Page 168 of Protecting Peyton

Yuri regained his courage and moved on Zane.

Baldy lumbered behind his skinny friend.

My man braced.

When Yuri reached Zane, he gleefully brandished the knife, swinging it lazily, then lunged.

Zane dodged and threw the skinny guy into the wall just before Baldy reached him.

Vlad let out a blood-curdling scream in Russian, landing a punch that missed Zane’s head, but hit his shoulder.

Zane shook that arm out and swiveled to land a vicious kick to Vlad’s midsection, sending the big man back a few steps.

On the other side, Yuri recovered and slashed out with his knife.

Zane backed away, but not fast enough. A bloody streak appeared low on his side.

I screamed at seeing my man cut.

“Shut up.” Lucifer clamped his hand back over my mouth. “We’ll see who guts who.”

Zane, stumbled backward. My man had been hurt. The blood leaking down his side looked bad.

Vlad stood back with an evil grin. “Finish him off, Yuri.”

Panting, Zane leaned precariously and stumbled to the side.

Fight with everything you have.I flung my elbows back into Lucifer, and bit the hand over my mouth. It didn’t matter that he tasted like three-day-old fish. I bit down as hard as I could.

“Bitch,” he yelped, pulling his hand away.

The monster’s yell was music to my ears. I’d drawn blood.

Then, he wrapped his arm around my neck in a chokehold. My kicks and elbows didn’t affect him.

Yuri advanced on my injured man. “Zane,” I managed to squeak out.

Our eyes collided, before he swiveled to face Yuri.

Lucifer breathed in my ear. “Say goodbye to your boyfriend.”

As he released the pressure on my neck, I pulled in a breath. “Fuck you.”

Lucifer’s chuckle was evil as he licked my ear. “I’m looking forward to that.”

Gross.

Zane staggered toward the wall, looking worse by the second.

My stomach lurched as it looked like the Hawk team wouldn’t reach us in time to save him.

Yuri approached Zane confidently, wielding his knife in a figure-eight. “I’m going to enjoy this.” Then, he lunged.

Zane’s movement was lightning fast as he grabbed Yuri’s wrist, twisted it, threw him against the wall, then bent his arm in an unnatural way.

Yuri’s scream followed the crack of his arm breaking. The knife fell to the floor.

Zane grabbed Yuri’s hair and slammed his head against the wall. The thin man fell silent as he slumped to the floor.