Page 5

When Iskah stopped before Morlie, she lowered her hands. “Morlie.”

Morlie slowly raised her head and met the Fae Queen’s gaze.

“Try not to be afraid. No one will hurt you here.”

Morlie rolled her lip between her teeth but gave a slow nod.

Iskah walked away. “The others may survey her.”

Aodh figured Morlie didn’t engage any of the Fae elemental lines of fire, water, wood, wind, or earth, making Iskah aware that her Fae blood hadn’t awakened the young woman’s dormant genetics.

Armaros quickly stepped off the table and glided to the floor.

Aodh rolled his eyes at Armaros’s theatrics and the bold show of vamp powers.

“Oh, you are a lovely one.” Armaros circled Morlie close as he lightly caressed the nape of her neck with the tip of his finger before he rested it against her fast-beating carotid artery. “Such flawless golden-brown skin. Makes one thirst for a taste,” the Vampire master hissed.

“You keep your fangs out of her if she isn’t yours,” Dov growled with his arms folded over his barreled chest.

“Semantics,” Armaros arched a brow at Dov but kept his gaze trained on Morlie. “I bet you taste divine...everywhere.”

Morlie jerked away from him so hard her chair scraped against the floor. “Don’t touch me.”

“Oh, come now, marked one.” The Vampire glided before her, gazing down at her.

Morlie stared up at the Vampire; her eyes squinted, and her lips pursed. “My name is Morlie.”

Aodh could not help being proud of the bravery she showed.

Armaros locked his gaze with Morlie’s. Even as she shifted around and tried to look away, she could not fight against his compelling hold.

Armaros brought his palms together, so they made an arrow toward Morlie’s lap.

He flicked his wrists outward in a flash, and Morlie’s knees followed his gesture.

She whimpered and tried to struggle against the Vampire's silent commands, but he was too powerful.

Keeping a deft eye on Armaros, Aodh prepared to stop the vamp if he went too far. Armaros, the cunning, sneaky bastard, liked to skirt the lines of the law.

“Let. Me. Go.” Fear and anger brightened Morlie’s gaze as she forced words out through her tight jaw the Vampire’s power held.

Armaros tsked, “In time, my sweet. I need to get a good smell of your mark.” Dropping down low before Morlie, the Vampire leaned in toward her lap. In an instant, he extended a finger with a sharp-tipped nail and sliced along the inside seam of Morlie’s pants.

Before Aodh knew it, he was rushing forward and grabbing Armaros. His hand tightened around the thin frame of the Vampire’s shoulder.

At the coven master’s actions, Liekki emitted a loud rumble from his chest. Like Aodh, he would try and protect Morlie.

“Hey!” Dov called out.

Chanin let out a low, ominous growl.

If Aodh hadn’t kept an eye on Armaros, he’d have questioned the tone of the Lupine Alpha.

Snapping his head around, Armaros glared at Aodh with bloodshot eyes and fangs elongated over his open mouth.

“Try it, vamp, and lose both those teeth you hold so valuable,” Aodh growled.

“I have a right to see the mark.”

It was true that they were allowed to see the mark even as they scented the person. However, to exhibit such violence was unnecessary, and it pissed Aodh off to have his mate’s sister treated in such a way.

“Armaros, you should have your answer by now,” Iskah declared from her perch on the table's edge before her seat. “Move back so others may see, and we can finish this. There is other business we need to discuss.”

Sighing, the Vampire master walked back to his seat. “You all can be such spoilsports.”

Marceline laughed.

“Who is next?” Iskah waved at Dov and Chanin.

Dov raised his hands. “Based on how she responded to Turi, I doubt her mark aligns with Ursine traits. But I’ll still check.”

Aodh knew what the bear-shifter stated was possible.

Because Morlie fought so hard against Turi, it was doubtful she matched them.

Even though the rise of genetic coding made humans detectable by the preternatural world, it didn’t make them full shifters in any way.

Still, it caused an uncanny susceptibility to the matching alpha and often their beta.

Even though it was rare, the person was a match for an alpha.

Since they had been exchanging with the human government, the protocol for all of them was that once they discovered who the person belonged to, the alpha took the marked one back to their territory.

They presented them to their people in their own way, and the mark’s true mate would claim them.

Dov drew Aodh’s attention as he strutted closer to Morlie. He didn’t put on any theatrics by making a circle around her but brought his hulking girth down. At eye level with Morlie, he smiled at her. “If you would kindly show me your mark, Morlie.”

