Amelia’s mate should have found her by now. Knowing him, he was hiding and waiting to jump out and scare the shit out of her. As long as he fucked her again, she didn’t care.
Jogging back the way she came, she careened around a tree and halted at the sight before her. Ora pointed somewhere in the distance. When Rennick turned to look, she charged him and slammed her body into his. Pure, unadulterated rage ripped through Amelia.
Without thinking, she sprinted forward, willing herself to be invisible. She didn’t know if it’d work, but she had to try. If she remembered correctly, Rennick would see through her glamour, but Ora wouldn’t. Her mate hit his knees, and her anger burned brighter. If Ora hurt him, she would die a slow death.
Amelia closed in on them and heard Ora claim Rennick as her husband. He roared with fury and climbed to his feet. Ora backed away from him, but before he could advance toward her, Amelia yelled, “Stop!”
Ora’s death was hers.
Rennick whipped around, and he must have seen something on her face because he stepped aside. Amelia approached her mate and jerked the hunting knife from his boot as she stalked past him, willing the snow beneath her boots to appear undisturbed.
Ora spun in a circle, scanning the area. “You’re too late!” she screamed at nothing but woods before turning to face Rennick. “We’re married, and you’re mine.”
Amelia stepped behind her, dropped her glamour, and yanked Ora’s head back by her hair. “No, the fuck he’s not,” she snarled, pressing her knife into Ora’s neck hard enough to pierce the skin. “If you move, I will paint the snow with your blood.”
Ora whimpered, her eyes pleading with Rennick. “Don’t let her hurt your mate.”
Amelia yanked on her hair harder. “Don’t speak to him.” Her eyes met Rennick’s, and the sadistic fucker smiled so wide she thought his face might split in half. She dug her knife deeper into Ora’s skin and leaned down. “When you get to hell, tell Orcus hello for me.”
Ora struggled and screamed, but Amelia ripped the knife across her throat and held her in place to watch the life drain from her eyes.
As Ora grew limp in her grasp, reality came crashing back in. Amelia released the body and staggered back in shock. I killed a person.
Rennick gently led her away from the bloody scene, trying to soothe her.
“I-I killed her,” she stammered, unable to look away from the blood-soaked snow.
Rennick held her chin and forced her to look at him. “It’s okay, love. She touched what is yours. Had you not killed her, I would have.”
“She called you her husband,” she said, still in a daze. “You’re mine.”
Rennick pressed his forehead to hers and nodded. “I’m yours.”
He pulled away and swiped his sleeve across his mouth. Amelia gasped at the blood coating his lips. “You’re bleeding.”
He spat a mouthful of blood on the ground. “She bit me.”
Amelia’s voice darkened. “She put her mouth on you?”
Rennick winked and licked his red lips. “I like seeing you this way.”
“It’s not funny,” she snapped, but her annoyance turned to horror when she tried to push a stray hair out of her face. Blood coated her right hand, and she held it up. “Oh, my gods.”
Her eyes rolled back in her head, and everything went black.
Rennick cradled a disgruntled Amelia in his arms as he walked back to the palace. He was worried about her; she’d cried thinking about killing a lelker—killing a human, no matter who it was, wasn’t in her nature.
“I can walk,” she protested for the hundredth time.
He leaned over and pecked the frown marring her pretty face. “You fainted. I might never let you walk again.”
“You’re ridiculous,” she muttered. A companionable silence accompanied their steps for a while before she spoke again. “She wouldn’t have stopped. Her obsession with you wouldn’t have allowed her to.”
Rennick held her tighter. “I know, love. I wasn’t lying when I said had you not killed her, I would have. Either way, she was going to die in those woods today.”
“I don’t feel bad for killing her.” She lifted her free hand helplessly. “Something inside me snapped.”
“Killing her might not be considered justifiable to the world, but to me, what you did made me love you even more.”
She mumbled something under her breath that sounded a lot like, “You’re terrible.”
His mouth spread into a wide smile. “But you like it.”
With a heavy sigh, she rested her head against his chest. “I do.” He peered down as she chewed on the inside of her cheek. “What will we tell everyone?”
“Nothing.” He adjusted her in his arms. “A beast will find her before anyone else does.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I poured wulfer bait on her before we left. One is probably dragging her away as we speak.”
Amelia turned a little green. “What is a wulfer?”
“The beast we saw on our way into the Mountain Kingdom that made you jump into my lap.” His eyes dipped to her lips. “You forced me to ride an hour with a painfully hard cock.”
“Rennick,” she laughed. “Is that all you think about?”
“No.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “I’m a multitasker.” That made her laugh harder, and he leaned down to kiss her forehead. “I’ll never get tired of that sound.” She took a deep breath, and her apprehension pressed into him. “What is it, love?”
“Why did she think you two were married?”
Rennick’s face grew stormy. “She tried to force a marriage mating bond, but she’s a fool. A marriage bond can’t be formed if one party doesn’t want it, whether or not they say they’re present willing.”
Her face lit with understanding, then twisted with disgust. “That’s why you had blood on your mouth. If I could kill her again, I would.”
The way she looked at him made Rennick believe he could fight an entire legion bare-handed and win, and when she flashed him a brilliant smile, he knew nothing could tear them apart. Anyone who tried would become another dead body in their wake.
