Page 92 of Act of Brotherhood
Nicolette gripped the phone tighter. No one was killing Garth unless it was her. Not that she wanted him dead. She just wanted to inflict some pain on him for running off and not telling her he was a wolf-shifter.
She tensed.
Hehadsaid he was. She’d thought he was joking.
The door popped open to reveal a huge burly man in a kilt, a T-shirt, biker boots, and a head of long auburn hair. He turned to face Nicolette, his beard long and wild. He grinned—just as she hauled off and hit him in the face with the phone.
He grabbed his nose and jerked back. “Och! You…dinnae have to…”
She hit him again.
Clara then moved in and went at him with the chair.
The man tossed a hand up, only barely managing to deflect the strike from the chair. The chair broke and fell to pieces on the floor. Nicolette and Clara bent quickly, each grabbing a leg of the chair. They came up fast, holding the wood like weapons.
The redheaded giant put his hands up and leaned against the open door, blood running freely from his nose. “I surrender!”
“How French of you,” said a man with long blue-black hair as he filled the doorway. He looked like he’d escaped a BDSM party. “I come in peace. Landros sent us.”
Clara lowered her piece of wood. “How do we know you’re telling the truth and that you’re not with the evil twin of Viking-Cupcake Dude and Spoon-to-the-Eye Guy?”
Goth Guy lifted a dark brow that had a number of silver piercings in it. “I don’t even know what you just asked me. Someone has a spoon for an eye?”
The redhead took a step towards Nicolette, and she lifted the wood in her hand in a warning manner. He froze. “Christ, let the Viking go so he can come and get his woman. The lass scares me.”
“Striker is a wimp,” said Goth Guy. “Two girls took him out.”
Clara narrowed her gaze on Goth Guy. One second he was standing there, and the next, a massive gust of wind hit him and knocked him backwards, out of the doorway and out into the parking lot of the motel.
Gasping, Nicolette ran to the door and stood next to the man named Striker, who she didn’t think was going to hurt her. “What was that?”
Striker grunted and held a hand to his nose. “Fae magik. The other lass dinnae like his words and showed him what she was capable of.”
Other lass?
Nicolette turned slowly to face Clara, her eyes wide. “Clara?”
Clara blushed. “I was getting to the part about us having magik. The bit about us having a good amount of Fae in us. That was before Scotland invaded.”
Striker grunted.
Nicolette looked out and past the Goth Guy, who was being pulled up and off the ground by a man with long brown hair and deep blue eyes. The man was watching her, not Goth Guy. For a second, it felt as if there were a tunnel linking her to the man. He was confused, worried, excited, scared. All of his emotions swept through her, becoming her own. She swayed and strong hands gripped her upper arms, keeping her from falling from the onslaught of emotions.
Suddenly Clara was there, touching Nicolette’s face, drawing her attention away from the man with blue eyes. Clara looked at him. “Stop. Pull back on your emotions. She can feel them. How is she linked to you? No other vampires can do what you did to her. Who are you? Who areallof you? If you even think of trying to hurt her, I’ll blast your ass and turn you into a puddle of nothingness.”
Nicolette reached out and caught Clara’s hand. “No. It’s okay. I think they’re friends. And he won’t hurt you or me.”
Clara took a deep breath. “Nicolette, I’m new to learning how to sense other supernaturals, but everything radiating from him tells me he’s a very old, very powerful vampire. With the way he’s focused on you, I’m not taking any chances.”
“Let go of me, Duke!” shouted a voice Nicolette knew well.
Nicolette gasped. “Garth?”
He appeared from the other side of a large black van. A large, pissed-off man with brown hair was with him.
The man pointed at Garth. “You nearly lost control and shifted again in the van ride here. You want to scare the shit out of your wife before you accidentally try to eat her? Huh? You thought Auberi fought with you before? Try to kill his daughter and see howthatgoes. It’s not bad enough you claimed the girl already. Explain accidently eating her.”
Wife?
