Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
I leap from behind Ava, clearing her head just in time to meet my brother claw to claw, fang to fang. We crash to the ground mere inches from her. I glance over my shoulder to make sure she was not hurt, and Kain takes the opportunity to bite me, the tips of his canines penetrating the thick skin of my shoulder with deliberate precision. He wants to hurt me. He’d like to kill me.
“Let me at the human slut. She smells of seed.”
“LEAVE HER. SHE IS MY MATE!” I boom the words that will bring this matter to a close. No matter what anybody here thinks of humans, declaring a mate holds power in our pride.
Kain stops fighting and instead bellows with the same mocking laughter I have heard many times before. I have him pinned, but somehow I feel as though I am the loser. It takes all my self-control not to slash his exposed throat open with my jaws. He threatened my mate, but he is my brother and he did not know any better.
“Kain, stop.”
A new voice interjects. It is elegant and considered, and it is delivered with an impenetrable calm. Skol is the most intelligent of us all. He is the youngest, though he acts like the oldest. He is slow to anger, and to act, but once he has made up his mind about something, nothing can stop him. He seems the least dangerous of the brothers, but he is truthfully the one I consider the most deadly. He stands back, far from the fray, wearing a purple and gold trimmed robe, regarding the entire scene with an unimpressed gaze. His fur is pale silver, marked with darker lines. His eyes are blue. None of us share the same mother. We all share the same father, Leonidas.
“How are you, Azlan?” Nyan pipes up, cheerful as ever. He deals with conflict by pretending it is not happening. His fur is dark and dense, and his eyes are a rich golden hue. He is the proverbial middle child.
“Why are you here?” I growl the question down at Kain, and then ask it again, looking up at my other brothers. “Why are any of you here?”
“When the alpha goes missing for a month, we go looking for him,” Kain says. “Tracked your ship here. Found you doing… What the hell are you doing?”
I ignore his question.
“You landed your ships in the middle of Ava’s crops. Move them. Now.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she sighs from behind me. “It’s too late in the season to replant.”
“It does matter. Move the ships. And then have the decency to wait in them while I deal with my mate.”
Ava
“Deal with me?”
No sooner have I asked the question than Azlan spins around, snatches my great-great grandfather’s gun out of my hand, and practically marches me inside the house.
Behind us, the Leonids, who I guess are his brothers, are going back to their ships with the intention of doing as he told them to. It’s kind of impressive how Azlan inspires obedience in them.
I have a terrible feeling he is about to inspire the same obedience in me, though how he plans to achieve that is yet to be seen.
He shuts the front door and releases me inside the house.
“You should have listened to me.”
He rounds on me fiercely, more stern than he has ever been with me before. I feel myself react, but not with fear. With excitement.
“Excuse me?” I give him a look that tells him I’m not going to roll over and show him my tummy like his brother did. I am absolutely buzzing with adrenaline, ready for a fight. When I saw that other Leonid come for me, I got a taste of how fucking dangerous they can really be. He moved so quickly and was so large it felt like I didn’t have time to get a second shot off. He damn near killed me. If it wasn’t for Azlan coming over my head like a goddamn hero, that would have been it for me.
Azlan has come to a similar conclusion, and he’s mad about it. “You ran out with a weapon and almost got yourself killed. You were reckless. You were foolish. And if I had been even a fraction of a second later, I would have come out to see your lifeless body being rag-dolled by Kain.”
“I might have gotten another shot off.”
There was no way I was getting another shot off.
Azlan’s leonine features perform a contortion of annoyance. “Is that better? You might have murdered my brother instead?”
“He would have had it coming.”
He growls under his breath. “You’re not wrong, but we are not talking about Kain. I am talking about you. You need to let me take the lead on these things. And you need to never, ever pick up this weapon again. It’s more dangerous to you than anyone else. Understand me?” He shakes the gun.