---- I turned to leave.


    "Waitshes fainting!" Soul warned me, and I instinctively reached out, catching her.


    She felt cold...


    and yet, her skin was so incredibly soft.


    And that scent, underneath all those warning markers, it invaded my senses again.


    The subtle fragrance of sweet mandarinsand I loved mandarins.


    Inearly lowered my head to inhale her scent deeper.


    I didnt want to let her go.


    I felt strange.


    Why was I so drawn to this witch? "Soul, could she be my mate...


    but already imed?" The thought clenched in my chest.


    "No...


    I dont feel the bond as we should.


    Its something else...


    could she be rted to our mate?" My wolf spected.


    Our entire conversationsted mere seconds.


    Topened my mouth to ask her again if she was alrightbut then, in my peripheral vision, I caught a dark blur racing toward me.


    The scent of her male mmed into my nostrils.


    And I heard the enraged roar.


    Tbarely had time to let her go before I had to defend myself from the attack.


    Her lycan wasing straight for my throat, ready to rip me apart for touching his female.


    I didnt me him.


    ---- But I wasnt about to die here, either.


    Roaring in my human form, I met his attack head-on, our arms tangling in a violent collision.


    My head smashed against his snout as he lunged to bite my neck.


    BAM! My back mmed into a treeit shuddered from the impact.


    Shit.


    I was going to have to shift.


    Thissed in pain as his jaws mped onto my shoulder, ripping through my flesh.


    "Hes not listening, Beof! Hes too furiouslet me out, or hes going to tear you to pieces!" Soul shouted in my mind while I kicked Vorath hard in the ribs, managing to wrench myself free and roll away.


    A jealous lycan defending his female was the deadliest thing in the world.


    Iwas already bleeding, my body torn from his ws, because I had tried to hold backtried to stay defensive.


    No more.


    If he wouldnt listen the easy way, hed have to learn the hard way.


    I roared, pressing one knee to the grass, my canines elongating, my veins pulsing with power.


    White fur began to spread over my back, the seams of my clothes snapping under the rapid expansion of muscle.


    And then, I saw his intenthe was going to attack while I was ---- shifting, when I was most vulnerable.


    He charged on all fours like a raging beast, dead set on killing me.


    Thad to admithe was a damn good warrior.


    "ENOUGH, VORATH, STOP!" Before he could strike, a presence threw itself between us.


    A small frame, trembling arms outstretched.


    Was she protecting me from her mates attack? But I realized immediately it wasnt for my sake.


    She was protecting both of them.


    More people wereing.


    The pompous figures of this realmthe Regent himself.


    "Beof! What the hell is happening?!" Quinns worried voice rang through my mindhe was approaching quickly.


    "Thave no fucking clueI just defended a sorceress." L answered, pushing myself up, pressing a hand against my bleeding shoulder, barely holding my beast back.


    At least I hadnt shifted fully and ended up naked in front of these strangers.


    "Maxwell! What happened here?!" The bastard Baltazar picked up his sniveling sonwho looked seconds away from pissing himself.