Page 56 of Witch Unbound
Threatened by Radu, he was trying to morph.
“Whoa. Easy.” I stroked his head to soothe him. “It’s okay, Wren. He won’t hurt me.” I shot Radu a cool look. “If he touches me, he’ll lose his fangs.” This time my voice came out deeper, rougher, as the thing inside me stirred.
Mircea’s eyes narrowed. “You’re different.”
I arched a brow. “Yeah, I am. I’m here to help, not play blood bag, so keep your fangs to yourself.”
Mircea’s questioning gaze flicked over my shoulder to where Vlad was standing, and unease and doubt twisted my gut.
I looked at Vlad over my shoulder, studying the clean lines of his face before focusing on his eyes. Had he lied to me and my mates? What was his true plan?
“We have a deal,” Vlad said smoothly, his gaze locking with mine in reassurance. “She will not be harmed.”
Radu bristled. “But we haven’t fed in days, and I’m hungry.”
He sounded like a petulant child, and the urge to punch him in the face had my hands curling into fists.
“Enough,” Vlad snapped. “I’ve given my word.”
Mircea inclined his head. “Our word is our bond.”
“I gave no such word,” Radu snarled, and lunged at me.
Before I could react, Wren exploded out of my arms in a flurry of fur and fangs, expanded to five times his size, and smashed into Radu like a mini hurricane.
The vamp bellowed as blood sprayed.
For a moment I was stunned, frozen in shock, and then satisfaction bloomed hot and potent in my chest. Wren tore at Radu and it felt fucking awesome, because this fucker deserved it. He was the worst of the three, the rabid one that needed to be put down.
“Stop.” Mircea grabbed at Wren. “Vlad, make him stop.”
“I can’t.” Vlad sounded confused.
“Um…Cora…” Bramble nudged me. “We kinda need them to stop Razor Mouth.”
My senses were enraptured by the gore fest taking place in front of me. The darkness inside me reveled in it, craved it, desired it…
“Cora!” Bramble squeezed my arm, and it registered that she expected me to stop Wren. I rose above the strange, chaotic hunger, snapping back into myself.
Shit. Ineededto stop Wren. “Wren. Wren, buddy, stop!”
He slowed his attack and then looked back at me with bloody fangs bared. “Wren kill.” His voice was a hungry rasp that sent a frisson of fear through me. No. This was Wren. My Wren.
“Wren, you have to stop. We need him alive.”
He looked back at his prey and then to me, and I noted the bloodlust in his eyes, the hunger and the distinct lack of the cute mogwai I’d come to love. My Wren was buried, and this…this monster Wren was in control. I needed to pull my Wren back to the surface.
“Hey, you wanna go grab a few burgers after this, and ice cream with sprinkles? Hmmm?”
Monster Wren blinked. “Sprinkles…Chocolate…”
“Yes. And popcorn later?”
“Wren like that. Wren…Wren love Cora.”
“Yes, buddy, and Cora loves Wren.”
His body shrank rapidly, and I scooped him quickly off the bloody, semi-conscious Radu.
