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“Fuck,” Jax hissed.

“You broke her fucking hands,” Ren snarled. The words hit Jax, and he staggered back. When Ren came at him again, hedidn’t fight back. He fell to his back with a grunt, taking the flurry of punches at his face. Jax’s blood sprayed across Ren’s cheek.

I kept holding my breath, because, if I didn’t, I’d lunge at them and start feeding.

I gritted my teeth.

Ren held him down, pounding his fists into his jaw with repeated swings and Jax just took it. I struggled to comprehend the violence. I’d never seen them go at each other like this.

Blood leaked from Jax’s lip, nose, and eyebrow. A laceration opened on his cheek upon the next hit landing. Ren was going too far.

“Ren!” I screamed and grabbed his arm. I strained and managed to at least get him to look at me. “Please stop.”

My eyes continued to drift to the blood splatters. My mouth watered, but I continued not breathing. This confirmed it though. I was still not a fan of violence.

Asher shoved Ren back a step, keeping himself between them. I pinched my nose. A burn had begun in my gums, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Jax. He lay on the floor in a puddle of his blood. His face had been turned into a bludgeoned mess.

Delicious, sweet blood. I closed my eyes tightly.

“How uncivilized,” Bastien commented, lacing his hands on his stomach as he stared derisively down at the two of them. “Now.” Bastien paused, he shook his head with a groan. His lip curled and his red eyes flashed up to pin me. The calm, analytical Bastien disappeared. He’d returned to staring at me fixatedly and not speaking. His fangs had extended, and he lunged toward me. The chains rattled around him.

“Bastien?”

He snarled.

Tobias moved and he snarled, beginning to pace the little he could with the amount of give of the chain. He reminded me of a caged tiger.

“Kitten?” Jax stood and swiped the back of his hand across his mouth.

All the blood. Such delicious, sweet blood. It plunked onto the floor with a rhythmic drip. I couldn’t help but fixate. Jax swiped the back of his hand across his nose again and blood smeared on his skin. Lickable?—

“I have to go.” I clamped my hand over my mouth and ran upstairs.

TWENTY-ONE

catalina

I sankonto the stool and placed my elbows on the edge of the granite counter. I sucked down a breath for the first time in a while. The smell of blood lingered in my nose. I closed my eyes, stopped breathing, and fisted my hands. Attacking Jax after Ren pulverized him like that was a line I wouldn’t cross.

“Catalina?” My hair fluttered around my shoulders with how fast I turned. Tobias reached for me. Those gray eyes . . . violent, gray eyes. My stomach turned over.

Tobias’s hand hovered but didn’t touch me. His lips thinned and he withdrew with a frown. It must have been written all over my face.

“Sorry.” I placed my hand to my chest, even though my heart wasn’t pounding like it used to. He slowly moved around my stool and pulled out the seat next to me. He sank down and set his hands on the counter. He moved with such care; I could tell he did it to not spook me.

I settled next to him. And the more he just stayed quietly studying me, the more my shoulders relaxed.

“You fear me. You fear Bastien.”

“It’s not fear,” I said defensively. “Where are the others?” Was it a method to distract the conversation? Sure was.

“They’re giving us a moment.”

I only hummed.

Tobias opened his mouth to speak about three different times, but nothing came out.

“Do you still want me?” The vulnerability in the question took me a second to wrap my head around. Tobias’s expression was fixed and stiff. Like he braced himself for my ‘no’. “I see how you flinch from me.” He paused. “You blame me. Rightfully. If I hadn’t asked for her to stay, we wouldn’t have had this—” He scrubbed his hair. “Catalina. I regret my decisions.”