The beast and the blessed novel by Ashley Breanne

Seventy-Seven: Killian

Killian’s P.O.V.

My skin was itching, and my body was tense as I waited for the vehicle to make its way through the trees. There wasn't much room in the off-road cage, but we didn't need much... just enough to get the bodies to take them back to their families.

Two had survived the patrol of six. They had been found chained up, hanging from a tree, as their blood slowly drained into the rune in the dirt. They had several bite marks on them that seemed old, but the injury to drain them hadn't healed yet, so we knew someone had just been here.

It was horrific to find them this way, and after what happened with Heath and Nolan, I was going to take no chances with our two survivors. They would be restrained with medical help until we could be sure they hadn't been cursed too. I didn't want to risk losing more of my men and women than I had to, and I especially didn't want Natalie to have to witness it again.

But it was good news that we had found them here this way. With this and the thick magic in the air, we now had a more narrow section of mountains to search. The enemy seemed impatient and hungry, meaning they would make more mistakes.

Now that we had a location, we could take action instead of sitting around, waiting for them to attack.

It also meant that I could go home to my mate.

I had my men searching the forest as we waited for the car and the bodies to be picked up. I was pleased to get back several reports of tracks the enemy had failed to hide, and the rotten scent of vampires wafted through the air occasionally.

They were here. They were close. But they were hiding.

Until I could get even more men out here, I wouldn't be risking more lives to hunt on their land. They knew it better than we did, and I was positive they had traps in place.

So, we played it discrete, taking notes of everything around us and discussing it through our pack link, but putting on the show for anyone watching that we were disappointed that we didn't find anything.

We would go back, regroup and then go from there.

to rain hell down on

***

was starting to set. The power from the castle made me groan, and I knew nothing good was going on

off from her, something I didn't want to do but knew I needed to. If I felt her, I would be distracted, wondering what she was doing when I felt her get frustrated or angry. I would be jealous

be no

me. That side of me was something that I never wanted her to see or

in how they held themselves as if they were ready to run,

clenched as I walked past several maids scrubbing a singed part of the wall, trying to remove the burn

eating their meal. Two of the witches had their steak knives

to see Cora pressing her palms

yelled over each other, and my eyes widened when Cora's voice became louder than

fight. She hated Rona for costing her a leg in battle a few years prior.

down." Rona laughed darkly as she glanced down at where Cora's leg would be if the table hadn't been in the way. "It's a shame your fat ass is still alive and kicking. Speaking of, how's your

at the head of the table calmly, taking another bite of

time is coming! I'll make sure of that personally!" Cora's yell of outrage was followed by her thrusting her palms toward Rona, the

the way my mate lit up in anger, looking even more beautiful as her drink was knocked

on the mess as she got to her feet. "You are

around?" Rona sniggered as she pushed herself up to

and the knives clattered to the ground. Rona was dragged back by force as Natalie's magic wrapped around the women, silencing them and forcing them to

across the room to the table,

I tried to free myself from her spell with little luck. But it gave me a moment to look her over for injury. Only I could see that her strength had not only increased in her magic. Her arms looked slimmer and more toned, and I knew she had been working