Chapter 26 #3
“You think so?” the man laughs, while I am backed into a corner by three others, brandishing my broken pool stick while trying to keep track of the two men who have Carina.
They are tall and muscular, with dark eyes full of malice boring into me, Their faces are twisted in menacing sneers, and one has a deep scar down his face.
They move toward me with predatory grace.
They wear dark clothing, ripped and stained with blood.
One has a leather jacket on, the other a cloak that I can tell is expensive by how thick it is.
Their hands are clenched into fists, and they have an air of danger about them.
Two of which I swear I’ve seen in Toby’s bar or Mal’s, so I know they frequent the seedier areas of the city, which means it won’t end well for us.
“I know so,” Carina laughs. The man holding her wrists to the table glances at his friend.
“I may be the king’s wife, but she is his mate and that?
” Carina laughs, nodding toward the door.
The sound of car doors opening and closing outside sends a wave of silence through the room.
Everyone freezes, our ears straining over the music.
“Is the sound of your death.” Her words hang heavily in the air. The men glance at each other nervously.
It seems as if the door has opened on cue, and Xandros steps inside, accompanied by his guards.
All eyes turn to Xandros as he strides into the club, his eyes scanning the room.
Xandros is an imposing figure, standing tall, leaving no questioning of his authority.
His features are sharp, and his gaze is intense.
He is dressed in a black suit, and it is crinkled, which I find odd; he always looks impeccable.
As he moves further into the room, his presence commands everyone’s attention, the men watching him fearfully, and his presence alone is enough to fill the room with tension.
His gaze sweeps over the scene—Carina bent over a pool table, a man cowering away from her the moment he steps into the room, and me, petrified, brandishing a pool cue.
His eyes burn with a fury that could ignite the air itself. He’s a tempest made of flesh, and I am caught in the eye of his storm.
His gaze lands on me, and the room shrinks until it is only us.
The dim light paints shadows on his face, turning him into a terrifying apparition of his usual self.
When eyes find mine, for a moment, time is suspended in the space between our locked gazes.
There is an entire conversation at that moment, a silent promise of wrath and retribution.
“What do we have here?” Xandros growls, the deadly timbre of his voice sending chills down my spine. The men around me shrink back, their once bold stances now wilted in the presence of the king. One of them stammers, “We didn’t know they were yours.”
A low growl escapes his throat, rippling through the room like a menacing premonition. The men around me instinctively back away, their smirks faltering at the sight of the furious king.
“Carina, are you okay?” he calls over to her, not taking his eyes off the men who dared touch us. She pulls herself to a standing position, one hand clutching her torn clothes, a mad laugh escaping her lips. “Oh, they’ll wish they never touched us, Xan.”
“Sienna,” he says, his voice barely audible over the pounding music. “Are you okay?”
I shake my head, unable to find my voice. The pool cue still feels heavy in my grip, my fingers numb from the strain.
“You knew exactly who they are,” Xandros speaks menacingly.
“No, My King, we would never.”
A humorless smile spreads across Xandros’s face, a predatory gleam in his eyes. He saunters through the room, taking in the carnage with an air of detached calm.
“Grab my wife,” he instructs his guards, never breaking his stride. They rush to obey, pulling Carina off the pool table.
Turning to me, Xandros picks up a pool stick, twirling it effortlessly between his fingers.
The question he poses is deceptively gentle.
“Did they hurt you, Sienna?” I shake my head, my pulse still pounding in my ears.
They hadn’t hurt me—not yet—it’s clear from their leering faces they had every intention to.
“We were just helping them get home, they freaked out,” one man splutters, desperation tinging his voice. Carina laughs at this, a maniacal sound that bounces off the walls. “Liar, liar, pants on fire,” she teases, her voice wavering as it slurs.
“No…she is drunk, my—” the man’s voice dies in his throat as Xandros sends the pool stick flying. It finds its mark, spearing through the man’s mouth and pinning him to the drywall. His eyes widen in shock as he convulses violently, choking on his own blood before going still.
The room erupts into chaos. Xandros moves with lethal precision, seizing two pool balls from the table. His eyes blaze with an intense fury as he launches himself at the remaining men. There’s no hesitation, no mercy, only the brutal efficiency of a seasoned fighter.
