Page 65 of Resurrecting the Witch
“Ooh, definitely an Ó Cuinn. She’s so feisty.” Orla snapped her mouth forward in a mock bite toward my mate, like she would eat her up if given the chance. I knew Orla liked a fighter, I only hoped Cliona’s performance was enough to distract her.
My beautiful mate wasted no time and spat in Orla’s face.
The three fae who initially entered snarled, stepping forward with their hands on their swords as if they could kill spit.
Or maybe the spitter. I growled back at them, hissing in a way I normally reserved when hunting for prey on the full moon.
Which wasn’t in the plan.
I was supposed to be quiet.
I was supposed to not draw attention to myself.
But they were threatening Cliona, and I couldn’t just sit back and watch it.
My biological instincts were functioning a little too quick for my own good.
“Oh, protective of this witch, Patrick, dear?”
Ugh, I want to rip out her throat with my teeth. I wonder how ancient fae brains taste?
“I don’t like anyone charging at me.” I tried to turn my interest to them, but I’m sure my scent on Cliona would give our relationship away sooner than we’d like.
We couldn’t make our move yet.
“Give me my sister and get the feck out of here.” Rory nearly spat the words, his own hand on the hatchet at his waist. I commended Orla for getting on Rory’s bad side. He was a formidable opponent, and while she had a bunch of soldiers to do her bidding, it still wasn’t foolproof. The murderous look in his light brown eyes gave me pause, and I usually wasn’t threatened by much of anything. “Patrick is here as promised. I told ya the Ó Cuinn bitch would drag his arse up here. Now hand me my sister before I show ya just how much ya fecked with the wrong family.”
“Calm down, Rory. So dramatic. You see, she is fine.” Orla paused and pressed her finger to her chin as if she were truly deep in thought and didn’t know how to choose her next words. Even though anyone who spent five minutes with her knew each of her movements was as calculated as you could get. “Or as fine as she can be.”
The smile she gave was anything but worrying.
Rory didn’t wait any longer and simply walked to where Kady was being held, still limp in the other fae’s arms. Rory took his sister and carried her across to the other side of the cavern, sitting her near where Dom and the others were. I didn’t miss the growl that left Rory as he brushed the slightly knotted red hair away from her face.
“She had trouble listening to the rules. I had to remind her in a way she wouldn’t soon forget.”
The next few seconds passed in quick succession yet felt slow motion. Rory gave no warning as a loud warrior cry left his mouth. He let his hatchet fly from his hand toward Orla. She side-stepped the blade easily enough; it embedded itself in one of her soldiers who threw himself in the way.
He probably dove in front of the axe to get away from her.
Poor bastard.
Rory had a dagger flying in the next breath and we took that as our cue that we were done waiting.
Grom grabbed Kady from where Rory’d dropped her and carried her out of the cave, back to town and straight to Dr. Borisyuk if he were smart.
Dom, Drew, and the other wolves all revealed themselves from the shadows and slowly encircled the rest of us, so there wasn’t a clear way out. While they distracted the others with swings of their blades, Lennox slinked behind to the portal and grabbed the crystal on the ground to interrupt the field. She barely had it in her grasp, the portal closing, before Daniel had her in his grasp with the point of his blade held to her throat.
“Daniel!” I shouted over the wailing of the other two guards that were currently impaled with various instruments of Rory’s torture belt. “Stop, brother! She’s an innocent.”
“Not so innocent as to try to steal our way home, hmm?” Orla interrupted and made her way toward the others. Everyone was caught up in brawling with the fae that’d come through initially. Several guards were already on the ground from Rory’s ministrations alone. The wolves had taken out a good chunk of the remaining guards until Orla was left with only my two brothers remaining. She had underestimated our power, or she didn’t have enough guards to accompany her on this journey.
Either way, we had the upper hand for the moment.
Daniel held the blade to Lennox’s neck while Cuglas had eyes on my mate. I willed Cuglas to look at me, which he reluctantly did, and I mouthed the wordmate, hoping he could work around Orla’s orders. We had always been able to circumvent her words, find loopholes to avoid the worst of her asks, but it had been hundreds of years. Sure, short in terms of a fae lifespan and in the realm of the sídhe, but not short enough that I didn’t know what happened to my brother.
He didn’t acknowledge my words and instead approached Cliona, ignoring the growl that I let rumble from my throat.
“Let her go,” Cliona shouted as she tried to charge toward Lennox, still trapped in Daniel’s arms. I attempted to wrap my arms around her, but Cuglas beat me to it, grabbing and holding my mate tight against his chest. He looked like he didn’t even recognize me as he wrapped her arms behind her back like they had been before, but this time they weren’t around fake tied rope.
