The blade never made it, because Gael used the distraction to leap for the vampire’s throat, tearing it out in a spray of dark blood that made me wince as the vampire’s head rolled free.
“Holy fuck, is that a lion
?” Fiona shrieked and pointed to where, yes, the fifth ODL enforcer had shed his human skin in favor of tawny fur, golden mane, and huge canines of his own.
Kane was on him in seconds, Reed and who I presumed to be Samuel all attacking at once. The clash was bloody, fur and bits of gore flying everywhere.
“Cat shifters aren’t big fans of wolves.”
“No shit,” she said with a gasp as the lion fell under their attack, eyes going glassy before his body shuddered, reverting to human form as he died.
All told, it was over quickly, but not without injuries to our pack mates.
The last two ODL enforcers fled once they realized they were going to die, one of them cradling a limp arm that gushed blood as he fell into the passenger seat of the black Jeep.
The gates had only just started to roll closed behind their retreating car when I leapt from the SUV, my healer’s instincts taking over. Galyna was closest to me, so I stopped at her side first.
Perhaps I should have given them another second to register that the battle had ended before running to check their injuries, because before I could blink, I was frozen in place with a butterfly sword blade an eighth of an inch from my carotid artery.
“It’s just me,” I whispered. “I saw you take a hit from one of the fae.”
She blew out a breath and dropped the blade from my neck. “Sorry. Never sneak up on a maiden.”
“I won’t make that mistake again. Where did it hit you?”
She grimaced. “It’s fine. If you want to check me out, you can do it on the jet.”
“But magical attacks??”
“Olivia!” The alpha bark had me wanting to cower with its force. I froze, instinct riveting me to the spot at having garnered an alpha’s displeasure. “What the fuck are you doing? Get to the jet!” It was a direct order, but as recognition sank past my instinctual response, anger reared up in its place, and I spun toward Lucien, who was once again human, and stalking toward me with fire in his eyes.
He was also very, very naked. His muscles were bigger than I remembered as he closed the distance between us, bunching and releasing with every step. He was coated in a thin sheen of sweat and spattered with other shifters’ blood. The scar on his face combined with his furious expression made me think of an avenging god from the old stories, swept down to earth in a cloud of power to exact wicked vengeance. He was all threat, all alpha.
I kept my eyes glued to his face, not wanting the first time I saw my mate that way to be him shouting at me and bloody.
“You have injuries. I’m a healer. This is what we do,” I snapped, lifting my chin as he closed the distance between us, stopping mere inches from my chest and leaning down into my personal space.
“You do not ignore orders from the high alpha, and more importantly, you do not put your own life at risk!”
I opened my mouth to respond, but all the breath left me in a rush as he picked me up and slung me over his shoulder without even giving me a chance to answer. I was upside down, staring at his bare ass in shock before I even realized what was happening.
Shock and fury filled me as he jogged across the grass toward the airstrip, not waiting for me to argue as all the blood rushed to my head.
“Put me down!” I demanded when my tongue caught up to my indignation.
“I will not. I should paddle your ass for getting out of the car before it was clear!”
“You wouldn’t dare.” I surprised myself with the growl that followed the words, but my wolf did not like him trying to boss us around after he’d all but rejected our bond.
A fiery slap on my ass cheek shocked the hell out of me.
Oh, you are going to regret that, Lucien Vasilescu.
I kicked downward with my foot, as hard as I could with his arm banded over the backs of my thighs. I connected with something solid, and he grunted when my tennis shoe made impact, but he didn’t slow down or retaliate with another spanking.
The grass beneath us turned to dark asphalt, and then he was jogging up the steps of the jet. To my surprise, though, he didn’t drop me into the first seat. He charged down the aisle, still holding me captive, until we reached the back of the plane, where there was a small private bedroom.
Fear trilled in my veins, and I realized that I didn’t really know this man from Adam. What was he about to do to me? I wasn’t proud of the way the thought froze me, but he was a very dominant alpha, and I was nowhere near his strength, even recovering as he was. His injuries hadn’t stopped him from fighting, that was for damn sure.
The door clicked shut behind us, and the world spun as he pulled me off his shoulder and set me on my feet.
“Don’t you ever scare me like that again.” His words were a harsh whisper, and then his hands were in my hair, dragging me forward as he pressed his lips to mine in a searing kiss. I was shocked into quiescence, my brain taking several seconds to realize that instead of fighting, we were kissing.
I knew the whole time stood still thing was a clich?, but damn if it didn’t feel like we were frozen in time as the entire world tilted under my feet as I wrapped my arms around my very own vengeful god.
Shock quickly gave way to something instinctual as I was consumed by a rush of unfamiliar heat. Every part of me that was touching him was a live wire, heat pooling in my belly and lower. I tentatively rested my hands on his bare shoulders, and he groaned against my mouth before releasing my lips, pulling me into his chest in a bear hug.
“One minute, I was scanning for enemies; the next, I see you with a blade to your throat.” He whispered the words into the top of my head, and I could feel the tension in his muscles under my fingertips. Taste the tang of fear in his scent.
He’d been afraid.
For me.
Suddenly, I wasn’t angry at him for carting me off like a piece of luggage. Even if my butt still stung, and I was confident there was a handprint glowing on my skin. It burned like a claiming, not a reprimand.
“I wasn’t trying to scare you or startle her. I was just trying to help.” Tears I refused to let fall stung my eyes at the admission, and in hindsight, I could see that it was maybe stupid to jump out of the SUV and run toward the fray instead of the jet like we’d been told.
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