He shook his head. “No. Not unless we’re in open combat. That hasn’t happened lately, though. Not in the last year.”
“Interesting. Right when the legal trouble began. I wonder how this Nat person came into their lives.”
Ethan was stunned. “Shit, you know I even thought of asking myself that. I just figured Tagnello grew tired and lazy, and instead of fighting me where he knew I could win and have the win that way, he decided to be a tame animal and go the fake legal route.”
“If we keep standing here, we run the risk of getting into trouble, right?”
Ethan scanned their surroundings again. “Yeah. We will eventually see someone from our pack. I mean,mypack.” Damn, what kind of a slip of the tongue was that! “But it is also risky. We run the danger of actually coming face to face with some of the Tagnello enforcers.”
“Enforcers? Why do I not like the sound of that?”
“Because youshouldn’tlike the sound of it. Enforcer is just a fancy word formuscle.”
“Got it.”
Ethan studied her carefully. “Please don’t take this the wrong way …”
She glared at him, her hazels narrowed. ”What?”
“Well, we’re about to have a drag-out fight. I shouldn’t have let you come.”
“Let me?” she repeated in a hiss.
“Don’t be mad at me for caring what happens to you, Ruby. You’re really important to me, and if something were to go wrong? If you got hurt or worse? How could I even forgive myself?”
“I’m a succubus. I’ve been alive for a long time. I can handle a few grumpy wolves.”
“A few grumpy wolves?” he shook his head. “They could shred you to pieces without even thinking about it. What weapon have you got?”
Ethan took an actual physical step backward from her. Her beautiful face, one he was getting so attached to, completely changed. The features he knew and loved melted away before his very eyes.
“You’ve never seen the other side of the succubus. You’ve only seen the side that is a bit more palatable for the outside world. I’m actually quite terrifying in my other form.”
Right before his eyes, Ruby Flemming changed from a red-headed woman to a creature with thin leathery skin. It was pulled tightly over her bones, making her look completely emaciated. Her hazel eyes that he loved so much were gone, replaced by red irises that were downright terrifying.
“This is the form I use to take souls to Hell.”
“Remind me not to piss you off,” Ethan nodded.
She grinned, revealing a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth that totally reminded him of Una when she was mad. “I bet I can scare a few of those wolves away just by waving at them.” She gave a dramatic twirl of her hand. The long black talons at the tips of her fingers looked like sharp little blades.
“You can fight in this form?”
“What do you think?” She moved her dangerous-looking fingers in a mock wave. The effect would have scared a lesser man. It might actually scare the Tagnellos enough before any blood was spilled.
“Umm, I think that part of you wants to flay me alive for even asking if you can fight.” He held up his hand while the other pressed to his mouth in the universal sign forshut the hell up.He nudged his head toward the thick line of trees.
The leaves were moving, but not because of the wind. Something was moving through the woods. The pair exchanged a look, and Ethan took his wolf form. If there was any talking to do … which he highly doubted would be warranted if he trusted his wolf’s first instinct … Ruby could be his mouthpiece. He trusted her with the fate of his pack.
Ruby opened her mouth to comment on his wolf, but she was cut off. Three wolves ran out of the woods, obviously reeling for a fight. There were two gray ones and a large brown one with a chunk missing out of his ear. That little detail alone was enough for Ethan. He knew exactly who the wolf was.
McNee Tagnello.
The pack alpha that had been causing him so much trouble since the moment Ethan’s father died. All at once, the anger he had been ignoring since his father’s death expanded in his chest. Ethan wanted to rip McNee apart for trying to destroy his father’s legacy.
Poor Gus had done nothing but fall in love. Ethan understood that it was impossible to ignore the pull of the true mate, though. How could he live without Ruby now that he knew her? It would be a long and unhappy life for him.
Gus had a shot, and it wasn’t the man’s fault that some asshole alpha and his lawyer took that already difficult situation to make it so much worse.