Dead After Dark (Companion #6.5)(13)
Yet twice now in her life, she’d allowed Fury to almost be killed and done nothing to protect him.
She wasn’t any better than the animals she hated, and that part of herself she despised even more.
“I’m not proud of it, all right. I should have done something sooner and I know it. But I did keep them from doing anything more to him.”
“You’re rationalizing your cruelty.”
Angelia clenched her teeth. “I’m not rationalizing anything. Honestly, I just want to go home. I don’t like this time period and I don’t like being here with my enemies.”
Bride gave her no reprieve. “And I don’t like what was done to Fury, but until I know more about it, we’re not enemies. The hostility at this point is only coming from you. I told Fury I’d keep you company and that’s what I’m doing. No enmity here.”
Angelia cut a vicious glare toward the woman and her patronizing tone. “You have no idea what this feels like.”
“Oh wait . . .” Bride said with a sarcastic laugh. “I was minding my own business when Bryani sent in a demon to kidnap me here in my time period and take me to her village in medieval England—this back when I didn’t even know such things were possible. Once there, everyone I came into contact with threatened me when I’d done absolutely nothing to any of them, ever. And that included Dare Kattalakis. Then the males of their patria tried to rape me for no other reason than I was mated to Vane . . . Oh, wait, what am I saying? We hadn’t gone through the mating ritual yet. They were willing to attack me for nothing more than bearing his mark. So, I think I do have a little clue about what you’re feeling here. And in our defense, you’re not being manhandled.”
Angelia put more distance between them. What Bride described had been four years ago. And though she hadn’t participated in it, she knew from the others how much damage they’d intended to do to the woman before her, and that sickened her, too. “I wasn’t there when they did that to you. I was out on patrol. I only heard about it afterward.”
“Well, bully for you. It was still extremely traumatic for me. And unlike your people, I can assure you that not a single wolf in this house will attack you unless you provoke it by something you do against them.”
Angelia scoffed at her arrogance and naivete. “You’re human. How can you entrust your life to animals? Don’t you understand how savage they are?”
Bride shrugged. “My father’s a veterinarian. I was raised around all kinds of animals, wild and tame, feathered, furred, scaled, and other. And honestly, I find them much more predictable than any human. They don’t backstab and they don’t lie or betray. In all my life, I’ve never had an animal hurt my feelings or make me cry because of something they did.”
“Count yourself lucky,” Angelia sneered. “I watched my entire family as they were eaten alive by the very pack of animals you have downstairs in your house with your child. The blood of my parents flowed from their bodies through the floorboards and drenched me while I lay in terror of being torn apart by them.”
She looked to the crib where Bride’s son slumbered, peacefully unaware of how much danger he was in because of his mother’s stupidity. “I was only a year older than your child when it happened. My parents gave their lives for mine and I watched as they gave them. So you’ll have to excuse me if I have a hard time thinking good of any animal except those who are dead or caged.”
“It really makes you wonder what the animals did to be provoked, doesn’t it?”
Angelia turned at the sound of the low, deep voice that rumbled like thunder and sent chills over her. Standing head and shoulders above her, this man had a bad attitude so fierce it bled from every pore of his skin.
Dressed all in black, he wore jeans, Harley biker boots, and a short-sleeved t-shirt that showed off a perfect male body. He had a long silver sword earring in his left lobe with a hilt made of a skull and crossbones.
As he scanned her body, his lips were twisted into a sneer made even more ominous by his black goatee. Straight black hair that reached to his shoulders was brushed back from a pair of startlingly blue eyes.
His demeanor tough and lethal, he reminded her of a cold-blooded killer. And when he looked at her she had the feeling he was measuring her for a coffin.
Her heart pounding, she glanced down to his left hand. Each finger, including his thumb, was covered with a long, articulated silver claw and tipped with a point so sharp that it was obviously his weapon of choice. This man liked to get down and dirty with his kills.
To call him psychotic would be a step up for him.
Instinctively, she took three steps back.
Bride laughed a happy sound as she saw him and disregarded the fact that he obviously wasn’t right in the head and that he was most likely an even bigger threat to them than the wolves downstairs. “Z . . . what on earth are you doing here?”
He cut those cold eyes away from her and focused on Bride. “Astrid wanted me to check on Sasha. Apparently something bad went down at Sanctuary last night and she’s worried about his safety.”
Bride’s eyes widened. “So what do you know?”
He cut a suspicious glance toward Angelia that made her blood run cold. “Some Arcadians have found a way to trap Katagaria in their animal forms and strip out their magick. Sasha said the ones responsible attacked Fury and no one had seen him since. Hence my unannounced presence here without Trace’s playmate. If Sasha’s threatened, Astrid’s upset. If Astrid’s upset, I’m going to kill whatever’s upsetting her until she’s happy again. So where’s Fury?”