Page 38 of Smoke

Pierce muttered, “You know how this is going to end, right?”

“Of course.”

“Because he’s not getting his hands on Jasmine.”

“Or Alina,” I confirmed. “Believe me. I haven’t known for more than twenty or thirty minutes what this piece of shit is capable of, but I’ve already come up with at least ten ways to kill him.”

“Only ten?” he chuckled. “You want the honors, then?”

“What do you think?”

He sighed. “I think it’s good there’s a change of clothes in the back of the SUV. You do what you need to do. I’ll back you up.”

My dragon celebrated at the thought of bursting out when Bradley least expected it. To say he was ready to shed blood would be an understatement.

The bastard was waiting for us, standing with his hands tucked into his pockets. He wore a starched white shirt, loosened at the collar. His face was blank, bland, unreadable. He didn’t even appear to be bothered by the rain.

My dragon watched and listened closely, waiting for any sign of what went on in our opponent’s head. We stopped roughly ten yards from him. How did it feel, knowing he was outnumbered? Whatever he was thinking didn’t show.

“How did you find her?” I asked, out of curiosity more than anything else.

“I’ve been following her all day,” he confessed with a shrug. “I have eyes on her at the mansion. She has no idea how deeply entrenched I am in her life—and we’re not even married yet.”

“You never will be.”

“Says you,” he sneered. “I realize you don’t know me, so I can’t hold it against you—but I always get what I want. Always.”

“You wanted Jasmine, and you didn’t get her,” Pierce reminded him.

Bradley scoffed. “I didn’t want Jasmine. I never wanted Jasmine. I wanted power. I don’t care if I get it because I’m married to her or her sister. Or both of them, for all I care. As long as the end result is the same, which it will be.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“I don’t have to tell myself that,” he replied, just as smoothly as if we were two men discussing a business deal.

Like there weren’t life-or-death stakes in the air. Maybe it wasn’t life-or-death for him. He thought he was going to take what was owed to him and drive home as though nothing had happened.

“There are three of us and one of you. What makes you think you’ll be able to walk away with the girls?” I asked. My dragon urged me to kill him.

“I have to admit, I didn’t expect to find that Alina had company. But I’m a fast thinker.” He cracked a wide, knowing smile. “And, of course, I have a special talent which comes in handy in situations such as this one.”

“We know you’re one of the fae,” Pierce muttered. “So you won’t surprise us much.”

To my surprise, Bradley winked. “Won’t I?”

Just like that, his skin began to shimmer before running from his body like tallow. I had seen just about everything there was to see over the many centuries of my existence, but I had never seen one of the fae throw away their glamour and reveal their true self.

Pierce made a strangled noise, somewhere between surprise and revulsion.

The clothes, the human-looking flesh, it all puddled at Bradley’s feet as he doubled in size. Without the tricks and glamours of his kin, he was nothing more than a troll.

A huge, nasty, dead-eyed monstrosity whose skin reminded me of rotting meat and whose stench rivaled anything I’d ever smelled. He opened his mouth to reveal double rows of razor-sharp fangs on top and bottom.

“I want what is mine.” His voice was the rumble of a truck. “Bring them to me.”

We stood our ground, impressed, perhaps, but not swayed.

“Is that the best you can do?” I asked, shaking my head. “You were better off before this. At least you could’ve died with a little dignity.”

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