Our bond is so saturated with grief and rage,my chest tightens, and I brace against it. I have never felt anything like this come through from her before. Not even close.
"He killed my parents," she blurts out, and I go still.
Did I hear her right?
“What did you say, omega?”
But Elowen doesn’t answer, she just stares at Milo.
The thick emotions coursing through our bond changes. The grief doesn't leave. It gets swallowed by something much sharper. And before I have time to process what's happening, Elowen pushes herself away from Adam and launches herself across the room.
She hits the skinny fucker like a freight train.
She knocks him sideways, onto his back, straddling his chest. Then she hits him with everything she has.
Both fists, open hands, nails raking across whatever skin she can reach.
A sound tears out of her that is somewhere between a snarl and a sob.
Milo throws his arms up, his hands flying to cover his face, but he doesn't fight back. Not a single punch thrown, not a single grab at her wrists, nothing. He simply takes it, his body absorbing every hit.
Raff glances over his shoulder at me, silently asking if he should pull her off him.
I shake my head.
If this fucker really did kill her parents, then this is Elowen's revenge to take. And I'll die making sure she gets her pound of flesh.
Elowen pulls back her fist, grabs Milo's arm, and wrenches it out of the way. Then she drives her fist straight into the center of his face.
His head snaps back and hits the hardwood floor with a crack that echoes through the room.
Blood hits the air immediately, sharp and copper-bright, and every alpha instinct I have roars to life at once. Not in defense of the man bleeding on my floor. In pride.
I watch Elowen sit back on her heels above him, her chest heaving, her knuckles split and red.
And I have never seen anything so right in my life.
Three years of grief and silence and hiding and surviving alone, and she is taking every single ounce of it back with her bare hands.
Good.
Elowen sucks in a deep breath, and brings her fist down one more time, then she starts to sob.
It tears out of her, her whole body shaking with it, her shoulders caving inward, and I'm already moving.
I reach down and hook my hands under her arms, pulling her up and back against my chest in one motion. She comes without resistance, her body going loose against mine as I wrap both arms around her and hold on.
Milo doesn't move.
He's flat on his back with his nose bent sideways and blood pouring freely down his face, and he's still crying, still mumbling, still saying the same shit he's been saying since I walked through the door.
"I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry."
"Shut the fuck up." Perrin steps forward and looms over him. His expression is cold and flat and completely without mercy. "Don't say another fucking word."
The fucker goes quiet.
I look at Perrin over the top of Elowen's head and feel immense pride. He is so damn good at keeping our omegas safe. The perfect beta.
