“Dravka!” came Valerie’s panicked, shaky voice, her soft hands tugging at him. “Stop, you’ll kill him!”
Clarity returned, her fear permeating the foggy haze that had descended over him with a singular purpose.
Vauk.
Vauk…because for a moment, he’dwantedto kill him.
Dravka froze, growling, his arm cocked back, angled down for another blow.
That was when he felt it.
The warm blood coating his fist. The metallic scent in the air. Valerie’s rapid breaths. Hands on him.
Hers?
Veki.
Tavak’s.
Tavak and Ravu were trying to pull Dravka off Gabriel underneath him. The human male was limp and unmoving, his face bloodied.
“Stop,” Tavak growled in his ear. “It’s done. He won’t hurt her. It’s enough.”
Dravka stumbled away from Tavak, dragging the warm night air into his tight lungs, though it didn’t seem like he could get enough.
Valerie.
He turned towards her when he felt her tentative touch on his arm. His hands were covered in blood but he still cupped her face, turning it to inspect the reddened spot at her temple.
She flinched when he brushed it, a wince escaping her. That fury rose in him again. He almost swung back towards Gabriel tofinish thevaukingjob…
Only Valerie reached up, tugging his gaze away from the human lying on the ground, Tavak hovering over him, checking for a pulse no doubt.
“Dravka, look at me,” Valerie ordered, her voice shaking. She still sounded afraid. Of him? “Dravka.”
He realized he was still growling and he made an effort to stop, though the Keriv’i in him was still thirsting for blood.
“Look at me,” Valerie whispered and Dravka focused his gaze on hers, locking eyes. “That’s it.”
Suddenly, he felt his hearts begin to slow. His pupils contracted from their dilated state, his vision darkening. His chest was bare but he felt a streak of rapidly cooling blood across it.
“It’s okay,” she whispered, her fingers digging into his cheek. “I’m okay.”
A massive breath escaped his lungs and he wrapped his arms around her. A part of him felt relieved when she returned his embrace without hesitation. A part of him had worried that the fear in her voice had beenbecauseof him, because of what she’d witnessed, that feral, violent part of him.
But he wouldvaukingdestroy anyone who sought to hurt her.
He felt the way her heart thundered against his chest. Then Tavak’s voice cut between them.
“He’s alive,” the male said. “Just unconscious. He might wake soon.”
Vauk.
Valerie pulled away and Dravka turned his gaze to the two brothers, hovering over Gabriel’s limp form. They must’ve followed after him once he’d stormed from the Cluster. Then he remembered…he’d been watching the little courtyard in front of the brothel, had seen Valerie escort Celine Larchmont away.
Then he’d watched with trepidation as a male figure had approached Valerie, who’d been alone and unprotected. His voice had been raised, booming against the walls. He’d heard ‘mother’ and knew thatthiswas Gabriel Larchmont, the sorry excuse for a human male who dared to lay his hands on a female.
Hisfemale.
