Darkness Clashes (3 page)

This guy might not be their alpha, but by the looks everyone gave him they thought he could take care of things. Two other big guys got up and flanked him as he stopped five feet from us. Something told me this wasn’t going to be as easy as I’d hoped.

“You two need to leave now,” he said, cracking bruised knuckles.

Was a little diplomacy too much to ask for? We needed to find Micah, not play games with idiots who couldn’t see the danger standing right in front of them.

I looked at Lucas. “He’s joking, right?”

“It appears he’s no smarter than he looks.”

That wasn’t saying much. The guy’s jeans and gray tank top looked like a charity wouldn’t even take them. Stains covered the shirt and there were holes in his pants, revealing hairy legs. He could have used a haircut, too. Some men could pull off a messy style, but not this one. His dark blond hair was too greasy and uneven.

“What’d you say?” The werewolf took a step forward.

Lucas glanced down at me. “Would you like me to remove his arms or legs first?”

I tapped my chin. “We should at least try the peaceful approach first and tell him why we’re here.”

“Very well.” Lucas gave me a look that said we were wasting our time, but that he’d humor me. “Try.”

I met the werewolf’s direct gaze. “We’re here to speak to your alpha about something important.”

He snorted and looked at his buddies. No one was flipping out their phone and dialing the man up like I’d hoped. I might have asked Lucas to compel the werewolves into cooperating, but he preferred to do things the old-fashioned way when it came to fellow supernaturals. He had a weird code of honor I’d yet to figure out.

“Tell you what, little lady.” The werewolf eyed me up and down. “Step outside now and I promise no harm will come to you. Ain’t none of us wanna hurt a woman if we can help it.”

Chivalry at its finest. I clenched my fists.

“Finally,” Kerbasi said, taking a seat at a table behind us. “Something entertaining to watch other than your ridiculous movies.”

I should have made him stay visible, but he probably would have caused more problems.

“Go for the arms,” I said to Lucas, keeping an eye on the werewolf. “He’s got a nice ring on his middle finger I wouldn’t mind keeping for myself.”

It was big and gold with rows of tiny rubies and diamonds inlaid at the top.

Lucas glanced down at me. “I could buy you something better.”

“Yeah.” I gave him a crafty smile. “But I was sort of thinking about starting a collection.”

The werewolf looked at us in disbelief. There was an edge of wariness coming from him now and his buddies were giving him nervous glances. If only we could scare them enough to make them back down.

“Who are you people?” he asked.

The fact we’d gotten past his wards should have been his first clue. We ignored him.

“A collection?” Lucas lifted a brow.

I shrugged. “Trophies from enemies we kill.”

“Hmm.” He rubbed his chin. “I like the way you think.”

“For once, I must agree,” Kerbasi said from his seat behind us. “I’d like his boots, too, if you don’t mind.”

I pretended not to hear the guardian. He’d had a weird thing about shoes ever since we visited the fae city a few months ago and couldn’t get enough of them.

“That’s it.” The werewolf took a step forward. “You two are done!”

Guess we hadn’t scared him enough.

He lunged toward us. Lucas met him halfway and went for his arm—the same one that had the ring. With a hard twist and a pull he tore it from the werewolf’s body. An ear-splitting scream came from him as his limb went flying across the room. Blood splattered everywhere and the werewolf fell to the floor, clutching at the open socket. My stomach lurched. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything about the ring. I’d forgotten how literal Lucas took me sometimes.

Chairs knocked over and the whole place roared into action as men converged on him from every direction. Their eyes blazed with fury and they bared their teeth to let out inhuman growls. At least they didn’t try to change into wolves—not that they had the five to ten minutes it would take to shift.

I couldn’t let Lucas take all the heat even though he could have handled it. I reached for my gun only to realize it wasn’t there. The trip had come up at the last minute and I hadn’t had time to make arrangements to transport it. I reached down to the purse strapped across my chest and pulled out a fixed-blade knife instead. It would have to do.

Grabbing the nearest guy to me, I spun him around. He threw out a wild punch, but I ducked and rose back up to stab him in the gut. He bowed over. Quickly pulling it back out, I aimed for his neck next. He deflected the blade and shoved me hard enough to send me flying. With arms swinging I landed on top of a table and slid across it, falling to the floor. The air whooshed out of my lungs as my back hit with bone-jarring force.

Damn, I’d forgotten how strong werewolves could be.

Kerbasi was still sitting at his table a few feet away. He gave me a dispassionate look. “Is that the best you can do? Is your lover going to have to do all the work?”

I tossed my high heels at him and grabbed a chair. “You’re always looking for a fight. Why not now?”

He snorted. “Because that would be useful to you.”

The werewolf came lurching toward me and I swung the chair at him. He arched back, but not far enough. One of the wooden legs skimmed across his forehead and left a deep gash. Blood welled up and started running down to his eyes.

While he rubbed at the wound, I made a desperate search for my knife. It had fallen from my grip when I’d become intimate friends with the table. I found it a few feet away and snatched it up. The werewolf snarled at me as I leapt to my bare feet. He threw out a badly-aimed punch and I leaned to the left, going underneath his reach to plunge the blade into his heart. His face froze with a look of shock and horror.

I pulled the knife back out and watched him crumble to the floor. If I’d left it in for more than a few minutes he probably would have died, but I wasn’t going to kill him for being overprotective of his territory. Plus, I needed the weapon to stab more of his buddies.

Lucas had pushed the fight to the middle of the room with moves so fast they were nothing more than a blur, but he couldn’t keep the battle fully contained. Even as bodies and furniture flew in a tsunami of motion, a couple of guys worked their way past his line of defense.

