Page 82 of The Bookseller and the Alpha (Witch Twins #1)

Calypso

I’d expected to see signs of violence when I came around the sight of the building. I thought I’d been prepared. The roars and the gunshots had made it pretty clear. Or so I’d believed. But I’d been wrong.

Luc, in his Beast form, had made it most of the way to the front door of the warehouse.

The building was set back from the street, with an open concrete square providing no cover as he had approached.

It must have seemed like the perfect killing field.

One person against at least twenty. But they’d had no idea of what they’d unleashed when they stole me away.

No idea of the lengths my mate would go to for me.

Luc stood in the open, in the full glory of his Beast form.

His silver skin was marred by bullet holes, but he moved quickly, smoothly, his claws disembowelling the man who’d tried to shoot him at point-blank range.

Bodies scattered in gruesome piles formed an uneven circle around him.

Bodies. And body parts. I swallowed. I wasn’t going to puke.

These people didn’t deserve any sympathy.

As if he could sense that I’d rounded the corner of the building, Luc’s eyes snapped to mine, trapping me in his dark gaze.

Power swelled down the bond, phantom fingers caressing my cheeks, my hair, down my spine.

He didn’t break eye contact even when he reached behind his body and pulled a skinny shaven-headed thug to his side in a headlock.

There you are, sweetheart. His voice down the bond was darkly seductive.

As if he wasn’t in the middle of fighting.

As if we were alone. His voice lit up every nerve ending in my body.

For a moment I forgot where we were. Forgot everything except the presence of my mate.

I was suddenly panting, desperate for him to touch me.

It was too long since I’d been in his arms, had his lips on mine, his body over mine, trapping me, devouring me.

Luc broke our stare, pulling me back into reality. He roared again, the sound guttural, primitive, warning every living being that an apex predator was nearby.

It was time to finish this fight and get my mate out of here.

Somewhere private, where I could show him how much I loved him.

The violence wasn’t a turn off. Maybe it should have been, but I’d gone into the mate bond knowing who my mate was.

What he was capable of. I’d seen it in the parking garage.

And it didn’t scare me. I knew, with soul deep certainty, that Luc would never, could never, turn that violence onto me.

But he would protect me and do whatever it took to keep me safe.

Even kill. And these men deserved to die.

I took in the bullet holes scattered across his body.

They’d shot him hundreds of times. I let my anger rise, pulling my power into my fingers.

My fingertips heated. Tingled. My mate would kill to protect me, but I would also kill to protect him. I was a Witch and I was angry.

Luc was now occupied with several men. It looked like they’d decided to rush him in a last-ditch attempt to overpower him.

Throwing my power towards them wouldn’t work.

They were too close to Luc and I didn’t have enough control to pick them off one by one.

I looked towards the road. It wasn’t too far to the car.

I could get there easily, the path clear, but what then?

Would it just be best to get out of here?

Luc had come here for me, and I didn’t want him to stay in danger for any longer than necessary.

I was ready to fight for him, with him, but maybe we didn’t need to.

Suddenly unsure, I hesitated, eyes darting from Luc to the men he was fighting.

Movement in the shadows snagged my attention.

Three black-clad figures huddled at the other end of the quadrangle, bending over some sort of equipment.

I couldn’t see what they were doing, but my stomach tightened uncomfortably.

I had a bad feeling that it was something important.

One of them stood up, facing Luc. His shape was distorted.

I tried to make sense of what I was seeing, even as I started running, straight towards them.

My instincts were going haywire. Whatever they were up to was very, very bad.

And I needed to stop it. Now. I didn’t have the range to reach them. I needed to get closer.

“Hey bozo,” I shouted. “Look at me.”

He ignored me, but his buddies didn’t. They turned towards me, swinging automatic weapons around.

I threw myself to the ground, rolling. I was in the open, exposed, nowhere to hide.

The first burst of automatic fire went over my head, but they would adjust their aim.

I had seconds only before I was riddled with bullets.

Fuck that. I wasn’t dying today. I raised myself to one knee and slashed my right arm in the air across my body, my fingertips pulsing painfully as I released every last bit of magic.