Page 73 of Faerie Hunted

Mike looked exactly as he had the first night I met him at school, only more. More than I’d ever seen him. He wore a black t-shirt cut high at the arms and a pair of worn jeans yet he radiated strength and poise and?—

My heart leaped out of my chest in an attempt to get to Mike, but before I so much as uttered a word, the two of them jumped into the fight.

Without hesitation. The moment they registered what was going down, they attacked.

Mike moved first and lifted a hand. Wind buffeted out from his outstretched fingers and knocked Benjamin from his feet. The halfling gave a sharp yelp before the unnatural gust knocked him against the bar.

We were more evenly matched with another fae and a witch on our side.

Laina may not fight with her magic but I knew it added heft to any faery spell she cast.

She reached behind her to the space between her straps—a holster, I realized—and withdrew twin whips. The ends were tipped in iron and crackled with a bluish-green magic. Laina cracked the first and the barb landed near the tip of Morgan’s boot.

The queen was every bit the warrior I might have looked up to as a kid, spinning with boundless energy and moving her whips like the fae equivalent of Elektra. If ever there was a time for a girl crush, it was now.

She and Mike exploded into action like they were fury given physical form.

I was too mad myself to look for a clever way out of this. With magic pumping through me., I took off toward Mike, toward the door and our exit strategy.

Bronwen gave awhoopat my back and her magic supported Onyx. Mike cast a spell around us, and anyone who dared get close enough to him rebounded, their skin scalded wherever they touched.

I expected the magic to dip and fray, the way I’d seen it do before. Only this time, and without theTotalis, he saw the spell to completion.

“Take that, you miserable assholes!” Bronwen yelled behind me.

Her battle cry was almost lost in the chaos. With so many members of the Claw & Fang present in one space, it would take a minor miracle to get us out of here without bringing the building down with us.

Noren ran forward and jumped, sailing over the heads of anyone else and landing on the back of another. The man crumpled to his knees under the weight and Noren growled.

The threat rattled around in his throat and I nodded to give him the go-ahead to use whatever it took, whatever horrible means necessary, to break us free.

My own lips peeled back in a snarl and I called my wolf. For half a heartbeat I wondered what Mike would think about my change.Too late. She responded to me immediately and my muscles twisted painfully. I kept the same feral expression on my lips through the transformation, my gaze darting back and forth across every enemy in the bar until my human form no longer stood.

I looked out at the world through the eyes of the wolf.

Laina struck again with her whips drawn high. Mike, propelled by the air magic he commanded, cut a hasty path toward us.

The power of the combined occupants of this room hummed through me as I leaped into the bulk of the fighting. My jaws swung open and I clamped them down on the nearest man’s ankle hard enough to shatter bone. He cried out and I threw everything I had into the bite, striking at him with magic in tandem.

Mike boosted me. Not purposely, of course, but by the fierce pride at his arrival.

Bronwen hadn’t been the only one looking for me.

Mike came through.

He wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t feelsomethingfor me.

A tidal wave broke inside of me and I howled, the noise tightening my skin until my hair stood on end. Onyx took up the cry, followed by Bronwen and Noren, until the room filled with the keening wail.

On we fought, with the battle cry burning my lungs. Every part of me yearned for vengeance. I needed it more than life itself. Vengeance against everyone in this bar who saw three young adults and turned against them.

We’d done nothing wrong.

Another wave of magic poured out of me as I bit and kicked and ripped, using my power to get me toward the door. I came to a halt in front of Mike and Noren landed to my left, his tail swishing and his magic building.

Mike raised his hand in a defensive maneuver and the air around us tightened.

After a startling beat of silence, everything went tight, his magic drawing the air out of the room.

---