He knocked into her side, pushing her away from Malcolm and the Ravager she’d been beating.
Malcolm roared and turned to face this new threat when two more enemies appeared, looming over her.
“Do you smell that?” one growled to the other.
They dropped the English and spoke in barks, grunts, and growls. She shouldn’t have been able to understand them, but somehow, she did.
“Claimed,” they both snarled. “Perfect.” The larger of the two ran a claw over her cheek and bared his teeth. He jabbed her throat with his nail and licked at the blood. Then he backed away and disappeared into the forest once more. The one with him leaned down, no doubt with ill intent.
Just then Logan and Jesse barreled into the Ravager bent on eating her. Kate appeared and dragged her back from the fray. “Come on,” she said and carried Vicki over her furry shoulder back to the house, where a huge mass of Ravagers had gathered.
As Kate left her to go back for the others, it dawned on Vicki she shouldn’t have been able to recognize Kate, Logan, or Jesse in theirguer. Yet she had.
The burning in that spot on her left breast surged, and she gasped as the pain overwhelmed her.
Then Eric was there with Dom.
“Easy, Vicki. It’ll pass.” Eric stroked her hair.
He picked her up and handed her to Dom. She felt like a suitcase dumped on a hapless bellboy, but this was far from anyone’s idea of a vacation.Well, maybe a sexual fantasy come to life, fraught with danger and intrigue.
Eric disappeared before she could ask questions.
“Tell me what happened,” Dom said, still holding her.
“I can stand.” She scowled, embarrassed to appear frail amidst so much strength.
He ignored her and hugged her tighter. Others gathered around, and as she explained what had befallen her and Malcolm, she sensed their building rage, as well as their growing confusion as they stared at her.
The pressing power energized her, and she felt their bloodlust as her own. The heat in her breast swelled, but this time, her connection to Eric overwhelmed all other thought. As if he tethered her to him by some mystical means, she needed to find him again. To be near him.
“Ask questions later, Dom. Right now, we have a fight to finish.”
Without questioning the rightness of her actions, she pushed out of his arms and ran back into the woods, heedless of Dom’s protests. She ran faster and harder than she ever had before.
When she reached Eric and the others, several Lawless Ravagers littered the ground. Malcolm bled from several wounds but seemed none the worse for wear. Eric looked seriously pissed, more so when he spied her.
“Dom?” he barked over her shoulder.
She turned to see Dom grinning like a loon. “Sorry, Prime. She took off. I couldn’t catch her.”
Eric and the others stared at her in shock.
“What?” She heard herself growl and said fuck it. Hell, if they could growl, she could too. “Now what the hell is going on?
“Just what I’d like to know,” Eric yelled and rammed a fist into a young tree, breaking it in half. “Attack my clan in my own home?” he roared. “Dom, take her back. The rest of you, clean up this shit. Malcolm, you come with me.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Kate stared at Eric, astounded. She’d never seen him so angry. He glanced at his human again, and his lips tightened.
She forced herself not to scowl. Only sheer perversity could account for helping Vicki when by rights, Kate should have left her to rot at the hands of the Lawless clan. But herguerrefused to let Vicki remain unprotected. Probably had something to do with the fact Eric, that great jackass, had claimed her. Hell, she could smell it all over the female. Might as well have stamped a label on her forehead.
If that didn’t start a clan riot, she didn’t know what would. Had the world suddenly turned crazy? Diana, a precious female, wanteda humanas a mate. Her sister would claim a few more Ravagers, but the human would be a problem, especially since he didn’t seem amenable to committing to Diana.
After her brief battle with Logan and Jesse a few days ago, Kate had nearly given up her idea to claim them as mates. They still had the nerve to talk about Vicki, as if the woman’s shit didn’t stink. The fact she’d outraced Dom and had helped Malcolm against their enemy would no doubt only further her standing as the perfect woman.
Kate seethed. “Should have let her alone when I had the chance.”
