“You watched us without our knowledge?” he asks around a snarl. “How did you astral project?”

“Heard that, did you?” I ask dryly, straightening and pretending my muscles aren’t screaming from the surprise attack.

Why does he feel stronger?

Vance jerks to a halt, sword in hand, looking between us with his eyebrows lifted in confusion. “What did you do?” he asks me.

“Idun got to him even while he had wolf brain, apparently,” I state, wiping blood away from my lip.

Emit drops from the window, shaking the ground when he lands.

“He’s definitely bigger,” I decide. “Not a lot, but now he sounds like steel dropping.”

The wolf man smirks. “What did you see, Arion? My armies? My generals? What secrets have you extorted and given to Idun?”

I blink a few times.

“He’s not with Idun. He plans to make Violet his bride to prove as much,” Damien chimes in from the top. “Someone kiss me. I’m hurting up here.”

I’m not bloody kissing him.

“He’s suffering because of you milking your time with Violet,” I tell the fucker in front of me. “You kiss him.”

Emit wrinkles his nose. “I only stole an extra few hours. I was somewhat present in the back of my head; I just had no control over myself.”

He licks his lips, staring down at the claws that are really a lot bigger.

“Mating Violet got you an upgrade?” I ask very seriously, finding the bride thing twice as appealing as I already did.

I hadn’t thought that possible.

“I gave up a huge portion of my soul for a woman I loved and planned to spend all eternity with,” Emit says, pursing his lips as he stares down at his claws that are retracting on their own. “She wore my mark for less than a decade before she finally managed to burn it away using Pandora’s abominable magic.”

“So you figured you’d bury your mark deep into Violet’s flesh then?” Vance asks as he twirls the sword in his hand, clearly debating whether or not he wants to use it on the wolf.

At least it better be the wolf he’s considering. I’ve done nothing wrong for once, and I’ve already been pushed out of a window. Well, I’ve done nothing wrong recently.

“What did you see, Arion?” Emit grinds out, attention back on me.

“Finish up with your story. It’s far more interesting than mine,” I counter.

Emit rolls his eyes, looking over at Vance.

“Violet submitted. She’s always submitted to me. My wolf made sure the marks would stay on the one he didn’t want getting away. I fought too hard to deny I had any feelings for her at all, and it took things into its own hands, when the one who betrayed it threatened her by standing too close, after having already beaten her to a bloodied pulp. I barely held it back that day,” he goes on, scrubbing a hand over his face. “It’s been a fucking nightmare, and I had no idea what was going on with me, because my wolf hasn’t tried to claim anyone since Idun.”

I clap my hands together. “Well then. That’s great and all, but why do you feel like a tank when you shove a vampire out a window?” I drawl.

Emit’s eyes turn toward me with unsettling excitement. The wolf wants to fight now that his muscles are a match for my speed.

“I’ll still kick your ass,” I assure him.

“Only one way to be certain,” the brute says before he charges.

I’m expecting it this time, and I dodge to the right, only to be hit so damn hard that it snaps my head to the left violently. The potent punch of power sends me flying. That daft animal actually guessed which direction I’d go.

Getting my feet under me, I manage to dodge his next hit, coming up with my claws and stabbing the beast in the side.

His elbow slams down on my arm, and a hand clutches around my throat, before he throws me through the downstairs window.

I crash and slide across the floor, hating the fact I fasted these last three days because I was hoping Violet would share a little of her blood with me. It’s been too long, and I miss it too much.

The taste of her addictive sweetness on my tongue…

“Fucking hell. Now I sound as whiny as all of you. Congrat—”

I’m yanked back and launched out of the house, but I manage to kick up to my feet, moving too fast for Hulk-Wolf to spot me, and smirk as I slam my elbow into the back of his head.

This time, his swing is too late and too predictable, and I flip over his body, kicking him in the face hard enough to send his iron-man ass to the ground.

His head crashes through Vance’s brick walls, sending debris falling everywhere, as he lifts up and simply narrows his eyes on me like that didn’t hurt at all.

Vance stabs the sword into the ground and walks away, muttering something about working twice as hard. Emit and I both eye the sword…until it turns to rust.

Then our gazes collide once more.

My claws retract when his does this time, and he stretches his hands above his head, a lazy smile spreading across his face.

“It feels like a very important piece of me has been caged since Idun banished my mark. It’s been so long that I forgot how much it hurt for it to be gone. Even with the mark being deeper and definitely more noticeable, Violet never once mentioned removing it.”