Morlie, no longer compelled by Armaros, looked from Dov to Aodh with confusion distorting her features.

“It’s at the top of your thigh,” Dov answered her question.

The young woman swallowed and gripped the fabric in her lap to hold her pant leg together.

Dov waited, big and gruff, but the bear-shifter was patient.

As she nodded slowly, Morlie widened her trembling knees and lifted the fabric away.

The big man’s mammoth shoulders blocked Aodh’s view from seeing the mark at the apex of Morlie’s thigh, but he was familiar with the etched symbol and the placement.

The humans could have placed the symbol anywhere, but perhaps for some sick reason of their own, they chose that spot.

Usually, the offering was so ill and out of their mind that they were unaware of being stripped down and splayed before the council members for this part.

Aodh was sorry he had not brought Morlie here; instead, he allowed his feelings toward Kai to cloud his judgment.

Now, Morlie had to submit to such humiliation.

Respectfully as possible, given the situation, Dov leaned in a fraction as he tipped his head down slightly and gave one loud, long sniff before rising.

The skin of Morlie’s cheeks became infused with red undertones.

“She is not one of us.” Dov walked back to his seat.

Then there was one.

Aodh looked over at Chanin, who still had not commented since Morlie was brought before them but kept a firm gaze on her.

He stood before the table with his hands gripping the edge as he leaned back.

The tight hold and the show of his claws as the wolf-shifter clutched the stone made it appear he had been trying to restrain himself.

Chanin pushed away from the table and strutted toward the woman in the center of the room.

If Morlie’s body trembled before, her form was quaking now as she glanced up, up, up at Chanin’s face.

The man stared at her, not seeming to be in any hurry.

“Let’s get on with this,” Armaros whined. “She’s either yours, or maybe the dragon’s picker is off, and she’s been one of his the whole time.”

Marceline joined Armaros in laughing.

Aodh didn’t need to respond, and Chanin continued his appraisal.

The other man’s face was stoic as he brought himself down to a single knee before her. He reached out and took hold of Morlie’s hand, which, once again, clutched at the material of her shredded clothing.

With a gentle tug, Chanin brought it up to his nose and sniffed along her wrist.

Morlie gasped at the light touch as she watched the Alpha wolf.

Chanin released her hand, then pressed her knees out wide and wider still.

Gripping the sides of the chair, Morlie whimpered.

It would have been obscene due to the height of the tear in her pants if Chanin’s frame and his closeness didn’t block the view of the others gathered.

Keeping his hands on the inside of her knees, Chanin held them open while holding her gaze for a moment longer before he bowed his head and buried his nose deep in her center.

Seconds later, Morlie yelped and grabbed a fist full of the Lupine’s hair as she yanked his head back.

Chanin gave her a wolfish grin as he whispered something to her.

Aodh was straining to hear it as he started forward, only to be distracted by a noise coming from outside the hypaethral.

Like an avenging angel, Kai swung the sword up from where its tip was dragging on the ground, slicing through everything in its path.

With a fierce look on her face, she clutched the weapon tight in trembling hands and charged across the dry riverbed toward the council. “Get the hell away from my sister!”

Aodh’s dragon unfurled.

~YH~

“Don’t you touch her!” Kai rushed forward toward the center of the two half-circle tables. All she could focus on was her sister trapped in a chair by some strange man. She wasn’t sure if he was the one who abducted Morlie, but if he didn’t get his hands off her sister, he’d be the one to die.

The man’s head snapped in her direction, and his eyes, a strange color, locked on her right before he growled.

Growled? The sound was so fierce it caused her feet to stumble.

She recovered quickly and gripped the sword harder to keep from dropping it before she advanced deeper amid this strange band of alphas.

She tried not to think about how her shoulders and biceps were in flames.

There was sweat running down her back and pooling in her palms. She was afraid that, sooner or later, she would drop the sword, but not before she rescued her sister.

“Get away from her!” Kai couldn’t spare a glance at her sister. If she saw fear light her sister's eyes or Morlie’s features twisted in pain from anything the man did to her before Kai arrived, Kai would go for the man’s head.

The man stood slowly. His height went up, up, up. He was as tall as Aodh but not as big.

“No one orders Chanin, the Alpha of the Omega Lupine Pack.” The man’s features were tight, and his eyes lost some of their bizarre colors and glowed less.

Kai noticed that even though he rose, he didn’t step away from her sister.