Chapter
Twenty
My muscles elongated, sleek and powerful. Sharp, serrated teeth formed in my mouth, sharp against my thick tongue. Claws stretched from jet-black paws, gleaming white under the moonlight. Fury drove me forward, the urge to hurt, to harm, to tear something or someone apart roaring through my blood.
A crimson sheen rolled over my eyes. Wind ruffled my sleek fur as I sailed through the air. Caelan’s eyes widened. He jerked back, arms pinwheeling as he struggled to right himself.
His usual grace went under the onslaught of my speed. We collided, Caelan slamming to the ground, face up. My paws rested on either side of his head. A low snarl rumbled in my throat, but now that I had him, my anger began to slowly dissolve.
“Rowan,” Caelan pleaded, lowering his eyes from mine.
He knew who the dominant one was today.
“She told you to leave,” Rowan said mildly. He stepped up beside us, gliding a gentle hand over the back of my head. My fury melted away, leaving only a horrific, bone-deep sadness.
“Evie has to come back to Joy Springs. Her life is there.”
He spoke about me like I wasn’t standing over him. Had he ever really seen me?
Rowan stroked my fur again. “Are you able to speak, Evie?”
Garbled speech was something I was still working on, but I didn’t feel like talking right now. When I did nothing, Rowan spoke once more. “She’s aware of her responsibilities and will return in her own time.”
Caelan lay perfectly still underneath me. I leaned in, lifting my lips to show him all my new and pretty teeth and let a slow snarl rumble through my throat.
Rowan chuckled.
Saliva dripped from my fangs, plopping onto Caelan’s exposed throat.
“Will you tear my throat out, Evie?” Caelan asked quietly, his words steady despite the fear saturating his scent. “Are you that vindictive?”
“You’re a fucking idiot, man,” Rowan said in disbelief. “You have a predator right at your throat, close enough to your jugular to end you before you even have the chance to shift, and you’re still antagonizing her.” He shook his head. “Gotta say. If Evie did tear through your neck, I wouldn’t feel sorry for you.”
“You think you’ve won her?” Caelan asked.
I had to force myself not to bite him just for being an idiot.
“Evie is not a prize. Thinking that way is what led to your downfall.” Rowan sounded bored, but I knew him well enough to know how furious he was.
Confusion entered his eyes. “Downfall? I do not need a Lady to cement my position as Lord.”
“If that is true, why have you pursued her so relentlessly?”
“Wouldn’t you?” Caelan snapped. “She has—” His eyes widened as he realized what he’d almost revealed.
“She has what?” Rowan coaxed. “Beauty? Power? All the things that might secure your shaky Lordship?”
Caelan’s eyes flashed with rage.
I stilled, unsure what Rowan was talking about.
His hand came to rest on the back of my neck. “After the disaster in Joy Springs, the Lords called an emergency meeting. Caelan here is barely hanging onto power by a thread.”
“That is not why I came here.” There’s a desperate note in his voice. For the first time, I’m positive he’s lying to me.
Stars burst behind my eyes. Holding this new form burned more magic than expected. Maybe it’s because I was exhausted, both mentally and physically. Maybe it’s because I was not quite a normal jaguar—the serrated teeth and overly long claws were more for shock value than practical purposes, though I’d thought long and hard about using them on Caelan—but a fine tremor began in my limbs, so subtle I know only me and possibly Rowan could sense the weakness.
Disgust filled me. With Caelan, with everything I’d been through, with everything coming up that I’d have to deal with once more. I was so tired and heartbroken, and once this was over, I wondered if I’d have to once again pick up the pieces of my life and start all over.
