A blood-red haze filled my vision.
And the urge for violence hemorrhaged through my veins.
Sebastian Davenport was a dead man.
Before my brain released a single rational thought, I’d spun and closed the gap between us, jerking Lexi away from Bass. My fist crashed into his face, the pain whipping across my knuckles barely registering.
His shriek, however, made a dent in the scarlet fog clogging my mind. And it pleased my inner beast.
I grabbed Bass’s collar and yanked him toward me. “Touch her again, and I’ll kill you.”
Blood oozed out of the split in his lip, but instead of fighting back, he laughed.
The motherfucker laughed.
“There’s therealKillian, the one you hide behind all that perfection.” Crimson coated his white teeth as he grinned. “How does it feel to let out the monster, little brother? Does it make you feel alive? Does it make you crave destruction and chaos?”
My nostrils flared, breathing heavily while I tried to hold on to some semblance of control. “Keep your hands off her.”
Lexi and Lorelei had scrambled away, shocked at the eruption of violence. But I felt Red’s eyes on me, watching my every move.
Was she surprised that I reacted like this to Bass touching her? Did my possessive response piss her off? Or did she like it?
Bass tsked and wiped blood from his chin. “Careful, little brother. Your feelings are clouding your judgment. Maybe if I take one for the team and dirty her up, you’ll finally drop your obsession with her.”
My ears rang, and I couldn’t rein in my fury or shove the darkness back into a cage. Bass had ripped apart my walls, leaving me without my mask. I hauled him farther from the girls and slammed him into a tree.
“Leave Lexi alone.” The low, menacing tone of my voice cut through the space between us like a deadly blade. “I won’t tell you again.”
His head tilted to the side as he studied me, realization brightening those icy blue irises. “You’re awfully protective of someone you claim to hate. Change your mind about her?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I gritted my teeth so hard my gums would bleed. “Just stay away from her.”
He tried to push me off, but I wouldn’t budge, keeping him trapped against the tree.
His gaze shifted to Lexi. “She has such beautiful red hair, don’t you think? The same red hair as the girl who overheard us talking in the room after my little accident.”
Fuck.
Cold fear coiled around my muscles, stiffening each one. “That’s ridiculous. You know as well as I do that Lexi Vega wouldn’t be caught dead at one of our secret parties.”
“Now that I think about it, Lexi also has the same build as the girl in the butterfly mask. Tiny waist, perky tits, delicious curves...” He sucked his bleeding bottom lip. “She certainly has matured over the years.”
I couldn’t breathe as sharp claws burrowed into my chest with every damning sentence Bass spewed. Like I feared, he baited me into becoming a possessive, protective idiot, and I played right into his fucking hands.
Now, his suspicions turned to Lexi.
“She wasn’t invited to the party.” I released him and calmly stepped away, hiding my trembling hands behind my back. “Besides, she’s a prude who would never go for that kind of deviant shit.”
Bass’s low hum had sharp knives scraping my spine. “I bet little Alexis isn’t as sweet as she pretends. In fact, I’ll prove it when I make her my whore. You can watch while she begs me for more as I tear into her cunt and?—”
I didn’t even register it as my hand snapped out and wrapped around Bass’s throat, crushing his windpipe. He’d gone too far. No one was laying a finger on her except me, and he needed to understand that.
So fucking stupid.
I might as well have painted a target on her forehead.
His eyes widened, and he sputtered, trying unsuccessfully to sever my grip.
