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Flames engulfed the hall and staircase, the wood banister crackling and the paint on the walls bubbling from the heat.
“Feck me,” he muttered. “The window it is.”
He ran back into the room and, with one hand, tore open the window, kicking out the screen and leaping to the ground like it was nothing. He barely jostled me at all as he ran us away from the burning building.
Tears blurred my eyes as I watched Noah’s beautiful gift to us disappear beneath the inferno.
“I don’t understand. How?”
“You have more enemies than you could ever know,a stor. I’ve tried to protect you the best I can. I failed.”
Before I could ask Caleb what he was talking about, Noah, Kingston, and Alek sprinted toward us. I squinted and blinked, doubting my eyes for a second when other figures moved in the darkness.
Caleb’s breath was in my ear as he inhaled deeply, taking in my scent. “Sunday, I’ve mis—” his words cut off with a pained grunt, and his hands fell away.
I dropped to the ground, landing on my feet, senses on high alert, the bracelet on my wrist burning hot. I’d noticed it was warm earlier, but I’d been so distracted by everything else, not to mention how inaccurate it had seemed to be in the past, so I dismissed it.Idiot.
“Caleb?”
My priest stumbled, brows furrowed as he reached behind him and yanked on something before pulling a bloodied arrow out of his lower back. Then he fell, the silver arrowhead glinting in the moonlight.
“Fae,” he grunted.
I rushed to him, desperate to help, when a pair of unfamiliar arms wrapped around me.
“Caleb!”
My shocked cry must’ve triggered Alek’s berserker because he bellowed with rage before I even finished saying Caleb’s name.
Suddenly the moving shadows made sense. We were under attack. The fire was a distraction to lure us out.
“Watch out,” I cried as two of the figures angled toward Kingston while several more headed for Noah and Alek.
Noah bared his fangs, his eyes going dark and wild as he took on the warrior rushing him. Kingston shifted, his wolf ready to tear out every one of their throats. But it was Alek who held my gaze. He barreled through the men in his path, knocking them down like a bowling ball meeting pins.
The arms around me tightened, and the sharp pinch of a cool blade against my lower belly as it sliced through my shirt had absolute terror lancing my heart.
“I’m sorry about this, little one.” The fae man’s voice was smooth and probably would’ve been appealing if he wasn’t trying to kill me.
“You’d really hurt an unarmed pregnant woman?” I taunted, preparing to snatch the blade out of his hand.
“For the good of the many...” he murmured, bringing the blade back, then slashing forward.
Before I could make a grab for it, the fae’s arm was just... gone. I blinked, my eyes trying to make sense of the bloody appendage in Alek’s hand. He just ripped the guy’s arm right off like it was nothing.
I stumbled backward, barely catching myself before I fell. I hated not being able to shift. I could still defend myself, but that didn’t make me any less of a liability.
Alek had never looked more like one of his ancestors with the spray of red covering his face and the moonlight falling on him like he was some kind of avenging, albeit terrifying, angel.
The fae fell to his knees, and I thought for sure he’d bleed out and die right there, but then he stood, determination shining in eyes that said he was serving a greater purpose than his own life. He pulled another dagger from the sheath around his left thigh and ran forward, screaming a battle cry that rivaled Alek’s.
“He’s fae, Alek!” I shouted.
Alek locked eyes with me and nodded. Then as I watched, a broadsword manifested in his hand. “Iron.”
One word in that deep growl of his, but I knew it spelled death for the man trying to kill me.
There was little I could do but watch as the fae launched himself at my warrior mate. Alek was unfazed as the man aimed his blade straight for his heart. In one easy move, he swung the sword down, cutting the fae in two.
My stomach churned as the pieces fell to the ground, but there was another part that reveled in the bloodshed.
Berserker. Perhaps not my birthright, but every bit a part of me as my wolf.
Shocked cries rang out from the rest of the fae. They hadn’t expected us to take down one of their own.
“Get behind me,” Alek growled as he put himself in my way.
All my men stood ready to attack, even Caleb, his eyes ringed in dark circles and pain evident on his face. But the fae fell back, slinking into the shadows. They might be retreating, but I was smart enough to know by now this wasn’t the last we’d see of them.
We’d just killed one of their brothers. There was no way we wouldn’t pay.
