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“She arranged the whole thing so you would think you saved her. Now she knows you’ll never turn on her. It’s the perfect plan. She’s probably got a sweet deal lined up with the succubus when we’re all gone.”
“What possible reason could Riyah have for wanting to destroy Sleepy Briar? We’re more than her livelihood, we’re her life. Her purpose is to be a physician. If there are no residents, then she has no patients.”
“You know the vamps want to run Sleepy Briar. They’ve wanted to for years.”
“Right now, Sleepy Briar is just rebuilding; you know that better than anyone. Until the inn is done and we can get more people willing to step in and replace those who left and we get more services going, there’s nothing here worth taking. More likely it’s the trolls or fae. They hate each other. If anyone’s working with the succubus, it’s one of them.”
My wolf spirit is pacing and ready for a fight. It would be so easy to teach this pup a harsh lesson in life. I bare my teeth at him.
Brody lunges. His fist makes contact with my abdomen, knocking the wind out of me. The funny thing is, I see it coming. But I don’t want to believe my cousin would hit me.
But when he does, I’m happy to return the favor.
All I want to do is pin him and shut his stupid mouth. But Brody is stockier than me, and his lower center of gravity makes him difficult to throw down. We tumble into the snow, neither letting go of the other.
Riyah. Riyah. Riyah.
It can’t be Riyah. Brody is crazy.
My fist connects with his jaw, which is satisfying until the pain radiates down my arm. We roll over and over in the snow, with me naked and him lightly dressed. It would be so easy to shift again and beat the crap out of him.
I shift and sink my fangs into his throat. There’s a reason I am the alpha. I bit down. Not to kill but enough for him to realize his life is at the mercy of my wolf.
So caught up in the taste of his blood on my tongue I am dimly aware of Riyah’s voice.
“Stop!” she cries. “For fuck’s sake you damn animals. What are you idiots doing?” She grabs at my wolf and I release Brody’s throat snapping my teeth in her direction in protest.
She doesn’t seem scared. “Jax, leave him alone.”
I shift. Riyah’s hand drifts to my forearm.
Brody’s lip is bleeding and the teeth marks on his throat won’t heal as fast as that busted lip will. An alpha’s bite is infused with the power of my beast and the magic that comes with it. The pup will wear my mark for a while as a reminder not to go up against his alpha unless he means to kill.
But I don’t have time to teach him pack law right now nor do I have the patience. My fucking head is pounding like a mother fucker. I’ve hit it on loose firewood laying around or a patch of ice. I can already feel the lump forming on my skull.
Riyah glares from me to Brody. “What the hell is going on?”
Chapter7
RIYAH
“Nothing. My cousin was just leaving.” Jax scowls at Brody and then leans down to kiss me lightly on the lips. My bullshit-o-meter detects guilt.
“Brody?” I look over my shoulder at the younger man, who’s standing in the snow with a bloody lip and throat. “Let’s get you both cleaned up.”
Jax waves him away. “He’s leaving.”
“Yeah, I gotta go.”
My mate looks furious but a little sexy all roughed up in a caveman chest heaving kind of way.
Brody spits a wad of blood into the snow, then staggers off in the blizzard without another word. I watch until he’s no longer visible with a sinking pit in my stomach that something big just went down between Jax and Brody and I was at the center of the problem.
“Let’s get you inside.” I lay my hand against Jax’s cheek. “You banged your head pretty hard. I want to check your pupils.”
Jax rubs his sore jaw. “My pupils aren’t what needs checking.”
I slide my arms around him, assessing him for cracked ribs. Finding none, I steer him up the cabin steps. Shifters are a tough breed and heal fast, but that doesn’t mean they don’t feel pain or suffer broken bones. “What was that about?”
