Page 19 of Faerie Fate
“You and the council agreed that Tavi is my fated mate. Don’t tell me you’re having regrets?”
Kendrick was boastful. Goading my uncle into provoking him. Kendrick held his change in check but his wolf was desperate for the taste of blood. His desire echoed in my head like it belonged to me, accompanied by fury, swift and lethal.
I stared over his shoulder at Will, begging him to see me. To see the warning signs as breath pushed out of me now. A panic attack loomed strong and clear and if I didn’t get myself under control?—
What did it matter? What did any of it matter?
“Second thoughts are very different from regrets,” Will clarified. His fingers curled on Kendrick’s shoulder, white-knuckled. “I’m not sure you’re capable of treating her right.”
“You have a problem with the chains? They’re a precaution. She fucking bit me.”
Kendrick found this uproariously funny. Especially when the command through the mate bond forced me into stillness. He didn’t want me to move, so I couldn’t, rooted in place and powerless. He didn’t want me to speak, so my lips froze in place and the words died.
In a blink, the world exploded. Not literally but it might as well have, because Uncle Will threw himself against Kendrick’s chest. The surprise force knocked Kendrick back a step but he retaliated the moment he recovered.
He swiped out a claw-tipped hand and shredded through the buttons on the front of the suit jacket.
Will glanced down at the damage and smirked. “Luckily this isn’t my favorite suit.”
He attacked without warning and lunged for Kendrick’s throat, shifting his face until his nose lengthened into a muzzle.There was more to him than met the eye. I hadn’t seen him engage with others, but the pack structure depended on dominance.
Kendrick was an alpha.
So was Will.
He’d won the position somehow and held it, keeping me out of the bulk of the fighting done behind the scenes to actuallykeepthe position. Kendrick might be scary but I halfway wondered what kind of tricks my uncle kept up his cufflink-adorned sleeves.
Kendrick’s distraction loosened his control on me and returned my voice.
“Kill him!” I yelled to Uncle Will. “Kill him.” My words ended in a sob.
Will snapped at Kendrick’s throat and snagged a bit of dark tattooed skin between his fangs. Kendrick pulled away and the skin came clean off him, leaving a patch of bloody muscle the size of a lemon behind.
Rather than panic, Kendrick laughed.
“Is that the best you’ve got? You’re out of practice, old man. Better to let me handle your packandyour bitch from now on.” Kendrick charged Will and knocked them both to the ground.
Will roared, somehow managing to switch their positions. He hauled Kendrick over him and the other wolf lost his breath with a grunt, the air driven out of his lungs. Will repositioned himself on top and shifted his claws, scratching at Kendrick’s sensitive belly.
Laughter grated on me, digging into my ears, lodging there. The mate bond thrummed. Kendrick still wasn’t worried. He found this amusing. He’d been in worse fights before, against better men.
Will stumbled off of Kendrick after bloodying the other man. The raw patch of muscle on Kendrick’s neck had already started to knit together.
“Won’t give up?” Will asked, breathless.
He crossed to one of the abandoned desks in the room and threw his fist down on the top. The wood splintered and he freed one of the legs, ripping it free from the last few bites of nails.
Kendrick rolled on his side, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
“I’ll put you down like a fucking rabid animal.” Eloquence was one of Uncle Will’s gifts and what made him a damn fine lawyer. He ate weaker men for breakfast in front of a judge, but here, there was only me, my terror expansive enough for both of us.
He brought the desk leg down on Kendrick’s skull again and again, slamming wood against bone until Kendrick’s head slumped forward on his chest, going still. My lips trembled as I watched, holding my breath to catch a glimpse of movement.
Uncle Will had knocked him out.
He dropped the desk leg and swiped his forearm across his face to clear the sweat, his eyes narrowed. “Tavi? Are you okay?”
He worked deftly to undo the chains. The last bit of metal dropped from around my leg and Will held out a hand to help me. For an instant, my body failed to move, still caught in the web of Kendrick’s last commands.
