Page 27 of Trick Me
But I’m already reaching, my fingers closing around the hilt of my blade still sheathed at my side.
Come on, come on.
Cain’s jaws snap down, aiming for my throat.
I twist hard, just enough to make him miss, his fangs grazing air instead of flesh.
The dodge gives me one precious heartbeat.
Steel clears the sheath with a hiss.
I drive the blade up toward his ribs, aiming to gut him.
But Cain jerks sideways at the last second. The edge catches him across the flank instead, slicing shallow through skin and fur.
Blood spatters. He yelps, then growls, circling back.
My wolf is silent. But my fury isn’t.
“Come on, then,” I snarl, voice low and venomous. “Let’s see if either of you bastards can fight without a spine.”
Tobias comes from the right while I’m extended, jaws snapping for my dagger. I pivot, bringing my knee up into his throat, feeling cartilage crunch. He gags, stumbling back, but Cain has already recovered, returning with murder in his yellow eyes.
“Watch out,” Erynn calls out.
“Behind you!” Mikael shouts, and I drop just as Tobias launches himself at me, but now he’s aiming for Erynn.
“No!” I roar, spinning to intercept, but Cain’s massive paw catches me across the chest, claws raking through fabric and flesh.
White-hot agony tears through me, and then I’m airborne, back slamming into a tree hard enough to steal my breath.
Stars burst behind my eyes. I drop to one knee, lungs screaming, chest on fire.
Fuck.
No fast healing. No wolf to knit the torn muscleor dull the pain. Every inch of the damage is like fire. Flesh torn. Blood dripping.
I brace a hand against the dirt, force myself up.
They’re still coming. And I don’t have the luxury of staying down.
Erynn doesn’t run. The stubborn, beautiful fool stands her ground as Tobias stalks toward her, transforming back into his human form, lips pulled back in a grotesque approximation of a smile.
“Come here, pretty thing,” Tobias growls, and I fucking see that smug bastard’s hard-on.
Fury punches me in the gut.
“Let me show you what real wolves do to?—”
She moves fast. My wolf’s power threads through her limbs, but not quickly enough.
Tobias backhands her. The crack of flesh on flesh is sickening.
She crumples, crying out.
That sound?—
It rips straight through my chest.
