A Bite of Magick

by Rhyannon Byrd

  “If you’ll excuse me,” he said in a hurried rush, bowing to the Council as he quickly made his way to the door with long, purpose-filled strides. Loud voices called out to him, but by the time he reached the hallway he was already running. There was a savage desperation in his soul to hold her in his arms, to come into her body, hard and deep and strong, and then, at that perfect point of penetration, he’d tell her everything that was in his heart. All of it. Every single goddamn feeling and emotion rioting to life inside of him.

  His long legs carried him quickly through the ancient house, and it was with a great, rushing breath that he blasted into the library—the lock falling open beneath the force of his power, the door banging against the wall twice before coming to a stop, he’d thrown it open so swiftly—only to draw to a skidding, painful stop.

  She was gone.

  Fucking gone!

  Kieran stalked to the table where a handwritten note lay waiting, already knowing what it would say, his heart raging at the risk she had taken, palms itching to turn her over his knee and spank her into submission for the rest of his bloody days. He scanned the neat script, feeling that tender place in his soul that she inhabited rip open, bleeding and raw with terror.

  Fear clawed at the back of his throat, his feet already carrying him quickly out the door, down the hall, back to his family.

  Goddamn it, he was going to need all the bloody help he could get.

  He burst into the study like a furious force of rage, the wind rushing behind him in a powerful surge, scattering the Council’s scrolls like snowflakes in a storm.

  Iain immediately gained his feet, black eyes dark with worry. “What’s happened?”

  “She’s gone,” Kieran snarled.

  “What?”

  “She’s fucking gone, Da! Shit, you were supposed to be keeping your eye on her. I thought you had this fucking place protected.”

  “It canna be,” Iain argued. “Nothing can enter across my shields!”

  “No, but they can bloody well leave,” he growled, shoving Té’s note toward his father, already scrolling for Blu’s number on his cell.

  “Donald, call Dugan. Tell him I need him at the Parkinson’s Brewery on 21st—now. Tell him to bring Lach and Mal, too.”

  “I dinna believe it,” Iain stammered, shaking his head as his eyes scanned the letter. “She bamboozled me, that sneaky little bitch.”

  Donald was already dialing Dugan’s number as Kieran narrowed his eyes on his father, waiting for Blu to answer the ringing of his phone. “I’m telling her you said that when I find her,” he warned on his way to the door. “Trust me, old man—that’ll be punishment enough for letting her get away.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The taxi had delivered her to the address not ten minutes ago, but already Té was questioning her sanity. Was she crazy for doing this? What if Kieran didn’t find the letter she’d left for him until it was too late? Why had she placed such faith in the feeling that he would check on her again before leaving—that he wouldn’t leave his father’s without attempting to ease the dispute between them one last time?

  Hell, what if he was so angry he didn’t even bother with a rescue?

  Maybe it was foolish, but she hadn’t had a choice. Damn it, he hadn’t left her with any. She couldn’t just sit by while he went out and risked his life for her, night after night, never knowing when or if he would fall into one of Lexi’s deadly traps. She had no doubt that Kieran could annihilate the bastard one-on-one, but neither did she expect Lexi to fight fair. No, he was a bully, and bullies always cheated.

  She’d had to do this—she only hoped Kieran would understand why when he found her.

  And please, God, let it be in time.

  Already she was treading onto some treacherous territory. The brawny blond paced before her, fists clenched at his sides, his goons standing guard just outside the brewery’s private offices. She stood before him, head held high, while his gloating face stared down at her, promising all the twisted retribution of his arrogant wrath. She’d rung Lexi’s service using Iain’s library line and had her “urgent” call put through to his private number. But he’d known the moment she sneered away from his greeting embrace that her ploy on the phone had been a lie—known she had no intention of “discussing” their reconciliation. He was furious at her deceit, and God only knew what his reaction would be when he finally discovered that she’d left the brewery’s address for Kieran, leading the McKendricks to his hideout.

