Chasing His Assassin

6. Strange Compliment

Asher stood there in awe as he absorbed in her features. Fierce feline shaped eyes that stared down at him and his men. Her small but full cherry colored lips maintained a neutral position showing how at ease she was. The nineteen men approaching her didn’t faze her, they were no threat to her.

Asher had never laid eyes on a more beautiful female in his entire existence. Her eyes darted about, looking over the men in front of her before she cracked her neck. Her stance slowly shifted from neutral into one signaling attack before she went on a rampage.

Completely stunned, Asher stood there unable to move, only watching how each one of his men fell with ease. Even while she was cutting down his brethren, the air about her was gorgeous. Blood sprayed and stained her face and clothes but didn’t dampen her beauty in the slightest.

Some wolves had shifted, sensing they couldn’t take her on in their human forms but their little effort didn’t make a difference. Not even one person was able to slip past her and go after the witch. In a matter of minutes, nineteen men had fallen leaving Asher as the only one left in the fight.

“Seems you’re the leader today,” the red angel said as she turned to Asher. She shook her blade to rid it of the blood that stained it before she pointed it in Asher’s direction. “The other one was more impressive, at least he didn’t just stand there while his men fell. And here I was hoping you guys would put up a better fight.”

That was an insult that would normally have flown right past his head but really annoyed Asher greatly today. Although Doran and himself were of similar ranks in the pack, Asher was definitely stronger and more skilled. Her comparison to Doran filled him with more ire than he’d expected and then it dawned upon him. Why he found her voice utterly mesmerizing, why he couldn’t seem to move his body to attack her, why it annoyed him that she thought Doran better than him.

This moment right now was the one he’d dreamed of for centuries. This woman before him was the singular female he’d craved to meet the most.

“Mate-“ A foot crashing into his face kept him from completing his statement and he found his body tumbling into the concrete wall that surrounded the witch’s house. “f**k!”

Asher sat in the pile of rubble in shock, his jaw in a massive amount of pain. He hadn’t even seen her move before she landed the hit. He rolled his jaw around in his mouth, trying to set it back in place for it to heal. Of course the little angel wouldn’t give him that much breathing space because she was already approaching him again. He rolled out of the way just in time to narrowly dodge the edge of her sword.

Asher put some space between them, trying to buy himself enough time for him to sort out his disarrayed thoughts. She was his mate. The vemon was his mate and right now she was trying to kill him.

“Come on, I’m sure you have more in you than that. The other mutt put up more of a fight.” She taunted. Again Asher was irritated by the fact she kept comparing him to Doran but he couldn’t see himself striking her. Of all the circumstances he could have met his mate in, this just had to be the one. Fate was mocking him.

She closed the space between them and directed a sideways kick at him, one that Asher blocked. Big mistake. He bit back a yell as pain radiated through his forearm, the bone was broken. He cradled the injured arm, cursing under his breath.

His mate of course not caring to give him any breathing space took that opportunity to land another kick straight at his gut, knocking the air out of his lungs and sending his body flying towards the singular wall that still stood after his first meeting with it.

“You haven’t even made an attempt to hit me.” She said in an irritated tone as she approached him once again.

“It’s not exactly in my nature to strike a lady.” He forced himself to gasp out. She stopped her slow approach for a moment as though she were shocked he’d spoken before she continued walking towards him.

“You’d be courting death with that mindset.” He knew. He knew that all too well. In fact he didn’t know how he was going to leave this situation alive. In truth, Asher didn’t have any prejudice on hitting women. Few immortal men did. They grew up in a world were the females were just as strong or sometimes even stronger than the males. If you tried to live by the morals of mortals you would wind up dead before you could even blink.

Vanna, the one who’d trained Asher had thought him just how frightening females could be. If it was necessary, Asher would never hold back a punch against one.

But now that the female in question was his mate, he had no idea what to do.

He could just imagine how much fun Dion would pick at him if he ever found this out, if Asher managed to leave this situation alive.

As she got closer, Asher realised it was time to leave the comfort of his bed of rubble and avoid her once again but his body protested. When he coughed up blood, he realised some organs were crushed from her kick earlier. The vemon’s strength was no joke. He now understood why Daron had been so worried.

