I didn’t want to go back, but there was a difference between making that decision myself and having the decision taken from me.
I could only hope Nikki was coping okay, and I doubted my presence would be of any comfort to her, so there was no point in rocking up at her home and trying to talk it out. Not right away, at least. But I wasn’t going to give up on her.
She was mine.
The guilt and rage were pounding through my veins, and I paced around the warehouse for hours before demons began showing up. Several of them challenged me to a fight, but I ignored them. They were not worth my time. I needed Frank and only Frank. I needed the kind of instinct that could only be drawn out by fighting my kin, and he was bigger and stronger than most.
Frank strolled into the warehouse with the same suave smugness as he would a business meeting, and he stripped his jacket and white shirt off casually, tossing them over a dusty and crumbling bench before coming to face me. I hadn’t stopped moving, shifting between impatient pacing and bouncing on my feet, clenching and unclenching my hands, and stripped down to my pants and tank.
Frank circled me cautiously, a deep frown embedded between his dark brows. He rubbed at the stubble on his chin as he studied me. “Are you okay, brother?”
I snorted. “No talking.”
His eyebrow arched, and he shrugged a shoulder before he closed the gap between us in a handful of large strides, hooked an arm over my neck, and forced me to bend before he drove a punch into my nose. I cried out in rage and fought againsthis hold. No longer burdened with the etiquette of correct fighting practice, I simply allowed myself to become an animal. Thrashing against Frank, he let me go more out of surprise than strength, and I used his hesitation against him, snatching his arm and twisting it behind his back. Frank was forced to his knees, and his eyes flared yellow as his rage took over. He didn’t know why I was fighting dirty, nor what caused the change between the last time we fought and now.
But he didn’t need to know.
All I wanted from him to be sure of was there were no limits anymore and for him to fight me without holding back.
I cried out when he reached back and drove his fingers into my calf, letting only his hands change so his claws drove into my skin, and I let him go. As Frank stood and we faced each other, I snarled at him as his hand returned to human form, and I failed to keep my rage at his perfect control of his demon at bay. “No demon forms, aren’t those the rules?”
“I don’t know what the fuck your problem is, Cade, but something tells me the rules are out the window.” His eyes traveled my body, and when they came to rest on my chest, they widened. Ignoring my warning growls and subsequent roar of rage, he reached forward and snatched at my tank, ripping downward and shredding it from my body.
“Oh, Cade,” he whispered, eyeing the scars on my chest. “What did you do?”
Launching at him, he stepped forward to meet my attack, and we met shoulder to shoulder, bent at the waist, and wrestled each other for power. When I landed a few punches to his gut, Frank snarled and returned the favor. The power behind his blows brought to the surface a realization that he had been pulling his punches last time we met like this.
And that only served to increase my anger.
Layers upon layers of rage, hatred, and guilt were withinme until I was nothing but a culmination of all the negative emotions that made me the worst of mankind and still not dark enough to be demon either.
I should never have gotten involved with Nikki.
I should never have tried to help.
And I should never have let my touch be anything more than a fuck and release.
When the vision of her hazel eyes floated in front of my memory, her pale skin with slightly pink cheeks, her freckles, and white-blonde hair, I roared again. The vision faded and changed until I was looking into those same hazel eyes, but now it was Murphy, laughing and mocking me. Changing my stance, I got hold of Frank and lifted him over my shoulder before slamming him onto the floor.
There was a resoundingoohof appreciation from the crowd that had gathered, but I didn’t care about them. Frank was on his feet, covered in dirt and dust, and his shoulder was sliced by a stray piece of broken glass.
And the look in his eyes was pure rage.
“Whatisthis?” he asked. “Are youtryingto piss me off?”
“Yes,” I growled out.
It wasn’t strictly true, as that wasn’t what I came here for. But when he asked, I realized that ultimately making Frank as angry as mewasmy goal. Because if Frank felt like I did, he might just kill me.
“What are you punishing yourself for?” Frank said, frowning at me.
Somehow, he had hit me right in my most vulnerable spot with the question, and there was no way I would admit it. That was a line of questioning I wasn’t interested in exploring right now, and I responded by running at him again. Expertly, Frank countered my attack, forcing me to my knees and standing behind me, one arm wrapped around my throat and holdingonto his wrist, choking me against the crook of his elbow.
“Cade.” His voice was calm again, and I hated it. “Stop.”
“No, I need this.”
Frank snarled when I bit into his arm, letting me go as I drew blood. He shot me a look of such hatred that, for a split second, I doubted myself. Then it all came flooding back, and that moment was gone, lost in the rush of emotion that threatened to crush me.
