George staggered to his feet and Danny yelped as his hand fisted in her hair and dragged her against him.
“It’s over, bitch,” he spat in her ear. To Percy, he said, “One more step and girly ’ere gets jabbed.”
Percy released his fresh hold on Freddy, his gaze fastening on the knife George tapped against his leg.
Freddy came to stand at his brother’s side, his teeth stained with blood when he smiled.
“That’s better now.” George wiped a meaty hand across his face, blood from his nose smearing. “You’re a tough bastard, I’ll give you that,” he said to Percy. “Now, drop that knife and put your ’ands on the wall so my brother here can settle this quiet.”
Percy didn’t move. “Let her go, and I’ll do as you say.”
“Percy, no—”
George’s fingers yanked at her hair, successfully cutting off her plea. “Keep your mouth shut, girly.” His other hand ran down her arm suggestively. “You’ll ’ave your turn, don’t you worry.”
Danny shuddered and cold sweat plastered her dress to her back. Not for fear for herself. The idea of Percy hurt...
“Do. Not. Touch. Her.”
Danny noticed the noise from the alleys nearby had gone alarmingly silent at Percy’s growl.
George chuckled. “Listen to ’im, Freddy. No need for the bobbies. We got a ’ero on our ’ands.”
They laughed.
But Danny wasn’t looking at the twins. Her gaze stayed fixed onhim, watching those smiling eyes turn cold, as if humor had never touched them.
Her neck hairs bristled.
Before her eyes, Percy changed from the teasing man of mystery to a creature of the dark. A man who haunted the steps of those deserving punishment. For the first time, Danny questioned her unfailing gut.
Percy tipped forward, his hands crossing in front of him to snake inside his coat pockets, but he didn’t straighten, even when two knives slid into his hands and dropped to his sides like two bodies hung from the rafters.
From the darkness, a voice said, “There are no heroes here, gents.”
Danny felt a chill settle over the alley at the eerie voice,Percy’svoice.
She swore his next words were whispered in her ear.
“Only a demon.”
Danny gasped.
How he’d gotten behind them was a trick of the shadows. One second he’d been in front of them, his eyes dark, his body slumped over like a puppet with loose strings, and then he’d been at their backs, knives in hand.
A flash and Freddy went down, blood spattering the alley wall.
George spun, taking Danny with him. His eyes widened in spooked recognition until a ring of white hugged his pupils. He whispered a name everyone knew to fear. “Butcher.”
In his panic, he stepped back, twisting Danny too far to one side and slicing a gash in her arm.
The sting dulled almost immediately, and Danny was transported back eleven years to a different night and the cold feeling of hands on her person. Her pain churned into fear, shifted, coiled deeper and hot in her belly.
The thug’s knife tapped the underside of her chin.
And the fear shifted again, until the intimacy of the blade scraping against her neck felt scorching, pleasing, even with the wrongness of her reaction sprouting cold sweat over her body.
A small moan burst through her lips before she clamped her teeth together.
