Read Online NocC 018 - Kristin Miller - Forbidden by Fate - Harlequin 2012-07 by Nocturne - Free Book Online Page B

in him, Damon bounded over the couch. He spun in the air, slicing his wings like knives toward Gordon’s throat. Leaning back, Gordon dodged Damon’s thrust and then countered by swiping a heavy-handed claw against Damon’s chest.

    Although he was one of the quickest wolves Damon had ever met up with, he was still much too slow. And no match for Damon’s skill.

    Damon snatched Gordon’s paw midair, twisted it into an unnatural angle and popped it out of socket. Howling, Gordon clawed and scratched at Damon’s back with his other paw. Damon felt nothing but the early stitch of victory burning in his side.

    Still holding strong to Gordon’s front leg, Damon leaped through the air, kicked off the wall and flew onto Gordon’s back. In one swift move, Damon gouged a razor-sharp talon into the soft shell of the wolf’s eye. As he reared back, shrieking in pain, Damon roped the tip of his wing around its weakened back leg and squeezed, snapping it clean off.

    Damon didn’t hear Sasha’s gasps until he’d taken the kill shot—another stab of his deadly wing right into Gordon’s throat.

    The bloodied wolf dropped like a stone. Damon fell over the top of him, landing with one taloned paw on either side of his monstrous body.

    Sasha stood behind the table, her eyes wider than Damon had ever seen them. He’d scared her. The shock was written all over her face. He’d finally showed her how vicious he could really be. He’d killed Gordon, her packmate, and in all probability, her friend.

    As a shudder rippled through him, he pinched his eyes closed and shifted back to Draco form. But by the time he opened his eyes again, Sasha was gone.

    A second, high-pitched wolf howl resounded through the river valley outside his cave door. Damon didn’t have to see Sasha in wolf form to know the howl was hers. It was pained, torn and full of remorse. It sounded exactly how Damon felt inside, knowing this could be the last time Sasha would ever see him.

    And he was standing over her friend’s lifeless body, covered in wolf blood.

     

Chapter Six

    It’d taken Sasha six hours to run back to Were Mountain. Even as a wolf, with four legs moving at lightning speed, it’d taken much longer than she expected. With each step, the sun sank lower beneath the horizon and the full moon rose higher, fueling her fear that she wouldn’t make it in time.

    As she stood before Kenyon, back in Were form, Sasha had the overwhelming feeling that what she was about to tell her father was not going to go over well. Especially considering their fight with the Dracos was in a few short hours.

    If she could only word it right, the fight for the hot springs could all be avoided and no one would get hurt.

    “Where’ve you been?” Kenyon stared her down with empty black eyes. “I sent scouts to look for you.”

    “I know, I’m sorry,” she said, her throat cotton dry. “There was this cave I really wanted to see, and I didn’t think I’d be gone as long as I was.”

    “You’ve always been the adventurous type, haven’t you?” He nodded slowly, taking a little too long to speak his next words. “So what’s this urgent matter you need to discuss with me before we head to the springs?”

    She swallowed down her fear. “Don’t send anyone into the fight.”

    “Thiswas the emergency?” He laughed and scrubbed his hands through the mess of black hair atop his head. “I thought you were going to tell me something important, like thetruth about where you were last night.”

    She took a knee in front of him, like she’d watched many warriors do before battle. “Request a meeting with Queen Elixa. Demand the negotiation for the hot springs be made another way. Don’t allow the fight to take place.”

    “Have you lost your mind?” He pulled her to her feet by her shoulders. “Our land is challenged, we fight and we win. We’re wolves. It’s what we do.”

    That’sexactly what had Sasha gasping for each shallow breath of