  True, she could have just as simply searched Kieran out and given him the address, letting him deal with Maldari on his own—but she hadn’t been able to do it. She needed to be here—needed to be sure of what was happening or she would have gone out of her ever-loving mind. And the blunt truth of the matter was that she deserved to be a part of this. Kieran may be a devastatingly powerful warrior, but she wasn’t useless. Her role in this little scenario may be no more than as decoy and diversion, damn it, but she was going to see it through to the end.

  She only prayed her duplicity didn’t completely occur to the malicious ass who’d once been her lover, before her new lover came charging to her rescue.

  If he came charging to her rescue.

  No, she couldn’t let herself think that way, because she knew that he would. She trusted him to save her—even if it was from herself—and in her heart, she knew she’d done the right thing. Her beautiful wolf was probably going to kill her for it when he finally got his hands on her, but that was a battle she’d deal with when the time came.

  Right now, her only worry was keeping Lexi distracted until Kieran arrived, and the best way to do that was to attack that which he held most dear—his insufferable ego. Only someone as arrogant as Lexi would have given her the address to this place, never guessing that she would lead his enemies to his den. Either that, or he was simply too stupid to realize that when it came to the McKendricks, his “borrowed” powers were no match for their superior strength and abilities.

  “Where’s your pathetic little wand?” she laughed. “Come on, Lex, aren’t you going to try to enrapture me with your beauty again?”

  “Wand?” he scoffed, the smooth perfection of his brow marred by a confused frown. “Sorry, but this isn’t Harry Potter, love.”

  “I’m not, nor was I ever, your love.” Her voice was hard…cool…controlled, betraying not one ounce of her fear.

  He stepped closer, dressed in a cable-knit sweater and designer jeans, looking like something out of a fashion magazine, every blond curl on his head in perfect placement. Behind the fly of his jeans, there was an obvious bulge that quite simply made her want to gag.

  “You may not be my love, but you were my fuck, weren’t you, beautiful Bronté?” He reached out and stroked her cheek, smiling when she flinched beneath his caressing touch. “Tell me, have you told your overgrown pup how loud you used to scream for me? How you used to leave scratches down my back from coming so hard beneath my pounding body?” His eyes narrowed as if in memory, one finger tracing the delicate line of her jaw. “In fact, I’ve still got a few of the scars to prove it, sweetheart.”

  Her lip curled in disgust, head jerking away from his sickening touch, though she stood her ground. “And here I thought you needed a spell to make a woman come.” His baby blues widened at her words, clearly showing his surprise. “Yeah, I’m sure you’d be amazed at the things I’ve learned about your kind, Lexi. Seems that lust spells are the only way you Gan Bhrí can get it up these days, eh?”

  He jerked his hand high, raising it as if to strike out, but she only laughed, no longer afraid of him and his pathetic threats. “Oh, and just in case you were wondering,” she drawled with a wide grin, clucking her tongue. “Kieran makes me cream with no more than a look.”

  He garbled out some kind of strangled sound of fury, and her head snapped to the side as his palm smacked strongly across the right side of her face, nearly knocking her to the ground. She almost gagged from the rush of blinding pain
, but choked it back with a mouthful of pride, determined not to give him the satisfaction.

  Breathing deeply through her nose, Té looked up at him from beneath her brows and forced a small chuckle past the tight line of her lips. “Wow, considering your reaction to that bit of news, you probably don’t want to know what that big, beautiful thing between his legs does to me.” And though her face hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, she shivered, her body trembling with a delicious blend of remembered sensation. Hell, if she died, at least she’d go knowing that she’d just enjoyed the most amazing twenty-four hours of her life. “He fucks me so good—I swear I can hardly walk afterwards.”

  There was no warning this time, though she knew it was coming. Just a blur of movement and then his fist arcing high through the air, and the next thing she knew her head cracked so hard to the left she was amazed her neck didn’t break. Within seconds there was a warm, metallic taste in her mouth and she knew he’d busted her lip with that one.

  She groaned beneath her breath. Oh man, Kieran was going to be so pissed at her for this.

