She gave her cougar free rein, embracing the joy as she moved across the ground at an intense speed, reveling in the thrill of the chase, and the anticipation of the fight to come. She watched as Nyx ran toward her, his eyes gleaming with a madness as he changed into his animal. Her cougar snarled her intent to the world as she neared her prey, a sound that echoed off the trees and mountains that surrounded the clearing.
The bastard hyena had taken something from her that day, something she hadn’t even known she could lose. He had taken her animal from her, and with that, he had taken a small piece of who she was at the same time. Despite the fact that once the handcuffs were removed she was immediately able to sense her cougar, and knew she hadn’t lost her forever, Kat never got that small piece of herself back. Now was the time to rectify that.
And she’d be taking it back bathed in that fucker’s blood.
The two animals slammed into each other. Kat used her powerful back legs and flexible spine to twist up and over the hyena, and swipe her paws along both his flanks, reveling in the scent of coppery blood that burst into the air at her move. Landing on all fours, aware of the sounds of battle exploding all around her as her mates joined the fight, she dropped into a crouch, hissing at Nyx and waiting for his move.
Hyenas usually fought as a pack, tending to herd their prey, attacking them in waves until they were eventually able to bring them down and overpower them. On his own, she knew that Nyx would attempt to use brute strength and aggression against her. She would wait for him to come at her, getting in as many swipes as she could, bleeding him until he made a fatal mistake and left his throat exposed. Then she was going to rip it out.
She and Nyx fought like that for a while, both of them getting in a few good hits, both of them bleeding, but Kat was happy to see that he bled a hell of a lot more than she did. Breathing heavily, she stalked to the side, watching and waiting for her enemy’s next move.
Which turned out to be the mistake she was waiting for. Nyx charged, and Kat bunched her muscles in preparation. When the hyena stretched, reaching to grab her flank in his jaws, she struck, using every ounce of preternatural speed she had to launch herself up and twist, to bring her body out of harm’s way. Despite her speed, she felt the slice of teeth against her flank that told her Nyx had almost caught her. But it was too late for him. His neck was stretched out right before her, and she was able to clamp her jaws around that vulnerable area, and bite down.
Nxy went wild, scrambling, screaming his displeasure, twisting and raking her with his sharp claws in an attempt to dislodge her and save his worthless life. But it was too little, too late. She bit down, again and again, the bitter taste of his blood filling her mouth, but she refused to let go. She continued to apply pressure even after Nyx seemed to submit to the inevitable, slumping to the ground so that she was able to maneuver her body over his, guarding her prey. She continued to hold on even after she suspected he had taken his last breath.
She only let go when she heard Aeron grunt and turned quickly to make sure he was okay. He had just dispatched his Underfae and had dropped the big bastard to the ground, and a quick check told her that Alak was close to killing his—the beast was missing both his arms. Alak charged the behemoth, and in a lighting quick move, he flipped over him. When he landed on the ground in a graceful crouch, Kat saw that he held the decapitated head of the Underfae. He tossed it aside as he stood up.
Aeron suddenly whirled, muttering words she had no idea what they meant, but from the tone he used and the expression on his handsome face, she figured he was cursing at something in the distance behind her.
When she turned her head to look in that direction, she would have cursed, too, if she could in her human form. Apparently, Nyx and his two little friends hadn’t come alone. Seven more Underfae moved out of the forest and in their direction.
“It would appear their master decided to send reinforcements,” Alak growled as he moved to stand at Kat’s left side, Aeron immediately taking her right. This was going to get ugly, and the odds were not in their favor, but by the Gods she was going to fight with everything in her to end these bastards.
All three of them turned at the explosion of light to the left of their position, and Kat couldn’t tell who was more shocked, her and her mates, or the seven bastards who ground to a halt when a wave of cougars and wolves burst into the clearing. It would seem that Dark Furae wasn’t the only Goddess getting her portal on at this battle. Her pard and the Vancouver Pack had come to swing the odds completely in their favor.
The fight was over before it even started. Before Kat, Alak, and Aeron had time to step into the newly formed fray, the wolves and cougars had surrounded and trapped the enemy. Katrina, still filled with bloodlust, relished the sounds of tearing flesh and quickly cut-off cries of pain, the shifters all having been schooled on how to quickly dispatch the beasts without coming into contact with their poison. It was done, the enemy defeated … at least for now. And even if the possible other sister-Goddess chose to send more minions, it was clear that the Dark and Light Fae Goddesses would intervene as well.
