Page 79 of Perfectly Perfect Pixie

Peaches’s cheeks flushed, and his body rose a little higher. He looked like the avenging angels I remembered from my first life as a human. How could anyone not think pixies were magnificent?

A wolf growl pulled me from my thoughts. The wolf Arie’d brought with him, the one whose name I didn’t know, stood beside Frederick and his followers. Now this was interesting.

Before I could question Alpha Belview, Sedrick flew to my side, nose twitching and inhaling deeply. The growl he let loose was far deeper than his earlier vocalizations. “That’s the wolf. The one I scented around the border of Peaches’s orchard. It’s the same scent on the napkin you gave me too.”

When he’d been in Dusk earlier, he’d been in his humanoid form. I hadn’t recognized him as a wolf. If my sense of smell was as good as Sedrick’s, I would have.

“There’s too many damn smells in here, too much stink of borrowed blood. I didn’t scent him earlier.” Sedrick sounded annoyed, mostly with himself.

I may not be a were, but from what I’d learned over the centuries, vampires played havoc with their sense of smell. Our scents changed depending on the blood we consumed. It made us difficult to track. It was a vampiric advantage.

“Alpha Belview, does this wolf represent your pack?” I calmly asked.

“Adam is new to my pack. He’s been a very trying member and does what he wants.” Arie dismissed. “He does not represent my pack or me, although should he help in your destruction, I will not hold his initiative against him.”

“Interesting that you’d bring a wolf you didn’t fully trust into a situation like this.” Sedrick crossed his arms over his thick chest, his sneer on full display.

Arie simply shrugged off the comment as if it had no merit.

Ray finally moved from behind the bar, eyes sharp, a hint of his internal fire flaring within. “Alpha Belview, to be clear, you, as alpha of the Belview pack, claim this wolf is not fighting on your behalf. Is that correct?”

“Precisely. Adam’s actions are his own,” Arie insisted.

“King Moony,” Ray formally addressed me. “It is highly unusual for a wolf to participate in vampire fights for kingship. While fairy law is not clear on this matter, I am willing to remove the wolf from the field.”

I didn’t know exactly how Hellfire Rayburn planned to do that. I briefly thought of accepting his offer, simply to see the consequences, but thought better of it.

“The wolf is nothing.” My confidence wasn’t false.

Leon kept his silence. I knew he itched to offer his assistance again, but he was respecting my wishes just as a good second should. I was surprised Sedrick remained quiet. I thought he’d demand the right to take care of the wolf. He did not. When we shared a glance, he gave a curt nod and placed his arm around Phil while his eyes shifted to Peaches. It was a shared understanding. Should something happen, Sedrick would protect our pixies.

“So be it,” Ray said, hopping onto the bar top and leaning back as if ready to watch an entertaining film.

It was signal enough. My nestmates shifted, giving us a little more room. The vampire council did the same. Nirgal remained at the front of their group. Expressionless, the council appeared exceedingly bored. Most likely, they were. It wouldn’t be much of a fight.

Nicholas came for me first. My body transformed in an instant. Nicholas was fast, but not nearly fast enough. As he dove for me, I shifted to the side. A single slice of my talon was enough to nearly sever his head. Nicholas grasped at his throat, but the damage was enough, and within seconds, he was little more than a pile of ash.

The rest of Freddie’s entourage were next and joined the growing ash field, adding the remnants of their second lives to the floor.

I shook out my hand, flipping droplets of blood onto the ground. It was all that was left of three of my nestmates. Freddie and the wolf, Adam, were the only two left. I expected them to attack at once. They didn’t.

Adam leaped, claws extended and teeth bared. Fighting wolves was nothing like fighting vamps. Wolves were beefier. Their necks were thick and not as easily decapitated. I’d learned going for the heart was always the quickest route. Tearing them limb from limb could be fun. Before I’d tasted Peaches’s blood, exsanguinating them had also had its charms.

I could have made it longer, could have stretched the carnage out. If Peaches hadn’t been there, watching, I might have. Despite his earlier declaration of warmongering, I had little doubt that he was not enjoying the death and destruction the same way I was.

Thoughts of my beloved distracted me long enough for Adam to get a swipe in. Blood trickled down my side. It was a decent gash but would heal soon enough. Sooner if I drank from Peaches. My beloved would happily share a vein with me.

Peaches gasped, and guilt speared my heart. I hadn’t wanted him to worry. Irritated with myself, anger flushed anew. When the wolf charged again, I grabbed his throat. He kicked, but my elongated limbs kept his dangerous claws well away from anything vital. Stabbing my left hand forward, the force of my thrust easily broke through muscle and bone. Wrapping my talons around his pounding heart, I pulled. The wolf dropped to the floor, twitching twice before going still.

My arm was soaked in crimson, all the blood that of my defeated enemy. Usually, I would have sunk my fangs into the heart, sucking it dry. The thought of tasting any other blood but Peaches made my stomach turn, and I dropped the heart with a wet thud.

Arie Belview’s face twisted with disappointment before he turned on his heel and walked out the door, Matthew close behind. Nirgal had made it fairly clear he cared nothing for Arie’s case involving the first wolf I’d killed. The vampire council would never fault a vampire for protecting their beloved. Now, with his wolf dead, Arie saw no need to stay.

Shaking out my hand again, more blood fell to the floor. Frederick was all that was left, and I’d barely broken a sweat. Not that vampires truly sweated.

“Frederick.” I sighed, as if he were a naughty child still in need of discipline. “Was all this truly necessary?” I swept my blood-soaked hand toward the dead wolf and ashes now scattered on the floor. “None of this would have been necessary if you had been content with your place. There is an order to things, and you are not strong enough, or cunning enough, to alter that order.” It was a sad fact that Frederick had never learned. Now that lack of acceptance would cost him his life.

“Arrogance is your defeat,King Moony.” Mouth full of fangs, Frederick’s words were a bit garbled, but I understood them well enough to be confused. The dead were all around me, and yet there I stood, the wound on my side already healing.

---