Page 104 of Faerie Hunted

“Baronne would be ashamed of you,” she grunted.

She fought with violence and fury, locking her knees and twisting to use all of her weight with each punch. As though sheneededto use her fists rather than magic.

Veins stood out on the side of Will’s neck as he regained his bearings. Pulling no punches, he lifted a knee and slammed it into Livvy’s thigh.

“Don’t say his name,” Will growled. “Don’t you dare fucking say his name.”

In the distance, I swear I caught the sound of a mournful howl cutting through the tension. Bloodlust filled the air around us as Laina and Elfwaite thundered the betas with their magic attacks.

The foyer beneath our feet rocked and my arms thrust out to the side to keep my balance.

“He was my husband! Your brother,” Livvy insisted. Her chest was covered in blood where Will had clawed her.

“He’s dead. You got him killed with your bullshit. If it hadn’t been for you, he’d still be alive! The best thing you could have done was give up your daughter.” Will panted, his suit torn with his half shift.

Their movements were almost too swift for me to follow, and before I had a chance to yell, to tell them to stop, the beta made a move. He dashed for Livvy and shifted mid-jump, the other beta closer to Laina in the same moment.

The delta beneath me squirmed, held in place with a magic that wasn’t mine to command.

The wolves were a team. And once, I’d envied them for their ability to work together in such complete trust.

But so were we. I’d formed my own team and I moved to intercept the one on the left.

Livvy and Will were locked together in their own battle but the queen had none of her guards now. Only me. If I didn’t get it together, we were done for.

I drove down past the pain, into the piece of my magic growing smaller and farther away with every passing second. Sweat lined my brow and I set my jaw, fighting to channel the magic into the change.

I bared my teeth, my canines lengthening as I allowed the wolf inside of me some breathing space. I was not strong enough to take on the betas if they both chose to attack me together but I’d do whatever it took to protect Laina.

And then…it wasn’t necessary. None of it was necessary.

I stalled mid-shift as Laina sent out a wave of magic that forced the wolves, outside of Uncle Will, to their knees and kept them there.

Livvy fought with the vengeance of someone who had nothing to lose and everything to gain and had Will on his back a heartbeat later. Both betas struggled, the one on the left sucking in his breath as he realized what had happened.

He’d failed to protect his alpha.

“Tell me where the journal is,” Livvy demanded.

She wrenched Will’s arm back and his shoulder dislocated with a pop. Rather than make a sound, he sneered at her.

“You can kick my ass but I’m not talking.” He spat at her and she dodged the phlegm, bringing her face in close enough for their noses to touch.

“For the last time.Where is it?” she hissed out.

Another wrench and his wrist looked dangerously close to breaking. He stared at her with pure hatred and, torn between them, I didn’t move at all. My mother or my alpha. The man who raised me or the woman who birthed me.

Laina’s hands fell on both of my shoulders and made the choice for me. She shook her head, a barely perceptible movement. Regal, yes, and powerful beyond reckoning. How had I thought of her as some delicate flower unable to stand up for herself? How had I forgotten what she did for me in the forest?

“I banished the journal and everything of yours to the Abyss,” Will bit out.

Behind me, Laina stiffened at the word.

“You’ll never see it again. The best thing you can do, Dae, is go there yourself and never come back.”

“Youbastard.” Livvy dropped toward Will, going for the throat, and he twisted out of the way so her snapping teeth gnashed against open air.

She wasn’t a wolf but she must have been around our kind enough to fight like one. Whatever she could use to gain the advantage she would.

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