“You promised not to harm him.” Tell me to do it. Make me suffer. She knew Amaros was cruel enough to consider pitting Mary against Jack. He only needed a little motivation.
A sly smile twisted over his face. “I may have neglected to tell you, my dear, but blood bonds will not hold me, for I am already mortally cursed.”
Her hopes plummeted for an instant. Then she changed her course, trying again. Whatever it took, she would get to Jack.
“He did this for me.” She glanced down, letting a tear fall. With wide eyes she looked up at him, even as she struggled to evade his touch, which only inflamed him. His grip grew painful, and she flinched again. “Please,” she begged in a breathy voice. “Please stop this. I cannot bear it. I will do anything.”
“You will do anything regardless.”
As if he heard them, Jack’s wild gaze focused on them, and he bared his teeth in a snarl. Gone was any trace of the man she knew and loved. He was pure rage now. And when he stalked toward them, his massive fists curled tight.
Still smiling, Amaros let her go and stood, predictable in his arrogance. “You can’t kill me, boy. But I am happy to play.”
They crashed into each other with a loud smack and tumbled to the ground. And Mary waited for the perfect moment to strike.
Jack relished the pain of Amaros’s hit. His body absorbed it and then he lashed out, smashing into the fallen’s face with all his strength. Bones snapped and blood sprayed. He did not wait but hit again, aiming for the fragile glass window that protected the fallen’s heart. But Amaros was quick and countered with an uppercut. Jack’s head snapped back, blood filling his mouth. He swallowed it down and whirled, jabbing Amaros’s exposed ribs, hearing them crack, before he ducked under an oncoming blow.
Not fast enough. Amaros caught his arm and, in one move, broke it at the elbow. Jack bellowed, pain slicing through him. His useless arm flopped down, and the fallen’s eyes shone bright with victory. Jack lashed back, realizing that it was his wing he’d used. The massive appendage caught Amaros on the head, and he staggered. Jack used the moment to bring his knee up. Hard. Into the fallen’s bollocks. A low move, but he didn’t care for shit about honor. Destroy or die trying. That was all that mattered now. Not a bloody curse. Mary’s freedom meant more than any suffering he’d face.
The fallen crumbled, and Jack launched himself onto him, grabbing hold of one glossy feathered wing and pulling with all his might. A meaty, tearing sound filled his ears as Amaros screamed and the fallen’s wing ripped free. Hot blood sprayed Jack’s face as he landed a sharp kick to Amaros’s jaw.
“Jack!”
Mary’s shout halted him. She was striding toward him, something metal in her hand, her face a mask of determination. “Stop.”
Stop? Not bloody likely. Something deep within told him that the loss of the fallen’s wings would be fatal.
On the floor Amaros stirred as though trying to shift. Or fade away.
“Attempting to turn into shadow?” Jack taunted, for he remembered that cowardly trick from the fountain in the square. “I think your new GIM nature ended that power.” Maybe it hadn’t. Jack wasn’t waiting to find out. He growled, reaching for the fallen’s other wing.
But the hard press of cold metal and Mary’s arm wrapped about his neck had him freezing.
“I needed you to fight him so that I could get close to you,” she said against his ear. “But I will not let you kill him.”
He balked, not understanding, until he caught her gaze. She’d only be able to come near in defense of Amaros. All the more reason to destroy the fallen. She was not going to be enslaved a moment longer.
Heart thundering and blood boiling, he glared down at Amaros. “Let me go, Mary. I will finish him.”
“No. Not when it means seeing you become what he is.”
The curse? He didn’t care. Not if it meant Mary was a slave to this bastard.
The moment he moved, she tensed, pressing the metal more firmly under his chin. “Do not make me hurt you, Jack.”
On the ground Amaros lay panting. His color had turned an ugly white, his skin sweating and blotchy as his blood ran blue-crimson over the stone floor. But Jack could see that spark of vitality still within him. He would heal. Unless Jack tore the other wing off and beheaded the bastard. The truth of it was a whisper in his head. He would obey it now. For only he had the strength to do it.
The fallen’s eyes held this knowledge, and the realization that Jack had no hesitation. Amaros lifted his gaze to Mary. “Kill him.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
At his back Mary went stiff, drawing in a sharp breath. Jack knew she’d be compelled to act or suffer. And his heart squeezed tight.