I crouched low when the first one made it through. As soon as he got close enough, I swept my leg out and knocked his feet out from underneath him. He fell with a loud thump. The next guy came at me from the side. I pivoted on my feet and shoved my blade into his chest. It missed his heart by an inch, puncturing a lung instead. The guy gasped for breath and took a step back.

I ignored the flash of fear in his eyes and grabbed his head, twisting it with a snap. He fell limply to the floor with the blade still in him. There was no time to play nice and give him a fighting chance. If he’d wanted that he should have tried a one-on-one approach.

The other attacker rose up to take his place. I ducked his first punch, but didn’t see the second until too late. His fist slammed into my face with enough force to knock me off my feet. I fell to the floor and banged my head into a chair. Through the stars clouding my vision, I saw the werewolf hovering over me. He had his hand held out.

“Take it,” he said. “I ain’t gonna hit ya again while you’re down.”

He spoke the truth. At least someone around here had some standards.

I stared at his hand for a moment and waited for my vision to clear before taking it. He lifted me up and had me on my feet in one hard pull. I took a deep breath and raised my fists.

“Ready?” he asked.

I nodded. It was really too bad we had to fight. He might have been likable under different circumstances—but not today.

He threw out the first punch. I ducked as it went by and leaned farther back, guessing the second one would be coming up quick. It did and missed me by a full inch. He swung a leg out at me next. I dodged it and dove for the knife still in his buddy’s chest. Pulling it out fast, I spun around just as he came up from behind and plunged it into his kidney. He let out a grunt.

I rose up and saw his face was lined in pain. The kidneys were one of the most painful places to get stabbed. A vampire could brush the wound off since they didn’t need theirs, but a werewolf would suffer almost as badly as a human.

“Smart girl,” he mumbled out.

“Are you patronizing me?” I asked, pulling the knife from him.

He winced. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

There was no sense in making him suffer any longer. I dropped the knife and grabbed his head.

“Ready?”

His gaze shot past me. “You’d better make it quick.”

I snapped it and let him go.

Arms wrapped around me in a rib-crushing hug. I jerked my head back and slammed my attacker’s nose. He grunted, but didn’t let go. I grabbed the fingers on his left hand next and yanked them back. The werewolf howled with pain and released me. I spun around and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back into Lucas who caught him like a rag doll and promptly snapped his neck. Now, that was teamwork.

My gaze swept around the room, but I found no one else left standing. Most of the men were unconscious and the few who weren’t didn’t look like they’d be getting back up just yet. Their groans and the intense pain pushing at my senses confirmed that much.

Several human females huddled in one corner of the room near the dartboards, holding each other. They wouldn’t even look at us. Kerbasi still sat in his seat near the front door. He was sniffing at a beer on the table and looking at it in disgust.

I grabbed my knife from the floor and cleaned it off on an unconscious werewolf’s shirt. Not the nicer guy, but one of the others.

“The alpha is coming up the road now,” I said to Lucas. He’d just popped up on my radar and was about a half mile away.

He nodded and headed over to the women. They trembled and held each other, though a brunette braved a glance up at him before ducking her head back down. Lucas pushed a couple of broken tables aside and kneeled in front of them, forcing their attention to his eyes.

“You’re safe,” he said in calm, even voice. “Get your things and go home.”

The fear they’d been emitting in heavy waves drained away, easing the pressure on my senses. The women got up, found their purses, and walked out as if they hadn’t just been in the middle of a bar brawl. I sighed. My life would have been so much easier if I could have just compelled people that way.

Lucas headed back toward me and we ran our gazes over each other. His black slacks and red button-up shirt were torn and hanging loosely. He had a few cuts and scrapes, but they didn’t look too bad. Knowing he couldn’t be killed by anything less than an archangel didn’t stop me from worrying. I didn’t like seeing him hurt.

He frowned at the bruise on my face from where the werewolf had hit me and then scanned down the rest of my body until he stopped at my left leg. His lips thinned at something he saw there and he took some napkins off one of the only tables still upright. Kneeling down, he tended to a cut on my leg. I couldn’t remember when it might have happened.

“It’s not deep,” I said. “It’ll probably heal in an hour.”

“I know.”

“Then why bother?”

Lucas kept his head bowed and dabbed at the blood. “Because I can.”

“You got wounded in a few places, too,” I noted. There was a gash on his cheek, a cut on his leg, and what looked like teeth marks on his right arm—though they were fading fast.

“Would it make you feel better if I let you tend them?” he asked.

I blinked. The idea that he’d let me take care of his wounds while we were surrounded by our attackers—defeated as they were—was abnormal for him. Maybe I was finally getting through his thick skull, but I wouldn’t push my luck just yet. This wasn’t the time to test his ridiculously enormous ego.

“Thanks, but I’m sure you’ll be fine,” I answered, turning my attention to the bodies surrounding us. “At least you didn’t kill anyone.”

If any of the werewolves had died, they wouldn’t have registered on my radar anymore. I counted the same number of men as before the fight began. Several of them had wounds that would kill a human, but my senses told me they were hanging in there—even if it might take a few days to fully recover.

“I thought you might appreciate my restraint,” Lucas said, standing up. He tossed the bloody napkins onto the same table where he’d found them.

“I do.” I raised up on my toes and gave him a peck on the lips. “Thank you.”

He brushed my hair back, running his fingers through it. “You did well tonight, considering the number of opponents we faced. I should trust you to handle yourself.”

“Yes, you should,” I agreed, attempting to give him a stern look. It wasn’t easy to do with him touching me as if I was the most important thing in the world to him.

The bar door swung open and we broke apart. The alpha had arrived. I could only hope he didn’t mind our redecorating skills.