Page 38 of Fae Divided
“Lay your hands on me and die.” James’ warning came soft and vicious, whipping her attention from the liaison to her truemate. Although handcuffed and incredibly angry, she drank in the sight of him standing straight, whole, and so close she could smell him.
Her relief was short-lived as she spied the almost celestial being threatening her Ca’anam.
It was true! A pureblood Sídhe existed in Earth’s realm.
Sarah rolled onto her back, clamping a hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp. It took everything she had to breathe shallowly—silently—through her nose while panic seized her lungs.
“Neither, asshole.” Not James’ voice.
Clutching her gun, Sarah got her shit together and flipped into a firing position, anchored on her left shoulder, lateral ribs, and hip. A potent swell of magic bit into her exposed skin, and an instant later, Tucker’s twin brother went from grappling with the Fae to contorting on the ground twenty feet away from him.
James took advantage of the pureblood’s distraction, breaking his restraints and striking the heavily muscled outcast guarding him with one strategically-placed blow. Sarah zeroed in on the metal manacles enclosing her mate’s wrists as he stole the unconscious shifter’s sword.
Her Ca’anam had a warrior’s heart and a protective alpha’s soul. Their beta’s littermate was in trouble, so with or without his wolf form, James was going after the Sídhe Lord.
He wouldn’t be confronting him alone.
Tucker’s gray wolf dashed into the unlit clearing, yellow eyes two shining headlamps in the dark. He stationed himself in front of his defenseless brother, ears straight up in blatant aggression, snout wrinkling to flaunt red gums and savage teeth.
The white tattoos on Jenkins’ shoulder blades illuminated like a forensics’ blacklight through the fabric of his cotton tee, and a line of flames shot from his outstretched palm, hitting his mark dead-center. The impact bent the immortal Fae at the waist and shattered his invisible throttlehold on Grayson. The freed Ferwyn wheezed and rolled onto his hands and knees in the gravel, gulping air into deprived lungs between hacking coughs.
Transfixed, Sarah watched the pureblood stagger but somehow remain upright, hands covering the exposed flesh of his stomach. Symmetrically perfect features twisted into an ugly snarl, seemingly more angry than hurt. Jenkins’ spell had scorched a hole in the fabric of his shirt but left his skin impossibly intact.
Jenkins discharged another blast of fire, but this time the Sídhe was prepared. He threw his arms wide, talons sprouting from his fingertips as he roared to the night sky, “Figh ad aer!”
The command carried the sickly-sweet smell of lilacs and black licorice. It caused the wind to swirl and the temperature to drop. Sarah squeezed her lids closed as dirt and dead bits of grass peppered her face, making her eyes water.
The violent gust veered Jenkins’ flames off-course, and he missed the pureblood by several feet.
Sarah blinked to clear the grit from her vision and saw James staring in her direction, the mating bond giving her location away. A deluge of emotion she could only interpret as a fervent prayer overflowed their connection. James was pleading with her to stay out of the upcoming battle.
I’ll try, my love. I’ll try.
Squinting, Sarah pressed her side more firmly into the ground. Ignoring the flying debris, she braced against the surging winds and utilized her she-wolf’s strength to raise her semi-automatic pistol and take aim. Acceptance and masculine pride reached her heart before James turned to the unearthly leader of the Athair—and closed the bond.
Chapter 16
James gripped thehilt of Adam’s sword, the skin on his knuckles stretching tight, threatening to split. The internal beacon signaling that his truemate was in the vicinity pinged like a pinball from his mind to his heart to the base of his spine. He was so proud of Sarah’s bravery. Her steadfast loyalty and devotion to a currently unworthy male.
James smothered the reassuring tie with his Ca’anam. The closure left a throbbing void in his chest, and his inner wolf howled. The sacrifice was too great.
Relying on another male to protect his mate, no matter how skilled he knew the battle witch to be, went against every Ferwyn instinct he possessed. Sarah was resourceful and smart, but it was James’ responsibility—his honor—to keep her safe.His.Choosing the possibility of ending the future Sídhe threat to Earth’s realm over Sarah’s immediate safety was tearing his soul in two.
But losing his mate wasn’t an option. If things went south, James was grabbing his female and running like hell. Damn the consequences.
Daimhín continued to cast, stirring up a tempest that surrounded his form like a mini-tornado.
The spillage of Elven magic buffeted James’ senses as much as the rushing wind. The heavy, syrupy floral scent pervaded his lungs, stuck in his nostrils, and adhered to his skin. A cold ripple of ancient power rode the gale, scouring his flesh and setting his teeth on edge.
Samuel had circled to the east end of the property, and James sensed him closing in. The connection to his Alpha zinged with battle lust, firing his blood to a feverish pitch.
A current of electricity rapidly followed by another volley of flames glanced off the whirlwind encapsulating the Fae. Jenkins trying without success to find an opening in the pureblood’s defenses.
Daimhín stood untouched in the eye of the storm, long platinum hair unruffled, hands weaving in a graceful pattern that kept the spell alive. His irises blazed pale blue as they focused on Tucker’s bristling beast.
“Your brother is mine, wolf,” he cried as his taloned fingers danced. “Yield now, and I’ll allow you the honor of serving beside him instead of dying where you stand.”
The gray dipped his muzzle and stretched his thick neck, shoulders and nose lifting. The harsh guttural sound vibrating in Tucker’s throat transmittingbring it, motherfucker,loud and clear.
