Page 42 of Dane's War

“Here you go, baby,” Rebecca coos and brushes herself up against Brady. Her eyes come to me, and she takes a good, long look and licks her lips.

Not fucking happening.

Brady waves her away after taking the tablet she handed to him. His eyes on the tablet. “My man is still in place to take out Raine’s beautiful mother.”

“You don’t get your man off my mother, I’ll slit your throat here and now,” Bandit advises, steppingcloser.

“Don’t worry, Bandit, he’s on her to make sure everything goes according to plan,” Brady states, waving a hand nonchalantly and acting like he didn’t just get his life threatened by a pissed-off shifter. Brady brings his eyes back to me and twists the tablet for us all to see. “Now, Raine is my property, and I want her back where she belongs.”

“She no longer concerns you,” I inform him, doing my best to keep my voice calm. “Raine is my mate.”

“Yes, to that I’ve been made aware of.” Chuckling, he points out something on the tablet. “But you see, if you look here, it’s a contract that says she’s mine and has been since before she ever met me.”

“The fuck?” Bandit snarls.

“Long ago and far away, I learned a valuable lesson. That being to take what I want. When I learned about the supernatural world, I knew I’d stop at nothing to make sure I was more powerful, and I had the power to take what I wanted. It’s why when her mother and father wanted to escape their miserable lives, I took advantage of this. They signed her over to me, but before I collected her from where they’d left her, she’d been collected. At the time, I was going to use her as a pawn to get what I wanted from the blood witches. However, I reevaluated this plan when I learned who took her in. This part is mute as you see I’ve heldownership of Raine for a very long time. Her parents sold her to me, and now I want my property back where she belongs.”

“How the hell do you own her? You’re human. You don’t look old enough to have been able to know her parents, let alone arrange this. You’d have had to be four years old when you did this,” Cyrus grunts.

“On the contrary, I’m not human. Well, I am, but I’m not. You see, I’m immortal. Made this way after making a deal with a demon.”

Oh fuck no. He did not just say he’d made a deal with a demon.

That changes things. Fuck a bullet. He thinks he’s immortal because of some demon. We’ll see about that. A bullet might not change this, but ripping his throat surely will. He can’t stay living and breathing if he’s still got a head attached to a body.

“Now, if you so will, there’s a contract to abide by, and I would like to be claiming my property. If you do not wish to relent her to me, then I’ll take her by force.”

He barely has the last word past his lips when I launch myself, shifting halfway, becoming beast and man together.

There are shouts and curses behind me. Snarls and other growls as well. I wasn’t paying attention to them.My focus was strictly on the man in front of me. I wanted his head, and I wasn’t going to be denied.

Slashing out, I find it hilarious the way he scuttles backward, eyes widening. He wasn’t expecting me not to bend to his will. He thought he could play games and that I would give in to him with just a few simple threats. He’s highly mistaken.

Behind me, I can hear fighting, but that’s not the fight I’m worried about. Right now, it’s about taking out Brady.

Snarling at the man, I launch for him just as he whips a gun out and pulls the trigger. My body jolts. He keeps pulling the trigger, and still, I don’t feel it. My focus is on getting to his throat. The gun in his hand runs out of ammunition, and I make it fully to him, grip him by the throat, and lift him off his feet until we’re nose to nose. I snap my teeth together, teeth grazing his nose. Brady lets out a whimper, and he realizes he’s fucked. The acidic aroma of piss hits my nostrils, and I ignore it. The bastard has pissed himself out of fear. Time for him to learn exactly what happens when you fuck with a wolf shifter. Or any shifter a part of the Spiked Raiders MC.

Gripping his throat tighter in one clawed hand. I used the other to grip the top, digging my claws into his scalp. Brady’s screams are fuel that fills the rageflowing through my veins. With all the force I need inside me, I rip Brady’s head clear off his body, dropping the lower half of him to the ground. I take his head and turn back toward the fighting animals. My brothers and those of the Iron Howlers were up against foxes—a shit ton of them. I move through them all in search of a sharp limb at the edge of the tree line. Snatching one up, I impale Brady’s head on it and twist the limb so Brady’s head was facing the direction of those who were still fighting my brothers.

One of the foxes shifts and screams out just as the woman, Rebecca, cries.

“This is what happens when you cross the Spiked Raiders.” Tossing the head across the way toward the fox. “You fuck with one of us, you fuck with us all.”

“You killed him,” the fox snaps, eyes coming to me.

“Yeah, and you all but killed my brother.” I sneer, not giving a damn about her. But she rejected the man I’ve called brother since we were kids. She deserves whatever’s coming her way. “Maybe now, without the asshat, you’ll realize your fuck up. Regardless, it’s too late, the damage is done.” Leaving the bitch to her misery, I sneer down at the other one, not missing the hatred flaring in her eyes. There’s nothing she can do, though. Not without losing her own life.

I don’t kill women, not unless they do somethingthat makes it so I’ve no choice. For now, she’s not done anything other than be one of Brady’s side pieces, doing his bidding. Until she does something to warrant killing her, I won’t touch her.

“Brother, you need to calm down and let us see to those wounds,” Zavier remarks, coming toward me, his own body covered in scratches, blood, and sweat. Behind him, members of both clubs were containing the fox shifters. Some of them still shifted, others in their human forms.

“I’m good,” I tell him. I didn’t need him touching me right now. Glancing around the space, I look for the two men who’d been with Brady. Somehow, they managed to hide themselves away from the fight. The fact they did this doesn’t surprise me. They’re pussies, thinking they’re tough and can do what they want, but they’re nothing short of spineless dickheads.

Both men look ready to bolt out of there but don’t get the chance. I rush them both and grab the one holding a gun with a shaking hand by the wrist. I twist the gun out of his hand, still halfway shifted, and point the gun at the head of his friend, pulling the trigger. I watch him fall, then turn the gun on the one I know hurt Raine the most, put the gun to his head, and pull, blowing his brains out.

“Count those as your bonus for working with someone like Brady Contreras,” I snarl.

Breathing heavily, I drop the gun and look to Corbin to see he wasn’t alone in watching me carefully.

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