Page 118 of Toxic Kiss

I jerk like I’ve been shot.

Cy is standing a few feet away, his eyes dark, face masked by rage.

“I’m going to kill you,” he growls, lunging for Vex before either of us can respond.

The scene unfolds in slow motion. One moment, Vex is hugging me, and the next he’s ripped from my arms.

Cy slams Vex into the wall. The force is hard enough to rattle everything in the room.

“I will fucking kill you.”

Cyrus looks…feral.

His face is vicious and unrecognizable. I’ve seen him cruel. I’ve seen him mean. I’ve seen him tear people apart with words sharp enough to bleed.

But this? This is different. This is violence. Raw. Brutal. Not like him at all. He is a totally different person.

“Cy! Stop!” I’m already moving, but I’m too late.

His fist connects with Vex’s jaw with a sickening crack.

“What the fuck, man?”

Vex raises his arm to protect his head from another blow. His eyes are furious, but he looks just as confused as I am by Cyrus’s outburst.

“Are you crazy?”

“Don’t you fucking touch her,” Cy snarls, like a goddamn animal. “I should rip your arms off and beat you to death with them for touching what’s mine.”

Vex blocks the next hit and shoves Cy back, but he grabs him again.

“It’s not what it looks like⁠—”

“I don’t give a fuck what it looks like!”

Cyrus grips the front of Vex’s T-shirt and drives him into the wall again. His forearm is pressed to Vex’s throat, caging him in. They look like pitbulls seconds away from tearing each other apart. Teeth bared, muscles locked, neither willing to back down.

I grab Cyrus’s arm and try to pull him back.

“Stop it! You’re acting insane!”

His head snaps toward me, eyes blazing. The normally icy blue color appears black with fury and dark shadows. I swallow hard.

“Haven’t you heard?” Each word is emphasized like he’s spitting them out. “I am fucking insane.”

He yanks free from my grip like I’m nothing and gets right back in Vex’s face, breathing hard, chest rising and falling, barely holding himself together.

“Don’t you ever fucking touch her again.”

“Get the hell off me,” Vex bites out, shoving at him, but Cyrus doesn’t budge. He’s an immovable wall.

“Not until you say it.”

“You’re fucked, man.”

“Say the fucking words!”

Cyrus roars loud enough to wake the dead, the kind of sound that makes your bones lock up and your pulse spike for what comes next.