Page 52 of Filthy Fae

Zane spun like he was going to sprint back for the van, but I grabbed his arm and squeezed his bicep. “If you’re going to run, it’s toward that plane.” My voice came out garbled from my teeth growing in my mouth. “And you’ll wait for my signal.”

His eyes widened. “Yes, Alpha.”

A figure emerged from the mist, a fae of medium height and build with curly brown hair. My heart skipped a beat as I questioned whether this was the brother Mack called Spring, but as he came closer, I got a better view of this man’s distinctive face. His eyes were far apart, cat-like, with a slit pupil and facing forward like a predator’s eyes. He had a sharp, upturned nose that seemed a little feline also. The fae smiled, baring a set of fangs to rival our own.

From what I could tell by scenting, he was alone.

“Go,” I hissed to Zane, pushing him toward the tarmac. “Get on the plane and go. They’re expecting you. Tell them to take off right away.”

As I turned back, my heart sank when I saw Darrel’s motorcycle race into the parking lot. I didn’t want to endanger him with our mission, but I had no choice now. The fae man leapt, flying through the air over our heads and plowing into Zane’s fleeing back.

It happened so fast. I barely saw him move before he struck. Without waiting to disrobe, my wolf exploded from me. Shreds of cloth rained down around me as I bounded forward. The fae bit down on Zane’s arm, which he had used to block his face. My jaws clamped shut on the fae’s hip, and bone snapped and crunched under my grip. I wrenched the fae away, flinging his body from Zane.

Zane lay on the ground, eyes wide and face slowly prickling with fur.

Darrel grabbed the submissive wolf by his collar and hauled him to his feet. “Move!”

I’d been watching a second too long, and searing pain lanced through my leg. I turned to snap my teeth closed around any part of the fae I could reach. A silver blade flashed toward me. Lance flew past in a blur of teeth and fur.

The fae dodged Lance, his curved silver blade going wide. Before he could get his footing, I leapt, hitting him with my forepaws, knocking him to the ground. He was on his feet in a flash, darting in with blade raised high. I dove for his middle, slashing my claws toward his abdomen. Before I reached him, he leapt through the air over me and under Lance.

We landed just as Darrel’s huge wolf charged toward us, heading for the fight. Before Darrel could cross the distance, the fae dove onto Lance’s back, his blade slashing across Lance’s throat. I threw myself at him, sinking my teeth into the man’s shoulder and ripping him free of my mate.

The fae spun, his wide smile dripping blood. Behind him, Lance’s body slumped to the ground.

I’d been trying to handle this conflict peacefully, but now?

My wolf pulled me under and took control. The world faded in and out of focus. One moment, the cat-like fae screamed in pain as my claws opened furrows in his flesh, then the world faded to blackness. Blood filled my mouth and washed over my paws. The fae’s silver blade sank into my shoulder, burning through my tissue and bone. I howled in pain as Darrel’s wolf slammed into the fae’s side, his teeth clamping down and ripping his head from his neck.

It was over.

My wolf and I attempted to hobble toward Lance, but we collapsed to the ground feet away. He wasn’t moving. Whines and whimpers escaped my throat as I watched his still form. White-hot fire burned inside me, and agony was all I knew.

“Maybe we should carry her in first,” Jane said from somewhere close by.

“If we try, she’ll attack us. We need to move. That one was probably the fastest hunter, not the only one. Let’s go.” Darrel scooped up Lance while he talked, carrying him out of my line of sight. “We’ll load Lance in the back. You pad his body with blankets while I grab Scarlet. I’ll hold her while you drive to the packhouse.”

Hands wrapped around my side, and a new bout of pain set every cell in my body on fire. I let out one more whimper, and then the world faded into darkness.

Chapter Twenty-One

Scarlet

“Lance,” I called out, my voice waking me from a daze. A familiar room took form around me, the same old wallpaper from childhood, the same framed photos of me performing with my high school dance team. The infirmary bed’s plastic liner squeaked under me. “Lance,” I said again, sitting up.

“He’ll be okay,” Darrel rumbled from a seat beside the bed. “He’s right next to you. Zane’s mother said it was helping both of you heal.”

I sank back.

Someone had pushed two of the cots together and lowered the bar between Lance and me. His chest was rising and falling, and his eyes moved side to side beneath his eyelids. A silver slash cut across his tattoos from one side of his neck to the other.

The fae had slit his throat. Tears pricked at my eyes, and a sob caught in my chest.

Darrel leaned over me. “You have a couple of your own now, too. The healer says that they’re closing up the best that silver wounds can, but she’s monitoring them.”

Squeezing my eyes closed I pressed my palm to Lance’s chest, taking comfort in the strength of his heartbeat. He was headstrong, infuriating, and impossible. He couldn’t go out so soon. I didn’t even know for sure if he was my mate.

That was a lie. I knew it. My wolf had been screaming it at me from the moment Lance walked through my office door and asked for an apartment in my building.