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Reece

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My wolf had snarled in my ear at the man's taunting words. Neither of us would take his attitude lying down. He would pay for touching her.

As soon as I prepared to fight the condescending vampire blinked into the shadows again, coming into view once more right in front of Shawn and Trinity." Shawn leapt back, trying to avoid the man as he protected his Luna. He managed to keep my Little Bunny from getting hurt but he took the blow across his upper left arm. Three long, thin lines opened up in his flesh spilling blood down to his elbow and wrist. The blood was starting to soak into the white fur of Trinity's wolf.

"Ugh, the smell of wolf blood is so repulsive." The vampire said in disgust.

"You son of a bitch." I snarled at him, rage overflowing for his continued attack on my mate and her guards. "I will kill you for what you've done."

"Ha, I'd love to see you try. You are insignificant compared to me you mongrel of a mutt."

"Prepare to eat those words, bloodsucker." I could feel the rage intensifying within me. It was spreading, burning me from the inside out. Shane and Vincent had already rushed over to where Shawn and my Little Bunny were. Vincent took hold of my Little Bunny while Shane checked his brother.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Shawn growled while eyeing the vampire with rage.

"You two provide backup for the Alpha, I'm getting her out of here." Vincent commanded the other two.

"I'm fine, let me help." What was she thinking? Telling them that she wanted to help with the fight was she stupid.

"NO!" I roared as loud as I could without taking my eyes off of the cliche of a vampire. "Get her out of her, NOW!" I commanded them.

"Vincent, put me down right now." She countered my command. For some reason he followed her order over mine.

"Vincent, take her away." I commanded.

"NO!" She yelled right back at me. "I am not leaving, do you hear me, ignore him Vincent." She ordered the man in front of her.

"Alpha, I don't know why but I need to follow her commands over yours."

"Damn it, Vincent, do as I say." I growled fiercely putting all the weight of my authority into the command, still he ignored me.

"I can't." He looked shocked. I yelled, a meaningless roar of frustration. I wanted her out of here and somewhere safe dammit.

"You should be paying attention to me." I heard the vampire taunt me just as he blinked out of sight and reappeared near Trinity again, Vincent quickly and deftly avoided the attack, protecting my mate.

"If you touch her again I swear by the Goddess I will kill you." I heard the blood sucker laugh derisively at my statement.

"I'd like to see you try." It really annoyed me, his high and mighty voice speaking as if he was better than all of us. It was even annoying me that he spoke perfect English despite his thick accent, everything about him bothered me.

"I hope you're ready Count Gothula." I insulted him as I shifted back into my wolf form

I saw him once again blink out of sight. Knowing that he was about to go after my Little Bunny again, that he was going to try to attack my mate, that he was trying to hurt MY Trinity, I felt the heat of anger explode inside of me.

Everything seemed to slow down, almost like time was standing still or close to it. I could see everything with perfect clarity. The heat inside of my body was growing by the second. It was so hot that I felt like I was going to melt at any moment.

Suddenly, there was a strange sensation running through me, as if my entire body had been numb and I could feel the tingling pinpricks of feeling coming back to me as my body finally started circulating blood again. The feeling kept growing and growing. It moved from the pinpricks to a stabbing and shooting pain filling my whole body. But still, I did not take my eyes off the vampire or my Little Bunny, not for a second.

I could see he was making his way closer to her through the shadows. Moving just a few feet at a time in each quick blinking of his existence. Just as the pain and heat inside me reached the level of being unbearable, the pain stopped, and the heat subsided. But then, for some reason, the entire yard seemed to start glowing, as if there was a bright light shining from somewhere behind me.

The light flickered, like it was a flame. I could only guess that one of the guards had lit a fire to drive away the shadows, taking away the vampire's ability to shadow walk. The idea was genius and would probably work. With no shadows near him, the bloodsucker would have no way to blink toward my mate or away from me.

I felt a big toothy, wolfish grin spread across my face as I thought about how I was going to kill the man in front of me. He must have sensed my bloodlust, my rage, because he stood there for just a second like he was frozen in place with fear filling his eyes. He took a small step away from me, backing toward the cover of the trees and more shadows. I wasn't going to let him get away that easily.

I leapt, quick as I could, and slammed into the goth poser. He landed onto the ground with so much force that his rancid breath hit me full in the face as it rushed out of him. I growled low and long into his face, letting him hear the frustration and anger he had caused to well up inside of me. I wanted him to know this was his fault, all his fault. He was going to die now and it was entirely his own fault.

"Get off of me you abomination." His thickly accented voice wavered as he tried to sound confident and sure of himself. "Ger aus of mir." His perfectly crafted English was slipping, letting German mix with it. 'Get off of me' the mixed words said. "Weggehen wolf! Weggehen." He screamed the words in German. 'Get off wolf! Get off' I had no problem understanding what he was saying.

Before I could respond the vampire started screaming and I could smell ashes. His screaming was loud and unceasing.

'I told you I would kill you.' I snarled at him but it came out in the barking growl of a wolf. I said not another word before I opened my jaw and bit down right across his throat. His blood burst into my mouth, thick and disgusting. He tasted of dirt, ash, and mold. It was appalling.

I stepped away from him, keeping my anger under a semblance of control, and noticed the vampire had caught fire at some point.

'When did that happen?' I barked, asking the others.

"Reece, do you not know what's happened to you?" I heard my Little Bunny ask me.

'What are you talking about?' I asked her as I turned around to look at the four of them. They were all looking at me with shocked, disbelieving looks. 'What?' I asked again.

"Alpha, you're covered in flames." Shawn spoke in a slow, deliberate voice.

"You're completely engulfed." Shane added.

I looked down at my wolf's body to see it covered in flames. I must have caught fire when the vampire had. Why didn't they say something? Why didn't they attempt to put the flames out?

I yelped, panic beginning to fill me. I was so filled with rage and then panic that I didn't even feel the heat of the flames as they surged all over me. I looked around me, panic stricken, for a way to save myself. I noticed a pile of snow at the edge of the forest, a bank big enough that I could dive into head first and douse myself.

I ran, full speed, toward the snow. I jumped in with all four feet, rolling myself in the snow to quell the flames. But no matter how much I tried to put the flames out, they continued to burn, melting the snow around me. I started to panic once more.

"Reece!" I could hear a sweet voice calling to me, breaking through the panic I was feeling. "Reece!" It called again. I knew the voice but panic was winning out for the moment. "Reece!" It yelled my name, finally pulling my attention enough to make me look toward the source. I could see Trinity, my Little Bunny in her wolf form, standing there, looking at me.

"Trinity!" I said her name with a note of desperation.

"Reece, you're not on fire, you are the fire." She told me calmly, an excited look on her face.

"What?!" Her words made no sense to me.

"It's like me with my ice, you are made of fire." I stopped thrashing around in the snow, letting myself calm down just a little.

"How?" I wanted to know this if nothing else. "I don't have magic like you?" I told her.

"But you have a mark she gave you." Vincent reminded me.

"You think this is caused by my mark?" I calmed down just a little more.

"I don't know." My mate said, staring at me proudly. "But you are the fire to my ice. My protector and partner." She looked so beautiful as she smiled at me with pride filling her heart.