Page 278 of Primal Bonds

Adric’s Heart

A Fada Novel

Chapter 1

SEVEN YEARS EARLIER, IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE DARK TIME

The kill was swift, silent…and without honor.

Honor was a luxury Adric Savonett couldn’t afford.

He crouched on a dumpster in a dead-end alley. The alley was pitch-black, because he wanted it that way. While he’d acted as lookout, his sister Marjani had shimmied up the nearest streetlight and shattered the glass with the heavy handle of her dagger. Now she waited on the sidewalk while he squatted on top of the rusting metal container.

A human would’ve been nearly blind. But he was a fada—he picked up every detail. The dark pool of motor oil seeping into the cracked pavement. The sour-smelling garbage spilling out of the dumpster. The rumble of a late-night delivery truck barreling down the street.

And his uncle Leron as he stalked toward Marjani, brutal features displeased. “What the fuck are you doing here, girl? I ordered you to go to Jumar.”

Adric’s fingers clenched on his dagger. The blade was iron, honed to a razor-sharp edge. Inside, his cougar hissed.

Marjani lifted her chin. “And I said no.”

They’d agreed to give Leron one last chance. If he rescinded his order that Marjani become his second’s whore, Adric would let him live. For now, anyway.

Because everyone in the Baltimore clan, even their uncle, knew it was only a matter of time before Adric challenged him.

“I’m your alpha,” Leron growled. “You don’t tell me no.” He backhanded Marjani across the face—and sealed his fate.

She reeled backwards into the alley, their uncle following. Unlike them, he was a wolf shifter with his animal’s big, powerful body even when he was a man. The S.O.B. was easily twice her weight.

Rage ripped through Adric, clouded his vision with red. He took a calming breath.

Come on, motherfucker. Just a little closer.

“I won’t whore for you,” Marjani spat out. “Jumar can find his own damn woman.”

Leron’s eyes flashed wolf-gold. He showed his fangs. “You’ll do whatever I fucking say. If I tell you to drop to your knees and suck off every single one of my lieutenants, then you will. Understand?”

Marjani snarled and backpedaled past the dumpster.

Leron prowled after.

Closer, closer. And…now.

Adric launched himself off the dumpster, landing on his prey’s back. His uncle cursed and tried to buck him off, but Adric got him in a headlock. Leron ran backwards, slamming him into a brick wall. Adric grunted and grimly hung on.

One hard stroke of the dagger across his uncle’s throat, and it was over. Leron made a terrible sucking sound and clawed at his neck. The coppery scent of blood filled Adric’s nostrils as the iron blade poisoned his uncle, hastening his end.

Adric met Marjani’s eyes over Leron’s head. Her irises glowed cougar-blue in the dark. A sharp dagger was clenched in her hand. He said a silent prayer of thanks that she hadn’t had to use it. Better it be him who killed their father’s only brother.

He released Leron, let him drop to the pavement.

The dying man managed to turn over. His eyes widened. “You,” he gurgled as his blood pooled on the asphalt.

“Me,” Adric confirmed.

“Too much of a coward…to challenge…me.”

Adric leaned forward. “Everything I know about honor,” he growled, “I learned from you. Burn. In. Hades.”

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