Page 75 of Cruelly Fated
Gradually, I let dragon essence trickle in, enough to double-coil my muscles. Bear shifters were among the toughest fae, their bodies reinforced by raw stamina and brute strength. I'd have to fight him.
I planted my heels against the corridor wall, then launched forward like a wrecking ball, bulldozing the door off its hinges and tackling the bear shifter before he had time to react. With his kind not exactly known for sharp hearing, I’d caught him off guard. My hands locked around his thick neck, squeezing with ferocity before his brain caught up. He grunted and slammed his fists into my forearms, knocking me off.
Damn. Getting in that close again would be a challenge.
He bellowed a deep, guttural roar that rattled the walls. I reassessed him. Allie’s boss hadn’t skimped on his security. The brute matched me in height with a fighter’s posture and heavy frame.
I cracked my knuckles, lips curling into a snarl as we began circling each other.
“What is this?” said a squat, rat-faced fae standing by the blacked-out window. “Lord Bellure, take the girl—”
“Allie is coming with me,” I said.
“And who are you supposed to be? If you want the girl, you’ll have to join the auction—”
I growled. Scales rippled across my arms, up my neck, blooming across my face like molten armor. The bear shifter’s eyes tracked the shimmer, his stance shifting, recognition and perhaps even respect in his gaze.
“A dragon?” the rat-faced man sputtered. “Lord Bellure, explain yourself—”
Valor struck, faster than a blink, silencing the man with a precise chop to the base of his neck. The fae dropped like a sack of bricks.
“He was getting on my nerves,” Valor muttered, scooping stunned Allie into his arms and vanishing in a blur of motion.
The vamp lord calculated his odds and flashed from the room himself.
Coward. Good. I could use the thrill of a hunt—all the better when it’s hunter versus hunter.
“I can’t let you leave,” the bear said.
I nodded. “Let’s get to it then.”
He charged first—typical. All brute force, no finesse. He moved like a landslide. I sidestepped and struck low, ramming my elbow into his ribs. A satisfying crack followed, but it only fueledhis rage.
He swung wide, claws out. I ducked, but not fast enough, and he grazed my shoulder. Pain flared in my collarbone. The dragon inside me roared with delight. I pivoted and buried a punch in his gut, fast and deep. He staggered back a step, winded but far from down.
“You hit like a court fae,” he spat, blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth. His verbal jab landed flat, contradicted by his roughed-up state.
I smirked and told my own joke. “That wasn’t even my dominant hand.”
He lunged again, and this time I didn’t dodge. I met him head-on, two war beasts colliding. His claws raked my side, drawing blood. My vision shimmered as I let more dragon slip free. A risky move. My patience had worn thin, though.
Green scales unfurled across my arms, hardened to armor. My next blow shattered his jaw with a wet crunch. He let out a muffled roar—half pain, half fury—and stumbled. I grabbed his throat, lifted him clean off the ground, and slammed him into the wall hard enough to dent stone.
“I said,” I growled, my mouth close to his ear, “she’s mine.”
He gurgled something in response. I squeezed tighter, then let him drop. He slid to the floor, unconscious but breathing.
I exhaled and dusted off my hands.
The scent of blood, sweat, and smoke filled my lungs. Then I darted after Valor and Allie. Nothing else in this gods-damned city mattered.
Thirty-Three
ALLIE
“Maybe you should check on him… What if he needs your help?” I turned toward Valor, who was leisurely leaning against the hood of his car. The other vampire had sprinted past us shortly after Valor carried me into the parking lot.
Valor tilted his head in my direction, giving me a cleardon’t-be-sillylook.
