Page 14 of The Barbaric Fae's Soul

“A female you’re willing to leave behind isn’t one you should claim as yours,Tame King,” Teris drawled back.

The words didn’t surprise me.

I had not been myself in a long time. Since Naomi began rejecting me, I had started fading. Every damn male fae knew that.

But I was no longer fading, ortame.

And it was time to make sure the damn seelies knew that.

Covering the distance between myself and Teris in two steps, I grabbed the man by the throat. He didn’t bother trying to stop me, or to prove that he didn’t consider me a threat.

But even without the power boost of a completed mate bond, I was stronger now than I had been in centuries. Because now, I wasn’t holding an ice prison and the snow that covered half of our world’s distance.

My ice stretched quickly over his throat and down his shoulders. He was already covered in a thin layer of it before he realized the danger he was in.

His brothers ripped his body from my grip, everyone around us staring at me.

It had been a long time since I defended myself.

Since Ilived.

Ervo had the ice melted off Teris’s face in a moment, and then the other sabertooth was swearing and glowering at me.

I said in an even, cold voice, “Dakota is my friend, by her own choice. We are bonded,by her own choice. I left her here forher safety, when bringing her with me would’ve been nothing but selfish. Call me whatever you want when I’m gone, but when I’m in front of you? You insult me, and you’ll realize why my bastard friends forced me to become the king.”

There were many eyes on us. The training exercise had ended, but I didn’t give a damn who saw me.

I was no longer ruled by Naomi’s dislike.

I was free, now.

“Where is the cave?” I asked Ervo, who was still behind Teris, working on melting the ice wrapped around his friend’s body. He was one of the more reasonable seelie leaders.

Still, he said nothing.

“You should be able to follow your connection to her,” Summer said from behind me. I turned to face her, and she flashed me a grin. “You can track your mate by their scent, if you pay close enough attention. It’ll be in the air, just barely.”

I looked at Vuvim, and he dipped his head in a nod.

“Thank you,” I said, nodding back at Summer. “I’ll return with your sister, and the oracle.”

Her grin only grew wider. “Thanks.”

I shifted forms and ran in the direction of the seelie’s land, altering my course when I caught the tiniest hint of Dakota’s scent in the air. Though I didn’t know how she managed to smell like sunshine, I took in every drop of that scent like a drowning man seeking air.

Five

Dakota

“What the fuck were you thinking?”Priel snarled at me, pacing the room.

I took a step back.

I wasn’t necessarily afraid of him, but instinct told me that there was a very large, very dangerous man in front of me, and he could easily take his anger out on me physically.

“Easy,” North growled back at him, grabbing him by the massive arm. “This isnotDots’s fault. She didn’t know the klynnas were tuned into Aev’s scent, or that they made nests in these mountains.Ididn’t even know that.”

“It didn’t occur to any of you?” Priel demanded, turning his glare to Korrik.

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