Page 58 of Forced Mate Bride
“I’m going to savor this,” Lucas hissed. “Once you and your alpha are dead, it’ll be smooth sailing for me to come in and take over.”
Snarling, Jasper clawed at Lucas’s arm, trying to pry him off. It didn’t do any good. Lucas leered down, a smirk spreading across his face. His grip tightened, almost enough to crush Jasper’s throat. Every inch of Jasper was beginning to ache, his blood pooling on the ground beneath him, and he knew that he didn’t have much time left. Lucas loomed over him. No one seemed to notice that Jasper was about to die.
“And don’t worry about Nikki,” Lucas said. “She’ll be just fine. I’m thinking I’ll make her my primary slave. As long as she behaves, of course. So she’ll be treated very well. I like keeping my property well cared for.”
Those words snapped something into place, and rage burst through the pain. Jasper snarled, hand lashing out. His fingers turned to sharp claws seconds before they raked acrossLucas’s face. Lucas yowled, but didn’t reel back, intensifying the pressure on Jasper’s throat. Blood trickled down the side of Lucas’s face, spreading down like tentacles. He leered at Jasper, rage rippling off him. The wound on his face was a mirror of the scar Jasper had already given him.
“You’re going to pay for that,” he hissed.
Instead of responding, Jasper lashed out again, this time letting those claws tear into Lucas’s side. Yowling, Lucas’s grip finally loosened, and Jasper could breathe freely once more.
Without wasting any more time, Jasper shoved Lucas off him. The other shifter went flying, landing on his back, sprawled on the earth. Before Lucas could get up, Jasper lunged again. By the time he had landed on Lucas’s shoulders, he was a wolf once more, paws slamming into the other man’s chest.
There was just enough time to see Lucas’s startled, horrified expression before Jasper sank his teeth into Lucas’s throat.
Lucas gurgled, twitching. A moment later, he stilled. Sightless eyes stared up at the gray sky.
Panting, Jasper staggered back, turning human again. He wiped the sweat off his brow, glowering down at the corpse, even though he knew it wouldn’t move again.
As his tunnel vision cleared, the rest of the world came back into view. The sounds of the forest filtered toward him, no longer obscured by the cacophony of battle that had surrounded the cabin a few minutes earlier.
A figure appeared next to him. Jasper looked up to find Camden and Franco looking down at him.
“You all right?” Camden asked. He had a cut along one eyebrow and was coated in a mix of sweat and dirt.
“Yeah,” Jasper said. “Others gone?”
“One dead. The others have fled. No sign of Vincent since the fight started, but I doubt he’s going to show his face now that Lucas is dead. We can hunt for him some other time.”
“Sounds good.” Jasper rubbed his neck and grimaced. “He got a good hold on my throat, though. Damn.”
“Looks like it,” Cillian said, nursing a long scratch on his arm. “Just means that you’ll look prettier.”
Jasper raised an eyebrow. “Keep talking like that and see if I help you next time you need healing,” he fired back, not without some good humor.
Cillian cackled, delighted with himself.
“Well, the worst is over. Now we just need to…” Camden went quiet, looking at something off to one side, raising an eyebrow.
Jasper followed his gaze to see Nikki staring out at them from the woods. Relief flooded her face. She took a step out from the trees, glancing both ways, then Nikki came sprinting toward him.
“Thank God,” she said, and pulled him into a tight hug.
He grunted and grimaced at the spasm of pain that jolted through him at the embrace, but he still returned the embrace with equal enthusiasm. He breathed in her scent, taking comfort in it, reminding himself that she was okay. She was all right. It was over.
“Are you okay?” he asked. He pulled away from her, eyes darting all across her body to check for injuries. A growl escaped his throat when he saw the shackles still cinched around her wrists and ankles.
“I’m fine,” she muttered. “I’m more worried about you.”
“He got a couple of good blows in, but all in all, I’m fine.”
Her hand reached out to brush across his throat, her thumb caressing it gently. “I’m sorry. I wanted to help, but I didn’t want to get in the way. So I waited.”
“That was perfect,” he said. “Smart, too. The only note I have is that you should have kept running instead of sticking around, in case we lost.”
“I wasn’t going to leave you without knowing,” she said.
He tugged her closer, wrapping one arm around her. He breathed in her scent, taking solace in it, reminding himself that it was all over. She was safe. The danger was gone.
