Everything snaps.
Red floods my vision. Animal roars awake in my chest. Control? Gone.
I charge. No dance. Pure rage.
Grab his throat mid-rise, slam him to the mat with a thud that shakes the ring. Mount him, knees pinning arms. Fists rain savage: right to cheekbone, crack. Left to nose, cartilage crunch. Blood splatters my chest, hot and slick. He bucks weakly, but I’m a storm. Elbow drops to temple, again, again. Veins throb furious from neck to fists, muscles bulging obscenely under ink and sweat. Roar rips from my throat like fucking thunder.
He gurgles, tries to tap. I don’t see it. Only her. Mine.
Ref hauls me off finally, arms locking mine like steel bands. Kaden vaults the ropes, stepping square in front of me, hands on my shoulders. “Flynn, you with me, mate?”
I nod, but my eyes stay glued on her, chest heaving, blood roaring in my ears.
I climb down from the ring, boots thudding canvas to concrete. Grab her waist hard, fingers digging possessively into soft flesh, and yank her flush against me. Heat to heat. Sweat-slick skin sticking.
“Mine.” I groan low, a feral rumble vibrating between us.
Then I smash my lips into hers, and it’s claiming, brutal; my tongue forces between her lips, invading deep, tasting her shock, her heat. I angle her head with a fist in her hair, devouring her like I’ll swallow her whole. Crowd goes dead silent, the air thick. They know who I am, what I do. Every bastard here is tied to the Consortium. Tomorrow all the families will know, but I don’t give a fuck.
She melts into me, hands fisting my blood-spattered chest, then kisses back hungry, nails scraping ink.
Mine.
Marked in front of them all.
Chapter Twenty-one
Flynn
“That was reckless,” Kaden says before I even have my morning coffee.
“Fuck it.” I shrug.
My phone rings, and Declan’s name flashes on the screen. I already know what he’s going to say.
I answer.
“What the fuck, Flynn?” He sounds calm, but I know him. He’s one minute away from strangling me through the phone.
“What?” I try to sound nonchalant.
“What?” His voice drops. Low. Dangerous. “Flanaghan called a meeting.”
“Right.” I hang up and crack my neck side to side.
“Meeting?” Kaden asks.
I nod.
“Let me guess, Flanaghan requested it?”
“Yup.” No one would give a fuck about Autumn being with me. I knew the Keeffes wouldn’t say shit, but Flanaghan? He’s acting like a little bitch. Of course he’d try something.
“Give me ten minutes,” I tell Kaden andhead upstairs.
I push open her door and walk toward the bed. She’s out cold. After the fight and that kiss, she was pissed. Told me I’m not allowed to claim her. Told me I’m psycho.
Maybe I am.
