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Both of them face me.

“Bring me my wifey, doggo.”

“You will bring her.”

I blink at the speech patterns. It’s like hearing the same monotone with two different, flat pitches. I thought my dual vocal cords were creepy, but this is another step up.

“Do either of you care that it puts her in danger?” I spread my hands in a gesture encompassing the entire house. “You’ve violated a place that she considers a sanctuary.Ourhome. Kill them and clean up the mess, then I’ll consider it.”

A bullet pierces through my forehead, and I’m done trying to be rational.

I rush him, reaching for his wrist to control at least one point of his advantage. I forgot how fast immortals can be and get rewarded for it when I’m shot twice in the chest before I can make it close enough to grab him.

The gun tracks my path as I slide to his side and grip his forearm. Once I have it, I throw a hard punch into his kidney.

Instead of staggering, gasping, or any of the other reactions I’m used to, he uses my grip to spin my body in front of him with a half-turn, shifting his hand to grasp me instead and pulls me closer.

He dropped his gun with the move, which clatters to the floor below us.

I’m expecting another gun blast, but you don’t need to rear your arm back for that. The second gun morphs in front of my eyes as he brings it down onto my shoulder and through it, separating my arm from my body with one swift hit of the hatchet he now holds.

He flings my severed arm into the farthest corner of the room, buying himself some time before I can reform, then pays my kidney punch back to me with interest.

Five stabs with his new dagger later, I spin into his body, back to chest, and shove us both backward. He loses his footing with my weight, but our momentum is halted by the table behind us. It shifts back, and I hear twooomphsand the jarring ring of the cage falling to the floor. His blade never rests, continuing to stab into me anywhere his reach will allow.

My arm reforms and I ignore the knife for now, crouching down to grip his forearms and lurching forward two steps to heft his weight onto my back, springing up to drop us both horizontally onto the table.

It gives a sharp crack under our weight and groans but holds steady.

He finally loses his breath with the hit, arms flagging the slightest amount, allowing me to spin out from under his arms and trap him to the table under my weight, crossing his limbs over his chest to keep him still for a moment.

This is fun. The most I’ve had in years.

I wonder what it would be like if I stopped holding myself back and really went for it.

Can he fight blind if I take his eyes? Could he recover if he lost an arm, or is blood loss an issue?

But my newfound, weak emotions are slithering up, warning me that if I damage him too much, Bees will never forgive me.

I meet his gaze with my own. He isn’t down yet, and he’s determined to continue as if he can force her to appear if he damages me enough.

I won’t give in, and neither will he.

The look in his eyes reminds me of Bees as she lost control, struggling to get to him equally as hard. I feel a sharp pang of jealousy before it clicks.

He’s losing it because the bond snapped, just like she did. I wonder if he can be rational or if that’s a losing battle. He was emotionless enough before that a conversation wouldn’t be difficult. Right now, I have my doubts. If I want this to proceed without bloodshed for the next few hours, I need to go for shock value.

“She’s still wounded,” I offer him the truth and the strength he’s using to leverage me off of him stills. “I won’t risk moving her.”

“Take us to her then,” Kimi interrupts the stare-down.

I lift my head towards the sound of his voice and come face to sharpened point with his tail. It’s aimed at my left eye, less than an inch away, and holding steady.

“Really?” I ask in exasperation before I open my mouth to its fullest extent and bite the appendage.

I expect my teeth to go through clean, but his skin stops me. That’s not gold. It’s something else with a tang to it I’m unfamiliar with. Blood wells up where my teeth have managed to sink in, and the flavor is odd, too.

It’svile.