Page 60 of Brutal Birthright

And like the venomous, entirely dangerous creature Rowan could be, he dropped his head to the side and bit down on the flesh at the base of her neck. Taking her skin between his teeth so hard he’d leave fresh marks.

Another claiming.

Before he disappeared.

Leaving her gasping and stinging and dripping wet.

Chapter 19

He didn’t go far.

Couldn’t.

Knowing how soaked she was and bare below that fucking dress. Every primal, possessive, asshole cell in his body wanted to throw her over his shoulder and carry her out of there.

He hadn’t been lying when he told her what she did to him. If the girl had been a witch, he’d be certain this feeling lodged like an axe in his chest was a hex or an enchantment.

But no. Just a fierce girl with a fondness for knives and a talent for dragging his darkness out to tangle with her own.

From his perch up in the high walkway on the upper reaches of the library, he stalked after her. She was too wrapped up in the rush of heated blood—or maybe that was just his own thundering pulse and stiff cock colouring his vision—to do anything more than dart a furtive look around before heading back to gather up her few things.

Still clutching the large volume against her breasts as if it were some sort of leather-bound shield. He was almost certain she didn’t know what was in the book. Or care.

His suspicions were promptly confirmed when she tossed the book onto the stack atop the returns cart and then hurried out the large double doors.

Rowan portaled to his next vantage point. Tracking her as easily as any of his targets on the battlefield over the years. Stars, he needed to teach this girl how to be more aware of her surroundings. He mentally filed away some additional sessions on the assault course after class where he could create some scenarios for her to navigate.

Maybe he’d stalk her through the forest himself.

Fuck. His cock throbbed at the thought.

Jabbing a hand through his hair, he followed at a distance. Keeping a close eye on her from the higher levels of the winding stairs. The very place he’d found her the other night, brimming with rage and tears and vengeful thoughts.

Or was that him who had the taste for vengeance hot in the back of his throat after seeing her like that?

A voice called out to her from the ground floor.

She leant over the railing, peering over and saying something back.

But Rowan didn’t hear the words exchanged; his every sense prickled as the air simmered with something… something he didn’t like one fucking bit.

Moving quicker now, he saw her bound down the stairs. It was the other fae girl she had become friendly with from their training. Saskia maybe? The two were closing the distance between them, but the air thickened with whatever presence his magic detected.

Vile and clogging, like a putrid stench of death.

All too familiar after hundreds of years of watching bodies pile up around him.

Rowan’s eyes darted around and his magic reached out to detect whatever, or whoever might be causing this. Moving faster, but not fast enough. He had to make a split-second decision.

Risk the girl knowing his interest in Oriana, or risk that this might be every bit as dangerous as the hackles rising on the back of his neck sensed it to be.

Fuck it. He portaled straight to her.

Only, as his boots made contact with the stairs and he opened his mouth to call her name, a black cloud tore through the space above the central stairwell. Driving down towards the two girls with vengeful force. Looking like a whirlwind of onyx glass shards.

He did the only thing he could—throwing out a shield of his magic as he reached for her arm. Those wide dark eyes met his own, panic and confusion etched all over her face as the blackened entity rained down with a deafening roar.

Then, just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

---