Page 29 of First Offense

“Already have,” I drawled. Then I shoved him away with more strength than he anticipated and ducked out of his hold before he could cut me with his vicious blade. He would have to do a lot better than that if he wanted to best me.

Auric growled, the sound causing Layla to visibly shiver. Yes, she was definitely affected by the Nora Warrior, just as much as she seemed to be affected by me.

Multiple compatible mates was natural among our kind, mostly because males outnumbered females by at least ten to one. Perhaps even more now. I hadn’t kept up with population numbers among the Nora.

But it was much rarer for a male to find a female of worth.

Layla was my first.

Given Auric’s possessive reaction, I’d say she was his first as well.

He glowered at me but sheathed his blade. “I mean it, Novak. Touch her, and I’ll kill you.”

Layla sighed. “Can I be in charge of myself, please?”

“You want to be in charge of yourself?” He huffed a laugh. “Yeah, that worked well for you outside after you went gallivanting off into the yard like some sort of untrained fledgling.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Excuse me?I walked over there because of the shifting sand. I tried to tell you it was moving, but you were too busy talking to the guard.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” he snapped.

“The sand!” She threw her arms wide. “What? Did you think I found that isolated platform by chance?”

He gave her an indulgent look riddled with sarcasm. “Didn’t you?”

Now her eyes narrowed, a glimpse of the feisty female beneath coming out to play.

Yes, more fire, please,I thought, leaning against the post with my arms folded.Give him hell, sweet cherry.

“You’re unbelievable! I’m not some helpless damsel, Auric.” She shoved out of her corner, stalking right up to poke him in the chest. “I found the platform because of the texture. It didn’t have the tiny holes for fire to sprout from.”

Auric gaped at her, clearly shocked that she had a brain.

I didn’t share in that shock. Raven’s enhanced eyesight had helped Sorin and Zian survive several cullings while I was in solitary. It seemed expected that Layla would possess similar inclinations.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said. “I honestly thought it was pure luck.”

Her expression told me that’d been absolutely the wrong thing to say.

But, of course, Auric was oblivious. He just shook his head and huffed out a humorless laugh. “Yet you still almost died, Layla. Because you don’t know how to properly fight.”

“Yeah, well, after you left, all I had was my old fight master, and he didn’t prepare me to take on three aggressive Noir males during our training courses,” she returned, the accusation thick in her voice.

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you Fell,” he snapped.

“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not supposed to be here?!” she demanded, causing my eyebrow to arch. “I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Hmm. That’s interesting.Raven had said something similar. She’d been born with her black wings. But Layla clearly had white ones until recently. Still, it was an intriguing similarity.

“Lying is a sin,Princess,” Auric bit at her through clenched teeth.

She stared him down.

He glared right back.

“You know what, Auric?” She uttered the words softly, yet each syllable was underlined with venom. “You can go fuck yourself.”

Well, now there’s a word I enjoy hearing from your delectable mouth,I thought, my lips curling.