His face twisted with disapproval, but he swallowed hard. “I will.”
Anger pulsed through me. How had I let this fly undetected under my nose?
Stepping out of the shadows, I put out the fire with my telekinesis and let my shadows wrap around him, binding him so he couldn’t move. “So you’re dating Trixie to get close to Wren, who is a woman Thorn cares for. What exactly do you plan to do to my little bird?”
His red eyes widened with fear, and it fed into my magic reserves. It’d been a while since I’d fed on good fear. “N-Nothing! I wasn’t going to do anything to her!”
“Liar.” My shadows bit into his flesh, slicing into him and letting his blood ooze to the ground. “I overheard your little meeting with your mother. Let me ask again, and if you lie, I’ll cut out your tongue.”
His fear spiked, and a laugh belted out of me. It was delicious.
“I hadn’t thought that far yet,” he sputtered. “Thorn cares for her, though, and if I could just remove her from the equation—”
My shadows clamped down harder as I used my powers to pry his mouth open and pulled on his tongue until the muscle ripped just a little bit. “But if you tell me you were planning on hurting my girl, I’ll rip your tongue and your eyes out.”
I stopped manipulating my shadows and let go of his mouth and tongue. He crumbled to the ground with a sob. “I’m sorry!”
“No, you’re not,” I growled down at him. “Now give me one fucking reason I shouldn’t open you up and see what organs fire fae have as compared to demons.”
“You know we have the s-same organ systems.” Fear was permeating the air from him, and I inhaled it.
“Oh, but do I?” My tail flicked out behind me as I pinned him down on the ground with my powers, making him cry out. “I may have to open you up and have a look. For science.”
“No! Stop it, please! I’ll stop. I’ll get to Thorn another way!” he yelped as I put pressure on his chest.
“That doesn’t sit well with me either, though.” I clicked my tongue. “I would rather you leave him alone. Because if you hurt Thorn, you hurt Wren, and then... Well, I’m sure you know where this is going.” I let the pressure off of his chest.
“I’ll do whatever you want!”
“Good. Then stay the fuck away from Wrenandfrom Trixie.” I smirked as I noticed Rhett walking down the path toward the Vinery and faded back into the shadows.
If the fae had further involvement, I’d just kill him.
“Surprise,” I purred as I fell into step with Rhett, but he just rolled his eyes.
“Not much of a surprise when I had to pretend I didn’t just see you with Nate.”
“You saw?” Excitement thrummed through my veins at the thought. “And you didn’t stop me?”
He shrugged. “I don’t like the guy. He said something about using a girl close to an ice fae to strengthen his kingdom, but that girl is obviously Wren, and I learned that once I found out he was talking about Thorn.”
“I’m sure that scared him enough to stay away,” I said, still reeling off his fear. “You do know Wren and Rowan mated, right?”
The front of Rhett’s right shoe caught on the back of his left as he walked, and he stumbled forward. I threw my shadows out to catch him and stopped walking as he caught his balance.
He cleared his throat, still staring in front of us. “W-What did you just say?”
“You heard me. They’re mates. Last night, he took her into his warded room and they completed the bond and marked each other.” I pouted. “I didn’t even get to watch.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “So that means if she’s not still attracted to—” He cut himself off before running a hand through his hair.
“To you, then you won’t be one of her mates,” I finished for him.
It wasn’t that fucking hard to say. It was obvious he liked her, and I already had a feeling he was her mate. When they had their session later, I was sure she’d still find him attractive. Even if he didn’t know how to hold his tongue at times.
“Anyway,” he said, “Nate is a problem.”
I snorted. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
