Pure Blood_ A Nocturne City Novel - Caitlin Kittredge [33]
“You want to see fear?” Samael asked the chanting crowd. “You want to see the primal urges that drive us all?”
The crowd cheered like Led Zeppelin was about to come on stage. Samael made a quick exit and as soon as the door slammed shut the two were men advanced on me. They reached out and propped me up against the wall of the cage, staring. I glared up at them.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Insoli have no rights,” said one. “Shut up.”
“Yeah,” said the other. “No pack leader for you to run back to and tattle once we’re through.” He thrust his groin at me suggestively.
Oh, Hex it. They were in rut, and wanted to mate. With me. The first one leaned down and sniffed behind my ear. “You’re ripe, baby. We’re gonna give the people a good show.”
“No!” Shelby was screaming. “No, let me go! She’s my partner!” She ground her foot into one of the bouncer’s insteps and he released her. Shelby took off through the crowd, a few of whom made a halfhearted attempt to stop her. More were interested in my imminent violation.
“Oh no, that’s fine,” I muttered after Shelby. “I’ll just stay here and clean up. You run along.”
“Hold still,” said the second were. “Don’t want you to struggle. But if you wanna scream, that’s okay.” He nosed against my neck to give me a domination bite, the kind that mates use to show claim of each other. I whipped my head sideways and smashed my forehead into his nose. It gave a satisfactory snap, even with all the noise.
I forced myself to get to my feet, slipping off my boots and wincing as the cold bare mesh cut into the balls of my feet, trying to balance and prepared to fight without any luck at all. My concussion was already wearing off, but even with my were speed-healing, I was in bad shape to take on two males.
The first one roared at seeing his dominance challenged and hit me on the side of the head, sending me staggering. I stood upright again and locked his eyes, backing him up toward the opposite wall. If I could pull a dominate, I could get out of this alive and reasonably intact. If, and it was a very big If. Were men in rut tended to be single-minded, to say the least.
He came at me again and I kicked him in the gut, sending him backward to rattle the mesh. Dominate or no, I wouldn’t lie down and die. I’d fight like my ancestor wolves of the Dark Ages and beyond, tooth and nail until someone beat the last breath out of me.
The male with the broken nose jumped on my back, his weight almost felling me. I aimed an elbow over my shoulder and, when he let go, pivoted and slammed a right into his face. His jaw skewed sideways and he yelped, cowering.
I felt pain across my palm and looked down to see long black nails extending from both hands. My field of vision was shifting to black-and-white. Hex it all, I was phasing. The blood and sex had called the were, and it was nosing outside its cave whether I liked it or not.
The first male tried to get to his feet and I snarled, the dominate holding this time. He moved, cautiously and with his head ducked so as not to challenge me, but still moving. Sneaky bastard. I decided to put him down before he got the chance to be a smart bastard.
The obvious flaw in that plan showed up the second I moved into his range. Something stinging hot cracked me across the face, exploding white lights of pain onto my vision. One of the floggers from the display, sharp-edged and tipped with steel points.
I hissed as blood went into my eyes and I was half-blind. The second male hit me in the lower back and I went down, every part of me shrieking. No. No, this couldn’t be it. One—I didn’t know which one—hit me in the face and I felt blood start from a cut lip. I swiped back with my claws and heard a yell as I met flesh. I wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t…
They held me down, hands on my clothes, and I still fought, if you could call the feeble twitching a fight. I just wanted to pass out, to not know what they were doing to me, but I fought