Page 100 of The Wolf and Her Shadows

“Aren?” She takes a step closer, her long braids falling over her shoulder as her head tilts. “Is that really you?”

“Indeed, it is.” Heat begins gathering in my palms. “Your friends here won’t tell me why they’re beating a man to death in a dark alley. Perhaps you should inform them of the mistake they’re making.”

Zorah glances over her shoulder at the devilkin as well, seeming completely unbothered by the current situation. “He owes us money. Quite a lot of it, in fact. I simply sent Milo and the boys down here to collect.” Her gaze slowly drifts back to me, then to my horror her eyes flit up towards Mariane. “Care to make a trade? I’ll gladly spare his life… For a price.”

“What the hell is going on?” Stephen whispers, resting his large hand on my shoulder. “Aren, if they find out–”

“She already knows,” I tell him, not bothering to keep my own voice low. “And, unfortunately that means we can’t allow her or any of her men to leave this alley.”

He obediently draws his sword. “Understood.”

And just like that, the alley erupts into chaos.

Zorah pulls the greataxe from her back and lunges for me, while the largest orc beelines for Stephan. Milo on the other hand, only makes it two steps towards Mariane before falling to the ground, the tail of a whip coiled tightly around his ankles. The last orc trips over him, landing face first in the dirt at Kali’s feet.

*Well shit,* Rayne mutters, clearly impressed at the blonde’s skills with her weapon of choice. *Guess it ain’t just for kinky sex after all.*

And then, she forcefully shoves me out of control.

Chapter Forty-One

Rayne

Not bothering to lower our hood, I surge forward, ripping two daggers from the sheaths at our waist. Cackling in delight, I cross them over my head just in time to catch the blade of Zorah’s axe before it can slice us in two. She grunts from the force of the impact, and I take advantage of her current position to lift my leg and slam the heel of my boot into her cunt.

A flicker of pain flashes in her dark eyes as she stumbles back a step, resetting her feet into a proper fighting stance. “Hello again, Rayne. Have ya missed me?”

“Nope.” I dig my feet into the dirt, bringing both daggers up in front of my chest. “In fact, I’m going to enjoy killing you after what you did.”

In my periphery, I see Stephan shove the blade of his sword through the chest of one man, and Kali’s hands are glowing a bright yellow as she uses some sort of magic on another. The third man is still on the ground seemingly unconscious, or at least pretending to be.

And apparently Mariane has decided to be a complete idiot because she’s currently leaping off Adaman’s back.

Rolling my eyes, I dart to the right, drawing Zorah’s attention away from Mariane by slashing toward her abdomen with the blade in my left hand, while using my right hand to unclasp our cloak. Instead of allowing the fabric to fall to the ground, I whip it towards her head, attempting to blind her with it.

While I’m muttering the command to remove Aren’s new glamoured appearance, Vann’s ex-lover manages to dodge out of the way in time to avoid being gutted, but not in time to avoid the cloak now covering her face. Using the momentary distraction, I slip behind her and hook my foot around her ankle, yanking her leg out from under her. She lets out a furious snarl, nearly dropping her axe as she falls onto her knee.

For a moment, I consider being nice and giving her time to climb back to her feet. But then I remember the way Vann had cried on and off for days after she’d walked in on this bitch cheating on her. And the way Zorah’s lips had twisted into a smirk while she kept sucking on the cock in her mouth.

Hissing like a feral cat, I slash the blade in my right hand across her back, easily cutting through her thin leather armor. I’m a bit annoyed when she doesn’t let out a shriek of pain, but at least I have the pleasure of seeing her blood dripping from the tip of my dagger.

Using her kneeling position to propel herself forward, she lunges away from me before I have the opportunity to cut her again. As soon as she’s fully upright, she spins around, swinging her axe in a broad arch toward my head. I take a half-step back, easily dodging out of its way.

Her eyes widen when she notices the obvious changes to our appearance. Then they narrow as her lips curl into a feral smile. “Oh, come on,” she sneers, gripping the axe’s wooden handle in both hands and closing the distance between us. “It was only a bit of fun.”

“Fun,” I spit, every muscle in our body coiling like a spring. “You broke her.”

Zorah just shrugs. “Not my fault she was so weak.”

What little self-restraint I had left evaporates. Not caring if there might be any witnesses nearby, I melt into the shadows at our feet. She never knew about our true identity and therefore has no way to predict that I’ll reemerge from her own shadow.

It’s a bit unfair really, that I can’t see her face as I plunge a dagger into her back. At least her cry of anguish when I twist the blade makes up for it slightly.

I let her stagger forward, her axe falling to the ground as she reaches a trembling hand toward the wound. Right as her fingers make contact with the blood pouring freely down her back, her legs give out.

“I’d ask if you wanted me to heal her,” Mariane calls out from behind me. “But considering what I just heard, I’d honestly prefer to let her die.”

“Hmm.” Stepping around in front of the dying woman, I lean forward and wrap my fingers around the braids at the base of her neck, forcing her to meet my eyes. “What was it you said?” I tap the tip of my bloody dagger against my chin. “Oh, that’s right. It was only a bit of fun. It’s not our fault you’re so weak.”