Page 218 of Primal Bonds

“Hell.” He looked from the dagger to the goblins racing across the tundra. “You think I know how to use this thing?”

“It’s iron. Aim for the eyes. The poison will slow them down.”

“I have a better idea.” Gripping the dagger, point out, he reached back with his other hand, looped his fingers through Marjani’s belt loops and made the two of them invisible, a shadow on the tundra. “They can’t see us now,” he whispered.

“Works.” She kept her eyes on the goblins, who had slowed to a creep, chittering in puzzlement to each other.

Marjani lashed out, stabbing the closest ones in the throat. Unable to see her, they fell at her feet, dead. Even Fane managed to take out a goblin that had practically run straight into his dagger.

The rest fell back, muttering to each other. Fane and Marjani stilled, scarcely daring to breathe. But they were surrounded by the dead goblins’ bodies. Even goblins—who weren’t the brightest creatures on the planet—could deduce where they must be. With a gleeful roar, the remaining goblins piled on.

Razor-sharp teeth sank into Fane’s arm. Black claws raked over his face. Behind him, he heard grunts as Marjani’s blade found a few more of their attackers.

But ten more goblins took their place, dragging Fane to the ground. Marjani was torn from his grip. He lost his focus, and they both became visible again.

He glanced up to see Blaer had ’ported onto the boulders. The blond hair whipping around her face didn’t hide her smug smile.

Then a rock smashed into his temple and everything went black.

Chapter 27

Fane was down, his head bloody. Marjani’s breath hitched.

Please let him be okay. Don’t let me lose him, too.

Because walking away from him had been right up there with one of the hardest things she’d ever done in her life. But how could she trust a man under Sindre’s geas?

The goblins kept coming, so she couldn’t even check if he was still breathing. Snatching up the dagger, she grimly fought on, a blade in each hand.

But the vicious little creatures seemed to multiply like rabbits. For every goblin she killed, two more sprang forward to take its place. Biting and gouging her, until she was bleeding from multiple wounds and their sour stench filled her nostrils.

They climbed each other to leap at her until a blow knocked her to her knees beside Fane’s prone body. Her knives went flying. She scrabbled for them, but the dagger was too far away, and she didn’t know where the switchblade was.

A stir in the air made her lift her head. Blaer had ’ported in, although she chose to perch on the rocks above the fray. Marjani snarled and inched her way toward the dagger. It wasn’t a throwing knife, but she thought she could still hit her mark.

There. She had it.

A shadow near Blaer’s leg moved and became a wolf—a wolf with Luc’s eyes and a quartz hanging from its neck.

The fae lady set a hand on his head—and smiled.

“No.” Marjani wasn’t sure if she’d whispered or shouted. She leapt to her feet and aimed the dagger at Blaer’s throat.

A small body slammed into her legs at the same time another landed on her back. Wiry arms wrapped around her wrist, pulling her arm down so that the dagger hit a boulder instead of Blaer. Long nails raked down Marjani’s body, ripping through her clothes to dig into her skin.

Marjani spun in circles, trying to knock them off, but they kept piling on until she fell flat on her stomach. Maddened with pain and the goblins’ high-pitched shrieks, the cat forced its way to the surface. Bloodlust filled her, hot and red. She shifted partway, teeth elongating and claws sprouting from her fingertips, and fought as her animal. Sinking her teeth into the goblins’ squat necks. Ripping open their soft bellies with her claws.

Someone moved behind her. She tried to twist away, but there was nowhere to go—she was surrounded. Something hard crashed into the back of her skull and a white light exploded behind her eyes.

The next thing she knew, she lay curled on her side, looking through bars.

Shiny iron bars.

Marjani swallowed, her mouth still filled with the bitter taste of the goblins’ blood. She scrubbed a hand over her lips and tried not to wretch.

She was fully human again and lying on a sheepskin. Not touching the iron directly, but she still felt like crap from the poisonous metal already seeping into her. Not to mention that her body was bruised and bloodied from the fight with the goblins.

From its place against her thigh, her quartz hummed a healing song, valiantly doing what it could, but with the iron surrounding her, the best she could hope for was to maintain.

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