Page 125 of Feral King

I don’t want it to come to that.

But as I stand with my gun pointed at him and his at me, each passing second whispers that it will.

It must.

I won’t let him hurt her.

CHAPTER 45

LYRA

“Drop it!”Alex screams.

His hand is twisted so tightly in my hair that it takes every bit of my willpower not to cry.

But I keep calm. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.

The gun is pressed to the side of my head, cold and hard. I can feel a slight tremor in his grip, a perfect blend of fear and adrenaline, along with whatever drugs he’s crammed into his system. His breath is against my ear, fast and shallow.

“I’m not dropping it, Alex,” Julian says. His voice is steady. “Not while you have her.”

“Then I pull the trigger right now, and?—”

“Listen to me. Listen.”

Julian takes a step forward. My stomach tightens as soon as he lifts his foot, a gesture that could be all it takes to setoff Alex. Strangely, I find myself wondering what it would be like if hedidpull the trigger.

Would I feel anything? Or would everything just turn black?

“It’s over,” Julian says. “It’s just us in a warehouse. And you have one decision left to make. You have one final chance to do the right thing.”

“You don’t get to tell me what I’m going to do!” He presses the gun harder into my temple as he shouts, the pain enough to force a cry out of me. Julian hears it, his eyes flashing with anger for a moment before he forces back the calm.

“Alexander.”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do!” Alex shouts again.

“Brother. Listen to me.”

“Don’t call me that. You don’t get to?—”

“You don’t want to do this,” I say.

“How the hell would you know what I want?”

“Because I lived with you for two years. I know you. But this person I’m seeing now isn’t therealAlex. This is the scared Alex, the one who knows he’s on the verge of doing something he can’t take back but doesn’t want to.”

I don’t know where the words are coming from. They’re just pouring out. “You’re not a killer. Especially not of pregnant women. That’s not who you are.”

It’s a risk, reminding him that I’m pregnant with his brother’s baby. But I have to take it.

“You don’t know who I am. You never knew me.”

I open my mouth to say more, but Julian arches his brow, silencing me.

“Lyra.”

He doesn’t want me to provoke Alex.