Defying the Lycan King (Kira and Derek) novel Chapter 191

Chapter 191: Make It Count

Kira and Claudia hurried down the dimly lit corridor of the restaurant’s back area, the muffled sounds of the battle behind them fading with every stride.

Just as they rounded a sharp corner near the kitchen supply racks, the shadows on the wall literally detached themselves.

"Look out!" Kira screamed.

Before Claudia could even turn her head, the lead Umbra lunged. Its claws ripped across Claudia’s torso, tearing through her clothes and deep into her flesh.

Claudia let out a horrific shriek as she was thrown violently against the wall, sliding down, blood blooming dark across the front of her dress.

"Claudia!" Kira cried.

Seeing the older woman go down triggered something wild and feral inside Kira. The fear completely evaporated, replaced by pure rage.

She raised her knife at the Umbras as they stalk forward. Just as they closed in, they shifted into their human forms. Kira was surprised to see three of her guards.

Petra, Brent and the other man.

"Come with us," Petra said. "We don’t intend to harm you."

"Stay the fuck away from me," Kira warned her knife still raised.

As Petra lunged forward to grab her, Kira ducked under her on pure instinct, the way Derek had drilled into her on that training ground, and came up behind her, driving her knife into her neck.

She wrenched the blade sideways, and the woman came apart with a screech, and fell forward.

Brent was already coming. Kira spun, but he caught her shoulder and slammed her back against the opposite wall, knocking the breath clean out of her.

He pressed in but Kira got her forearm up under his throat, straining, her knife arm pinned between their bodies.

"Stop fighting me, Your Highness," Brent said. "I won’t harm you. I will take you to safety."

A tear escaped Kira’s eyes. Never had she thought that one day, she would be fighting and killing her very own bodyguards.

She sniffed and nodded, deliberately relaxing her body. Brent pushed off her, deceived by her compliance. But Kira quickly raised her knee and connected with his groin.

Brent grunted in anguish and was distracted. With a scream, Kira jammed the knife up beneath his jaw, and drove it deep.

He shuddered, stiffened, and collapsed before her, leaving her gasping against the wall, drenched in blood, shaking from head to foot.

Her other guard, the one who had struck Claudia, came for her last.

Kira did not wait. She launched off the wall and met him head-on, burying her blade in his chest and riding him down to the floor, stabbing until he stopped moving entirely.

Then there was only silence, and her own ragged breathing.

She scrambled across the corridor to where Claudia lay in a spreading pool of her own blood.

"No, no, no," Kira whispered, dropping to her knees, pressing her hands uselessly over the wounds. "Stay with me. You’re going to be alright, do you hear me? Just hold on."

Claudia swallowed hard, a bloody bubble popping on her lips. She weakly grabbed Kira’s wrist, her grip surprisingly firm for someone who was literally dying.

"Listen to me, Kira... my queen. You must run. Run as fast as your legs can carry you."

"I am not leaving you!" Kira cried, the tears streaming down her blood-covered cheeks.

"You have to!" Claudia coughed, wincing in agony. "Do never... never let the Umbras take you. They mean to use you, your power, to raise their shadow king from the dark." Her voice cracked. "That is what all of this is for. That is why they’ve come."

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify