She screamed as she swung at me. “Hate you.” I caught her hand and bucked her off of my hips. The male stood over us, tried to kick out, but I rolled. I heard a snarl and a slashing claw coming for my face before I spun to the left. Thora’s claws drove into the dirt. “You think you are so good, so powerful. But in the end, you condemned innocent people to death.”

I rolled onto my hands and knees and pushed up. “You can lie to yourself all you want, but I’m not stupid.” Her face fell as she pulled her hand from the ground.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” She shrieked as she stood.

“You never wanted to be my friend.” I shook my head as she circled me with the male. “You sat with me and fed me bullshit lies about Nina. I knew you were her puppet from the first day. I said nothing because I wanted to see what you were trying to do.”

She seemed to stumble at my words. “You knew?”

I laughed as I shifted my claws. “Of course I knew. I saw you and Nina talking multiple times.” The male darted in, but I struck first. My claws swept up as he kicked, connecting to the soft flesh of his inner thigh. He yelped as he spun away, blood pooling under him. I might have nicked the femoral artery with that swipe. “You two thought you were secretive, but I knew by the end of the day.”

“You’re lying.” She swiped at me but I dodged back.

“I’m not. I saw you the same day behind the bleachers by the field. Ring a bell?” I watched her face cycle through emotions faster than she could even feel them. “Yeah, I saw you.” I shook my head. “I just let you think I didn’t know. But I never turned you away. I just stopped answering you. So anything that happened to your family, to you, wasn’t on me.”

“It’s still your fault.” She swung again, less controlled than her last.

“No.” I dodged her increasingly frantic attacks. “You did it to yourself. You followed Nina’s orders and came to my table.” I swung once, catching her cheek, drawing blood. “Nina was the one who went to the council.” I swung again, causing her to stumble. The male darted in, but I kicked back and caught him between the legs. He dropped as Thora swung wildly, and I kicked out. She slid a few feet away. “And Nina was the one that convinced the council to get rid of you and your family, probably because you were loose ends, and she was still trying to cover herself.”

Thora pushed to her feet and charged me. “She would never do that to us. We were best friends. We were raised together.” She started swiping at my face.

I kept backing away, dodging each attack. “And yet your family ended up with the rogues, and Nina was safe and sound. I don’t have the ability to convince the council to do anything, but guess who does.” I kicked out again, but I caught her arm, so she didn’t fly off. “Your friend tossed your entire family away like trash, just to keep herself safe.” I punched her in the face. “You have no one but yourself to blame.”

“Shut up.”

“You know I liked you, Thora.” I hit her again. “I would have been your friend, and I would have done my best to save your family. But you worked with Nina. And you condemned your family to their graves. You don’t get to blame me.” I kicked her one more time and let her fly across the field.

I turned to the male that had finally gotten up and swiped at my back. I blocked his arm with my own. Then, I flipped my arm around to grab his wrist before he could pull away. He swung his other arm, and I did the same. We circled as he tried to get the upper hand. He leaned in to snap his fangs at my throat, but I just pulled back and head-butted his nose.

“Fuck.” He bellowed as his blood coated my face, my eyes. We were still struggling with each other when I heard a scream.

“AMY! BEHIND YOU.” Wendy was close, but I could hear the panic in her voice because she wasn’t close enough. I spun, feeling something hit us, and we went tumbling. The impact made me lose my breath, and I felt nails scratching at my chest. The male on top of me was wheezing, and then he screamed once, and then stopped.

I fought to push the male off of me, wriggling to the side to squeeze out, but Thora was there, already swinging for my neck. But Rowan’s claws caught her first, ripping her in half and sending her top half to the side. He grabbed for me as the body rolled free, a giant hole in his chest.

“She ripped his spine out, but she was aiming for you.”