Manshu vanished off me so fast it looked unnatural. One second, he was there. The next, he was ripped away violently enough that blood sprayed across the floor.
Warm arms wrapped around me immediately. The familiar scent of soft leather and redwood engulfed me.Rack.
Those silver-flecked purple eyes frantically darted across my face, my throat, my chest, searching for damage faster than he could speak.
“I got you,” he breathed, his voice cracking at the edges. “I got you, Olivia. You’re okay. You’re going to be okay.”
I lifted a trembling hand to his face. His skin was warm. Real.
“I knew you’d come,” I rasped.
The holes in my throat stitched themselves closed as I spoke. My ruined voice was scraping and raw, but I didn't care. They were here. I was going to be okay.
Rack leaned into my palm for the briefest second, eyes squeezing shut like he needed the contact as badly as I did.
Behind us came the wet crunch of bone breaking. Again.
And again.
And again.
The sounds echoed brutally through the underground space. Punches. Screams. Concrete cracking. Wet sounds splattering each second.
I flinched as a gunshot sounded, followed by a sizzle. I tried to crane my head around, to see if anything happened to Calix, but Rack just said, “Shhh, Calix is fine.”
Then metal loudly scraped across the floor, and my eyes snapped toward the noise. A gun with that same unnatural shimmer slid to a stop near Rack’s feet.
“S-stop!” Manshu shrieked. Gone was the smug predator from before. His clothes were bloody and torn, half his face was caving in, and both legs were broken in odd directions.
“P-please! Fuck—please s-stop!”
Calix didn’t. He was on top of him like a force of nature. Fists slammed downward, hit after hit. Blood sprayed with every impact.
Manshu’s head snapped violently against the concrete each time Calix hit him. Teeth skidded across the floor. Wet choking noises bubbled from his ruined mouth while blood poured down his neck.
Rack’s arm tightened around my waist. He took one step forward before looking at me and taking a step back. His jaw flexed hard, but he stayed silent. Watching. Waiting.
“Calix,” I called.
Nothing. His fist came down again and again.
“Calix!”
That finally reached him. The next punch stopped mid-air, and when he slowly turned his head toward me, my breath caught.
The man staring back at me didn’t look like the teasing, lazy prince I’d come to know. This was something else. Something violent and beastly that ran off emotions instead of logic.
Blood drenched him from throat to boots, streaking his pale skin crimson. His fangs were fully out, lips curled back, and blood dripped from his chin.
But his eyes—God. His eyes looked haunted, like his rage had hollowed him out from the inside and left only the monster standing.
This was who everyone was afraid of when he walked into the room. This was the beast that laid beneath his skin, the one he kept under control. I knew the average person would be terrified, yet all I wanted to do was soothe him.
I reached toward him slowly.
“Calix,” I said, softer this time. “You can’t.”
His chest heaved once. A low growl of protest left his mouth, but when I raised an eyebrow, he let Manshu fall from his grip. The broken body crumpled heavily onto the floor.
