Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 21858 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 87(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21858 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 87(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
“Stay in your human form. I don’t want them to see your unicorn,” I explained, tugging her toward the tree line. “We don’t know how much they know about you and your mom, and they’re not going to make it out of here alive. But better safe than sorry.”
“That’s what my parents always say,” she agreed, tugging at my shirt so I could strip down and shift to my wolf.
When I was on four paws, I barked at her, earning a smile from my beautiful mate. I raced toward the spot where Artemis said I should be able to attack my target. Cressida must have borrowed speed from her inner animal because she kept pace with my wolf. As I scented the hyena in the wind, I slowed my pace and made a low chuff of noise when my mate did the same.
We were careful of where we stepped, not wanting to alert our enemy to the fact that he had turned into our prey. It took us only a few more minutes to sneak up on the hyena, having circled so I could attack him from behind.
I knew that her dad had taught her how to fight so she could keep herself safe, but Cressida was everything that was pure in this world. I didn’t want her to live with someone’s death on her conscience, no matter how much they deserved to be killed.
This guy was mine to kill. And my wolf didn’t hesitate to go after him as soon as we had the hyena in our sights.
Picking up my speed, I dove for his neck, my jaws spread wide so I could crunch down on the vulnerable spot of his throat. Unfortunately, he realized what was happening just in time to jump to the side, so my bite grazed his left paw instead.
The hyena’s gaze darted over my shoulder, and he let out an excited yip when he spotted Cressida. My wolf growled low in his throat, pissed that our enemy’s focus was on our mate. He didn’t deserve to look at her, let alone have whatever twisted thought had provoked his reaction to her.
I rushed forward, raking his side with my claws over and over again, darting back and forth to evade the strike of his claws. He got in a couple of good swipes, but I ignored the pain. My focus was on what was most important—protecting my mate.
Not even death could tear Cressida from me. She would always be my mate. The only woman I have ever—or will ever—love. My heart, my life, my soul.
But having her near provided more distraction than I had expected. When the hyena got another good swipe at me, she gasped. In the split second that I turned to look at her, he took advantage of the opening and jumped over me to rush toward her.
My wolf pushed every ounce of our determination into our bond, yelling, “Get down!” in our head. It must have somehow worked because she immediately dropped to the ground, curling into a ball to make herself a smaller target and protecting the most vulnerable spots on her body. Not that it mattered because I didn’t let him get close enough to touch her, raking my claws against his backside before clamping my teeth on his tail to whip him in the other direction.
Cressida sat up, and I heaved a sigh of relief when I didn’t spot any injuries on her curvy body. When I whirled around to face off against the hyena with her safely behind me, a growl rumbled up my chest. That had been too close. I needed to kill him so he didn’t get another chance to touch my mate.
With that thought in mind, I leaped toward him, my focus on his throat as my jaw opened wide. This time, I didn’t miss my target. I had tired him out enough that he didn’t move fast enough to get out of my way. With his fur in my mouth, I bit down and shook my head, whipping his body back and forth in my death grip. He struggled, using his paws to push against my larger body to try to escape, but there was no way in hell I was going to let him go. Not until his blood flowed down my throat.
The hyena was barely moving when I finally dropped him on the ground, not moving an inch while I waited to make sure that he hadn’t been pretending to be more injured than he was. Logically, I knew that wasn’t possible since his throat was basically torn out. But my wolf wasn’t logical at the moment. Not with our mate’s life on the line.
As we stood over the dying hyena, Keane, Artemis, and Leyton each called out, “Down!”
The threat to Cressida would be over as soon as this bastard died.