Page 26 of The Konungr Takes a Mate
There was a long knife glinting in the candlelight on the smaller table the man was kneeling before.Could she reach it before he grabbed her?The next problem to solve was how to get past the men standing outside who were apparently waiting for their turn with her.
Easing her legs over the side, she moved slowly, more concerned with making noise, though the hooded man’s chanting had grown louder and would cover any noise she made.Landing on her feet, she took the three steps and grabbed the knife off the small table.
Shifting to position herself facing the chanting man, she was stunned when he did not seem to notice.Her mind was racing too fast to keep track of her thoughts as she tried to figure out how to get away.
That’s when she heard it.A loud, ferocious howl that was echoed by several others.
Fenrir and his men had arrived.
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When they reached thepoint where Summer’s scent disappeared behind a warehouse door, Fenrir looked at the men with him.His strongest warriors, his best friends.While they did not know what was behind the door, he was certain these men would be by his side no matter what.
Liam had joined them, though he looked a little less stable than usual.His head wound was healing quickly, and he would be back to full strength by morning.For now though, he would stay here, guard the door, and not let anyone inside escape.
Fenrir nudged Beck and then looked at Liam.The man nodded before handing Liam the clothes he still carried.
“Liam, stay here and guard our backs.Bjorn, you and Jack circle the building and see if there’s a back entrance.Go in as wolves.You’ve got three minutes.”
Liam nodded and pulled out his phone, setting a timer for three minutes.
“Yes, sir,” the two men said in unison before taking off down the street in a blur.
Once they were out of sight around the side of the building, Beck stripped off his clothes and handed them to Liam before shifting into his wolf form.He wasn’t quite as big as Fenrir, but was still nearly twice the size of a normal wolf in the wild.
Liam nodded silently when the three minutes had elapsed.Fenrir lifted his head and howled.Beck joined him, and a moment later they heard twin howls from the other side of the building.
It was time to go find his mate.
Liam opened the door and Fenrir bounded through, knowing Beck would be right behind him.He scanned the building and watched Bjorn and Jack emerge from behind a small partitioned-off space.
Fenrir snarled, and following Summer’s scent, ran full tilt at the group of men standing just outside a room in the back corner of the building.From what he could tell, she was in that room.Her scent of fear was stronger as he grew closer to the room.He could almost see it flowing over the top of the ten-foot wall.His super-hearing picked out someone in the room chanting while someone else was moving around.
His mate was in that room.Anger turned to rage and he shifted from his wolf into his hybrid monster form.He rose to a full eight-foot height and rushed forward, grabbing the first man he came to.Using long claws, he stabbed the man, his scream of surprise cut off as his claws impaled him.Fenrir lifted him so he could satisfy the bloodlust that roared through him like a train.A single bite to his throat and he was assured the man was dead.
Once he’d thrown the first man away, he grabbed a second man and then a third.A high-pitched scream from beyond the wall had him running in that direction.
“Konungr, wait.You don’t want her seeing you in that form,” Liam called from across the building.
Though he heard the man’s warning, his mate was in danger.Ripping the door off the hinges and out of the frame, he froze as he took in the scene through the shadows and flickering candlelight.
It wasn’t his mate who had screamed.It was a hooded figure who was cornered and holding out his hands, trying to hold back his mate.
Summer batted the man’s hands out of her way with one arm as she stabbed at him with the other.She looked as magnificent as any Viking female he’d fought beside ten centuries before.
The sight of his fierce mate on her feet and fighting immediately calmed him and he shifted back into his human form.Ignoring his nudity, he crossed to her side.
“Summer,drottning minn,”he murmured as he moved closer.“Give me the knife before you hurt yourself.”
“Not before I cut off his pecker,” she growled without looking at him.“He said he was going to rape me and then let all those men out there rape me as well.Then he was going to kill me in some crazy sacrifice ceremony so that you would die and he could take over the North tribe.”
Fenrir glanced at the man in the corner and frowned at the cowering figure.The hood remained over his head and hid his identity.“Who are you that you would dare to try and take over the pack of Fenrir North?”
The figure did not answer, even after Summer stepped in and swiped the blade across one arm.
“Show yourself, you gutless worm,” Summer growled, bending and aiming lower on his body.
“Enough, sweets.Go outside to Liam and let me talk to the man,” Fenrir added that magical thread of power to his voice in order to get his mate out from between him and the man who would see him toppled from his place asKonungrof the North tribe.
