“Then you want war.”
“No,” Alfred said. “But if you bring it, you should understand that you will not walk away alive from it. If any of yours come after what is mine, it will be the end of you.”
Cyril took one step forward, and Rogue dropped from the trees, his whole body unfolding from his owl form to land in the grass without a whisper of sound escaping him.
Furious, Cyril shot a look from one to the other. But Alfred just gazed at him evenly. “You wanted my attention. Now you have it. Touch any of mine, and you will regret it. I have long wanted to repair this rift between us all, but I will sow the earth with your bones before I allow you to lay even a breath on Fiona.”
Even anticipating it, Maddox wasn’t quite ready for the shock of lightning being flung in all directions. It zapped him, pain lighting up every nerve ending as it danced over him and into Fin. He barely had a chance to brace at the second volley. A crash of sound thundered through the trees, and he didn’t have to look to know Cyril had called in his forces or that Alfred had already engaged.
They crashed through the trees as Alfred drove him back. Fuck, that lightning hurt.
Rogue shot a look toward him that wasn’t hard to read. Get Fiona out of here before he turned and took on the mob coming for them. Fin faced the other way, his magic already coming to fill his hands with fire, even as a windstorm lashed out to knock the vamps off their feet.
Vampires.
Hordes of them.
Maddox reached for his dragon but paused when the hands on his back vanished.
“Kitten,” he snarled, but Alfred sailed through the air to hit the dirt and slid thirty feet, kicking up rocks, dirt, and debris before he slammed into a tree and it cracked from the force of his impact.
He caught the ancient oak as it toppled on him with one hand, and then flung it like a javelin at Cyril, who charged after him.
The other barely avoided being hit and tumbled into the grass as he ducked. But the worst thing that Maddox could imagine happened when Cyril snapped his head up and Fiona appeared in front of him, blazing white hot with shadowy looking wings extending from her back as though cast by her own light.
Wild.
Beautiful.
Perfect.
So not the fucking time.
Dammit, Kitten.
She faced off against one of the Seven, and Maddox had zero doubt she intended to fight.
Chapter 5
“They chose me, but I’m keeping them.” - Anonymous
Fiona
I didn’t know who the dick was, but based on Maddox and Fin’s reactions, it couldn’t have been anyone good. Maddox shoving me behind him had been the tiniest bit insulting. I mean, I’d just broken into the prison by myself and staged a rescue. Pretty badass if you asked me, course…they hadn’t asked me.
Fine, fine. He was protective, and the growl pulsing along the mating bond was all kinds of hot. Even more, it turned my insides all soft and mushy. Not my favorite state to be in when standing on the edge of a prison, covered in gore, while my pants lay in shreds somewhere inside.
I’d told him over and over, succubi didn’t mate. But I wasn’t just a succubus anymore. I was very much his mate. He was mine. So was Fin.
When Fin crowded right up to my back and pressed me into Maddox, I thought nothing of it. Nor did I think anything of the tingles of magic fluttering over me like a cloak settling on my shoulders. Fin’s hands were warm, the breath of his kiss against my nape silken. I’d closed my eyes and sank into his touch, and just like that, the whole world had muffled. If not for my hands on Maddox’s scorching hot back, I would have thought I’d turned into a ghost.
Fucking creepy ass feeling.
I could hear them, but it was clear after my first spontaneous, “Fuck you, buddy,” they couldn’t hear me. Or see me. I started making faces and cracking myself up. Okay, not so much, but I did stick my tongue out at the asshat a few times. Not asshole, asshat. The Asshole was mine, and this guy? He was just a dick.
Then Alfred and Rogue were there, and my heart fluttered. I hadn’t seen either of them in a week. Yes, there was a little bit of trepidation. Alfred was bound to be furious with me. Then he said, “The answer is no. She’s my queen. She goes nowhere.”
Fuck me.
“Then you want war.”
“No,” Alfred said. “But if you bring it, you should understand that you will not walk away alive from it. If any of yours come after what is mine, it will be the end of you.”
Possession swarmed through me, and the bite mark where Alfred had sealed my transition flared with warmth, the sensation of his lips passing over it. He knew I was here, and the stupidest smile pulled at my lips. Thankfully, whatever Fin’s magic had done to me kept my expression hidden. My asshole didn’t need to see me looking at him all dopey and lovestruck.
Nope, he did not—
What the actual fuck?
Lightning exploded out of the dick, and it hit them all, including my dragon. The power of it shivered over him like eddies in a storm and then grounded without ever touching me. There was another wave of them, and then Alfred crashed into the dick and they vanished.
All hell broke loose.
Or heaven, I guessed, in this case.
This guy had to be one of the Seven, because he actually met Alfred swing for swing. There were vampires everywhere. Ice and fire flew as Fin and Rogue launched into the melee, but Maddox stayed right where he was, protecting me. Even though I’d dug my fingers into him, an intense rage I couldn’t define slammed through me when Alfred skidded through the clearing and his whole body cracked into a tree.
No.
Just fuck no.
I let go of Maddox and stalked across the clearing, aware of the tingles bristling over me. Fin’s magic itched now, as though clinging like static to my skin. A huge tree sailed past me, and the asshat ducked as it nearly caught him in the face.
Pity that.
It should have.
I felt more than heard Maddox’s growled, “Kitten,” but as much as I loved him, the rage demanded I act. With a shiver, like I was trying to shake off water, I shed Fin’s cloak, and all the sounds in the clearing—the shrieks of attacking vampires, the sudden cutoff cries of the dying ones, the crackle of flames, the sharp smash of ice, and the crunch of bones—echoed through the air.
More, I could smell blood and fear. Maybe it shouldn’t have surprised me that the fear came from the asshat. Fear and fury.
Right back atcha, buddy.
His dark eyes kindled as they locked on me, and I braced my stance. If he landed a hit, it would probably hurt. So the plan was don’t let him hit me.
Though I’d take that if it meant he didn’t hit any of my guys with that lightning again, or throw Alfred into any more trees.
Eyes narrowing, what’s-his-face—sorry, I wasn’t listening when they said his name, or they didn’t say it and I sure as fuck wasn’t calling him ‘my lord’—glared at me. “Succubus.” The pupils in his dark eyes seemed to retract to pinpricks, or maybe it was the sudden flaring light in the clearing. Fortunately, it didn’t bother my eyes in the slightest.
“Fuckface.”
He frowned and his hand moved like a blur, but Alfred was suddenly there between us and he thrust the other away. “Hellion,” he said without looking at me. “Go with Maddox.”