Darkness Clashes Read Free Page B

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