Igor tried to get away. Theo didn’t let him up, only struck out with his horn violently. Odette sat in the mud puddle with an open mouth, watching the two alicorns duel in disbelief.
“He’s gonna kill him,” Emma gasped, grabbing me as Theo continued his relentless assault.
I knew Theo would. If one thing was for certain, you didn’t threaten a shifter’s mate. It was the easiest way to get yourself killed, and Igor had majorly crossed that line.
I felt a soothing, calm emotion lull over me, and I knew Alexei was working his magic. The empathy magic washed over Theo, and he held back, if just for a moment, though I could see him actively fighting against Alexei’s powers.
Igor took his chance and ran. People cheered and clapped as Igor darted off, thrilled to see such a good fight between shifters— there were always a few during Heimskanun. Theo stood, sides shuddering as he watched Igor gallop down the street. Once Igor had vanished into the crowd, Theo changed back into a man and turned to Odette immediately.
“My dress!” Odette was sobbing buckets. She was so unhappy the pretty dress she’d worked on for weeks was ruined. Theo reached out to lift her out of the mud puddle, and cradled her in his arms, dirt staining his vest.
“We’ll get you a new one. Come on.” Theo carried Odette off. They were gone in half the time it’d taken Igor to turn tail.
Delmare looked amused, if not slightly worried. “Should we follow them?”
Kiara shook her head. “I think we should give those two a little private time. That was pretty intense.”
“She just broke up with the guy she thought was the love of her life,” Emma pointed out.
“Eh, she’s with Theo. She’ll be back to herself in a jiffy. I say we drink to the fact that the bastard is gone for good,” Stefan suggested. “Who wants ale?”
Alcohol sounded like a pretty damn good idea, so we made our way to one of the ale booths. As Stefan bought us a round, I noticed Arthur, Vara, Ozzie and Jasper at a table nearby… along with that rogue Finlay. Ugh. Why did he have to be here?
He wasted no time in sauntering up to our table. Emma unlooped herself from my arm as he came near, and he bent down. “About time I saw you, lass.”
“I was just about to start looking for you,” Emma said, and Finlay kissed her. The demon cackled in glee— my mouth soured, and my wolf went nuts. I suppressed the instinctual urge to pounce on Finlay and rip his throat out, and decided to excuse myself from the situation before I started a fight of my own, and lost, on account of how weak I was.
“I’m going to take a walk,” I grumbled as I got up from the table. Emma frowned, but at least she didn’t say anything.
That kiss had gotten me fired up enough I could get around the festival on my own. I shuffled around on pure testosterone as I did whatever I could to get myself as far away from Finlay as possible.
Curly-haired Scottish bastard.
The leshane was having a great old time, poking at old wounds. He brought up the sight of Emma kissing Finlay again and again within my thoughts, and the rage that welled nearly choked me. I took a seat on a bench near a wine tasting and tried to breathe, so I didn’t go right back to the ale booth and punch Finlay in the nose.
“Did you hear about Emmaline Sosna?”
“What is it? Is there another rumor in the papers again?”
“Even worse.”
I turned my head to see who was speaking behind me. They were a couple of girls from school that I’d seen around, but didn’t know the names of. They had wine glasses in their hands, and were sitting at a table a few feet back.
I set my eyes forward so they wouldn’t notice me, though I was keen to listen in. The one girl gushed as she said, “You know she’s been hanging around Finlay Dunbar. It’s all over the news.”
“Yes. What of it?” the other asked.
The girl whispered, “It hasn’t hit the papers yet, but I heard that she’s pregnant— and it’s not the prince’s baby.”
I felt the color drain from my face as my throat closed up. The world dropped out underneath me, paralyzing each muscle. I was so shocked I couldn’t speak, but a whoosh of breath left my lips regardless. Inside, the