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But itwasthe first time I’d almost killed someone.
And I hadn’t been the only one.
I’d known Damian for a long time. I’d seen him lose his temper and go off on people. I’d seen him torture everyone from innocents to assholes, but I’dneverseen him like that.
I didn’t know Justin well, but there was always something unsettling about him I just couldn’t quite figure out. Of the three of us, he was calmest. Disturbingly calm—even when he’d run inside to get us. His speed said one thing, but his facial expressions and body language said another. If he’d asked us about the weather, I would have been less surprised than when he’d told us Eric and his asshole friends attacked Temperance and needed usrightthen.
There was absolutely no panic in his eyes—only a cold darkness I’d never even seen in the demon himself. That was more terrifying than whatever we were about to walk into.
Once we got out there and saw them kneeling next to her, pawing at her, that darkness spread like a virus, and Damian and I were overtaken by it.
Justin was the first to react—calm and cool. He walked over and grabbed Eric by the hair with one hand, his other pinching the fuck out of his trachea as he dragged him backward. It was at that moment I realized that wasn’t the first time Justin had done something like that before.
When Eric’s friends moved in response, it pulled me out of my daze. Zane Wilson and Brody Tanner. They stood, and I registered blood dripping from Zane’s arm. He had a nasty gash, and the side of his face was bloody and bruised.
“Temperance do that?” Damian asked snidely, pointing to Zane’s damages.
“Yeah, and that stuck up frigid slut got a little of what she deserved. She would’ve gotten the rest if you didn’t show up. I didn’t picture you for the cockblocking type, Wolfe,” Zane fired back.
My blood chilled, and heat raced through my body. It was like every one of my nerve endings fired at once, begging me to jump. Begging me to rip out his fucking eyes and flay him alive.
And next to me…
Out of my peripheral, I noticed something I hadn’t expected. Damian’s entire body stiffened as that same darkness I’d seen in Justin washed over him.
My best friend was the biggest dick I knew, but he had hard lines drawn in the sand, and assault ofanykind against a woman was off limits—this, of course, being the worst offense of all.
In that moment, I made peace with knowing at least one of the six of us may not survive. This wouldnotbe a normal fight. I also realized that between the three of us, I was the weakest link. I was the one with the most reservations because I’d changed so much over the last year.
But when I looked at Temperance on the ground—unconscious, her side scraped to hell and bleeding—my eyes wandered up to look at that scar. The scar she’d received in an accident that ruined her life and took her parents. The scar from an event that nearly claimed her life.
The scar I’dbelittledher for when I threw her dead parents in her face…
Inthatmoment, I unburdened myself of all my reservations. I wasn’t a good guy. No matter how much I liked to pretend, or how much I liked to fool everyone around me, I couldn’t fool myself.
That was why Damian was so fucking angry, and I knew it. He’d claimed her for himself, and that washispet they’d touched.Hisprey.
Well, she wasminefirst, and I’d be damned if he got all the fucking glory.
Without warning, I struck first, my fist connecting hard with the side of Zane’s face. Brody went for Damian, and the fight was on. Zane was knocked back a little, but he came at me hard. Unfortunately for him, I was far faster and far more skilled than he was.
I turned and widened my stance, bending at the knees. It was too late for him to slow himself, and I took full advantage. The second his body collided with my leg, I hooked my arm around the back of his neck and jerked in a twisting motion. My leg successfully took his legs out from under him as I physically pulled him to the ground by his head.
Letting go, I watched him land hard on his side. With all the broken glass on the ground around him, I had to guess it didn’t feel very good—and it gave me a sick sense of satisfaction. I wanted to see him bleed for what he’d done to my girl.
Before he could right himself, I straddled him and threw a hard punch to the side of his head.
“Holy fuck!”
Though I’d heard the words, I didn’t register the owner of the feminine voice as I threw another punch. Zane tried to fight back, but soon switched to trying to protect his face by crossing his arms over it.
“Luna, get to Temperance. Make sure she’s okay,” Justin ordered.
Again, his voice was disturbingly calm, and I couldn’t help but think just how creepy that was. Who the fuck had that kind of self-control? As I drilled my fists into Zane’s ribs, alternating between breaking them and going for his face when he changed spots he tried to protect, my brain wandered to Justin.
Looking back now, I was out of my mind with rage, but Justin had been cool and focused. He’d had a goal, and he worked to accomplish it. Me? I just wanted that little fucker to pay for what he’d done to her with his life.
I fully intended to kill him.