Kat shifted into her human form and was quickly covered up with Alak’s shirt. Unfortunately, she had no time to ogle her mate’s naked chest due to the fact that a lone figure in the far-off distance caught her attention. He was definitely Underfae, though not as large as the corrupted bear-like beasts. He looked more like he was once a Dark Fae man. He inclined his head and stared at her and then at the scene before him. He seemed curious, but something about him felt non-threatening, at least toward their group at the moment.
He simply nodded, then turned and walked away.
“Did you see that?” she asked her mates.
Aeron nodded. “I don’t think he was with the others.”
“And he did not appear to be upset that his kind were defeated,” Alak added.
Aeron seemed to ponder for a moment before he spoke. “Perhaps not all of our Underfae brothers and sisters are lost to us then. Maybe there is hope to redeem or heal some?”
“One could only hope, brother.”
Suddenly, Aeron and Alak gave a slight jerk, causing panic to rise in Katrina, but as if sensing her distress, Aeron gently placed his arm around her and said, “Do not be concerned, love. We just felt the force of whatever Dark Furae put over this area being lifted. Our magic has returned.”
“Good,” Gabe said, walking over to them in human form. “Now we can get back to the house and start planning how to take this dark bitch down. And we’ve also got a whole bunch of bears arriving shortly.”
With her mates’ powers and Aeron’s full strength returned, no assistance from the Goddesses was needed to return to the pack house. Aeron and Alak opened up a portal, sending everyone through in groups. Once arrived, Katrina and the twins began swapping information with Gabe, Braxas, and Corrine.
The Goddess Rysanna had come to Corrine in a vision and told her about Dark Furae being the leader of the Underfae. Alak and Aeron had filled in what was left out in Rysanna’s haste to get aid sent to Karina and her men. Gabe and Braxas had been keeping the Alpha of the bears, Booker, in the loop, and it was decided that their presence here was needed if they were to all have a chance of defeating this new and the most dangerous threat Fae and shifter-kind had ever faced.
Shifters, Light and Dark Fae, and even the Goddesses would all have to fight together, for otherwise the world around them would be forever altered by this evil.
“I’m proud of you, Kat,” Braxas said, placing his hand on her shoulder. “And honored to have you as my Beta.”
Alak and Aeron had beamed with pride as they told her Alpha how bravely and valiantly she had fought and won against one of her former captors.
“At every turn, no matter what was thrown at her, she acted and reacted like a soldier, like a leader,” Alak had said.
“Despite how much my brother and I had stubbornly wanted to keep her out of harm’s way,” Aeron had added. “I think she sav
ed us, too.”
The last part was added so quietly, that had it not been for shifter hearing, she was sure no one in the room would have heard it. The truth was, physically, she had healed from all of her wounds, but the mental ones had lingered. She had to fight her own demons and slay them, but she finally realized that she didn’t have to do it alone. And she’d won … defeated them all by finding the strength within herself, the strength her mates had helped her find.
Kat had always been brave, brazen even, in the face of a fight, but she had been scared to face the turmoil inside herself. She even thought herself a coward for it and nearly drowned in the sorrow of her own darkness. Never again. And if there was hope for her, maybe there was hope left for at least some of the enemy like the stranger in the field.
That was a problem for a different day though. She looked around the room at her pard, her pack, and lastly, to her mates and felt hope that they would all be victorious. They had to be. She was finally feeling whole again, and the two men beside her were the loves of her life, something else she never thought she would find. There was no way some jilted, twisted sister was going to take that away from her.
Katrina would never stop fighting for the chance to have forever with her mates.
Epilogue
“Yes! Harder … please, please … harder!”
Aeron looked down at his flushed mate’s face and felt his desire swell even more from her sexy pleas. He could not refuse her, and his own body desperately craved release. He took her mouth in a fiery kiss before sitting up on his haunches and shifting her legs over his shoulders in the process. He drove into her, thrusting faster and harder as she requested. Her beautiful round breasts bounced and swayed with the motion until Alak swooped down on them and began lavishing his attention. He couldn’t blame his brother. There wasn’t an inch on their mate that was not inviting.
