“It’s alright, Lia,” Cyrus said softly.“I’ll handle this.”
“Yes, handle your woman,” Bleddyn sneered, “or I will!”
And that time, my snarl was audible.
It was something I’d been struggling with since Changing for the first time.My wolf was overprotective and always seemed ready for a fight; I’d gotten the impression that she enjoyed them.That wasn’t unusual for a Were, but her enthusiasm seemed extreme, even for an extreme breed.
I told her to rein it in, and she snapped at me.
“She can handle herself,” Cyrus was saying.“And let’s keep this between you and me.Or are you trying to start an all-out war?”
“I’m trying to point out that you shouldn’t be here!That she shouldn’t—the Neuri-riddled bitch!That thesethingsshouldn’t!Kill the bastard and be done with it!”he yelled, gesturing at Jace, and I felt my body go cold.
Mentally, I knew that something was wrong; that he was being deliberately provocative; that he was acting like a madman when he didn’t have that reputation.I knew I should be worried about that, should focus on that, should look for the deeper meaning before we accidentally gave him what he wanted.I knew it all after years of Were politics and a decade of war mage training—
And my wolf didn’t care.
“You have something to say,Lupa?”he growled, noticing my agitation and turning the title into an insult.
“No,” I said, and jumped him.
I Changed halfway through the leap, saw his eyes widen, and then I was on him.And I didn’t know what the hell was wrong with my wolf, but she wasnotplaying.And screaming at her didn’t work, and threats didn’t work, and pleading didn’t work except to get me a mental slap, and all the while blood and fur were flying, bones were cracking, and somebody was screaming as my wolf tried her best to rip her opponent to shreds.
Her best was pretty damned good.
And I didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t that.I guess nobody else had, either, because the other clans had yet to intervene.People had backed up to give us room, but they were letting us fight it out, as were Cyrus and Sebastian, because if they interfered, then their clans would get into it as well, and things would go south fast.
But I… I was protecting a cub, something every Lupa in the place understood.That wasn’t a political matter; that was about blood.Something far older and more primal even than clan law.I had every right to make it abundantly clear what would happen to anyone who threatened one of mine, and any of them would have done the same.
Thanks to Bleddyn’s stupidity, I could thrash the ever-loving shit out of him and not start a war, and I was the only one who could—providing I didn’t kill him.But my wolf wasn’t hearing that; my wolf didn’t understand what I was desperately trying to tell her, or maybe my wolf didn’t care.She didn’t intend to have to teach this particular lesson again, because when she was finished, the threat would be dead.
And I wasn’t sure there was anything I could do about it.
I was sure of one thing, however; Bleddyn wasn’t able to take me.I was smaller, sleeker, and black as sin in wolf form, with red eyes that made me look almost demonic.But he was nearly twice my size, a massive gray wolf with coloring much like his father’s, and younger, faster, and by reputation, meaner than the old man.Anyone betting on that fight would have said that I should be dead by now, or ripped open and left to bleed out as a cautionary tale to others who would dare to challenge him.
Instead, he was the one bleeding from a dozen wounds, several severe.He was the one staring at me wildly out of the one eye he had left after a savage stroke took the other.He was the one screaming that I was cheating, I was using war mage magic, when everyone in the place could see that I wasn’t.
He was the one turning tail and running from the room, leaving a trail of blood behind him that I slipped on as I immediately started after him.
And was taken down by a dozen wolves, all clan, all mine, who nonetheless had difficulty holding me because I wanted.To eat.Hisface.
“Lia!Lia!”Cyrus was shouting, my clan was pressing me to the floor, and I was still struggling mightily to get up, enough that I almost succeeded, mountain of fur notwithstanding.
And since part of said mountain was Ulmer, his wolf face savage and satisfied even as he helped to hold me down, I was surprised again.
Then Farkas, the oily advisor to Clan Rand, was coming forward, all slimy sincerity and cloying, honeyed words, before backing up abruptly when I lunged for him, too, dragging the whole damned mountain several yards in the process and missing his nose by millimeters when my jaws clamped shut in his face.
“Bardric… can we get a… ruling?”Cyrus yelled, still struggling to hold me.“And consider… the clan… presented?”
His voice echoed around the room, but I didn’t hear an answer, and I guessed Cyrus didn’t, either.Because after a minute, he called again.“Bardric!”
Nothing.
“Sebastian!”
Still nothing.And that was weird enough to cause me to come back to myself somewhat and look around for our patron.But it didn’t do me any good, because Sebastian…
Was gone.
