Page 26 of Trick Me
Because I’m suddenly very aware that this night isn’t done screwing with us.
Chapter
Four
ASH
The afterglow of what just happened with Erynn lasts approximately three minutes before everything goes to shit. Because of course my past comes knocking.
“The great Ash Valderson, alone in the woods with his whore,” says the asshole, Cain, who steps out of the shadows ahead of me with his brother.
I should have picked up his scent before he reached us unannounced. I know that damn stench that accompanies the Bruck pack—rotted meat and old blood.
I push Erynn behind me in one smooth motion, scanning the night for any more of his men. But it’s only the two of them, stepping forward with the casual arrogance of fuckers who think they’ve already won.
Cain is built like a brick shithouse, scarred face that even his mother couldn’t love, and eyes that hold all the warmth of a frozen grave. His younger brother, Tobias, flanks him, smaller but faster. Both are dressed in black with heavy boots.
Erynn is huddled close against my back. I sense her there, not moving, exactly where I want her right now.
“Gentlemen,” I bark, hands forming into fists at my sides. “Didn’t realize the invitation said plus-two for assholes.”
“Oh, this is perfect,” Mikael says, materializing beside me with his usual terrible timing. “The Bruck brothers. Remember when Cain tried to court Jessica? She said she’d rather fuck a cactus. Good times.” I huff a laugh, realizing no one else knows why. But fuck, I missed Mikael. Even dead and snarky, there’s something grounding about having him at my side again.
“Heard you were here,” Cain continues, stepping slowly to my left while Tobias mirrors him on the right. “Thought we’d settle some old debts. You cost us several warriors in that raid last spring.”
“You mean where you attacked a training school for pups?” My hands flex. “Where you tried to take children as leverage? That raid? Where you also killed my second-in-command, Mikael?” I growl.
Tobias spits on the ground. “You slaughtered our people too.”
“Should’ve slaughtered more,” Mikael comments. “Starting with these two.”
“Your people chose to attack children,” I growl, ignoring my helpful ghost commentator. “They got what they deserved.”
Cain’s nostrils flare, and his head tilts. “The fuck is wrong with your scent? You smell…” He inhales deeper, confusion flickering across his scarred features. “Wrong. Broken.”
Then his attention shifts to Erynn, behind me, and his entire demeanor changes. “But she smells interesting. Wolf, but not. Yours, but not quite.” A cruel smile spreads across his face. “You got yourself a mate, Valderson? Perfect. She’ll scream so pretty when we’re done with her. Let you watch before we take your head. Then your pack is ours.”
“Over my dead fucking body,” I snarl.
“I can help,” Erynn whispers behind me, and I feel her shift forward.
“No.” I don’t take my eyes off the brothers, but whisper over my shoulder, “You can barely control him. Stay back.”
“Listen to your Alpha, little bitch,” Tobias taunts, already starting to shift, bones cracking and reshaping. “Won’t matter anyway. We’ll have our fun with you both.”
My skin crawls, rage igniting like wildfire in my blood. I should have ended these two when I had thechance. I wanted to. But now the universe is handing me the knife and daring me not to twist it.
“Oh, I have ideas for these two,” Mikael mutters, floating between the brothers with vindictive glee. “You could shove Cain’s head so far up his own ass he’d be wearing himself as a hat. Or—oh, this is good—remember that move with the spine and the?—”
Cain lunges mid-shift, three hundred pounds of fur and fury aimed straight at my throat.
I shove Erynn to the side, my heels digging into the ground, weight dropping, shoulder forward—bracing for impact. There’s no time to think, only react.
A snarl tears from Cain’s throat a split second before his bulk collides with mine.
The force is brutal. I’m thrown back, air knocked from my lungs, body skidding across the dirt.
Cain is on me before I can suck in a breath, all teeth and claws and hatred.
