The vampire snapped her head toward the drift. She bared her fangs, her hiss like the rattle of a snake.
Albie exploded into smoke and streaked toward her with blinding speed. Tavish shoved me to the ground with a big hand on my shoulder.
“Stay put,” he snarled, fury in his eyes.
And it was aimed at me—and for good reason. I’d just messed with the past.Again.
He took shadow form and sped toward Albie. Guilt and fear swamping me, I raised up as much as I dared. Albie had revealed himself to protect me, and now Tavish had plunged into peril to protect Albie.
Both men shifted to two legs, their kilts swinging around their thighs.
The vampire stumbled back with wide eyes. She recovered quickly, her fingers tight on the whip’s handle. “What are you doing in my husband’s territory?” she demanded in accented English. “State your business.”
Tavish looked like he’d tasted something bitter. “Our business is our business, woman.”
Her hand blurred, and she suddenly held a dagger with a wicked looking point. Hissing again, she bared her fangs. “Your kind are never up to anything good. Madmen, all of you, forever pining for your lost females.” Turning her head, she spit on the ground.
Tavish growled as he stepped forward. Albie kept his eyes on the vampire as he said something in Gaelic, his voice gentle and pitched low. The words were too ancient for me to decipher, but his tone was soothing, as if he meant to deter Tavish from an attack.
The vampire went unnaturally still. Her nostrils flared, and something like fear flickered across her face. “You’re purebloods.” She cast a nervous glance between them. “Both of you.”
“Put the dagger away,” Albie said.
Her voice shook. “I haven’t heard of a pureblooded dragon being alive in over a century.”
The men didn’t move. No one moved, the air itself seeming to hold its breath.
“How many of you are there?” the vampire asked, her voice rising. “Is this an attack?”
“There are no others,” Tavish said.
“Liar!” she screamed. Then she raised the dagger and lunged.
My dragon burst through my skin.
MINE!
The word rocketed through my head as I exploded above the drift, my wings wide and smoke pouring from my nostrils. My roar echoed across the snow as I plunged toward the vampire who threatened my mates.
She stopped mid-lunge, and shock rounded her glowing eyes as she stared up at me.
The human scrambled to his feet, his eyes wild and glassy. He pulled a knife from his belt and charged the men. “For Prince Ludovic!” he screamed. “For Krovnosta!”
I didn’t even see Albie move. One moment the human was running. The next, Albie’s fist was buried in his chest.
The human’s mouth froze on a gasp, his face a mask of surprise and disbelief.
I plunged to the ground and landed hard, my own shock rendering me unsteady.
Albie wrenched back his fist with a loud sucking sound. The human’s heart was a bloody, pulpy mess in his hand, connective tissue dangling around Albie’s wrist.
Slowly, the man looked down, and his brow furrowed as he stared at his heart. Then he crashed to the snow.
The vampire shrieked and flew toward Albie.
Tavish stepped in front of her, caught her wrist, and twisted the dagger from her grip.
“You won’t touch him,” he snarled, and he gripped her head with both hands and jerked sharply. Her spine cracked. He jerked her head in the other direction.
