Chapter 115: Come and Fucking try!

Anne could hear her mother calling and screaming her name from behind, but her voice sounded very distant.

Anne zoomed through the corridors again, almost colliding with lots of servants moving up and about.

She kept running like she was being chased by something invisible, and then she rounded another corner and almost crashed into a sudden wall.

Or, perhaps, someone’s chest.

"Easy there," Cassian said, gripping her shoulders before she knocked herself into him and ended up with a bruised forehead.

He looked at her restless face, recognising her immediately. She was the wolf who had helped Della escape the other night, after all, he’d watched the whole thing from a distance when he’s arrived to help Della himself... but the Healer had arrived seconds before he did.

"Sorry," She muttered absentmindedly, rushing past him again.

He turned around to watch her run, and he immediately knew something was happening again.

Anne shouldn’t be here.

She should still be hiding out in the human town with Della.

So if she was here, and Della wasn’t with her, and she was panicking that much like a frightened horse...it could only mean one thing.

SHIT.

.

.

.

Anne pushed through the castle gates and burst outside. She didn’t care how exhausted she was. She didn’t care that her muscles were screaming from the hours she’d spent running. She needed to get back to the cottage.

She needed to find Della.

She was already stepping away from the castle when a word carried through the passing crowd.

"...Rotblood..."

Anne stopped, her entire body going still.

She slowly turned her head to see two men were walking up the roadside that led directly to the marketplace, speaking casually between themselves,

"—been going on for hours," One of them said. "I heard they still haven’t stopped."

"The Rotblood?"

"Who else? Apparently she stole an expensive diamond from one of the merchants. What was his name again? Orson, yeah,"

Anne’s stomach dropped, and her heartbeat suddenly became deafening, "What did you say?" she whispered.

The men didn’t hear her.

"I think she might be dead already. I don’t pity her, though. I only pity the fact that people allowed her to grow up to live this long with the kind of blood she carries. But she’s finally getting what she deserves,"

Anne’s eyes widened.

"Did you also beat her?" The second asked.

"I did," The man laughed. "Stomped on her a few times myself. Everyone’s been getting their turn."

Something inside Anne finally snapped, and she crossed the distance between them before either man could react, grabbing the speaker by his collar and violently jerking him around, "What did you just say?"

The man’s smile vanished.

"Say it again." Her fingers tightened, and her tired face from running all day now looked like something out of his nightmare.

"I—"

"Say it!"

"She stole—"

"Not that!" Anne screamed. "The part about beating her!"

The man stared at her, and he finally found whatever arrogance he’s been wearing again, "I stomped on her. So what?"

Anne began punching him. She punched as hard as she could, and when he tried to attack her, she sent a knee between his legs and sent two more, till she heard his balls bursting under the force of her knee.

"You fucking touched her?" She raged, returning to punch his face.

Anne finally released him, leaving him stumbling against his companion.

Her breathing was ragged, and her eyes were burning.

The marketplace.

That was where Della was.

Anne quickly dropped to the ground, bones shifting violently as her wolf tore through her skin. The moment four paws hit the earth, she ran faster than she’d ever run before.

The marketplace came into view long before she reached it, announced by the roar of hundreds of voices rising into the afternoon air.

Her heart sank.

She didn’t need to see Della to know.

Anne slowed for half a second, and then she heard someone scream. It sounded like their guts had been ripped off their body, and their rage had followed, exploding from inside out.

It wasn’t anyone’s but hers.

She crashed into the edge of the crowd, growling so viciously that several people turned around, "Move!"

Nobody listened, too distracted by the noise and the woman on the floor they were still beating.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Anne shoved between them.

Someone cursed at her, but she barely heard it. She pushed harder, squeezed between shoulders, and clawed her way through the bodies. At some point, she began to think it would never end because there were so many people.

But finally, she saw her.

Anne saw Della, and Anne stopped breathing.

Della was on the ground.

Her cloak had been torn open, her hair was scattered wildly around her face, and blood stained nearly every visible part of her. She could barely move beneath the mass of bodies surrounding her, still kicking and stomping down on her already shattered body.

Anne’s eyes went wide, and her body exploded forward. She slammed into a descending foot along with a deafening crack, sending the person sprawling across the ground.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

The crowd finally turned.

Anne dropped beside Della immediately, putting her entire body over her, "Della?" She called.

Nothing. Not even a breath.

"Gods..." Her hands trembled as she touched Della’s face. Della’s eyes were closed, and her skin was...cold.

No...!

Anne slowly looked up at the crowd, and something inside her went completely cold, "Nobody touches her again." She snarled at them.

A man stepped forward, his claws extended, "Move aside, wolf."

Anne slowly rose.

"She is a Rotblood."

"I don’t give a damn!" The words ripped from her so violently that several people actually stepped back.

"She’s a thief!"

"She’s innocent!"

"She stole a diamond!"

"I DON’T CARE ABOUT ANY FUCKING DIAMOND!" Anne growled again, then she spread her arms over Della protectively, "You want her?" she snarled. "You’ll have to go through me."

Someone laughed, and another person stepped forward.

The first man lunged, and Anne caught him by the throat, sank her claws deep into it before throwing him aside.

Another came from her left, but she ducked and drove her fist into his stomach, then spun and kicked another straight in the chest.

The crowd recoiled, but they were on her again.

And there were many.

Someone grabbed her from behind, and she elbowed him in the face. Another clawed at her shoulder, but she spun around and struck him across the jaw, "BACK AWAY!"

A large stone struck the side of her head, but she still refused to move.

Della remained beneath her.

That was all that mattered.

"If you don’t move away, we will crush you both!!"

The circle tightened, hundreds of furious faces closing in on them.

Anne looked down at Della’s battered body, then she looked back at the crowd, "Come." Her lips pulled between her teeth, "Come and fucking try."