Chapter 257
+8 Pearls
Carmen wrenched the blade free. Blood sprayed in a hot arc, the scent of iron thick in the damp night air. Harper’s body convulsed violently, her knees buckling as she sagged toward the grimy ground, nearly losing consciousness.
With a grip like steel, Carmen fisted Harper’s hair and dragged her step by deliberate step into the shadowed depths of the alley. The darkness there was heavy–like tar, swallowing the pale sliver of moonlight whole.
Harper’s entire frame trembled as though she’d been plunged into ice water. The arrogance and gloating she’d worn moments earlier had evaporated, leaving only raw fear.
So she could feel fear, Carmen thought coldly.
Not so long ago, Harper had strutted about, bragging about how she had tormented Riley behind prison walls.
Now the tables had turned. The predator was prey, and her bravado had rotted away into pitiful pleading.
Pathetic.
The sound of Harper’s ragged breathing filled the narrow space.
“What do you want from me?” Harper choked out, her voice shaking.
“Oh, nothing much,” Carmen replied, her tone almost playful. “Just your eyes. Your tongue. Your hearing. And maybe I’ll take /the tendons in your hands and feet while I’m at it.” She smiled faintly, the curve of her lips making Harper’s stomach knot.
“That’s all.”
Each word made Harper shake her head harder. “No! I don’t want that! I’ve never done anything to you—why would you—”
“Who said I need a reason?” Carmen tilted her head in mock curiosity.
“Please… let me go… I can pay you—”
The offer made Carmen laugh–low, sharp, and humorless. “I don’t want your coin, Harper. I just want you broken.”
Harper collapsed fully, a sobbing heap on the ground. Tears and snot streaked her face, her breath coming in shallow gasps.
The butterfly knife spun smoothly between Carmen’s fingers, the sound of the blade clicking and locking echoing off the alley walls. Harper’s eyes went wide with panic as she tried to crawl backward, but Carmen’s hand shot out, seizing her ankle in a bruising grip.
“No! Let me go-”
Carmen’s gaze chilled to ice. “Didn’t you say you’d take my eyes? Let’s see how you like it.”
The blade flashed. She drove it into Harper’s left eye, swift and merciless. Harper’s scream split the night. Carmen twisted the knife, then withdrew it only to plunge it into the other eye, crimson spilling down Harper’s cheeks in hot rivulets.
The sound of Harper’s body thrashing against the filth of the alley floor barely registered to Carmen. Her focus was razor- sharp, her anger a steady, burning current.
Your tongue, next.”
Forcing Harper’s mouth open, Carmen slid the blade inside. A practiced jerk severed the muscle, and Harper’s screams dissolved into wet, choking gurgles as blood poured from her mouth.
Then Carmen stooped to pick up a jagged piece of stone. “The ears, Harper. You remember what you did to Riley? You’ll know it now.”
One swing. Two. The cartilage gave way under the unrelenting blows, blood splattering across the cobblestones. The world fell silent for Harper–not from mercy, but from the damage done.
She was drifting toward unconsciousness when Carmen cut the tendons in her wrists and ankles. The moment the steel sliced through. Harper’s body seized and shuddered violently, dragging her back to awareness with another strangled cry.
Even then, Carmen wasn’t done. She brought the stone down again and again on Harper’s ruined limbs until bone gave way with a sickening crack. Flesh tore, blood pooling thick around the broken wreck that had once been a wolf.
4:47 PM P
Chapter 257
Only then did Carmen stand.
+8 Pearls
Her hands were soaked scarlet, blood dripping from her claws–because somewhere during the frenzy, her human form had given way to her wolf. Midnight fur rippled under the moonlight, her golden eyes burning with vengeance. Her breath came in slow, controlled exhales, steam curling from her muzzle.
“This,” she growled, her voice a guttural rumble through sharp fangs, “is the justice you earned. And it’s still far less than what Riley endured.”
She turned to leave the alley–only to halt..
A figure stood at the mouth of the passage, the pale glow of a distant streetlamp outlining the breadth of his shoulders.
Carmen’s wolf stilled. Her hackles rose–not from threat, but from something older, deeper.
Her chest tightened. The bond snapped taut.
Her wolf snarled inside her mind, the sound both wild and
reverent.
Mate.
