Page 42 of Forbidden Daddy Mate

Death beneath something sweet.

Varin stood right in front of me, tilting his head as he looked me up and down with polite inquisitiveness, the faintest smirk creeping across his mouth.

“Now, how did you get out?” he asked conversationally.

I lunged out with the necklace. But unlike Tyr, he wasn’t distracted by anger. He grabbed my wrist and twisted, watching the silver as it fell to the floor.

“We should have caught that when you came in,” he said as if gently chiding himself, keeping my wrist at that agonizing angle. “No matter. Come on, now. We have an appointment you don’t want to miss.”

Chapter 21 - Malcolm

We’d killed four of the vampires and lost none of our own men—for now. But I could see the fight was getting to the others. Sam had a long cut running down his flank, and Klyte and Rand were both bleeding badly. Tannen’s muzzle had a nasty gash. But until Varin showed himself, the fight wouldn’t end.

I ran toward Mark, who was fighting two vampires at once, and charged into one. I clamped my jaws around his throat and—

“That’s enough.”

The words cut through the clearing, stilling everything. All the fighting ceased on both parts. I turned, then froze in fear and fury as I locked eyes on Varin, clutching Freya against his chest. She struggled against his grip, but it wasn’t any use.

“Right now she’s unharmed,” Varin said coolly. “But that doesn’t mean she’s going to stay that way.”

Her eyes found me and widened. She shook her head, mouthing no, even as she continued to fight against his grip. I gritted my teeth, glowering at Varin.

“Give yourself up now, or you can watch her become one of us,” he purred. One too-long nail stroked Freya’s cheek.

“Don’t!” she screamed. “Malcolm, just don’t—”

His hand clenched around her throat, the part not covered by the collar, and she gagged, sputtering as she choked on the words.

“Your choice,” he said. “Either way, you’re going to die. It just depends on whether you want her to get out of this relatively unscathed.”

I snarled, glancing around at the other Silver Wolves, but already knowing what I was going to do. I couldn’t let Freya get hurt. But she was right. The moment I was dead, there was no reason for him to kill or turn her, anyway. Except this was the only path that had a minute chance of succeeding.

My mind reeled, trying to come up with something, anything, that might get at least her out of harm’s way. The idea that came to my head was so absurd that I nearly laughed. But it was a time-honored tradition. One that would play to Varin’s obvious ego.

“One-on-one battle,” I said. “No illusions or tricks. Just you and me on even ground.”

“Interesting…” Varin drew out the word. “But what’s the incentive for me? I hold all the cards.”

“My guys will back off,” I said. “We’ve beaten you once. We can do it again. And they’ll keep coming after you unless we do this.”

Varin scanned the battlefield, eyes stalling on each vampire’s body and noting our worst injuries were a few bleeding limbs and the nasty scrape down Tannen’s face that might or might not scar. His jaw clenched, and he looked at his remaining coterie. Finally, he nodded.

“Fine,” he said.

“I want your word,” I said.

Varin rolled his eyes. “I swear on the unlife of me and my kin that I’ll abide by the terms. None of my side with interferes as long as yours stays put as well. To the death. Winner gets the girl. Both sides at the end retreat safely. Is that good enough?”

Mark growled, head swiveling between myself and Varin, his fur bristling. I didn’t need to be in wolf form to know he was saying he thought this was a terrible idea. I shot him a look. His growl subsided, but he still looked unhappy.

Jameson padded forward, snarling, clearly indicating he was willing to take my place in the fight. I held up my hand.

“I know what I’m doing,” I said. “I trained all of you. I think I still have a few tricks you kids don’t know about yet.”

Jameson’s wolfish eyes regarded me with unhappiness, but he growled and took a step back. I nodded, then turned back to Varin.

“Let’s go, then,” I said.

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