Taming Two Warriors (Kindred Tales)

“There you go.” Amanda was looking down at her in satisfaction. “See, I told you the person I brought would be happy to see you, Melli-the-belly.” She put her hands on her skinny hips self-righteously. “This ought to teach you to go running around with that boyfriend who’s too good for you and being snotty to your old friends from high school!”

Melli licked her lips.

“You…you were never my friend,” she whispered harshly.

Amanda frowned.

“You know, I was going to go and give you two some privacy. But just for that, I think I’m going to stay and watch.” She grinned at Jason. “You don’t mind, do you big guy?”

“Hell, no,” Jason grunted. “I like having an audience. Makes me fucking hot, baby.”

“Then I’ll stay.” Amanda put her hands on her hips and leered down at Melli. “Does it feel good, Melli-the-belly? Let me know when he puts it in, okay?”

“No. No!”

But though she was trying to shout, Melli’s voice came out so low even she could barely hear it. She wanted to say more—wanted to fight and scream and kick—but her body seemed very far away from her now. In fact, she almost seemed to be floating above herself and looking down. Dimly she could tell that Jason Sykes was trying to pull down her shorts but the fact that she was so completely limp was giving him some trouble.

“Damn it, don’t just lay there,” he grunted at Melli as he yanked. “Come on, Melli-baby—scream for me! I’ll never forget how you screamed in high school—best fuck I ever had.”

“And this will be the last breath you ever draw,” a deep, growling voice said from behind him and Melli saw a pair of red, glowing eyes in the shadows. “Because when I am finished with you, you’ll be fucking dead.”

Thirty-Five

Liosh had never gone into Rage before. But of course, he had never been in love before, until he’d met Melinda, either.

He had heard other warriors describe the feeling of going into the berserker-type state when a much-loved female was threatened. He had heard them speak of how a red curtain dropped over their vision and the overwhelming, burning fury that filled their entire body as the instinct to protect turned into the undeniable urge to kill and maim and rend and destroy until nothing, nothing was left of the attacker and the beloved was either safe or avenged.

Nothing he had heard could compare with the actual experience.

He rushed at the male who had Melinda on the ground, knocking him off her and locking his arms around the other male in a punishing grip as they rolled in the cold grass together.

“Hey…hey, let me go!” The other male was struggling but there was no hope of escape. From what Liosh had heard, not only had this male been the one who had raped Melinda so many years ago he had also been intent on repeating the crime.

Such a male did not deserve to live and Liosh fully intended to make sure that he didn’t see the sun rise tomorrow.

The other male was big and strong but he was no match for a Kindred in Rage. In short order, Liosh had him flat on his back on the ground with both hands locked around his throat.

“Hey…man…let go,” the male who must be Jason Sykes gasped, his eyes bulging from their sockets.

“Yeah, let him go!” Amanda Brannigan called, from a safe distance. “You big creep! I’ll call the police—I swear I will!” She held up a cell phone in warning.

Liosh was past caring about any of that. Melinda was still lying limp on the ground, her shorts half-way pulled down and a vacant look in her lovely blue eyes. She had been hurt—maybe hurt so badly that she might never return to him.

Liosh would kill to avenge her.

“Wasn’t…gonna hurt her,” Jason Sykes rasped. He was pawing at Liosh’s hands, which were still fixed firmly around his throat.

“No, you were only going to rape her…again.” Liosh’s voice was very cold, which surprised him, since he was so angry he could barely even see the male beneath him. His fangs felt long and sharp and brutal in his mouth and his whole body was flooded with the Rage—a fury so deep nothing but blood could end it.

“Wasn’t…gonna…” Jason Sykes denied. “Hands…off, man!”

“All right,” Liosh agreed equably. He removed his hands…

And promptly leaned down to rip the male’s throat out.

Thirty-Six

The spray of arterial blood looked black in the shadows. Some of it fell on Melli’s face and somehow that brought her back to her body. She didn’t want anything of Jason Sykes on her—not even his blood.

Her hand came up to wipe at her forehead and she realized she could move again. Not only that, but there was chaos going on around her.

Not far away from her, Liosh was bent over something on the ground and ripping at it like some kind of animal. The side of his face was bloody and for a moment, he reminded Melli of those nature documentaries you see about lions on the African savanna. Liosh looked like they did when they pulled down an antelope and ripped it open to feed on it.