And the giant in the corner has decided, for now at least, to stand down.
That's enough.
I let the darkness take me.
Chapter 21
Malcolm
He's asleep on my couch.
The alpha who abandoned Vee during her heat. The one that let his pack lead destroy her nest and punish her over Marie's lies. The one that stood by while she fell apart.
He's asleep on my fucking couch.
I'm pacing the kitchen. Four steps one way. Four steps back. The floor creaks under my weight and I don't give a shit if it wakes him.
My hands are shaking. Not from cold. From the effort it's taking not to go in there, grab him by his sick, pathetic throat, and drag him back out into the rain.
Finn is at the table with his laptop, pretending to work. His eyes keep flicking to me, watching. Waiting for me to snap.
"Malcolm—" he starts.
"Don't."
He closes his mouth. Smart man.
From the living room comes a sound.
Low and controlled, but present.
I know that sound now. The register of Rhys working at something. Managing something. Keeping whatever is in him on the right side of a line he's drawn for himself.
I look through the doorway.
Rhys is in the corner where he's been since we got Drake inside. He’s standing now, not sitting. His arms are crossed over his chest, his jaw is set, and his eyes are on the couch where Drake is sleeping with an intensity that could strip paint.
Then his arms uncross.
Not to relax. To free his hands.
I've seen this before. Twice. Both times ended with someone on the ground and Rhys standing over them with blood on his knuckles and no memory of deciding to move. The last time it took Alex and me both to pull him back and he still almost put me through a wall.
His weight shifts forward onto the balls of his feet. His chin drops.
I'm already moving but I'm in the kitchen and he's fifteen feet closer to that couch and I know, with the certainty of a man who has watched this exact sequence play out before, that I will not get there in time.
Then Vee stands up from the arm of the couch.
She doesn't rush. Doesn't panic. She just crosses to him and puts one hand flat against his chest.
He doesn’t move.
The sound stops.
One arm comes up and rests against her back. Just getting contact.
His eyes move from Drake to the top of her head.
