“Please… no…”
A Kas-like growl rumbled through my chest. It would only take a moment… just one touch, and I’d consume this pest, drain him and leave the empty husk rotting in the spring winds. And without one impossible Elite to bring him back from death, there he’d remain until the elements turned him to stone.
Shaking her head, Alicia turned away, even as her right hand drifted to her hip. To the firepower concealed there… “Please—”
“If you use your teeth, you’ll lose them.” He wrenched her head around, slapping her with the back of his hand. “Open.”
“Get your hands off me, you great, stinkin’ bastard!”
Now.
Stepping clear of the forest, I ignored the hungry pull of virgin Glaith beneath my feet and snatched a thin branch off the ground. It took but three strides to reach a full sprint and a further six before I was close enough to land a stripe on the back of the fool’s thighs.
He howled, spinning toward the source of the pain with buckle undone—but I was ready.
I lashed out again, this time aiming for the sad lump of flesh bouncing between his thighs. But he managed to protect his manhood with cupped hands. “To the forest!” I hissed, flicking my free hand toward the woman bathed in the blue glow of the shield.
She scrambled to her feet, something wicked and reckless dancing behind her eyes as she pulled her weapon from its holster.
Pressing my advantage, I placed a lash on the fool’s face, leaving a bloody stripe on his cheek, then snarled at Alicia. “Go, you stubborn woman!Run!”
“Fuck!” The fool swiped at the wound, fingers painted red. “I don’t care how much the bounty is to bring you in alive, you little monster. You’re going to pay for that!”
I grinned, baring modified canines. All I needed was one touch…
Bellowing, he lunged, fingers brushing my sleeve when I dodged left, flicking my wrist. Marking the underside of his jaw with another stripe.
“Bitch!”
Laughing, I danced around him with ki-fed grace. Waiting for my opening. Trying to keep his beady little eyes onme, even as Alicia took aim, her weapon glowing with cold, blue flames to match the shield.
“So that’s how it is, huh?” the fool rasped, gaze flicking between me, Alicia, then back. “Think you two can take me down with a bit of stolen firepower?”
Alicia’s sneered. “Let’s find out—”
Moving faster than I would have thought possible, he silenced her with a single, well-aimed punch.
I was on him before she hit the ground. Leaping from the loose shale, I landed on his back, wrapping my legs about his waist as I clasped my hands together, bringing them down on the crown of his head with a mightythunk.
He grunted, but found my knee with a meaty hand. Unseating me with a savage jerk, he used my momentum, spinning me. Crushing my back to his front, a muscular forearm encircled my throat, securing me against a wall of man more than twice my width. “I’m going to enjoy this entirely too much, Menace.”
Settling my hands on his wiry forearm, a smile crept onto my lips. Oh, yes. So would I. To watch his dark, Caledonian eyes cloud as he stared into the Void? Ambrosia I hadn’t tasted in far,fartoo long.
Not since Marco’s life-force had given me freedom.
With a grunt, I tucked my chin and buried my teeth in the hairy, sweat-damp flesh, not stopping until I tasted the coppery tang of blood.
A string of colorful curses scalded my ears—but the slaver released me.
Twisting, I planted an elbow in his gut for added measure, then caught him about the throat, letting the tips of my claws sink deep. Letting the darkness surge to the fore. In spite of the Glaith beneath my feet, I buried myself inside him, latching onto his pitiful drops of ki.
Feasting.
“What—” His eyes went wide as I pulled, drinking him in. Watching as his face purpled, he wrapped his hand around my wrist, choking. “Evil… bitch…”
“Mmm,yes.”I grinned, flashing bloody, modified canines. “Can’t deny it anymore, can I?” I asked, forcing him to his knees. “Not when it feels sogood…”
In response, he made a funny sound, eyes bulging with the mostdeliciousterror that whet an appetite long repressed.
