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My eyes widen in shock. I kind of wasn’t expecting him to answer nor to divulge so much.

“I don’t want to keep things from you, Lottie. I know that’s how you used to be treated, and I don’t want to do that. I won’t lie to you, but I also won’t sugarcoat it. I very much plan on fighting Vincent, and things will get bloody.”

I cringe not just because of the prospect of blood but that he could get injured. I reach out and clasp his twitching hand in mine, and he squeezes.

“I appreciate that. But isn’t there some other way we can convince him to just leave without reverting to violence? I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Least of all you.”

He cups my cheek and gives me what is supposed to be a reassuring smile, but I don’t feel very reassured.

“I love that you're concerned for me, Lottie, but sometimes this is how things have to be handled. Elves are stubborn, selfish creatures and sometimes require more than words to persuade. Don’t worry, everything will be fine. I’ll be fine. Ginger and Ryder will be fine. We’ve done this before, and we’ll most likely have to do it again in the future.”

That doesn’t make me feel any better.

Leaning into his touch, I attempt to be as calm and confident as he is. I’m not sure it’s working.

Hunter’s ears perk and his head cuts back to the gravel road leading to his property. I don’t hear anything, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything there. His hearing is far superior to mine.

“They’re here,” he growls. “Inside Lottie. I don’t want you getting caught in the middle of anything out here. I need you safe.”

Guiding me quickly back to the front door, he motions me inside ahead of him. Ryder is there waiting to greet us. Most likely waiting the whole time for Hunter to announce Vincent’s arrival.

“Ginger!” he barks out, and his sister immediately appears in the entryway. “Take Lottie upstairs. The rest of you, outside with me.”

I’m handed off to Ginger, who gently but firmly grips my wrist, directing me away from the rest and the front door. Before I get too far, Hunter places a swift kiss on my lips that I barely have time to process.

And just like that, Hunter and the others are outside fanning out on the front drive, and I’m being led upstairs out of the line of fire.

We perch in a spare room with a window overlooking the front of the property. This allows us a view of the others below and the approaching black SUVs just breaking through the line of trees at the entrance to the property.

They circle and park, there are three, and all manner of non-humans spill from them. At least a dozen. Elves mostly, but there are also nymphs, one fairy, and others who must be shifters or meres because they look human even without a glamour. Which I can now see through, thanks to my fairy dusting.

The one I recognize without a shadow of a doubt is Vincent. His gray skin is dull in the hazy sunlight, but the adornments on his ears and fingers glint like crystal under a spotlight.

We’re too far away to hear, and Ginger won’t let me open the window or get any closer. But I can tell by their body language Hunter has just told him what he can do with his blackmail and demands.

The argument grows heated as we watch. Vincent’s men pacing behind him. One of them slowly unbuttons his shirt; he must be a shifter. Another has grass green hair and skin the color of bark, and the trees around him grow and slither like living beings.

Although standing stock still, Ryder looks about ready to literally jump out of his skin and tear the face off the man opposite him. Tobias, the freaking fairy with gossamer wings and all, looks just as angry but like calm, focused anger that doesn’t even scratch the surface of his unseen abilities.

Whereas Kai, the red-striped nymph, leans casually on the porch, his tail swaying lazily behind him, not a care in the world, rolling a tiny ball of fire in the palm of his hand. His red hair is the only part of him that looks similar to the man I met at karaoke. I may have stared for a whole minute at him when he arrived. He didn’t seem to mind, but Hunter did.

I can’t focus on any of the others right now for more than a fleeting moment. Hunter and Vincent take up the bulk of my attention. They’re mere feet apart, and I can see Hunter growing in size, readying for a swift shift. And in the blink of an eye, Vincent sparks the battle they were all waiting for with one sweeping arc of his fist.

Hunter's body rips through his clothing, and his beast emerges biting, jowls reaching for Vincent. I barely notice Ryder’s shift and the others clashing together. A literal battle has broken out on the front lawn, and I’m stuck up here watching,unable to do a damn thing as those below slash, bite, and tear into one another.

A strange phantom pain begins to grow in my chest, and I clutch at it, breathing heavily. It’s as if I can feel every swiping graze of Vincent’s blade that catches Hunter’s flesh. A pounding warning that my mate is in danger, his presence in my mind a blaring neon sign pointing me directly to him.

Ginger holds me by my shoulders, and it’s then I realize I’m trying to break free. To what? Run out into the fight? I would be mincemeat in a matter of seconds.

I hate feeling so helpless and weak. I’ve felt this way for too long.

For too long, I let others walk all over me and control my fate and life. Years I’ve spent under the thumb of others. My decisions and choices taken from me, by people like Vincent. Like my mother. Others who believe themselves above me, better than me. As if their wants and desires outweigh my own.

A burning hatred grows in my stomach, igniting a fiery wrath that I want to unleash upon the world. I want to put people like Vincent in their place. To show him and others that we are not less than him just because he says so. We are not here to bend to his will and do his bidding simply because he says we should.

I am no longer afraid of self-centered, egotistical, narcissistic assholes like him. And I will not let him take my new family and life from me.

“Let me go,” I growl out in command to Ginger, needing to follow that burning demand in my chest to go to my mate. Ginger, surprisingly, instantly releases me.