Page 41 of Memories Like Fangs
“Quinn!” Nat’s voice thundered from across the table. Cody and Cole were already at my side with their hands on my elbows, lifting me to my feet.
“What in the holy fucking shit, Everett?!” Maisie yelled.
“Why are you doing this? Didn’t you hear Maisie say that’s Byrd’s mate! Why did you just punch her?” Simone’s voice was sharp and tight, the edge of panic there like a hairline fracture.
Everett’s only response was a deep, rumbling growl. His wings were spread wide, and his golden eyes were locked on me.
When faced with a shifter in human form but with the beast in their eyes, my father’s voice rang out in my head as deeply ingrained in me as the teachings of the hunters since he had drilled it there before I could walk.You must face them as the man they are clinging to. If a shifter wanted to take you on as a beast, they would have shifted before the fight started.
“Stand the fuck down,” I said, low and firm.
My cousins hesitated. Three sets of blue eyes turned to look at me instantly. As I met each of their eyes one at a time, I tried to say everything I didn’t have time to say to them. To listen to me. To trust me. To get the fuck out of my way and let me handle this like I always did. Whatever they each saw, they must have believed. They backed away toward Simone, Maisie, Talli, and Everett’s boyfriend, who stood slack-jawed.
“Um, what in the hot cock-a-doodly fuck are you guys doing?” Maisie shouted. “You’re just going to let your cousin get her ass beat like this?”
“What? You think Quinn can’t take a man down because she’s a girl, Babycakes?” Cody said.
Maisie’s eyes rolled so far in the back of her head that I wondered if she would ever get them back to normal. “That isnotwhat I fucking meant, you nincompoop.”
“Why aren’t you guys helping her?” Simone interrupted Maisie’s incoming rampage.
“Aside from her giving us an order?” Cole answered. “Quinn knows what she’s doing. We have to have faith in that.”
“And, if you’re wrong?” Maisie asked with a raised eyebrow.
The second punch came even harder than the first. It slammed into the side of my face, making my vision swim. The world rang out around me, louder than the screams of everyone else. Something cracked. It was a cheekbone, or at leastsomething orbital. Honestly, I’ve had enough broken bones to recognize the subtle difference more than I should.
My fists were clenched so tightly that my nails bit my palms and wetness dripped down my fingers.
Still, I didn’t hit back.
Not yet.
This was Everett. I had never met him, but I heard Byrd talk about him for hours. He was Byrd’s uncle. He was one of her best friends. He was also one of the last remaining members of the family she had grown up with. He had practically raised her after her mother and father died. He kept her going when she had lost everything. When everything around her shattered, including herself, he helped her glue herself back together into something new and still her. He was her Guardian, both legally but also supernaturally, since she was a dragon-shifter and griffins guarded such creatures. Byrd wouldn’t be my girl without him.
And, if this was all hard on me, I couldn’t imagine how it was for him. So, I refused to fight him. It wasn’t right.
Then, Everett’s third punch landed.
It was straight against my face, right across the bridge of my nose. It felt like my head had exploded. Blood poured from my nose like a burst pipe. The stinging ache radiated out down to my teeth and up to my forehead. Tears flooded my eyes in an instant. My nose and sides of it weredefinitelyfucking broken now, cartilage and bone sharp and electric. What I could see had more stars than the Archive’s ceiling.
Okay, motherfucker. Fucking bet.
Before Everett cocked his arm back for a fourth blow, I drove my fist straight into his stomach, right below the ribs. He doubled over, curling around my fist. I felt the air leave his lungs. The sound he made was guttural, raw, and feral.
I didn’t hesitate or grant him a moment. He lost that privilege with his last blow. Instead, I lifted my knee to his chin,feeling the crunch of breaking bones and cracking teeth before he fell backward.
I hope you bit your tongue,pendejo.
Taking off my button-down and exposing my tank top, I wiped the blood from my nose, sent my head back, and placed the shirt on the blood from my still-gushing nose. I closed my eyes. Ihatedbreaking my nose. It always took ages to heal fully and made such a fucking mess.So fucking annoying.
On the ground before me, I heard Everett cough wetly as he stirred. I could easily hear the bones in his jaw clicking back into place. I didn’t open my eyes as I said from behind the plaid, “I understand you are upset, and I truly hope you got all of that out of your system now?—”
“We wouldn’t have to… find Byrd… if it wasn’t for you,” Everett gasped from the floor.
“Eevee, please stop,” his boyfriend called to him.
“I told Byrd hunters were dangerous. They only bring bloodshed and death. I warned her. Now, look! She’s been fuckingkidnapped.” I heard the blood he spat out land off to the side. “Which one of your fucking cousins did it? Or, was it one of your other fucking murderous family members?”
