Broods Of Fenrir - By Coral Moore Page 0,68

lay hands on her.”

“I have no interest in being king. In fact, I think we"re better off without one. Each earl can do what he likes in his region, as it should be. I"ll deal with Ingrid personally.” A leering grin spread over his wide face. “Your bitch, too.” He inclined his head, and the male at his side lurched toward Brand. Anger became a tight knot in Brand"s chest as he bent to pull the sword from Ansvarr"s gut. With a snarl, he shoved 188

the male he had been holding into the one who was closing in on him, then impaled them both through the center of mass.

He tugged the blade free as he pushed them away. The one closer to him wouldn"t be getting up, but he"d barely poked the one behind—that one would be back to bother him later.

He risked another quick look around. Ingrid lay unconscious on the ground. The male who"d been working her over went to help the one who remained fighting Erik. Dagny had held off the male who had approached her without breaking a sweat and managed to pin him down in an armlock.

One of the males in front of him lunged. He sidestepped the attack, but Björn came forward quicker than Brand had thought he could move. His line of escape was abruptly cut off, and he ran headlong into Björn with a teeth-jarring impact. The sledgehammer head-sized fist crashed into his face before Brand could put up a guard. Dazed, Brand crumpled to the ground.

One of the males pressed a knee into Brand"s spine and held him down with a hand on the back of his neck. The first few kicks to his sides hurt. He squeezed his eyes shut against the impacts of boots hitting him in an uneven rhythm.

Brand lay on his stomach, unable to move as Björn kicked him repeatedly. He felt the breaking of his ribs in a remote way, knowing there should be pain, but feeling none.

The pressure on his lungs grew steadily. He floated in a strange state somewhere between full awareness and unconsciousness where everything seemed slow and muted.

Dagny"s shriek drew his attention, but only because he felt her fury and frustration hot enough to burn him. His head turned too slowly, panning his field of vision an inch at a time until he saw her. She was beauty made flesh.

She had run toward him when he fell, and two of Björn"s cronies blocked her path. Drawing his knife from where she had hidden it behind her back, she dispatched one before he even knew he was in trouble. After a quick cut across the carotid, she shoved him to the ground, where he flailed 189

helplessly.

Unfortunately, she had lost the element of surprise with the second attacker, and he was much larger. Angry though she was, she chose caution. She circled around him, lips drawn back. The attacker said something to her that Brand couldn"t hear, and she laughed. With a feint worthy of a prizefighter, she drew him toward her and cut him across the chest. He backpedaled with an astonished expression that made Brand want to grin.

She fought with the savage grace of a lioness. He knew as he watched her that his first impression of her had been correct. She was everything beautiful and right with their kind.

He blinked in an attempt to stave off the relentless pull of unconsciousness so he could watch her for a few more seconds.

Björn rolled him onto his back with a humorless chuckle. He pulled a knife from his belt and drove it into Brand"s chest. Strangely, he felt no pain, only a spreading wetness that he knew to be his blood pouring out of him.

Frustration boiled inside, but he had nothing left. He couldn"t even draw another breath. He waited for death to take him and hoped that Dagny would be all right.

* * *

Alice had never been the strongest, but she"d always been fast. When she"d felt Brand"s pain, she left Gunni behind with a speedy dash. She could feel her mate coming up behind her, worried for her. They"d parked his car on the main road and approached on foot because they hadn"t wanted anyone to know they were there.

As she"d pulled ahead, he called to her, but she couldn"t listen. So much pain… she knew something was wrong. She sprinted around Ingrid"s cabin and saw Brand lying motionless with Björn looming over him.

Blood soaked the ground. A knife stuck out