I was not a full shifter, which meant I didn’t have the absurd enhanced strength I should have had. Though, I was still born of shifters. My strength would have been on par with some of the strongest human women on earth, and I made good use of it. My foot connected with the rippled and ropy muscles of the wolf’s midsection, sending it tumbling over onto its back.
Delphine was in trouble. I watched in horror as the other attacker leaned down and bit into her rear flank. He tried to jerk his head to the side, most likely attempting to tear her entire leg off. Thankfully, she managed to latch her jaws onto his shoulder, preventing him from doing any lethal damage to her.
Jumping over the creature I’d hurt, I slammed my entire body into the other wolf. Lowering my shoulder, I rammed into him, aiming for the ribs. A yelp of surprise burst from his throat as I hit him, causing him to release Delphine. As we tumbled to the ground, he thrashed out with his claws, and caught me in the forehead with a slight glancing blow. An instant later, my vision turned red as a sheet of blood coated my eyes.
Behind me, the other wolf released a roar of anger. I only had time to punch the beast beneath me once in the stomach before a hand wrapped around my ankle. I was yanked backward and flew through the air. There wasn’t even time to scream as I crashed into Delphine. Both of us crashed to the ground in a heap of limbs, Delphine yelping in pain again. My weapon went skittering across the floor. When I looked up, both of the beasts stalked toward us.
We’d made a good fight of it, but we were outnumbered. We were going to die. This was it. A strange calm settled over me. All the fear and terror left my body. There was nothing more to do, other than fight until the end. Even as they tore my throat out, I’d make sure they’d remember the day they tangled with Brielle Laurent. I refused to go down easily, even if that meant Iwould go down. With a single final surge of anger, I opened my mouth and let out a war cry.
What came from my mouth did not sound like a human scream. In fact, it sound more like the screeching cry of a?-
Two dragons, half-shifted like the wolves, rushed into the apartment, their jaws wide and crying out in rage. I recognized the rusty brown one as Vincent. The other was a dark, inky black with eyes like burning coals. He was larger than Vincent. His gaze locked on me, and a ripple of gooseflesh erupted all over my body. Even in this form, I recognized him.
Aurelius.
It didn’t matter that I was in the heat of battle-nothing could have prepared me for his majestic dragon form. I was in awe of his power and grace. Muscles rippled beneath the black scales of his dragon hide, and as he surged forward, Vincent behind him, he looked like some kind of beautiful avenging demon straight from hell. Thankfully, it looked like he was on my side.
With howls of surprise, the two half-shifted wolves spun on the dragons and launched a new attack. I backed away, cradling Delphine in my arms, both of us watching in awe as the battle unfolded.
Aurelius moved with serpentine grace, dodging blows and teeth, striking out with precise and controlled movements. Vincent swamped the apartment with chaotic energy and aggression. It was shocking. Nothing like the gentleman I’d read to a few days before. It was almost like he had no clue how strong he was.
The first wolf leaped at Aurelius, claws outstretched, shifting to his full wolf form as he did, jaws open wide and snarling. Aurelius lifted a hulking arm, actually allowing the wolf to clamp its teeth onto him. Once his enemy’s jaws were latched on, the prince growled, smoke billowing from his nostrils, and threw a punch into the wolf’s side. The beast let out a yelp of pain before being tossed across the room to crash into the wall.
Vincent slashed at his attacker with his claws, shredding the air before him as the half-shifted wolf backed away and eyed him warily. Aurelius caught the enemy unawares, dragging his claws down the wolf’s back from behind.
With a howl of pain, the wolf ducked Aurelius’s second slash attempt and kicked out, catching Vincent in the knee. Vincent collapsed, but as he went, he managed to slice the wolf’s leg with a claw. It shouted and fell to one knee. Aurelius kicked him hard in the back, sending the would-be assassin sliding forward along the floor, where his head smashed into the wall. As powerful as the impact had been, the thing got to its feet almost at once.
I glanced around. The other two wolves had struggled to their feet as well. The one I’d sprayed with wolfsbane staggered around, his face swollen, eyes sealed shut, but it still managed to slice and paw at the air. I pulled Delphine away a moment before he would have ripped her throat open.
Vince and Aurelius rushed the attackers again, moving quickly. Vince crashed into the two nearest me, and Aurelius strode toward the one he’d just kicked. As I stared on in disbelief, he reached down and hauled the wolf up as if it weighed nothing. Aurelius tossed the wolf aside, then stood above Delphine and me. He reached one taloned hand out, gazing at me with those wicked red eyes.
“Come,” the voice, distinctly his, was garbled by his dragon jaws and tongue. It sounded like he was speaking through a mouthful of gravel.
I leaped to my feet and took his hand. It was hot beneath my fingers, as though a fire burned a millimeter beneath the skin.
Vincent let out another roar of rage and kicked the first wolf, who’d regained consciousness and tried to jump back into the fight even though it was blind. The beast went crashing into the wall, leaving a jagged hole in the drywall. Turning, Vincent rushed to pick up Delphine.
She gasped in terror, flinching away from Vincent as he leaned toward her.
“Get away!” she shrieked.
“Delphine, they’re friends! Let them help,” I said as I climbed onto Aurelius’s back.
She looked at me like I’d gone mad, then Vincent leaned in.
“It’s all right. I won’t hurt you,” he said, his voice equally as muddled as Aurelius’s.
Behind him, the three wolves were rising to their feet again, ready to resume battle. Delphine must have made the split-second decision that the enemy you knew was worse than the stranger you didn’t.
“Fine,” she said, taking Vincent’s hand.
Aurelius and Vincent leaped off the balcony and into the air, fully shifting as they did. Thick fog from the drizzling rain covered the city, making it hard to see the streets below. All that was visible were the flashing red and blue lights of approaching police cars. One of our neighbors must have called the cops to report a disturbance. Whatever the case, I didn’t care. I wrapped my arms around Aurelius’s neck and shivered as the angry howls of wolves echoed behind us.
“What the fuck is going on?” Delphine shouted from Vincent’s back.
Glancing over, I watched as she clutched Vincent’s neck hard enough that I was worried she might choke him.
“We’re being rescued,” I called back, my hair and body already soaked through from the rain.
“By dragons
?” she screamed, sounding both surprised and scandalized.
“Yes,” I said. “Get over it.”
I realized he was flying us back to his mansion in the mountains. A nostalgic warmth filled me when it finally came into view. When we landed atop the stone outcropping above the rear of the roof, Delphine slid off Vincent’s back and clutched at the ground like she might be whisked away again at any moment.
Vincent and Aurelius shifted back to their human forms. Aurelius turned, pinning me with his gaze as he stalked toward me. Rain ran in rivulets down his hair and body, making his shirt stick to his chest and stomach, accentuating the rippling muscles beneath.
My mouth went dry as he towered above me and gazed down at me, his face a mask of anger.
He waved a hand in the direction of the city. “What the fuck was that all about?”
AURELIUS
Hot, bitter adrenaline surged through my body, making my hands shake and my breath come in short, angry hisses. The absolute rage I felt at what Vince and I had witnessed at the apartment made it hard to stay focused. Shifters sent to kill the daughter of the most powerful wolf family? How and why was this happening?
Elle shook her head at my question.
“I’m not sure,” she choked out. “I… I think my family tried to have me killed.”
“Those bastards,” Delphine cursed from the other side of the castle parapet. “I can’t believe they did this. I can’t?-“
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