Page 112 of Never Tamed
Then my pulse stumbles.
Something large lands on my back, fingers twinging around my neck and squeezing. Panic is bright and terrifying before her scent hits me, a pungent and frigid combination. I duck forward and send the body flying forward.
But Catarina lands on her feet the way she always does. She slowly straightens, cutting forward, and the chaos doesn’t touch her.
Her thin frame is clad in one of her usual suits, the legs of her trousers conforming to her muscled leg. The cut of the blazer stops at her elbows, leaving her forearms and wrist unencumbered by fabric.
The storm can’t touch her.
Her icy locks are pinned to the top of her head with such ruthless precision that even the howling wind can’t push them out of place.
“Hello, Torin.”
Somehow, her greeting cuts through the howling breeze.
I dip my head in acknowledgement. “Catarina.”
“It’s good to see you in such fine form. Good you’ve come here to die.”
“Ah, there you go again. Who says lawyers have no imagination?”
She rushes toward me and the rest of the fight takes a step beyond us. In my head, anyway. There is only me and her and this fucking snow.
I’m moving somewhere warm when this is all said and done, somewhere tropical.
We clash together and Catrina is stronger than I thought.
We’ve never fought before.
We never had a reason to.
My wolf presses for freedom. The seams of my body are barely strong enough to contain it but I’m not about to let this fucking bitch see me shift. She doesn’t deserve it even though the wolf would take her down in a heartbeat.
Catarina’s smile is fierce and as coolly beautiful as I once thought she was. The future I’d planned out, painstakingly, disappeared when I met my mate.
Catarina throws her head back and laughs. “Still such a bleeding heart sap, Torin. The worst part of it is that you didn't realize it. Even as you’re dripping blood all over the place.”
I growl and swipe at her. She ducks out of the way but the tips of my claws graze her thigh. Her wince is there and gone in a blink, disguised under venom.
“Where is he?” I growl.
Andras is a stink in the air, the black belching smoke after a forest fire. I’m not going to let him take us down. Not while there’s breath in my body.
Catarina clucks her tongue. “You’d like to know.”
My ex-fianceé is doing her level-headed best to kill me. I stare down at her, more powerful in status and height and muscle, but she only smiles and strikes.
It’s not the bite of claws or teeth grazing my ribs. It’s a blade. Her smile never flags.
She chuckles at my confusion and the second it takes me to gather my wits again; the bite of the knife is insidious. The pain doesn’t come immediately. Instead, it spreads, like venom though my system. But I’ve got enough presence of mine to send my fist out and smash it under Catarina’s jaw.
Her head snaps back, and she stumbles backward, gaining her feet way too soon for my taste. “Damn you, Torin.”
“Aw, sweetheart. I think that’s the nicest thing you've ever said to me.”
I refrain from reaching for the wound, the skin split and throbbing. We circle each other and she ducks against my next punch, her movements a blur.
I head for the throat, only to have another wolf slam me in the back. I duck his teeth and dodge as Catarina comes at me from the opposite side. Her dagger flashes against the gloomy sky, and I weave the wrong way. Her friend catches my ankle in his jaws and crunches down until I shout.
