How did they find us? How did they get here quietly?
I wasn’t in the man’s hold for more than two seconds before Rune took a step toward us, grabbing a weapon from one of his holsters and hurling it right at us. I knew Rune wouldn’t hurt me and was aiming at the man behind me, but I watched wide-eyed as the dagger cut the distance between us. Instead of being scared, the man holding me laughed under his breath, twisting away and dodging the weapon directed at him.
I was screwed.
I was going to be taken to the enemy. The one who put the bounty out for me, and he was going to rape and kill me, just as Callum had warned would happen.
Rune swayed; his knees wobbled like he was about to topple over and pass out. Whatever they shot him with had to have been something potent to keep him from flashing me away. I was sure it kept him from calling a portal.
Everything slowed down as I watched one of the enemies slip away from Slátra and Hluti’s notice and come up behind Rune. He lifted his ax up to strike Rune. The one who held me began dragging me away, laughing at him.
“I’ll take good care of her, halfling.” He grabbed my breast with one hand while slipping the other into my pants. “If I’m feeling generous, I’ll let her believe it’s you who’s fucking her.”
Rune pulled his lips back in another snarl, narrowing his eyes.
My eyes widened, and my heart dropped as I was sent back to when Callum had me pinned with my ass in the air.
I was going to be violated, then killed when they were done.
“No,”feminine voices whispered.
As darkness bled into the edges of my vision, my head spun. My heart hammered so fast and hard that I was sure it was going to break through my chest. My stomach fell like on the first drop of a rollercoaster. It spread pins and needles through my body until it was all I could feel.
Then it stopped, and everything became calm.
It was the same feeling when I was struggling with Callum. But at that time, I blacked out. This time, something unlocked in me, coming free and wiping away all my worry and anxiety until confidence took over.
And blood thirst.
I wanted this man’s head on a pike as a warning, and I was going to make that happen.
The corners of my lips tilted up in a smile. “Oh, you’re so fucked.”
Time sped up as I twisted my shoulders, elbowing the man behind me. As he grunted and bent over from the blow, I slipped from his hold. My hand found the grip of his ax at his side, pulling it from the loop it hung from.
“Isa!” Rune roared.
“Ohh fuck, you’re in trouble now,” Slátra sang lowly.
“That’s not Isa,” Hluti said, stunned.
I kicked the stunned man to the ground, turning with momentum, and chucked the ax right at Rune. His black eyes widened, his mouth parted, but he didn’t wince as the weapon flew past him and struck the one who was about to attack my mate. He released a pained grunt, dropping behind the proud Viking.
At that same moment, I called the ax back to me. It sailed through the air, back into my hand for me to swing at the stunned beefy man who got to his knees, reaching for me. I put all my weight into my swing. The blade met his meaty neck and cut through like softened butter. Blood sprayed as his head dropped with his decapitated body. Droplets of blood splattered across me, some on my face.
I stared down at the lifeless body, my hand loosely gripping the leather-wrapped handle of the weapon. Soulless eyes stared back at me, and I smiled.
Unsteady but familiar footsteps approached as I kept my gaze on the dead man who threatened to hurt not just me but my other half. A hand touched my shoulder, asking for my attention. For my eyes to be on him instead.
My heart swelled, and my stomach filled with butterflies, a response only he could draw from me after countless years of everything laying dormant.
Peeling my gaze from the bloody head, I raised my eyes to Rune as he watched me with a perfectly calm expression, his usual mask to cover the chaos rampaging in him. He could try to hide things from the world, but he couldn’t from me. Not after everything we’d been through.
“Do you know who you are?” he asked evenly. But I still caught the desperation and worry in his voice.
With my free hand, I covered his hand resting on my shoulder and lent him my comfort. I opened my mouth to tell him...
I blinked as black bled into the edges of my vision again. The calm disappeared, and the floodgates of rampant fear, anxiety, and guilt opened and hit me like a brick wall. My heart hammered and stuttered over a few beats as my stomach twisted in knots.
