These fae were strong, but there was no contest in speed. The male never had a chance. By the time I felt him stiffen as my scent flooded the area, I already had a hold of his hair.
With a jerk of my wrist, I plucked his head off his meaty shoulders and took enjoyment in the snapping of bones and ripping of flesh, filling the silence as the crowd watched in shock.
Before the lifeless body slumped on top of the girl, I shoved it to the side, giving me a clear view of the male’s victim.
There was a silent moment where everything stood still. Vin was right. She wasn’t human at all. Her eyes were an unsettling, filmy yellow with slivered pupils that reminded me of a cat’s. Her mouth was a little too wide for comfort, stretched to her pointed ears, and her skin was scaly like a lizard’s.
Our eyes met. She said something in a language I didn’t understand. Her tone took me by surprise, the cluster of strange words leaving her tongue like a secret meant only for me. Before I could react, she brought her bound wrists to her mouth and tore through her binds with her bare teeth. A beat later, she was free, scrambling down the tree’s great trunk.
In a blink, she was gone.
I stared at the spot where she had disappeared, my brain trying to parse what had just happened. The male’s headless body lay on the ground at my feet. I kicked it, and it rolled to a stop at the cusp of his legs.
My stomach hit the floor when I noticed that his dick—which he’d just got out before I’d ended his life—was one long spike.
Jesus Christ. The evil fucker had shape-shifted his cock to hurt the girl as much as he could, feeding on her pain in every conceivable way possible.
My vision went blurry, and all I could see for several rapid-fire heartbeats was red. First, the red of my infernal fury, then the fae’s crimson blood as I kicked his severed head into his crotch—spearing his head on his junk.
That’s when all hell broke loose.
There was a deafening explosion of sounds, the flap of wings, frenzied voices shouting a foreign language I couldn’t understand.
These people had no idea who I was, what I was, or where I’d come from. I’d just leaped out of nowhere and ruthlessly executed one of their warriors with my bare hands.
I had no way to explain myself. Even if I did, I doubt they’d listen.
A fae male charged me, claws outstretched. I ducked under his arm, only to see another lunging at me. Several of them in smaller familiar forms dove out of the air, pecking at me. I swatted them away, clawing and hissing.
They surrounded me, ready to shred me to pieces.
In a matter of seconds, I was going to be in the same position as the wood elf if I didn’t do something. So I communicated in a way I knew all animals could understand.
I screamed. This was a primal, supernatural screech I knew could be heard from miles around. It was the guttural and all-commanding cadence of a vampire queen, the same I’d made in Sterling’s tower to stop Vin from killing him.
The females slammed their hands over their ears while the weaker males crumpled to their knees.
But one of them wasn’t affected by my alpha cry.
A woman, tall and muscular, with jet-black hair and piercing green eyes, pushed her way through the crowd. She was beautiful, with queenly elegance despite her sinewy physique. She presented in her human form, but by the tattoos decorating her toned arms, she was some kind of hawk.
On top of her head, she wore a crown of bone.
This wasn’t just another alpha female. This was a queen.Thequeen. Then it dawned on me.
This was Vincent’s mother.
She didn’t have the slightest idea who I was, not by the way her eyes glittered with murderous intent.
The fae queen approached with terrifying purpose in her stride. Without batting a single eyelash, she seized the arm of a male kneeling beside her and twisted his arm straight out of its socket.
He screamed, and using the pain, the queen shifted into her terrifying beast form. Her hawk feathers were gorgeous, with a striped pattern of grays and browns. She wasn’t as large as her son, not even close. But she had the same wicked darkness in her grave black eyes.
She lunged at me with her deadly talons aimed at my throat, her gaze void of all mercy.
Before I could react, there was a blur of black feathers and pale skin. About to lash out, I stopped myself when a familiar aroma of ozone and testosterone filled my lungs. Vincent planted himself in front of me, tall and imposing. His massive wings stretched out to shield me from his people.
I instinctually leaned into the muscled heat of his back, my eyes drifting shut as his body rumbled with the thick foreign words he used to address his people.
