He followed my gaze and then seemed surprised to see the broken door, as if he hadn't caused it.
Danzig jumped in front of him. “I'm sorry, Bec. Let me explain.”
I was so angry that I knew I'd regret anything I said at that moment. I had learned that the best thing was to remove myself from the situation until I was able to think straight.
“I’m going to take Hugo for a walk,” I said, proud of how calm my voice was. “If either of you follow me, I'll never acknowledge your existence again. I suggest you don't test me on this.”
Tucking my phone in my back pocket, I grabbed my purse, and finally Hugo’s leash. He stood at my side and let me attach the leash before we both stepped through the broken doorway. I was impressed when he managed to give the guys a disappointed sniff and then looked away. Good dog!
Without a backward glance, Hugo and I walked in the direction of the nearby gelato and coffee shop. I needed chocolate and sugar right now!
Marduk
I turned to face Danzig. “What just happened?”
“You fucked up!” he exploded, shoving me in the shoulder. “I told you not to overreact, didn’t I?”
I shoved him back. “How did you think I was going to act when you told me that our mate was near that kind of magic?”
“Not by breaking her door!” he roared. In one fast move, he grabbed me and tossed me out the open door. I landed hard in the small grassy area beyond her front walkway.
I jumped to my feet as Danzig stormed out through the door after me.
“What do you think you’re doing, Asshole?”
He didn’t respond, at least not verbally. Putting his shoulder down, he tackled me. We went down to the ground with him on top of me. I was quick to wrap my arms around his neck and get him in a headlock.
Reaching back, he poked me in the eye, making me loosen my hold. Scrambling around, while still sitting on top of me, he tried to get hold of my arm to put me in a joint lock.
I evaded his hands and got a hold of his jacket and tossed him over my head, sending him face-first into the ground. I thought he must’ve hit a rock because I felt an intense flash of physical pain coming from him.
That was enough to break me out of my rage. I got on my knees and faced him. “Danzig?”
He was sitting, leaning forward, with a palm pressed to his forehead, blood trickling out from under his hand.
When I looked down, I saw a sharp piece of concrete almost entirely hidden by the grass. Something made of concrete must've broken apart and been removed from the spot, leaving that piece behind. We'd been unlucky enough that when I tossed him, he'd face-planted in the corner.
“Let me see,” I said gruffly, grabbing his wrist to pull his hand away. The moment his hand wasn’t applying pressure, blood poured out.
Not only was the skin cut, but his skull was broken, making a nice bloody mess.
In our snake forms, we were nearly indestructible. When we wore our human shapes, we were tough but could still be hurt. It had all happened so fast that he hadn't had time to do even a partial shift. On a human, this injury would be fatal. For him, it was going to be painful but not life-threatening.
I winced. “That’s going to take a while to heal.”
He pulled his hand free and put it back on the wound to stem the flow of blood.
“You think?” he snarled.
“I’m sorry,” I said, guilt making it hard to breathe. We’d scuffled a few times in the past, but I’d never hurt Danzig like this before.
He let out a long sigh. “You didn’t mean to.”
I felt some of his pain through our bond. I knew he was trying to shield me from the worst of it.
“That doesn’t matter. I still hurt you,” I said, realizing I was acting like an idiot. It was hard to admit, but I needed to be more levelheaded like Danzig. “I’m going to listen to you from now on. You were right about the app. You were right about giving her space. I can see why you hesitated to tell me. I acted like a complete moron.”
That was the right thing to say. I felt immense relief coming from Danzig. He smiled at me, although it was a bit of a gruesome sight with all the blood on his face.
