“We don’t know otherwise,” Warning countered calmly, taking a step closer to me, enough that I could see flecks of colour in his hazel eyes I’d never noticed before. Stormy blue, clear crystal brown. Like Lynn’s clear crystal brown. I nearly fucking cried, nearly broke down right there, but he was measuring, reading me. “What we do know is she’s going to be hurt and afraid, and she’s going to need you. So you’re going to take a breath.”
I bared my teeth. “You gonna force me to obey with a growl?”
His mouth thinned. “No. I’m going to stay with you until you’ve managed your fear.”
I screwed my eyes shut, pressed the heels of my palms into them. “Fuck. That was low. I’m sorry. My head’s…”
“I know. Which is why you’re going to take a breath.”
“Can’t.”
“Doesn’t matter how shit you are at it. A breath is a breath.”
“Dick,” I muttered, dragging air through my gritted teeth. It was worse with my eyes closed. I saw the shitty room in the block of flats, smelled slick and cum too clearly, heard their growls and barks as if the clients were in the room with me. I ripped my hands away. “Can you?” I asked, my voice raw as I met Warning’s patient gaze.
“Can I what?”
“Growl me into obeying, force me to fucking breathe. I can’t control this. I can’t shove it back, can’t fuckingfunction,and you’re right. Lynn needs me.” If she survived, if she was still out there, fighting like hell, I was in no fit state to save her. My stomach twisted, bile crawling up my throat.
“No.” His jaw set, obstinance in the flat line of his mouth. “I'm not gonna force you to do shit, Cobra, that’s not who I am.”
I groaned, debating ramming my head into the concrete again.
“But if you were willing to be growled into submission after what you’ve been through, you can endure this, too.”
“What—”
I growled when he hugged me, locking his arms like fucking iron around me, immovable even when I struggled.
“Calm down,” he ordered. No growl, just natural dominance and the VP voice it had become second nature to follow.
I grumbled, but stopped struggling.
“You wouldn’t hug another alpha. Why do I have to put up with this BS?” I demanded, staring at the wall, my eyes burning.
“I absolutely fucking would hug another alpha if they were two seconds away from smashing their brains out on the garage wall.”
I grunted. Fine, he probably would.
“Bastard,” I muttered when I realised it was working and I could breathe again.
“Everyone’s ready,” he said. “Are you calm enough to ride out?”
I jerked my head in a nod, feeling less like a live wire when he let go and stepped back. “This never happened.”
“Sure.”
The easy way he agreed… “People saw, didn’t they?”
“Just Sweetie, Devil, Guard, and Justice.”
I groaned, avoided eye contact with Warning as I got out the modified brass knuckles from my pocket. I had one for each hand, and every knuckle had a razor-sharp blade attached to each finger.
“Not a goddamn word,” I snarled at my brothers, holding up my bladed fist. “I’ll rip your fucking guts out.”
Devil didn’t notice I’d spoken. Sweetie just grunted, already sat astride his bike, knuckles white as he gripped the handlebars.
Justice caught my eye and smirked, then said to Guardian, “He’s always threatening me. I think he’s flirting.”