  Lexi’s hand fisted in the back of hair, jerking her face up to his, and she sneered up at him, letting the full force of her hatred blaze from her pain-dazed eyes. “Tell me, sweetheart, does he make you take it like an animal?” he snarled, spittle spraying her face as he forced his words out in a raging blast of fury. “Does he fuck you with his animal’s cock while you’re on your knees like his little whore?”

  Aching, she struggled to push the words out, but her lips burned numb with pain. His hand suddenly cracked across the left side of her face with more force than before, her lip splitting further beneath the pressure—and from somewhere inside the blackness of her mind, she could have sworn she heard Kieran’s low snarl. Thank God. Much more of this and she’d find herself kneeing the asshole in his nuts, which would surely bring his goons rushing to his rescue. Smiling, she raised her face to look up at the real monster before her.

  “I asked you a question, bitch.”

  “Yessss,” she hissed, the throbbing in her jaw making it damn near impossible to speak. “He fucks me better than you and your pathetic spells could’ve ever hoped to. And you know what, Lex?” She ran her tongue over her top lip, tasting her blood, knowing Kieran could scent it on the air. She could feel his rage, the threatening force all but knocking her over as she struggled to stay upright—and she knew he was near. “He really knows how to lick, too.”

  Lexi’s eyes narrowed to nothing more than sinister slits. “Does he now?”

  “Yeah,” she whispered, her lips curling in a satisfied, blood-smeared smile. “And in all the right places.”

  In the next instant, as if on cue, she heard a deep, rumbling growl on the other side of the door, followed by a series of gargling, high-pitched screams from Lexi’s men—then nothing but deadly silence. Another second passed and what once had been a solid oak door splintered into two broken pieces. And there he was, looking more terrifying than she could have ever imagined.

  Jesus Christ. It was the first time she’d seen him in his full-blown wolf form, standing over seven feet tall, and Té felt her heart begin a mad little dance of awed fascination.

  Lexi jerked around, eyeing Kieran, his pretty features twisted into a mask of maniacal hatred…and what was beginning to resemble a very reasonable panic. “So this is your new little lapdog, Bronté?” he snorted, though his voice quivered with uncertainty.

  “Isn’t he beautiful?” She flashed the blond a gloating smile. “And unless I’m mistaken, Lex, you look like his midnight snack.”

  Kieran set his silver gaze on the Gan Bhrí and curled his upper lip with a low snarl, letting the abusive bastard see the gleaming length of his deadly incisors. With all the arrogance of his kind, Maldari lifted his thick arms and began an ancient chant in a futile attempt to use his borrowed power and blast his opponent with his evil—but it was of no use.

  Kieran took one long look at the battle-ready Gan Bhrí and then roared his outrage in a howling wave of wrath. One moment Lexi stood upon his two steady legs, prepared to fight, and in the next Kieran lifted his arm and with his power over the wind, hurled the hefty blond into the far corner of the office. The Gan Bhrí’s body slammed into the plastered wall with crushing force, ripping a pained cry from his mouth, the air around him churning with violent intensity.

  “Kieran,” Té called, reaching out to steady herself against the wooden desk at her back as the air inside the cold, utilitarian room continued to rip around their bodies, scattering papers across the scarred wooden floor.

  “Yes, angel?” came the deep, scratchy, entirely inhuman reply.

  Lach walked to her side and handed her a clean square of linen, which she used to dab at her mouth as the other McKendricks continued to stalk into the room behind her lover, their fierce expressions battle-ready and intent. “There’s something I’d like for you to do for me,” she drawled, voice so casual you’d have thought she was discussing nothing more interesting than the weather.

  Kieran nodded his lethal head, pointed ears back in preparation for his strike. “Anything you want, lass.”

  Her voice went deceptively soft, and Lexi slumped onto the floor, covering his head with his arms as he crouched down into a whimpering little ball, knowing exactly what was coming—understanding far too late that he was no match for the power of a McKendrick.

  Té jerked her head toward the now sniveling ass responsible for making the recent months of her life such a living hell, and smiled with deep, telling satisfaction. “Do me a favor, gorgeous, and take out the trash.”

