Angelia used her powers to clothe them as she braced herself for Fury to hand her over to the Litarians for their dinner.

Instead, he rose from the bed with an aura so deadly it gave her chills. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing here, tree-humper, but you don’t come into my brother’s house with that attitude and tone.” He looked down to the severed head on the floor. “And you damn sure don’t bring filth into the presence of my mate.”

“We’ve tracked her scent here.”

Fury gave him a sinister smirk. “And do you smell it in my room?”

One of the lions moved to grab Fury. Faster than she could blink, he twirled away from the lion and then pinned him against the wall. Hard.

“You really don’t want to test me,” Fury snarled, banging the lion’s head into the wall. “I’m not a gazelle on the savannah, punk. I’ll have your throat faster than you took the jackal’s head.”

Paris stepped forward. “There are four of us and one of you.”

“Two of us,” Angelia corrected, cutting him off from Fury. “And the only thing deadlier than a wolf is his mate when he’s threatened.”

Paris approached her. He sniffed the air around her as he eyed her warily.

“Is it her?” one of the other lions asked him.

“No,” he said disgustedly. “We’ve lost the scent.” He turned toward Fury. “This isn’t over, Wolf. We won’t stop until we’re satisfied. If I find the bitch responsible, I will feast on her entrails.”

Fury shoved the lion he held at Paris. “You’re not welcome here. Really. Get out.”

Paris made a feral growl before they vanished.

“And take your nasty trophy head with you,” Fury snarled as he slung it into the portal with them so that it went wherever it was they were going.

Angelia let out a slow breath in relief. “What just happened? How did they not smell me?”

Fury shrugged. “The one power I did develop was the ability to mask my scent. Since it’s now part of yours, I was able to mask yours, too.”

“That’s why you don’t smell like a Katagari!”

He inclined his head to her in a sarcastic salute.

But that raised another question in her mind. “So how is it Dare found out about your base form if he couldn’t smell it?”

Fury looked away as pain swept through him. To this day, the betrayal of it shredded his soul.

Angelia placed her hand on his cheek where he had his teeth clenched tight. “Tell me.”