"Get out," he said, his voice going from smooth to clipped and angry.

She bolted like a rabbit, darting past me and slamming a door behind her.

In the heavy silence, I got to my feet, lifting my chin and putting my shoulders back. With as much stern fortitude as I could muster dressed in an oversized band tee and boxer briefs, I turned to the doorway to face the crown prince of Stag Court.

6. The Beast of Phazikai

Chapter 6

The Beast of Phazikai

I would have recognized him anywhere. He was as familiar to me as my own reflection, as if I'd seen him every day of my entire life. Looking at him was like finding a solid handhold on a crumbling wall, with the security of immovability.

My first reaction upon seeing him without a glamor was relief, because the lines and colors of his body matched my subconscious expectation of what I should see.

My second reaction was a throb of sexual attraction, the kind that makes the world brighten as your pupils dilate and your heart rate picks up.

The third was anger at the man who'd been willing to leave me to die in the wilderness for the inconvenience of saving me.

Dain Sundamar did not even approach human. He had the same too-beautiful face I remembered, narrow and sculpted, with arching brows over his deep-set wolf eyes. Gleaming wolf-gray hair caught the light and shone as if it was made of silk, long enough that it looked like it was pulled back in a short ponytail. From his forehead sprouted curved black antelope horns, the left one snapped off halfway up and left jagged. Movement caught my eye: he had gray-furred lynx-like ears, the tips darkening to black tufts, turning to catch the sounds of the room.

I glanced down along the lines of his body without thinking about it, scanning him. He wore black leather, cut like armor but obviously fine clothing, and it emphasized his broad shoulders and powerful core. His stance wasn't at all human; he stood on his clawed raptor feet like an animal, his weight on his toes and his knees bent. Those feet were scaled in black, with heavy scales marching up the front of his legs and gray fur along the back, tufting in black at his lifted heels. Behind him, two long tails curled, the gray fur darkening to black at their dense, plumed ends.

He shifted and I looked up at his face again to see a nasty smirk twisting his mouth. Dain spread his arms to the side, the black scales and claws on his hands catching the light, then spread his wings with a challenging light in his eyes.