Bane of Tenebris (Wolfgods Book 2) by Blaise Ramsay (i love reading books txt) 📕

When he was ready, Kain joined Gabriel, Damien, Jill and Scott on the front lawn. He’d pleaded with Tala to stay with the pups so Jill could come with them. The group elected to take Kain’s car to avoid any surprise attacks in the woods and keep from getting wet in the rain.

On the way, they planned on what they’d do if the cabin was being watched or in case of an ambush.

“We will have to deal with that when the time comes,” Kain said. His eyes never left the road considering the limited visibility of the hastily falling rain.

In the rearview mirror, he saw Gabriel lean back with his arms crossed behind his head. “Hopefully this is a simple search mission. I don’t like the idea of being outnumbered by a pack of vampires and werewolves.”

Kain rolled his eyes. No one liked being outnumbered in any situation. In silence, he resumed his focus, listening to the conversations of the other lycans. He hadn’t told them who he saw in the woods.

“Gabriel, the lycan at my cabin was Bard,” Kain said. His tone lacked any form of emotion, hidden behind the reserve he held.

Gabriel leaned forward, his hands on the back of Damien’s seat in the passenger’s side and Kain’s. His eyes wide in shock. “Kain, please tell me you didn’t just say what I thought you said.”

“Who’s Bard?” Damien asked.

Kain told him, starting from the time in the Blood Wars. The recollection of Bard’s treachery, the fight between him and Kain that resulted in his forearm being torn off, and the fire Kain and Gabriel thought he died in.

“What the hell?” Damien said in surprise. “How is this guy even alive? How’d he find you after all these years?”

Beside him, Kain shrugged. “I do not know. What I do know is there is something wrong with him. I sensed a malice, but it was not just his. Be careful, Damien. Bard is more than a match for an inexperienced lycan like you.”

Gabriel cursed. Bard’s treachery resulted in his brother, Azazel’s death, as well as Pentacost’s. His hatred of Kain was deep and common knowledge to anyone who knew about the fight.

The sight meeting the lycans’ eyes as they drove up to the cabin brought about an array of shocked expressions.

The front windows had been shattered by Kain’s lounge chair which lay on the front porch. A gaping hole where the front door once stood stared back at them.

Kain got out of the driver’s side and approached the house slowly. He motioned his hand to Gabriel and Jill to go around the back. He ordered Scott to stay near the car to guard their flanks while he and Damien crept through the front door.

With brows creased in anger, Kain inhaled the scent of not only werewolves but a lycan as well. He glanced into the living room to find his sofa and throw pillows torn to shreds. Their contents were emptied all over the floor.

Placing a finger over his mouth while looking at Damien, Kain moved into the kitchen to find his dishes in pieces all over the floor. The cabinet doors hung on loose hinges. Some had been splintered and torn apart, thrown to the tile below.

Gabriel came through the back porch, his shoulders drawn up, fists balled at his sides. “There’s nothing here.”

Kain knelt to pick up a patch of black fur snagged on the edge of the island in the middle of the kitchen. He sniffed it, finding the scent old. “They did this weeks ago.”

Damien kicked the remains of a cabinet door, cursing.

After dropping the fur on the ground, Kain put his hand on Damien’s shoulder, asking him to follow Kain upstairs. The two lycans went up to the second floor while Jill and Gabriel stood guard.

In the master bedroom, Kain gasped, his heart saddened to see all he had left of his family’s lineage destroyed. Bard and his pack of werewolves went out of their way to shred the journal Kain let Damien read. The black and white pictures of his mother lie in the remains of a black frame on the circular rug.

Kain picked up the photo from amongst the glass and splintered wood. The woman sat with a young man next to her in a faded and yellowing photo that looked like it was taken many years ago.

Damien stood over Kain’s shoulder. He spoke in a sad and angry tone. “I’m sorry. Your home was beautiful. They’ll pay for this, Kain. I swear.”

Silence loomed for a while as Kain thought about what Anthony Cardoza wanted. The hair on the back of his neck stood when he looked at the closet, remembering the safe under the floorboards.

When Kain rose and marched across the room, Damien tilted his head in question. He uttered Kain’s name but the older lycan didn’t respond. Kain knelt in front of the now ajar door. He tore the floorboards from the nails holding them in place with a grunt.

Staring back at him, a steel safe. He entered the code and opened the door. The contents inside consisted of nothing more than a box wrapped in what looked like a blanket.

“This is it,” Kain said.

Damien’s eyes widened in realization. “Is that what I think it is?”

Kain nodded as he took a gym bag and placed the box inside, zipping it up in time to hear Gabriel call from downstairs.

The crashing of window glass followed by the stifling smell of smoke and fire made Kain push Damien out of the room into the hallway.

“It’s a gods damned trap!” Gabriel screamed.

Kain came up beside him. “Take them through the front door! Use the parts as a shield!”

Gabriel did as he was told. He ran through the front door with Jill on his heels. When they were safely outside, Gabriel called out to Kain.

The house went up in a blaze faster than Kain expected.