A Kingdom of Exiles (Outcast)

Frazer caught my Utem? as Tysion let out a wild, throat-tearing scream. It didn’t sway me. I had no mercy left in me.

Tysion panicked, dropping his sword to reach over his shoulders and grab for me. I leaned back, putting all my weight—all the strain—on the wing joints. Wilder had helped me perfect the move. But Tysion wasn’t half the warrior he was. He didn’t even try falling onto his back. Instead, the fae frantically spun and flapped his wings, snarling and screaming, “Get this bitch off me!”

Pathetic.

Adrianna yelled to Cai, “No! Cole’s mine. Take the other one.”

Cai answered with a laugh that was rough and abrupt, crashing to a halt.

“Your friends can’t help you now,” I hissed in Tysion’s ear.

He snarled savagely and began rocking, trying to buck me off.

Serena, let go now! An image shuddered down the bond. A vignette that showed Frazer’s bent knees, growing canines, and a sword primed for action.

I released his wings. Jumping off, I backed away. Tysion didn’t get a chance to turn his ire on me; Frazer barreled forward and pinned him to the ground with a hand to his throat and a sword aimed at his eye. His teeth extended, and he growled, “Call off your dogs.”

“You wouldn’t,” Tysion spat out, his eyes giving off sparks. “You don’t have the balls, you wingless freak.”

Frazer responded with a terrifying grin that had my blood freezing over. “You’re right, I won’t kill you. But if you think that’s the limit of my imagination …” He moved his arm up to dangle the Utem? over Tysion’s right wing. A scythe ready to fall, and a deadly warning.

Tysion bucked, wriggling like a hooked fish. Without pause, my kin stabbed down, piercing the bat-like membrane.

I flinched as Tysion gasped and choked on the pain.

“Enough,” my brother barked, his face paling.

Frazer’s revulsion of what he’d done sung down the bond and spiked my heart. I stepped closer to him.

My kin leaned in, his voice a sweet, threatening whisper. “Attack my pack again, and I’ll make you like me. A wingless ghost. A wretched thing.”

That had emotion swelling, closing my throat.

Tysion stilled, real fear etched into his face.

An undignified spluttering noise made me look up. Cai was standing at the roots of a tree, his inked hand raised in a fist so tight I could see the bones in his hand. Lucian stood in front of him, clawing at his own throat, struggling to breathe.

“Cai, should I be worried?” I tried for a light tone.

“Not at all,” he said. As cocky as ever. “Just waiting for this snowflake to pass out.”

I didn’t believe a single word. The strain of the magic was showing in every quiver of his body.

Lucian slumped to the floor, unconscious.

Frazer wrenched the sword out of Tysion’s wing only to snap down at him, “Call Cole off!”

Tysion refused to give the order. His eyes were alive with hate.

Cai had fallen to his knees, obviously spent, but he’d started crawling toward Adrianna, adamant about helping. Because Cole would not quit; like a cornered wolf, he circled Adrianna. It was still only arrows against sword.

I strode forward, intending to rush the bastard.

A hand clutched my shoulder, stopping and spinning me.

I shared a breath with Wilder.

“Leave it to Goldwyn,” he said, low and rough.

The hum of wings sounded behind me. I didn’t turn. Rooted to the spot, my heart skipped and pounded.

His grip on my shoulder grew tighter for just one heartbeat. Then he let his arm fall, and he side-stepped around me. I turned with him, watching as he gripped Frazer around the midriff and tossed him aside. Goldwyn landed with Liora in her arms. And while she helped her brother stand, our mentor viciously yanked Cole’s hair back and bit him. He didn’t struggle.

Save me from the world of the fae …

Wilder pulled Tysion up. I should’ve said something in Frazer’s defense, but the cloud of shock hadn’t shifted; neither had the sudden and demanding desire that crashed into my body upon seeing Wilder, so unexpectedly. How the hell did he do that to me?

Tysion was speaking, lying his ass off. “Master, I don’t know what the human told you, but they attacked first.” He jabbed his finger at Frazer, who was now standing. “He stabbed my wing—”

The sound of a loud smack rang in my ears as Wilder’s fist crashed into Tysion’s face. “Save the sniveling for Dimitri. The rest of your pack is with him now. He isn’t best pleased that you failed your trial.”

Tysion grimaced as he held the side of his face. “Please,” he began hoarsely, “we have time.”

Wilder was a statue. “We gave you clear instructions: no using weapons on the hostage, no sabotaging the pack’s quest.”

“They attacked first. It was self-defense.”

“Liar,” I growled.

Tysion’s teeth snapped down as he turned on me. “Mad bitch. You’ll be gone by sundown. You nearly ripped my wings off—”

Wilder’s reply was instant. Faster than a blink, he grabbed one of Tysion’s elongated canines and pulled him in, nose to nose. He whispered something outside my hearing, but whatever it was made Tysion blanch. He was almost trembling.

Shoving him away, Wilder raised his voice. “You’ll be given an opportunity to explain your actions to Dimitri, but as far as your trial goes, that ends now. Pray that another group fails too, or else you’re gone. For now, you can walk back to camp.”

The last of Tysion’s fury and spite drained away, leaving behind a nauseated-looking ghost. Wilder turned his back, dismissing him in the same heartbeat. A fae custom.

Tysion’s injured wing twitched and crumpled to his side. He whirled around and stomped back to camp. Goldwyn ordered Cole to follow in the footsteps of his disgraced leader. After another bloodless bite to the neck, Lucian was sent packing too.

Wilder faced Frazer, staring him down. “You were stupid for marking his wing. Dimitri will use it as an excuse to let them off and demand your dismissal. Goldwyn and I will stand for you this time, but don’t expect us to be so lenient in the future.” Wilder’s eyes held pure dominance.

I opened my mouth, ready to argue.

Leave it be, siska.

My brother dipped his head. “I won’t be so stupid again. You have my word.”

Wilder frowned, crossing his arms. “You’re speaking. After all this time … What changed?”

Frazer’s gaze flickered to me. Only for a second, but it was enough. Wilder tracked his line of sight and found me. He blinked, his eyes widening. The tiniest sign of shock. His nostrils flared delicately. Something dark and unnameable distorted his features. The scars on his face deepened, making them somehow more menacing than before. Stars, was he taking in our merged—our bonded—scents?

Goldwyn called out, “I’m taking Cai back. He’s still too weak to walk. Adrianna’s flying Liora, are you—”

Wilder blurred, lifting me into his arms in one fluid movement.

Goldwyn smirked over at him. “Don’t take too long. We need to get to Hilda before Dimitri’s had too long to whine in her ear.”

Goldwyn promptly took to the skies with Cai in her arms. Adrianna followed with Liora. As Wilder’s wings opened, he looked to Frazer. “You will walk.”

A flat, cold command.

A mewl of protest escaped me as we shot upward. I glanced down, but barely caught a glimpse before my eyes had to close to avoid being scratched out by groping twigs. After we’d burst free from the canopy, however, I glared up at Wilder. “Take me back.”

“No.”

A face of granite. Fine. Rutting fantastic.

Neither of us talked on the flight back. Two iron wills at odds, embattled. What was he thinking? Frazer was alone; Tysion was near. My mind ticked, ticked, ticked. I peered over Wilder’s shoulder to scan the now distant forest.

“Don’t even think about it,” Wilder growled in my ear.

“About what?”

“Going back for him.”

My body tensed. “I wasn’t.” A lie.

His reply was a growl. “You keep looking back there.”

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