Peeling back my lips, I growled deep in my throat. I refused to let him cow me in any way. His eyes flashed in the moonlight. Rage fueled him. Without hesitating, he flung himself at me again.
I snarled and snapped, driving him back with my fangs bared in his face. He didn’t let up, coming at me again and again. My back end was up against the tree. There was nowhere I could go and nothing I could do but fight back to the best of my ability.
We both fought so hard, yet, we were doing little more than battering one another. I was somewhat surprised to find the other wolf merely watching and waiting. If they’d taken me on together, I might not have stood a chance. As it was, Dylan was going for the respectful Alpha-to-Alpha combat. Or, so I thought until he shifted back to human form.
That was when the other wolf snapped into action. He came at me from the side, drawing my attention to him while Dylan grabbed me around the throat with strong hands. The way they moved together, so calculating and precise, told me this was likely a tactic they used often. My disgust grew.
“Shift,” Dylan growled into my face. “We’re going to have a little conversation before I tear your throat out, Ms. O’Brien.”
He wanted me to shift so he could kill me? That was disturbing. I didn’t want to be naked and exposed with him, but that would be irrelevant when he was dead. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it, but as his grip tightened, cutting off my air supply, I didn’t have a lot of options.
The inability to breathe sent me into a frenzy. I thrashed around violently, shifting back to human form. The power that was subdued in wolf form came rushing to the surface, bursting forth from me like my body was over capacity, and it could not be held in.
It threw both men off their feet with more force than either of them had expected. I sucked in my breath, my mind racing to determine my next move. The brown wolf recovered fast, scrambling to his feet. Envisioning him trapped within a circle of energy, I directed the flow of power with my palms, and it happened.
He leaped into the side of the energy circle, hitting as if leaping into a brick wall.
Good. That allowed me to focus on Dylan who was rapidly getting to his feet. I kept my eyes on his face, careful not to acknowledge his nudity.
He looked pissed. Rubbing his hip, his hand came away bloodied due to his fall on the hard packed snow. Oops.
“You protect a known murderess!” His voice boomed through the forest, and I cringed. It seemed so wrong to be human here where animals belonged. “You are no better than she. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
Crossing my arms over my br**sts, I glared hard. “And, you’re a f**king trespasser in my town. You have no right to come here and tell me how to run things. Zoey Roberts can be punished without being killed.”
Dylan’s eyes widened, and he huffed. “You’re as goddamn deranged as she is. She murdered my family, people who were there to protect her. That is unforgiveable.”
He seemed to be keeping a cautious distance. I don’t know what I was waiting for.
The blue and gold energy that swirled around my fingertips reached for him. It seemed to have a mind of its own.
“Something like you,” Dylan said, taking a menacing step toward me. “Shouldn’t be allowed to live. You’re as bad as she is. A mix that never should have been.”
“Fuck you.” The power jumped as I spat the words. A cut appeared beneath Dylan’s left eye, slowly dripping blood down his rugged face. I licked my lips hungrily at the sight of it.
The breath he sucked in was shaky despite his continuing forward motion. “Last chance. Give up Zoey Roberts, and I walk away from you right now.”
“And, if I don’t? You kill me?” I laughed wickedly. What a joke this guy was.
He rushed me then, hands outstretched, fangs bared in his human face. He was trying to catch me off guard so that I couldn’t have a metaphysical advantage. It worked because my automatic reaction was to step backwards when I should have held my ground.
The breath smashed from my lungs when his weight hit me. I was able to get a knee up in between us, and I drove it into his groin with everything I had. He grunted and froze. I took advantage of his pain, rolling him off me and following up with a solid punch that had his nose gushing blood.
“Bitch.” He was up and after me faster than I’d expected. When he went for my throat again, it became increasingly clear to me that he knew he couldn’t take me. He was seeking the fastest way to disable me.
The grim look in his eyes warned me that he really felt he was doing what was right.
That kind of dogma could drive a man beyond the restraints of sanity. If Shaz didn’t show soon, this really could get out of control.