Her breasts came into full view again when Alak shifted his position to kneel by Katrina’s head. She eagerly took him into her mouth, hollowing in her cheeks and taking him as deep as she could go. Alak sweetly cupped her cheek as she pleasured him. Aeron knew all too well how her plump lips felt around his own cock. She had quickly learned his weak spots and often used it to bring him to his knees, expertly twirling her tongue and sucking him down until he would nearly pass out.
Right now, though, her sweet pussy gripped him tightly. That, along with her deep and sexy moans around his brother’s shaft, told him she was close. He wrapped his arms around her legs and continued to plunge in hard, but slowing down his strokes so that he could stay in her depths longer.
Finally, he felt her quiver around him, her legs shook, and then he threw his head back and roared out his own release. As he emptied inside her, he heard Alak call out Katrina’s name as if she were a prayer on his lips.
Their mate was an answered prayer, he thought, one he never even knew he sent up to the Goddess. Never before had he and Alak ever faced a threat they weren’t confident they could eventually defeat or at the very least immobilize, but the Dark Furae, even without her army, was most likely the third Goddess sister, one with forbidden powers, whose poisonous wound needed two powerful Goddesses to heal.
He and Alak collapsed beside their cherished mate, all three sated for the moment. They had everything to lose now and somehow needed to find the strength to make sure they wouldn’t. Even the power of a wayward Goddess would not separate the three of them. He vowed it.
“A girl could get used to waking up like this every morning,” Katrina said with a smile, her voice still raspy from a combination of sleep and crying out during their activities.
Alak laughed. “So could her men.”
“I love you both so much,” she said fiercely. Aeron heard the emotion thick in her voice. He’d never tire of hearing her say those words to him.
He’d also never tire of saying them back to her. “As we love you, my dragon.” He kissed her lips just as Alak stated his own sentiment to her.
Aeron waggled his brows at Alak. “I believe someone has to go make breakfast.”
Katrina giggled as Alak grumbled getting out of bed, and then she burst into hysterics—a sound sweeter than music to his ears—when Alak threw a pillow at the both of them. It wasn’t the making breakfast part that had Alak grousing at them, but the fact that Aeron and Katrina kept implying the reason behind it—coming in last with his kill.
Neither he nor Alak minded making their lady breakfast in bed, though. In fact, when the month was up, he’d look forward to preparing those meals for her as well, just as he had enjoyed their domestic moments of the three of them cooking dinner together these past two weeks. He wondered how he and Alak had ever managed to live without her. She fit seamlessly into their lives, making it far richer than he could have ever dreamed of.
After breakfast, Aeron had graciously offered to clean up while Katrina and Alak showered together. He did, after all, get some extra quality time while Alak had prepared breakfast. A soft knock at the door came just as he was finishing up.
“Aneena,” he said in greeting, giving his cousin a kiss on the cheek. He stepped aside and motioned for her to come in. “Is everything all right?” He noticed she looked unusually flustered.
“Yes…” She hesitated for a brief moment, as if she wanted to add something else. “Yes. Everything is fine. I’m not disturbing you, am I? I thought I would walk over with you to the council meeting.”
Aeron gestured for Aneena to sit down at the dining table, and he sat down beside her, taking her hand in his. “I sense something is troubling you. Please tell me so that I may help.”
“N-nothing is troubling me, Aeron. I assure you.”
Aeron sighed. “The meeting is tomorrow.” He and Alak planned to brief the village on all they had learned with regards to the battle ahead now that they had information. “Is today not your time with the Queen of the Light Fae and her children?”
Aneena blushed, causing Aeron to be even more confused at her disconcerted state. “Lady Eyrica, her mates, and the twins were all in the human realm.”
“You know you are most welcome at the pack house.” He was sure Gabe, Braxas, and Corrine would not have minded her doing lessons with the children there.
“Oh, yes. I was there. I just l-left early.” Again, a blush bloomed on her cheeks, even deeper this time. “There was too much activity going on … a lot of extra guests.”
Aeron nodded. He had told Aneena as much weeks ago. They would be fighting this war with many allies on their side. “Was anyone unwelcoming toward you?”
His cousin shook her head slowly. “No. Not at all.” She took a deep breath. “There were bears…” she trailed off on a whisper.
The End
www.elenakincaid.com
www.maiadylan.com
www.sarahmarshfiction.com
If you enjoyed this book, you may also like:
Calling All Villains by James Cox
Arctic Spirit by Elena Kincaid
Their Chance at Redemption by Maia Dylan
EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
Fighting Faete Page 12