He leaped from the carpet and strode forward, not showing the least bit of hesitation at being confronted or outnumbered by males who obviously weren’t here to offer us tea and refreshments along our journey.
Kole stopped halfway to them, his arms loose at his sides. “You’re blocking the road.”
One of the males in the middle, the tallest one with a wiry build, sneered. “You noticed that, did you? How very observant you are.”
Kole’s demeanor didn’t change, not even a flicker. “I’ll say this once. Move.”
All six laughed, and the two near the end eyed me. One leered. The other made a rude gesture with his tongue.
A jolt of energy surged in Kole’s aura, and his head tilted as he assessed the end two.
“There’s a fee to go farther.” The middle male rapped a baton against his palm, the motion slow, precise, and clearly meant to intimidate. “A hundred rulibs if you wish to carry on.”
“Is that so?” Kole’s tone remained impassive. “I don’t recall fees being placed on this road previously. Under what jurisdiction are you claiming this for?”
The male beside the tallest one snorted. “The jurisdiction ofwe’re shifter fae who live here, and this is our territory. That’s who.”
I sat up straighter and glanced around, but even though there were no signs of a discarded carpet or goods strewn through the Wood, I wondered if Nym, Jessip, and Felix had ventured this way. I could only hope they hadn’t. We’d passed one intersection a few miles back, and I prayed that they’d taken one of the other paths.
The male at the end jerked his chin my way. “If you and your pretty lady wish to travel farther, you’ll need to pay up. If not...” He ran his tongue suggestively over his upper lip. “I certainly wouldn’t mind taking her as payment.”
“As if.” I scoffed at the male, not feeling threatened in the slightest considering it would only take me seconds to shred through him completely.
But Kole’s aura swelled even more, and in a low, lethal voice, the warrior replied, “She’smine. You touch her, and you die.”
My eyebrows shot up at the warrior’spossessive admission.Mine. I hadn’t heard that claim since Whiteolf, when Kole had been playacting during Abel’s delusional attack.
But I shook my head and quickly reasoned it was simply because of where we were, and it was a tactic Kole was consciously using in hopes of avoiding bloodshed. All fae males were possessive of their females,minebeing a common word among those who were mated, but shifter males were notoriously violent about protecting their females. With any luck, these males would think twice before doing whatever they’d planned.
The end male snickered, but when Kole’s challenging stare hit him directly, his gaze averted.
“She’ll only remain yours if you pay the fee,” the middle one countered. He stopped rapping his baton and held out a palm. “Pay up.”
Kole’s tone dipped. “I won’t be paying.”
All six males took a step forward simultaneously, and I knew from that coordinated movement that they were all the same type of shifter. They had to be a pack animal or one that stayed in a herd. Whatever they shifted into, they hunted as a unit.
Tensing, I stood from the carpet. “There’s no need for a fight. Do as he says and move.”
But the males didn’t stop. Their group progressively closed the distance to Kole, weapons in hand, stances readying for attack.
The one on the end eyed me from head to toe, and since Iwas now standing, his gaze paused on my breasts. He licked his lips again, then palmed his crotch suggestively. “I think I’d rather not move. You’re a nice piece of arse. I’ll gladly take you as?—”
A blade abruptly sliced through the air.
In my next breath, the male’s head rolled from his shoulders. Before I could comprehend what’d happened, his decapitated head fell with athunkto the Wood’s road.
Sword in hand, Kole raised his weapon dripping with fresh blood.
My jaw dropped. In less than a blink, Kole had drawn his weapon andkilledthe male.
Stars Above. So much for no bloodshed.
“As I said, she’smine.” Kole lifted his sword higher. Glistening droplets of the male’s blood pooled around his lifeless body, sparkling like rubies in the dim light. “Does anyone else care to disrespect her?”
Shocked expressions passed among the remaining five males. Eyes wide, shoulders stiff, they stared at their dead friend.
“You killed Peelin,” the tallest one finally said, disbelief evident in his tone.
