Samia pushed into her face once more, and Vivienne did a mental count from one to five to keep herself from ramming her backward. There was something called personal space and Samia was all up in hers.
“You will never satisfy him, witch,” she spat, and for all the venom in the word she might as well have called her a bitch, or something worse. Vivienne sighed and tried to look bored. Samia wasn’t finished. “You can’t satisfy him because you don’t know how. Your kind is weak, barely better than a humans, and he will grow tired of controlling himself so he doesn’t break you. Soon, he’ll leave your bed and come to mine and while he’s there, I’ll remind him what a true mate does for her wolf.” Samia paused, grinning as Vivienne tensed. “Has he pinned you yet?”
Vivienne allowed her guard to slip when her brows furrowed. What the hell did she mean by pinned?
“No? Of course not.” Pleased with herself, Samia smiled and leaned closer, placing her lips directly over Vivienne’s ear. “He won’t pin you, but he always pins me.”
Somewhere between Samia’s bringing up Conall and telling Vivienne that he’d pinned her—she didn’t have to know what it was to know that it was a sexual act—a red haze began to cloud her sight.
Sensing her rising anger, Samia pressed her advantage. “Every night before he found you, he fucked me like the animal he is, and pinned me under him. And every night after he tires of you, he’ll do the same. Fuck me, pin me, mate me.” And then she did it. The thing that pushed Vivienne over the edge. Her tongue snaked out and touched Vivienne’s earlobe.
After that, things happened in rapid-fire succession. Vivienne blasted her. She didn’t know how, but she’d intended to shove her hard. Her hands hit Samia right between her two perfect breasts, and the bitch went flying. Samia’s body made a sickening thud as it collided with a tree, but she was up in seconds, charging forward. Instinct drove Vivienne as she set her feet apart, let her arms fall to her sides, and held her ground. Her body felt like an electrical circuit. Something dark and utterly delicious had taken over.
The noise in the background blended, becoming one garbled sound. All she could focus on was Samia: Samia’s rapidly pounding heartbeat, the flowing red hair that whipped behind her as she ran, the snapping of twigs and dry leaves as her feet pounded against them.
Eli appeared in front of Vivienne, but she sidestepped him, wanting Samia to advance. She felt powerful. Invincible. And she’d had just about enough of that bitch.
As Samia closed in, Sloan was suddenly there, catching the angry woman and hauling her backward. She screamed and clawed at him, and Vivienne watched as three long, red lines opened along Sloan’s cheek before he slipped into a form that was neither man nor wolf, but both. A hybrid form. He wrestled Samia to the ground and held her arms above her head as she screamed obscenities.
Vivienne’s vision cleared. The red slipped away and she shook her head, struggling to understand what had just happened. Turning around, she noticed that several of the pack members were staring at her in confusion.
“Stop!” It was a growl, a warning.
Vivienne looked back to where Sloan and Samia were. She was still struggling, and he was restraining her, using more and more force. Suddenly, Samia stilled and Sloan released her. She jumped to her feet. Immediately, Vivienne saw the rage, the embarrassment, the pain in her gaze. She also saw the bright red mark in the center of her chest where she’d hit her.
“Go home, Samia,” Sloan growled. “Get yourself cleaned up.”
Samia bared her teeth at him, but after a tense moment, began walking. Vivienne gasped when she saw the bloody scratches along Samia’s back. They were healing already, but she could still make them out. She’d taken a few steps when she turned and looked over her shoulder. In a low voice, she said, “They can’t protect you forever. I will have my blood rite, witch, and then no one—” she broke off to glare at Sloan “—no one will save you from me.”
When she’d disappeared into the trees, Sloan turned to face Vivienne. He’d shifted back to his human form, and looked murderous. She wasn’t sure why, but she’d obviously done something wrong. Maybe it had something to do with giving Samia what had been coming to her for a long while.
He approached her in clipped steps, and took her arm. It wasn’t a painful hold, but it was firm.
“We’re going back to the house. Walk.”
“I can walk by myself, Sloan,” she murmured, pulling at his hold. He began to move, and she followed, tugging at her arm all the way. She didn’t want to say anything to embarrass him for in truth she didn’t need any more enemies in this place, but he wasn’t her father, and she wasn’t a child.