Page 60 of Veradel
Right on cue, Lucan himself snarls.Scared you’ll like my canines against your throat a little too much?
I swallow my insecurity and force out a smirk, taking a wide step to my right, mirroring Lucan’s movements.
Need a heads up?I ask.Three… Two…
“Wait—” Vivian tilts her head before a gasp rolls off her tongue, noticing for the first time that I’m no longer wearing the necklace. She whips her head back toward Soren and Merrick. “What thehell? Are they communicating right now?”
Shrugging, I risk a half-turn to her, keeping my eyes trained on Lucan. “Drinking werewolf blood has its advantages, apparently.”
“No way!” She grins, then morphs from bottom to top, her nose elongating into a grinning snout, that dark fur the color of her hair sproutingover her body, her fingers sharpening into claws. Two seconds later, you’d never guess a petite, innocent-looking female was just standing in the werewolf’s place.Oh, I gotta listen to this.
Fine by me.I smile.
Don’t encourage her, Lucan rumbles, but there’s a hint of amusement in his voice.
Afraid she’s going to side with me?I tease.
No,he chuckles.Iknowshe’ll side with you.
Kill him, Saskia,Vivian confirms, amber eyes sparkling.
As I turn my head for a split second to laugh with her, Lucan uses my apparent distraction to pounce.
His body flies through the air at me, but it’s like time begins to ooze, slowing to a snail’s pace. I track every millisecond out of the corner of my eye with ease, and then sharp new instincts take over my limbs, and I leap faster than I ever knew was possible.
A boom claps like thunder when I connect with his hulking form, but with my element of surprise, I clearly have the advantage.
At least, for a second I do. Wrapping my legs around his mid-section and my hand around his throat in midair, I twist and throw my body weight down on top of him right as we hit the ground. He’d be able to use his strength to throw me off of him within half a second, but I already have my mouth against his neck, my fangs grazing his pulse.
You’re dead, I say playfully, pleasantly surprised with myself.
Vivian hoots.That didnotdisappoint.
Lucan scrambles to all fours after I release him.How did you know exactly where to grab me?
I press my lips together and try to replay the last twenty seconds, remembering the thrill of those instincts rising up inside me.Well, for starters, my peripheral vision is 20/20 now, I explain.20/10? Maybe 20/0? Whatever it is, it’s good.
More like perfect,he mutters.
Exactly. If you’re in my line of sight at all, it’s like I can anticipate your next move. Unless you’re directly behind me, change tactics.
We’re back to stalking each other in a wide perimeter, when I hear Merrick and Soren’s voices join the fray of our minds.
We had to experience this for ourselves.
Yeah, Lucan. It’s not every day we get to see your ass get handed to you. This might be the highlight of my life.
We’re going to have an audience soon,I laugh.
Then we’ll give them a show.
Lucan doesn’t bother with a surprise attack. In this makeshift ring, he’ll never get behind me anyway. He lunges, this time keeping his paws on the ground so that I can’t get to his midsection. I see his plan unfurling, and honestly, it’s not a bad one.
Just as he’s about to barrel into me, I juke him with an agile shutter step, not even thinking about what I’m doing, just following the movement my body wants to perform in the face of my enemy. Lucan can’t adjust quickly enough to my lithe movements, and he misses sinking his teeth into my arm by half an inch.
We spin together, him kicking out his hind legs to throw me down onto the grass, me baring my fangs to rip off his head.
I grab hold of his fur at the last second and manage to pull him with me to the ground, where we spiral until I end up on top with a grin, showing off my fangs.
