Whoever these fucking goblins were, they were going to pay for ever touching her.
Theo ignored the second goblin and jumped toward the two other goblins dragging Lily's writhing body toward the door. She kicked out at the goblin near her feet, her foot crunching into a jaw, and then she bit the goblin whose hand had been clamped over her mouth. Theo landed beside her, snarling at the same goblin, who backed away and ran for the door.
They wouldn't escape Theo's wrath. Theo pounced, his massive fangs closing around their neck and snapping it before shredding them. Blood drenched his mouth. The blood of his kin.
But they'd come here prepared for this fate.
With another snarl, Theo turned to shred the other goblin who'd touched Lily. The gold-skinned creature scampered toward the bed, hitting the nightstand and knocking over the wine glasses. They hit the ground and shattered.
The goblin's eyes almost bugged out of their face. "You can't kill us all. F-For the rebellion!" they cried before Theo tore their throat out.
He took no satisfaction in the kills. To him, to his wolf, their deaths were justice for daring to defy him. To assault him and his wife in their marriage bed, only hours after they'd consummated their union.And they were going to pay with their blood.
At last, Theo rounded on the final goblin who'd attacked them. Their grey, slate-like skin was natural to the underground cities where the goblins preferred to live. "W-wait!" the goblin screeched in her familiar, high-pitched whine. "My liege!"
Theo stopped. His haunches raised, every hair on his body on end, he stared down at the small goblin who'd come here. Defied him. Attacked him.
And he found that he knew her.
She was supposed to be one of his trusted advisors, but instead, she'd been caught, here, in an attempt to murder him and steal his wife. The snarl that left Theo's throat next was more dangerous than any other, a visceral, primal reverberation that spoke of just how pissed he was.
But he didn't let his animal instincts win out today.
Gradually, Theo convinced his wolf form to withdraw, bringing back his human form. At almost three times the goblin's height, he towered over the cowering, pathetic creature as he stretched out his legs to hover above.
"Bite," Theo snarled. "What the fuck is this? Explain yourself, before I rip your throat out too."
The goblin stared up at him, her beady black eyes wide with terror. She trembled, her throat working as she swallowed hard. "My liege, I am so sorry," she stammered. "I never meant for-for my participation to go this far. I only wanted to capture yer wife and show ye we—we don't need her to win against the wolves!"
He could smell the desperation in her words, the fear of his wrath. Theo's lip curled back as he glared down at her. "You're a worse liar than you are an advisor. I should have known you were working with the rebellion when you started talking so fiercely against the alliance with the wolves. What is your plan? What do you hope to gain from all of this?"
Bite's eyes shifted away from Theo's face, toward the door. She licked her lips, hesitating. He could see her schemes forming behind her soulless eyes, but he wasn't going to give her a chance to act on them.
Theo stepped closer, his hand tightening into a fist. "Answer me, traitor. What is the rebellion's plan?"
"W-we, you already know we want a war between the goblins and the wolves," she said finally, her voice barely above a whisper. "We wanted to show that ye can't trust the wolves—that they're not to be trusted. They killed hundreds of goblins! How can ye sit there and bed one of their bitches—"
Theo lashed out, his clawed hand slapping Bite's cheek and leaving a scrape. She gasped and cowered against the wall.
"Don't youdare," he said through gritted teeth, "call my wife abitch, you filthy rat."
"M-my liege, I ... I only meant ..." She swallowed hard, surely realizing that her excuses were meaningless to Theo. "The masses don't want to align with the wolves."
"And I'm willing to bet the masses didn't care either way until a certain rebellion threw propaganda in their faces? You've worsened this war, when I wanted to prevent it. What's your excuse, then, for going behind my back? For trying to kill me, too? What is it, Bite? Did you hope to steal the throne for yourself? Is that it?"
Bite yelped and made herself a small, wormlike creature in the crease between the wall and floor. He advanced on her, spittle flying from his lips as he demanded answers that didn't come.
A gentle hand landed on his shoulder. "Theo."
Theo snarled and turned on the figure behind him, claws elongated to attack. Lily's bright eyes widened and she shrank away, and that look of fear was so unnatural and heart-wrenching on her face that Theo calmed himself at once.
The tension in his shoulders relaxed. "Lily," he breathed, taking her in. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"
She shook her head. "I'm fine, just a little shaken, that's all."
There were bruises along her jaw from where the goblin had been carrying her, and she had a few scratches along her body. She was dirty from hitting the ground and writhing against the goblins, and her eyes were still wide with shock, but otherwise, she seemed mostly unharmed. Good thing, too, because without her, all his plans would have been ruined.
He ripped the sheets from the bed and draped them over her shoulders. Then he wrapped her in his arms, taking in her warmth and the vanilla scent of her hair. Once he was sure that she was as okay as she claimed, he kissed the top of her head.