Page 33 of Fake Fae-Ancée

"Watch your tongue!!!" I roared, drool flying out of my muzzle.

Nox puffed out his chest, black feathers fluffed up.

"No matter how many rings you put on her, how many walls you bring between me and her to protect her, the king wants her dead. And your protection isn't enough." The dark voice dripped with smugness.

"You won't get her!" I bellowed.

"Sooner or later I will." Nox tilted his bird head, beady eyes glistening hollowly at me. "You can't protect her all the time, prince. And when the time comes, I'll be back."

And with that, he spread his massive wings and took to the skies with a mighty flap, summoning a roaring gale of dirt and torn branches. His derisive laughter echoed across the lake. I squinted my eyes in the downwash, watching him soar.

Bear grunted with satisfaction. The enemy had been put to flight. Victory was mine. For now.

My own mind, however, raced back to the surface. My worst suspicions had come true. Yegor had sent Nox. The Royal House of Bears had paid the Black Guild to kill Kai. But why? They couldn't know she was my wife. No one at home knew about our secret wedding. Not my brothers, not even my mother. I had never mentioned a word. I had always been afraid that something like this might happen...

That damn prophecy. Did Yegor really still believe in it?

"What the hell was that?"

I wheeled around.

Kai was swaying in front of me, caked in mud and dust, murder in her eyes. A stray pond plant was dangling in her hair, but apart from that she looked unharmed. Thank Sankta Polina!

I gave a mental whistle at Bear. He growled but complied with my command. Kai screwed up her face in surprise and horror as I shifted back. She had always hated to see me shift, and I had always reveled in that. I tended to revel in pissing her off, far too much.

"What was what?" I asked casually as I was back in my normal self.

Kai stared wide-eyed, her face taking on the color of ripe strawberries. I looked down at myself. Oh, yeah, right. Shifting was never good for clothes. No idea how many shirts, pants and uniforms I had shredded in my life.

"Sorry, I guess I ruined my suit." I crossed my arms in front of my bare chest as she frantically looked anywhere but at the rest of me.

My grin, however, faltered when her flushed expression suddenly went dull. She gasped and sank down to her knees. She was probably in shock. And that dark and gooey and helpless place in my chest squeezed painfully and made me dart toward her.

"Hey, you okay?"

I hurriedly knelt beside her, but she slapped my hand away.

"Don't you dare touch me," she hissed and I frowned. Her blush had given way to a clammy pallor and her hands were trembling.

My ears perked up at the sirens starting to warble in the distance, coming closer. About damn time those slowpokes showed up. P.A.S.H. was slowing the hell down lately. I turned to Kai.

"You have two choices," I said curtly. "A: you stay where you are and explain to your colleagues of P.A.S.H. PD why you're sitting in the woods, covered in dirt, next to your bare-naked nemesis."

Horror flashed across her face.

"Or B:," I continued. "I’m getting you out of here and back to my place. You choose."

Kai pressed her lips into a thin line, glaring at me as if I had just offered to sell her naked to pirates. But then she lowered her eyes and slumped her shoulders.

"Do what you must," she pressed out. Bear growled inside me.

"Your wish is my command, mylady." I hoisted her up in my arms, ignoring her death glare as best I could while I carried her off.

If there was one thing this woman hated even more than being saved, it was being saved by me.

Kai

Ten years prior

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