48. Torus
The Rage was already on Torus because of what he’d heard as he ran into the small, deserted-looking building. He could hear Pate threatening his female—saying he was going to hurt and violate his Mate! The bloody curtain that covered his vision left no room for anything but vengeance.
Molly was on the bed with her breasts out and Pate was leaning over her, a lecherous look twisting his face into an ugly, leering mask. A woman who looked like Karen Geners was standing to one side, watching intently.
Torus was dimly aware of Karen gasping as she saw him come in. Pate looked up with a startled look on his face.
“What the f—” he started to say, and then Torus had him by the throat.
“You dared to touch my Mate,” he growled, his voice coming out so deep and angry it almost sounded like another language. “I warned you what would happen if you ever came near her again. Now you’re going to pay!”
He placed both hands on the sides of the puny human’s head. And then he began to squeeze, putting pressure on the skull. Pate gasped and began twisting in his grip.
“No, man—let me go! I didn’t mean anything by it! I was just going to scare her a little—I swear!”
“You lie,” Torus told him and then he felt the other male’s skull cracking between his palms. Pate’s eyes bulged out and one popped completely out of its socket. His scream rose to a shriek and then his entire head caved in like a rotten gourd and his voice cut off abruptly as he sagged in Torus’s big hands.
“No! Oh my God, you killed him!” he heard someone gasp.
“Torus, watch out—she’s got a gun! She’s right behind you!” Molly shouted.
Torus ducked instinctively just as he heard a loud bang! Something shot past him, grazing his shoulder, and splintered part of the doorframe behind him.
He dropped Pate’s limp form and whirled around, just in time to catch Karen Geners’s wrist and force it up as she was about to aim at him again.
“Let me go!” the girl shrieked. “Let me go—let me shoot her. You were mine before she came along! Just let me get rid of her and we can be together, Torus!”
Her words penetrated his Rage and Torus realized she hadn’t been aiming for him—she was trying to shoot Molly! He had never hurt a female before, but now he ruthlessly twisted her wrist.
Karen gave a cry and the gun fell from her hand and clunked on the floor. Torus let her go and she sank to her knees, clutching her wrist and sobbing.
“She stole you from me! You never wanted her until you saw that dirty video she sent you! You’re supposed to be mine—mine!” she shrieked at Torus.
Torus didn’t answer. He kicked the gun out of reach under the bed and went to Molly. Now that all the threats were neutralized, his Rage was clearing and his focus was on his Mate.
“Molly? Sweetheart?” He sank down on the bed beside her, which creaked alarmingly under his weight, and pulled her into his arms. “Are you all right? Did they hurt you? I’m so sorry I didn’t get here earlier!”
“I…I’m okay. Mostly. Please just pull up my bra and help me get my hands untied,” she pleaded.
“Of course.” Torus tugged at the lacy garment and pulled it up to cover her exposed breasts. But before he could do anything about her hands, two humans wearing blue uniforms rushed into the room.
“Police! Everybody hands up!” barked one of them. They had their weapons out and they might have shot Torus just for being there. Luckily, Lone came in right behind them.
“Stop officers—that’s the Kindred warrior I told you about—the one who was trying to find his Mate,” he said quickly, pointing at Torus. “And that’s his Mate,” he added, looking at Molly.
“Who’s this, then?” one of the officers demanded, nodding down at Karen.
Torus was about to answer, but Molly surprised him by taking the lead.
“That’s my coworker—or she was my coworker, before she left the Kindred Mother Ship,” she said, speaking up. “She brought me out here saying she wanted to ‘catch up’—but what she really wanted was to leave me here to be…” She choked for a moment but finally went on. “To be raped and killed.”
“By this guy, I guess?” the officer who had demanded to know who Karen was, nudged Pate’s limp body with the toe of his shoe. “What the fuck happened to him? His head looks like a rotten pumpkin a month after Halloween.”
“He threatened my Mate. He was in the act of attacking her when I came in.” Torus couldn’t quite keep the growl out of his voice. “I stopped him.”
The two officers took a look at him…and then at Molly. She had tear tracks on her face and her blouse had been ripped open. Her hands were still bound behind her back in a way that looked painful.
“Yeah, you stopped him all right,” the first officer said, nodding. “Stopped him for good, I’d say.”
“Hey, isn’t that Mandrew Pate?” the second one asked. He leaned over to get a better look at Pate’s distorted face. “You know, the red pill guy calls himself ‘Big M’ who’s always talking about men’s rights on the Internet?”
“Could be. Hard to tell—looks like somebody crushed his head like a fucking peanut.” The first officer looked at Torus. “I guess that was you?”
“He was attacking my Mate.” This time Torus didn’t even try to keep the growl out of his voice. “His intent was to violate and kill her—I heard him say so before I got to her.”
“That’s exactly what he said—he promised Zach he would…would kill me.” Molly’s voice was trembling now, though Torus could tell she was trying to stay strong. “That’s my ex-husband—Zachary Wyndham,” she added and lifted her chin. “He’s at the Richmond courthouse right now, waiting for a text from Pate to tell him that he…that he did the job and finished me off.”
Even without the TET link, Torus could feel how upset she was. She was trembling against him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side. Molly came willingly and pressed her face to his chest.
“I thought I was going to die,” she said in a small, shaky voice.
“Never, sweetheart.” Torus hugged her fiercely. “Not as long as I’m here to keep you safe!”
“Officers, do you think it might be a good idea to bring everyone back to the courthouse?” Lone suggested in a firm but diplomatic tone. “My Mate, Lizabeth Paige, is their attorney and she tells me that Judge Hudson is waiting for both Torus and Molly to come back and hear the verdict of the case they were both involved in today.”