Page 5 of Faerie Fate (Fae Academy for Halflings #7)

He reared back with a roar and blood poured from the broken cartilage.

I struggled against the ropes but they held firm. I sent a wave of magic out to them. Loosen! It was a gamble to use my mental manipulation but I was desperate. Something had to work.

The magic was there, boiling inside me, ready to be used if I pushed hard enough.

The little bit of give on my left wrist grew and at last I slid my hand free, slashing my claws at Kendrick when he grabbed for me again. Fighting back. I’d always fight back.

I’d always use whatever I had to make sure he never touched me again. “You animal!”

It was an insult to animals, though.

He batted my claws like swatting an annoying bug. Our palms connected but the force of his hit sent me, and the chair, careening into the wall. Wood cracked against stone. I tumbled to the floor.

My skin chilled, then went inferno hot, broke out in bumps as I slashed through the second binding on my right wrist with my claws. Circulation returned to my wrists so fast it made me dizzy.

As soon as the bindings on my ankles were off, my magic returned to me in a rush. My awareness of it, anyway. The ropes must have been charged with magic dampening spells or runes or something.

What an asshole.

Magic helped me stand when my legs refused to hold me, and the moment I rose, my wolf demanded supremacy. I gave it to her. Kendrick was not my alpha, and he never would be.

He had no right to touch me this way. No right to force a mate bond on me when I didn’t consent.

“You wretched fucking bitch!” Kendrick sneered at me through the cascading blood, his face flushing.

I launched myself at him with as much strength as I could muster. The momentum of the clash sent us both careening across the room, and I dug my thumbs into the corners of his eyes, ready to carve them out.

Then he’d never look at me again.

His roar shifted from outrage to just pure fury. He wasn’t the only one. I sent every bit of magic inside of me toward him, shooting it like an arrow to his heart.

Die, already!

Kendrick did not, in fact, die.

He barely faltered as I threw spells at him, using every last bit of knowledge I’d taken from the fae academy. Nothing hit him. The magic was useless although I knew the toll it took on me. My strength flagged.

Bit by bit, the deep well of magic inside of me drained until I was left half shifted and confused.

Kendrick moved with a fluid if brutal grace, meeting my attacks like he was playing along and biding his time before I ultimately lost.

But I wasn’t giving up that easily. I fought for my survival, for my freedom, physically using arms and legs and fists against him when the spellwork bounced right off.

Screeching, I launched myself again at Kendrick, landing on his back and sending a spell slamming into either side of his head.

This time, you’re going down .

If I couldn’t kill him with magic, then I’d incapacitate him long enough to get the hell out of there.

It churned my stomach to touch him this way, to feel his energy as I reached into him, drawing him into me so I could use a more concentrated blast of cognitive manipulation to drop him.

Kendrick chuckled. “Oh, I don’t think so.”

A small ripple of shock doused me like cold water before he flung himself backward. He slammed the full weight of his body into mine, hard enough to crush my bones, to grind my insides into dust.

“None of that fae shit here. It reeks.”

I ignored the pain in my entire body and sent another wave of power at him. You’re going to let me go. You’re going to leave me alone. You’ll never touch me again. Your legs won’t work. Your shift won’t come.

No sound came out when I moved my lips.

It must be the zombie curse keeping me from my full potential. That, or how hard I’d fought with my powers before Kendrick caught me.

His laughter boomed, loud enough to drive piercing sharp needles into my brain. Then his wolf rose and a barked command bristled through me, making my wolf sit back at the blatant command from someone so much stronger than her.

The pause was enough for him to gain the upper hand again.

Moving much faster than I’d have thought for someone his size, his legs fell on either side of me and his hands grabbed my wrists, thrusting them above my head with such force my shoulders nearly wrenched out of place.

I bit down on the scream, making sure I kept direct eye contact with him.

“You think I have no idea what you’re doing? I’ve been around long enough to know about your fae powers. To understand them.”

His grip intensified until my tendons protested and I swallowed over a yelp of agony.

He transferred my wrists to one of his massive hands. Kendrick reached for something beyond us. His face was close enough to mine for the waves of fetid hot breath to caress my skin. The queasy sensation in my gut sent bile rising to scorch the back of my throat.

“There.”

He let go of me only to slide something over my eyes and turn my world black.

The moment the fabric touched my skin, my magic disappeared again. The wall between it and me grew larger and thicker than the last time, cutting me off from my abilities.

“Or maybe you didn’t know you needed to make direct eye contact with me for your magic to work?”

I didn’t need to be reminded of how little I truly knew, or how much I still had to learn.

“We can’t have a repeat of this little performance.” His hot breath tickled the whorl of my ear and I groaned, sick, sweating. “You understand. I already know you can shapeshift. The bird flying through my garage? Cute trick.”

He ground his pelvis against mine and just when I thought I’d lose it entirely, he stood, dragging me up with him.

“Didn’t think I’d figure it out. Perhaps now you’ll finally understand that underestimating me won’t serve you, Tavi,” he finished.

He wrapped me tightly in a chain, something cold and metallic, pinning my arms to my body. Pushing me back a step, he attached the chain to something, and my back hit the solid stone wall.

“Try to get out of this. I have a few tricks of my own.”

I screamed the moment his lips touched mine, the electric shock of ice at the touch chilling me down to the bone. There was no room to shapeshift. No room to sob, scream, to rage.

“If I can’t take you the proper way, then we’ll do it the hard way,” he added. “You forced me to do this, Tavi. If only you’d been a good girl.”

My heart throbbed, thundering in my ears, but it wasn’t loud enough to cover the distinctive snick of a blade flipping open.

Kendrick gave no warning before he pressed the knife to my neck and tore through my flesh, slitting my throat.