The kettle bell I’d just picked up dropped to the floor with a clang, missing my foot by a hair.
“Mate?”
The incubus cocked his head to one side. “Have you been smoking witch weed again? That shit’s seriously bad for you, dude.” My fists clenched as my temper flared. Why couldn’t he have led with that instead of feeding me breadcrumbs? But losing my shit wouldn’t get me any answers. As much as smiting the asshole incubus with a well-timed lightning strike would be satisfying as hell, I needed to know more.
“Which asshole has she mated? The bear, I assume.”
Zane smirked while clapping slowly. Outside, the wind turned from a gentle breeze into a raging hurricane. Thunder crashed. Lightning struck trees. Even the magically reinforced windows rattled in their frames under the onslaught of wind and rain.
“Yep. Care bear is her first claimed mate.” I almost laughed at his stupid nickname for the bear shifter but quickly schooled my face into a bored expression.
Zane hummed while watching my reaction, still amused, although I detected a faint hint of jealousy. Was he another one of her soul-bonded mates? I assumed so, or he wouldn’t be this interested.
Zane was many things but invested in the love lives of witches and mages was not one of them. Not unless they were throwing an orgy.
He mostly hated the mages, which was hardly surprising given how they treated his father.
“So are you next?” he asked eventually when I failed to respond.
“Me? Why would you think that?” I sat down on a bench and made a show of retying my laces.
“Oh, Ricky. You don’t need to pretend with me. I’m not like your father.”
The mention of my father brought a scowl to my face. “Even if the stupid witch and I were soul-bonded, which we’re not, I’m engaged to Kinara Blake.” I stood, deciding to skip my workout because this asshole didn’t look like he planned to leave me in peace.
“You can’t fight fate, Alaric.”
When I looked up, Zane had gone.
44
Maverick
The hellhound lurched toward me, snarling jaws dripping with blood and saliva, red eyes glowing in the half-light. Two of his comrades lay in pieces in the clearing. One cut down by the incubus and his angelic blade. The other ripped apart by my bear’s claws and teeth.
Having to leave our mate so soon after claiming her was driving my bear insane. Shifters usually holed up with their mates for days after a claim. It took at least a week, often much longer, for the bond to settle.
Right now, I was half out of my mind with rage and pain. Rage because this hell-spawned scum had the audacity to stalk the forest within a mile of where my mate was, and pain because leaving her before the bond had had time to settle was agonizing.
Taking out my pain and fury on demons was doing nothing to sate my bear, but we couldn’t leave these creatures alive. Not with the campus so close.
I still wasn’t sure how they’d breached the wards.
But I planned to ask Zane once the last creature lay dead at my feet.
“A bit of help would be good!” the incubus yelled as a fourth hellhound crashed through the trees. I growled. The bastard could take care of himself just fine.
The hellhound less than ten feet away from me launched into the air with an unnerving shriek. Goddess, these fuckers were ugly. I dove and rolled at the last second, raking my claws along its exposed belly.
Hellhounds were hard to kill thanks to their leathery skin and insane aggression, but the belly was a weak spot. My claws sliced through the hound’s flesh, exposing fetid innards. Blackened blood sprayed all over my fur, some splashing on my bear’s snout. He roared in anger as the demonic creature screamed and tried to bite his leg.
Just as savage teeth tore into my bear’s paw, a gleaming silver blade arced down and the hound’s head hit the floor with a hollow thud.
I wheezed under the immense weight of the dead demon’s corpse. The fucking incubus stood over me, blood dripping from his blade while laughing like a lunatic.
Zane pulled me free once I shifted back. It was hard to see which of us looked worse. Whereas I had hellhound entrails in my chest hair, he had brain matter stuck to his face like cold oatmeal.
“Goddess, I need a fucking shower. There better not be any more of these fuckers,” I grumbled.
