner of the thick, war blind froht of your naked hairy butt"

One corner of his ht himself "And the pillow?"

Noas Nick’s turn not to coh he’d most likely eaten Caleb, Nick had felt sorry for him Not to mention, the as really lucky Nick’s powers had worked and not turned hi

But now that the ake, there was one question Nick was desperate to have an answer for "Did you kill Caleb?"

"The daeve you ith?"

"Yeah"

"He lives"

Nick’s relief came out as a sharp burst of breath He hadn’t realized just how upset he’d been at the thought of Caleb dying while protecting hiood chunk of you"