Chapter Four
The Banshee in Red Hook
Knox
“Trust me to stand.”Briana’s words follow me into the cage and sit beneath my skin like a blade.Not in my back.Worse.In my chest.
I don’t know how to trust her to stand when every instinct I have demands I put myself between her and anything with teeth or ill intent.I don’t know how to stay still when she says she can walk into darkness on her own two feet.I don’t know how to quiet the beast inside me when all he understands is that our mate has been hurt and the things that hurt her still breathe.
But I told myself I would try.So I am trying.
Badly.
The cage door shuts behind me with a metallic clang, and the sound should settle me.It usually does.The cage has always been the easiest place in the world for me to exist.No lies.No pretty words.No pretending I am anything other than what I am.
Violence in a body.
But today, even the cage feels too small.
Cruz stands across from me, arms loose at his sides, grin gone.He volunteered to spar because he is either loyal or stupid.Most days, he is both.
“You sure about this?”he asks.
“No.”
His brows lift.“That’s unsettlingly honest.”
“Shut up and fight.”
“See, that sounds more like you.”
He moves first.Cruz is fast for his size.People forget that because we’re both built like stone walls with anger issues.They expect brute force.They expect heavy fists and straightforward attacks.
Cruz likes to prove people wrong.He is absolutely the exception to the fucking rule.
He darts left, then comes in low, aiming for my ribs.I block, catch his wrist, and shove him back.He uses the momentum to spin away before I can lock him down.
“Sloppy,” he says, and I growl.“Emotionally and physically.”
“I said shut up.”
“You did.”He circles me.“I ignored you.”
He comes in again, and this time I let him get close enough to land a punch against my jaw.Pain snaps through my face, sharp and welcome.I answer with a hit to his stomach that sends him back three steps.
He laughs once, breathless.“Better.”
The beast rises.Not fully.Not enough to shift.Just enough to make my skin too tight and my horns ache beneath my skull.My hands flex, nails thickening for half a second before I force them back.
Cruz sees it.“Knox.”