  A slow smile of understanding curled Kieran’s beastly mouth. “My pleasure, love.” Dropping to all fours, Kieran prowled to the pitiful ball that Maldari made in the corner, big head low and menacing. When he was crouched before the Gan Bhrí, he made a deep, snarling noise in the back of his throat, and Lexi let out a high-pitched cry that nearly rattled the windows within their frames—the knowledge that he’d been bested pounding through his system in a nauseating tide of terror.

  “You’ll pay if you hurt me!” he threatened in a low, horror-filled voice that was muffled by his shielding arms. “There are those who will not allow my death to go unanswered.”

  Kieran merely grunted in response, the need to rip the bastard’s throat out burning in his belly, but he wouldn’t—couldn’t—kill before his woman. He threw back his beastly head and howled until the very foundation shook beneath their feet, enjoying the sheer terror he inflicted upon Maldari—a small payback for the hell he’d wrought upon Té.

  The howl was followed by three sharp blasts of air through his nostrils, and then he looked over his broad shoulder, knowing Dugan would be at his back, just like the rest of his cousins.

  McKendricks looked out for McKendricks…and they always would.

  Looking back to Maldari, who was staring at him from between his spread fingers, blue eyes terrified, Kieran leaned closer, not stopping until his snout was touching the man’s trembling hands. A sudden, acrid aroma filled the air, and he knew the bastard had actually pissed himself.

  “I’d take you apart myself,” he snarled, “but Té’s seen enough violence, thanks to you.” He leaned even closer, his fang-filled mouth right at Maldari’s ear, and whispered, for the Gan Bhrí’s ears alone, “So I’m going to let my cousin do it for me. And as an Enforcer, I’m sure you’ll appreciate Dugan’s skill with his blade—but no’ before you’ve told him everything we want to know.”

  Maldari made a choked, sobbing sound, and Kieran moved back, allowing Dugan to reach down and haul the trembling Gan Bhrí to his feet. With a deadly gleam in his dark green gaze, Dugan said, “You’re going to be sorry for raising your hand to one of our women, you useless piece of shit.” A slow smile curved the wide line of his mouth, as if he were actually looking forward to what lay ahead. “But first you and I are going to have a little heart-to-heart.”

  And with that parting promise, the two vanished from the spot, d
issolving into nothingness, though Maldari had not been aware of the spell that would deliver him to his doom, in a location of Dugan’s choosing.

  No—the arrogant Gan Bhrí had already fainted.

  * * * * *

  The moment they were gone, Kieran padded to Té on all fours, so much larger than she had imagined he would be in this form. She opened her arms to him, and he nudged her hand with his head, the dangerous, fanged muzzle pressing into the vulnerable, giving softness of her belly like a cat nuzzling into its owner.

  He could kill her in an instant, but she felt no fear. No, her only feelings were those of undeniable love and pride, and the heady beat of knowledge that he would be hers forever.

  Hers…and no other’s.

  For an eternity.

  And then the beast began to slip away, bones popping in an unmistakably painful crackle of sound, snapping in the suddenly eerie silence of the room. A sharp hissing of skin vibrated through the air, his original shape re-forming, and the man was reborn at her feet—shaky and nude, kneeling before her, the vulnerable fear in his eyes her complete undoing.

  He was so large she felt dwarfed in size, even though he was on his knees, cradling his head to her belly. So big and beautiful and achingly sexy, she just wanted to melt into him. Just pour over him in a wave of love and lust and promises until he’d taken her in—absorbed her into his pores, the rich flood of his blood, the very air that he breathed. She wanted to be pumped into the pounding beat of his heart. To feel the erotic catch of his breath. The savage surge of his arousal. All of him. She just wanted to sink inside and fill him with life—with love.

  Oh God…she loved him. Loved him so much it was almost more pain than pleasure as her heart experienced its own transformation. Feeling the world shift beneath her feet as the stars spun wildly out of control, she slid away from the woman she’d once been, slipping comfortably into her own new skin like a butterfly shedding its cocoon, born to a new creation. Power surged through her veins like a flash of heat, pumping heavily through her heart as she expanded with everlasting love and desire…and found a magic of her own in their indestructible power.