Werewolves Be Damned - By Stacey Kennedy Page 0,30
discovered the man standing with an arrogant slowness. He pulled up his pants over his hips, grinning at her. “Did you enjoy yourself?”
To her immediate horror, she almost blurted out that yes, in fact, the view hadn’t been horrible to watch. But she was relieved that Kyden interrupted such humiliation before it had a chance to leave her lips. “Get out. Now.”
The man zipped up his fly, and winked at Nexi.
Once he left the room and shut the door behind him, Nexi exhaled a long deep breath, but her thoughts were doing strange things. Like, putting imagines of her and Kyden doing what she had witnessed—plus many more interesting things—into her mind.
Breaking her train of thought, Kyden said in a tight voice, “You know why we’re here.” He’d never sounded so dangerous, and when he stood, towering over the werewolf remaining on the floor, he’d never looked so dangerous, either. “You’ll answer for the life you’ve taken. What’s your name?”
“Jaxon.” The wolf’s black eyes widened as dark strands of hair fell over the side of his face. “You’re wrong. I didn’t kill anyone.”
Kyden’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me why you ripped that man’s throat out.”
Now realizing the cornered situation he found himself in, the soft, shocked edge to Jaxon’s features faded away to a callous expression. His stare skipped from Kyden to Nexi, and something about how he watched her made her blood ran cold. As if Kyden weren’t the threat to him, but she was…or maybe that she was the enemy.
Ice laced her veins. “Don’t look at me. He’s the one threatening you.” She’d never met this wolf and she certainly didn’t deserve the evil eye.
Before she could say as much, Kyden punched Jaxon across the face, hard enough to send teeth flying, as he sneered, “Eyes on me, wolf.”
Jaxon spit blood and looked at the hardwood floor.
Smart wolf.
Standing over the wolf, with clenched fists, Kyden demanded, “Answer me.”
Jaxon wiped the blood off his mouth, then he raised his head with a wicked glare. “That killing tonight had been an order.” He looked to Nexi with a sinister smile. “I don’t need to tell you what this is all about. Soon you’ll know.”
She blinked. “What does that mean—”
Without any warning, Jaxon shifted into his wolf form, and he lurched off the floor. He plowed into Kyden’s chest, sending him soaring before the wolf turned to her. Nexi tightened her muscles and she readied her stance, as Kyden had taught her.
Power filled her with the knowledge that now she had the chance to fight a werewolf. No matter that this wasn’t one of the wolves who’d killed her family, he deserved a good beating nonetheless for the innocent life he stole.
Kyden had given her skills.
She wasn’t helpless any longer—the frightened woman cowering away from the snarling wolf. She was a guardian with increased strength. This wolf had nothing on her, and she possessed the rich hunger for revenge adding fuel to her kick-ass fire.
Jaxon lunged for her and when he was only a hairsbreadth away, she drew in a deep breath, catching a whiff of the wolf’s woodsy scent. Then Jaxon smacked into her, and, dammit all to hell, she went airborne.
Kyden watched with a fury that he couldn’t control as Nexi crashed into the wall. Rage stole over his logical mind. He pushed off the ground from where Jaxon had shoved him, and he prepared to rip the wolf limb from limb. Sure, in an instant, he could kill Jaxon with his sword, but all guardians loved a fistfight. To win a battle using his blade against a weaponless supernatural did nothing good for the ego.
Using his physical strength to disable an opponent had always met a primal need in Kyden. Besides, the exercise kept guardians’ sharp and fit. The sword was merely the instrument used to kill quickly, if needed, and to erase any evidence of the supernatural death.
Now with a hot hunger to unleash his force on Jaxon, Kyden stepped forward to attack, when suddenly Nexi yelled, “Stop. He’s mine.”
He stopped in his tracks, regardless that his instincts were to refuse her. He didn’t want a single mark on her beautiful body, but he had a responsibility to train her. Nexi needed to learn to fight in the field and personal interests aside, she needed to experience a true fistfight, or so he forced himself to believe.
Deep down, all he wanted to do was give her a safe path to travel.