Page 148 of Allegiant

Don’t really give a shit that I’ve caused pandemonium as Harley and I fall onto the floor, wrestling one another, my hand on his throat, my knife lost somewhere in the scuffle.

He stole my iron.

Again.

He’s going to die.

I see him swallow once more, and I know it’s gone, down his fucking greedy gullet. I see red. I spy my dagger beside us and grab it. I wasn’t kidding. I’m going to slice the piece out of him, going to make him bleed for it. Don’t care that he’s my brother or that Rowan adores him.

He’s going to be buried six feet under when this is done.

But before I can slit his throat, I’m pulled off of him by strong hands. I grunt and growl, kicking my feet out and catching Harley in the side and Cade in the groin.

“Fucker! If you’ve ruined my balls, I will come for you,” Cade wheezes, falling to the floor as Ansel rushes over to him.

Nothing stops me from lashing out. Not the cries, or the screams.

It is a foregone conclusion.

My iron is once more traveling through my brother’s digestive system.

I will have my revenge.

Suddenly, soft hands land on me—a stroke, a caress, a soft whisper in my ear. It brings me tumbling back to reality, toward him.

Rowan.

“Hey, Samson. Hey. It’s okay. Come on. Come here. Put down the knife, baby. You don’t want to hurt anyone. Not in front of me, anyway.”

“Rowan?”

“Yeah, it’s me. I’m here. Put down the knife.”

I grunt, my knife falling to the floor, letting him lead me away from the table, my feet padding over dollar bills and discarded playing pieces, my ears catching the sound of Harley laughing.

“I did it. I did it,” he cries before someone muffles his mouth. Thankfully they had the foresight to do this, or I may have pulled away from Rowan and attempted to murder him once more.

I’m pulled onto a small chaise, and Rowan, the love of my life, places my head in his lap, his hand landing softly in my hair, stroking, soothing once more. The red I saw is turning a faint pink, my thundering heart calming the longer he touches me.

“It’s okay, calm down. It’s just a game.”

It doesn’t feel like a game, but I’m starting to think I may have overreacted. Just slightly. Harley did deserve a nice pummeling though. And maybe a painful shit when it comes out.

I hope he feels every millimeter of it going down his intestinal tract.

Rowan distracts me enough to calm me down until I’m nearly purring in his lap, just his presence alone making me not want to commit murder.

Maybe I should stop committing murder altogether. Should consider this thoughtfully, though. For Rowan.

He’s making me a better person.

“Are you feeling calm now? Are you feeling less unhinged?” he asks.

I stare up at him, the rest of the noise around me completely faded. It’s just him. It’s always been just him, from the moment I laid eyes on him.

He’s perfect, and he’s mine.

I can’t believe he’s mine.