Feint of Heart Read Free Page A

both hands to grab his right wrist, trying to force the weapon out of his grasp. Unfortunately, what Gavin lacked in muscles, he made up in agility. Now he twisted like a fish on a line, forcing my fingers to slip away from his arm. And in that instant of separation, my opponent brought the blade down to cut a long red stripe across my ribs.
    I flared my nostrils, smelling my own blood. My heart was racing too quickly for me to feel pain, but I knew the ache would set in soon. Time to take off the kid gloves before our battle got out of hand.
    Using Gavin's own momentum against him, I knocked his right arm away and forced his elbow to bend in the wrong direction until he grunted with pain. Then, kicking up with my knee, I sent the knife plummeting into the night.
    Gavin was face down in the dirt, my foot on his neck, before his companions could take another step forward.
    "I wouldn't," I warned with a growl.
     
     

Chapter 4
    In the end, I let the kid go unharmed. He was just doing what shifters did best—lobbying for power in the only way he knew how. And he'd given me an intriguing tidbit of information in the process. Crazy Wilder planned to back my territorial bid if I won the Winter Hunt.
    Good thing our crew had Alexis as a lucky charm to speed us on our way.
    So I watched until the other team had trotted out of sight, then I got down to business. "We should scout out the surrounding countryside, see if we can catch the old coot's trail," I murmured, more to myself than to my companions.
    Wade and Fen had shifted to human form as soon as our opponents faded back into the darkness and they now nodded agreeably. But rather than continuing to hash out plans, I found my gaze settling on Alexis.
    The pack princess was still fully wolf, and she seemed even more agitated now than she had been during the preceding fight. She whined at my feet until I crouched down to her level, giving her access to the wound oozing blood down my hip and thigh.
    As soon as I was close enough, her whimpering abruptly ceased. Instead, the female reached out with her sandpaper tongue, licking my cut clean.
    Her touch was painful but erotic. And in response, my dick stirred to instant life. The intimacy of Alexis's nursing had dragged forth a physical response I didn't particularly care to share with my pack mates.
    Time for a little diversion.
    "Wade, why don't you and Fen go out and see if you can pick up Crazy Wilder's scent while I wipe off this blood." My sentence was more command than question, and Wade immediately moved to obey. But Fen instead strode forward, pushing Alexis out of my lap and getting into my personal space.
    "Wolfie..." she began. The girl ran a frustrated hand through her short hair, and I waited for her to make another complaint. She was clearly jealous of the bond I shared with our new companion, and I forced myself to soften the words that had initially come to mind before they reached my lips.
    "Fen, I'm counting on you to keep your eye on the prize," I admonished her. "You know we'll be like sitting ducks if I bleed all over the forest. So I need you to be my eyes and ears out there. You heard what's at stake."
    Before me, Fen seemed to swell to double her usual girth at my show of faith. "I know," she answered quietly. Once again, she opened her mouth, then pursed her lips back together without taking me to task as I knew she wanted to. Finally, she concluded, "Just be careful, okay?"
    "Of course," I mollified her.
    Seconds later, I could hear my pack mates shifting and loping away. But I didn't look. Instead, my eyes were riveted on the glorious female human who had materialized out of the wolf by my side.
     
    ***
     
    Young male shifters tell tales around the campfire of pack princesses so magnificent they take your breath away. In the past, I'd always rolled my eyes at their hyperbole. But now I realized that the storied reaction was literally true.
    I could barely make out Alexis's curves in the near darkness,