As I climbed higher to grab just one more mushroom, I heard a desperate scream that made my blood run cold. It had come from Ashley. I had no doubt about that.
I closed my eyes and listened to the forestsurrounding me. There were heavy footfalls coming from two big males. I strained to hear Ashley’s steps but I could not. That meant only one thing, those males were carrying off my mate.
I traveled through the trees jumping with my spider legs and using my webbing for support. I went as fast as my body could take me. I would not lose my Ashley.
From my position high up in the forest, I could see it was Sefar and Voroso. My fists tightened on the tree branch as I remembered how much they bullied me and Brexl as sietlings. Me, because I was so sensitive to sounds that I could hardly play with the others, and Brexl, because he was so quiet, they started to tease him and claim he couldn’t speak at all.
I’d only run into them a few times since our exile and their personalities hadn’t improved much since adulthood, and now they had my mate, my soft precious mate.
I dropped from my perch and landed right in front of them both. Ashley let out a whimper as soon as she saw me.
“Axon,” she pleaded as she tried to break free from Blank’s grip.
“Is this your female, freak?” Sefar eyed me with a smirk, then squeezed Ashley’s ass.
“Yes,” I growled, not liking how he was holding her.
“Not anymore,” he grinned.
I took a step forward seething and ready tostrike, but in a flash he had Ashley in front of him and a bone knife to her throat.
“Back off, or she will pay the price.”
“We’re going to tell the Savrix of your lies.” Voroso added. “How many females are there?”
Sefar’s grip tightened on my mate and hot anger coursed through my veins. How dare they? How dare they threaten my mate!
“I’ve had enough of you,” I growled as I shot a web from my fingertips and pulled back the moment my webbing made contact with Sefar’s bone knife.
“Hey!” The weapon flew from his hand into mine and I chucked it to the ground.
Both males tracked the movement of the knife and watched it fall to the ground.
“Mot!” The one holding Ashley cursed as he threw her over his shoulder and broke off into another sprint.
Stupid male! Have they learned nothing?!
I took to the trees and used my webbing to swing ahead of them. I fell to the ground in front of them again and wasted no time tying the second male to a nearby tree with my web.
Fear filled Sefar’s eyes, and knowing he’d been bested, he threw my mate to the ground.
“Fine, you want your female, you can fight for her!” His words rang through my ears like nonsense. Why would he want to fight me, a shifter with the clear advantage?
“But you won’t do that, will you? You’re all so desperate for the goddess’s blessing that you won’t risk Dameron’s wrath. You know if you piss him off, he’ll take your rights to the offering away.”
A growl formed low in my throat and all the anger I’d ever felt about being exiled and watching my parents lose their home flooded through me.
“You misunderstand.” A cruel smile spread across my face. “My brother shifters care about the offering and the goddess, I. Do. Not.”
The male before me turned pale as I took a step closer to him, my claws on full display. He’d made a mistake. He messed with the wrong shifter.
I lunged for him, dragging my claws across his torso, ripping through his vest and skin. He attempted to spear me, but I was too fast. I easily moved to the side before he could make contact.
I could hear Voroso struggling against my webbing in an attempt to free himself.
I grabbed Sefar by the neck and threw him to the ground. He groaned and did not get up. Good. He didn’t deserve to see another sun rise.
I hovered over him, poised to strike him down with one final blow when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ashley pull herself up and lean against a tree. The sight of her helped clear my head. Her safety and our happiness were more important than killing this male. If I killed him, then Dameron would send every able-bodied male our way to destroy us. He’d hunt us down until we were all dead. I didn’t want that. I justwanted to live in peace with my mate.