He eventually managed to force himself up just in time for him to evade another s***h from her or at least partly evade. His broken arm didn’t make it away in time and now it sat comfortably on the bed of rubble. At least now he didn’t have to worry about healing a broken bone. He needed a whole new arm. He didn’t even want to think of the pain he would be in while he grew another limb. If he lived long enough to grow another one.

The pain had Asher battling his wolf for control. He wasn’t too sure if the wolf would attack their mate or not but he wasn’t willing to find out. She was their mate but she’d also been responsible for the death of two of their brethren. Would the wolf try and claim her or try and injure her? He had no idea.

“Come on, I feel like a bully right now.” Leah breathed out in exasperation. She hadn’t expected much from the other wolves she’d beaten down but as this one was the leader, she expected some kind of fight from him.

So much for using their battle to distract herself. He wasn’t even trying to fight her!

Lady? Who would see the damage she’d dealt to the other men and still have the gall to refer to her as a lady. This wolf probably had a screw loose somewhere.

“I wouldn’t say you aren’t.” His voice was a deep rumble that she found strangely appealing. It was rough, probably because of the pain she’d inflicted on him so she wondered what he sounded like normally. Leah had to admit that he was rather good looking despite not being her type. Deep brown eyes and dark blonde hair. He had a low trimmed beard that she never knew she fancied on men until that very moment. And his body, though covered up, looked large and firm. It was perfectly carved, she could tell even through the loose black shirt that he wore, it was the kind of body that any female would want to cling onto. She had to keep herself from imagining what he was like below the belt. Had they not met in the circumstances they did, she might’ve considered sharing a bed with him.

He was desperately clutching the stomp where his arm had been chopped off, trying to prevent as much blood loss as possible, in a matter of minutes he would either pass out or the blood would stop as his hand began to heal. Leah almost felt bad for him.

She watched as the blood dripped down the veiny hand that clutched the stomp and she found herself swallowing. When last had she drunk blood? It had been a while when she thought of it.

Still it wasn’t long enough for her to be lusting after this Lycan’s blood. Leah had never drunk from the vein before. Bagged blood was her source of sustenance. It wasn’t because she was some good person who didn’t like to hurt others -that much should be obvious- but because the bite was something intimate to her. She wanted to share that intimate moment with someone she cared for, with a mate if she had one. Though she had no hope of ever meeting such a person.

The romantic side of her still liked to dream that there was someone for her somewhere out there. Someone that would give her life purpose.

His blood smelled divine. This was temptation like she’d never faced before. She should hurry and get rid of him so she can get away. Once she’s home she’ll enjoy a cool glass of blood.

“So you really won’t fight me?” He was really going to play the gentleman card up until the end. His large body was crouched on the ground while he clutched the stump of his arm. He rose his face to meet hers, deep brown eyes holding hers. Damn he was good looking.

“I couldn’t even if I wanted to.”

“Then I have no other choice here.” Leah sighed in disappointment. She’d been unconsciously making small talk just so she could continue to hear him speak but now it was time to finish her business here. Knock him out, so he couldn’t get to Noah or Freya. Today like yesterday, Leah was unable to kill the mutts. Whenever she went for a fatal strike, invisible bonds held her back.

Early into the fight, she resigned herself to her fate of getting severely punished. The best thing that could happen was for Noah to actually get the witch this time lest Caspian would relieve all his frustration on her.

When she closed the short distance between them, the wolf looked like he’d given up. He didn’t try to evade her this time. Only stared up at her as she approached. With the other mutts she’d at least had the intention of killing them before her invisible restraints stopped her but with this man, she couldn’t bring herself to even attempt a fatal blow.

Her mind was strange today. Very strange. Leah rose her blade and placed the pointed edge to his chest, directly above his heart. “At least an angel will be the last thing I see before I die.”

She pressed the sword into him, impaling the rapidly beating organ. She felt its dull beat against her sword as it slowly ceased function.

As she pulled back her blade from his chest, her face flooded with warmth from the strange compliment he’d given.