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Static. “Roman!” Nothing.

“Comms are being blocked!” Draugr shouted.

Lucien appeared from the warehouse, covered in black blood. “Then we fucking make sure to finish this ourselves.”

A demon charged him from the right, Lucien shot it twice, threw the gun aside when it kept coming, caught it by the throat and slammed it into a support column. Volken moved to his side as Draugr reached mine.

Four brothers, back to back, just like we'd done countless times before. Different centuries, different wars but same blood, same family. Draugr smiled. I didn't like it when Draugr smiled because it usually meant that he was fucking furious and someone was about to die. “Ready?”

Lucien spat blood onto the ground. “Always.”

Volken rolled his shoulders. I let my fangs drop as the berserker stirred, not fully, but enough. “Let's fucking kill these sons of bitches.”

We moved together, after that, there was no strategy, only violence. A demon came for Volken and I intercepted it. Draugr killed the one behind me. Lucien shouted a warning and I ducked as a blade passed where my head had been.

I grabbed the demon's arm, broke it and used the broken limb to drag it forward. My blade found the lower heart, black blood sprayed across my shirt. Before I can look around another attacked, then another. We kept moving, kept killing. Our men fought around us, but the demons had numbers that we didn’t.

Every time one fell, two seemed to replace it. The bond inside me twisted. I can sense Bryn’s fear. She was awake, fuck. I shoved the feeling away, not now. I had to focus, I couldn't reach for her now. I needed to survive first.

Then the warehouse doors opened and everything inside me stopped. Ceasar walked out, my fucking uncle, the fucking bastard who had hunted my family, who had arranged weapons. Who had put a bullet into my mate. Who had brought war to our home.

The fury coursed through my veins like lava, he wore a dark suit, not a fucking drop of blood on him. He looked around at the fighting as if he were attending the theatre. Then his eyes found mine and he fucking smiled.

“Viking.” He murmured. The berserker broke loose, there was no warning, no control possible because one second I stood beside my brothers and the next I was running.

“VIKING!” Draugr roared, but it didn't matter, nothing mattered. Ceasar. His name vibrates in my brain. Bryn bleeding flashes through my mind. My hands covered in her blood. My unborn child. Ceasar. His name flashes through every cell in my body highlighting the blood rage.

My last coherent thought is of the bullet through the mansion window before I hit him hard enough to take us both through the warehouse doors. We crashed across concrete, he tried to roll away but I was already on him, my fist smashed into his face. Once, twice and again.

“You fucking shot her!” I roar but he blocked the next blow. I drove my elbow into his throat. “You came into our fucking home!”

He threw me sideways, but I landed on my feet. I notice that Ceasar wiped blood from his mouth. “You've become emotional, nephew.” I charged him, no thought for my welfare as my bloodlust demands his broken bones, his spilled blood on my hands. He barely avoided my fist. “Is that what mating does?”

“I'm going to fucking kill you.” I hear my voice as if from far away.

“Eventually.” He smiled. “But not tonight.”

I punched him in the mouth seeing as his head snapped sideways. I grabbed his jacket and drove him into a steel pillar. “You think Malakai will save you?” That got a reaction, small, but there.

I smiled. “Ah.” Ceasar's eyes narrowed. “So it's true.”

He attacked, fast, much faster than I expected. His fist hit my ribs, another caught my jaw. I staggered as he grabbed my throat. “You understand nothing.”

I drove my forehead into his nose, hearing as the bone broke. He released me at the impact, but I caught him before he could recover. Then I fucking destroyed him, fist, elbow, knee. Again, again and again. Years of hatred poured through me. Every betrayal, every attack, every threat, every second Bryn had spent afraid because of this bastard.

Ceasar tried to defend himself but couldn't. The berserker had me now, I drove him to the floor as my knee pinned his chest. My hand wrapped around his throat, his face was bloodied, one eye swelling shut, his breathing ragged. I noticed that for the first time since this started, Ceasar looked afraid. Good.

“Viking.” Draugr's voice somewhere behind me but I ignored him.

Ceasar clawed at my wrist. I tightened my grip. “You should never have touched her.”

His lips moved. “What?” I leaned closer.

Ceasar smiled through bloody teeth. “I didn't.”

Something cold moved through me. “What?”

“I didn't shoot your mate.” My grip tightened.