Wounded(10)

“No. Not yet. Were any of your people seriously hurt?” Time to play the part, though he couldn’t help scenting, trying to pinpoint the demon in Raw. Three breaths and he had it, a smell of swamp water lingered, though there were no swamps in the vicinity.

Raw shook his head. “No, these are werewolves, but not like you.” Raw’s eyes didn’t look like he believed Liam. He looked more inclined to keep fighting. Not a good sign.

Beauty let out another laugh, but under this one he could hear the nerves, and in her eyes there was a flicker of uncertainty. She was right to be nervous. “What do you mean, we are just werewolves? We are at the top of the food chain, ogre.”

Liam shook his head. “Not anymore.”

Of course, in that moment, he thought things were going to go peacefully, or at least as peaceful as possible.

He was wrong. Not that he should have been surprised; he’d commanded the wolves to start this fight, and now he had to look like he had nothing to do with it. Apparently, Beauty didn’t like that.

Beauty leapt at him, shifting mid-air, a flash of tawny fur and fangs. He dodged her, slamming a fist into her head and still managing to keep his wolf in check. The wolves around them started to rise from the ground, growls sliding along their throats. Beauty lay on the ground, shaken from the blow that would have killed a normal wolf.

“I said enough,” Liam bit out between his teeth and the wolves froze, lowering themselves the few inches they’d come up.

Raw laughed. “That’s it, hit the bitch.”

He ignored Raw and moved to stand over Beauty. “Either you submit, or I’ll kill you.”

She snarled up at him, blood trickling from her pale nose, golden eyes glittering with hatred. Even for her life, she wouldn’t submit, and he knew it a split second before she lunged at him, her teeth sinking into his right thigh. Right over the wound that had brought on his own change.

Her teeth sunk in deep and he gritted his jaw. Killing her was the only option, but that didn’t mean he had to like it; not when he’d asked her pack here.

He slid his hands around her neck and she glared up at him, but didn’t move. She knew what was coming.

No, there had been enough death and they needed strong allies. Beauty might not have been the nicest bitch in the book, but she was strong. With every ounce of power in him, with everything Peter had taught him, he spoke to her.

“Let go and submit.”

Her teeth withdrew from his leg and she sat back on her haunches, a look of consternation passing over her eyes. She shifted into her human form, panting for breath.

“That’s not possible. I am an alpha; you can’t force me to submit.”

A look of confusion passed over Raw’s face. “Are we going to kill them or not, Liam?”

Liam shook his head slowly, the wound in his thigh closing up already. “No. Not today.”

Raw let out a heavy sigh. “Then keep them far away from us. My ogres will not be controlled as easily as this.” He swept out the pike in a circle, encompassing the area.

With a grunt, Liam flicked his hand, beckoning the wolves. They slithered on their bellies toward him. Not submissive like Alex, but not such strong alphas that they could take on Beauty for leadership of the pack.

He scrubbed a hand through his hair as Beauty stepped up beside him, pressing her naked body against his, her shift in tactics not surprising him at all. “You are the one I’ve been waiting for. I will share my pack with you … amongst other things.” Her hands slid down his back to his ass, massaging him hard.

Liam stared at her, let her see the wolf in him. “You aren’t sharing anything with me, Beauty. I am taking this pack. Defy me again and I will let the ogres have you.”

Beauty paled and her eyes glittered with fury. Well, at least he knew she was no longer interested in him; she just wanted to kill him now.

Wrong again. She puckered her full lips and blew him a kiss, then slid her tongue along the edge of her mouth.

Irritation flared in his gut. “Go. Wait for me there.” He pointed at Doran’s house and the pack moved off as a unit, Beauty snarling, but doing as he said.

Raw thumped his pike into the ground. “That was relatively well-handled. For a wolf. Will you stay and eat with us?”

“No, I want to check on Nikko, make sure none of the wolves got through to them.” Last thing he wanted was to remind Raw about the fact that Nikko’s daughter was the only young unicorn—the only one born in the last fifty years and a potential tool to bring Orion across the veil. He wanted to avoid that almost as much as he wanted to avoid putting himself alone in the middle of a nest of demons.