“Iron,” Rowan said grimly. “Keep your distance.”
I shook my head. “No. Iron has never affected me like the other fae. He’ll soon find out his weapon is useless.” Barrett’s attention was momentarily distracted by the child. Whether she was his or not, he would die today.
“This land is yours just as much as it is mine,” I said. “Barrett will know our might.”
Rowan gathered me around the waist and pressed a fierce kiss to my lips. “Happy hunting, mate of mine.”
“Happy hunting,” I breathed, my lips tingling from the taste of him.
Barrett turned and handed the baby to one of the swans.
“Moira, change of plans.”
“Find the baby,” she whispered.
“Find the baby,” I agreed. “Secure her somewhere no one can find her. Then come back and kill as many of these fuckers as you want.”
Moira’s grin held a touch of vicious delight. “Can’t wait.”
She made an astonishing leap toward the swan, who gaped and stumbled as they turned and ran from Rowan’s property.
That bitch wouldn’t get far with Moira on her tail.
Rowan took off for the shifters surging onto Keep property. I kept my eyes on Barrett and walked toward him, hands loose at my side.
“Is she yours?” I asked.
“Does it matter?” The Chimera rode his words, his irises ringed with crimson.
Mine had been content since Rowan and I had completed the bond, rising only when I wanted it to. I hadn’t thought much about that since I’d been so focused on other things, but I felt overall more settled, more secure in my skin.
“It does,” I said simply. We stood a few feet away from each other. “If she’s yours, we can work something out.”
“If she’s mine, you have no claim.”
“You tore down Rowan’s wards and entered onto Keep property, a declaration of war. I’m within my rights to kill you.”
Barrett’s eyes lit with surprise and amusement. “You always have been a big talker for someone who can’t manage her own magic. You operate at the level of a Chimera child, Evie. What makes you think you have even the smallest of chances of walking out of this alive?”
I smiled. “You always seem to forget I am not only a Chimera.”
I brought my hands up. Vines and roots shot from the ground, but Barrett was too fast. He disappeared in a heartbeat, either a trick of the light or a Chimera secret I hadn’t yet learned.
I spun around, looking for him, only to see shifters tangled with each other, some in human form, others fighting in their animal forms. Teeth and claws and bladed wings ripping and tearing at each other.
The scene made my heart ache.
So much violence. For what?
I was so sick of these power games, so sick of these people who wanted more than what they were entitled to or what they worked for. Tired of people fighting and dying.
Tears sprang to my eyes. A shift of wind direction was the only thing that saved me. I shifted to the left, just as a bladed wing snipped off a lock of my hair.
Barrett forgotten for now, I spun to face the swan.
“Hello, bitch,” a grinning male said. “I can’t wait to breed you.”
My nose crinkled with disgust. “Sorry. Dinner and conversation before breeding. You haven’t even asked me for my number yet.”