His movements are a blur, a deadly dance of violence. The crunch of bones, the wet sounds of impact, and the screams of the men fill the room. Every swing, every hit lands with deadly accuracy, reducing the once arrogant men into whimpering heaps on the floor.
When the dust settles, Xandros stands in the middle of the carnage, his chest heaving.
Blood splatters his face, and his hands are stained with it.
Around him, the men lay sprawled on the ground, gasping before becoming lifeless corpses.
The men’s blood-soaked bodies crumpled against the floor and broken furniture, each face masks of pain and terror.
Blood is everywhere on the carpet, pooling, creating a lake of red. As Xandros moves, his boot splatters it, causing the crimson to spray and fleck.
The man’s grizzled face is a mask of insanity, his eyes bulging and red, his mouth gaping.
Their faces contort as they choke and sputter, as if they will never willingly give in. This is a fight they can’t possibly win.
I stand petrified. The guards clutching Carina and me are the only ones left standing. The sickening smell of blood fills the air.
“They touched what’s mine, Sienna. Don’t look so shocked. Dead men bleed red,” Xandros states and my eyes flick to him. I listen to their last raspy breaths, watching their chests rise and fall in a desperate attempt to survive.
His gaze is cold, and his hands flex around the now bloody pool balls.
The tang of copper in the air, the odor of blood and bile.
The king is back in control, and there’s nothing except death in his wake as he drops the bloody pool balls onto the table, one sinking into the pocket while the other leaves a bloody trail along the table as it rolls.
“You didn’t run?” he questions, tilting his head to the side.
“I couldn’t leave her with them.”
His brows crease in the middle. “You could have. Why didn’t you? You had a chance to escape,” he asks, walking slowly toward me. My eyes go to Carina, who is now slumped passed out in one guard’s arms. “They would have raped her,” I stammer.
“So?” he asks, his eyes watching me, scrutinizing my every move. I can’t tell if it is anger or admiration in his gaze as he steps closer to me and raises a hand to my chin. His fingers are cold against my skin, and I force myself not to flinch away.
“I couldn’t leave her with them,” I repeat steadily, forcing down the fear that is rising in me.
Xandros’s expression softens ever so slightly as his hand drops away from my face. “You risked your life for her,” he says quietly and nods toward Carina. “Why?”
I hesitate before answering, still unsure of why I had done it or of what this might mean for me. “Because no one should have to go through that,” I finally answer truthfully, meeting his gaze without flinching.
“You are an odd woman. Carina has done nothing but keep us apart, and you would remain to protect her, when she doesn’t deserve your protection?”
“I’m a woman,” I growl like that should be explanation enough, and he raises an eyebrow at me.
“You are,” he answers, stepping in front of me, his hands bloody when he cups my face in them.
“Something you’ll never understand, my reasoning doesn’t matter, not to a man,” I tell him.
“You speak in riddles.”
“No, I am pretty sure I spoke clearly, Xandros. I didn’t abandon her because I know exactly what it’s like to be forced against your will,” I sneer, and his thumb stops brushing my cheek, stopping below my ear.
“I have never forced you.”
“Using the bond against me is the same thing; you know I can’t fight the bond, I am not used to my instincts to fight them, but you, you are.”
“You’re mine,” he growls, becoming annoyed, still I refuse to release him from my angry gaze.
“That is exactly the problem, Xandros. I am yours, but you’re never to be mine. I am property, one of your captives,” I tell him, and he lifts his chin, his gaze turning unsettling.
“Put Carina in the car,” he calls over his shoulder. The guards leave, leaving me with my angry mate.
“It appears you think you can talk back to me now,” I hold my breath waiting for whatever punishment he decides to come.
I step back from him, and he pauses when my ass hits the pool table. He clenches his jaw, and my heart skips a beat in fear. “Come,” he says, turning abruptly on his heel and walking toward the doors.
I can feel his anger radiating off him in waves, and I don’t dare to speak or even look up at him. We make our way to the parking lot, and he stops abruptly. He turns to me and his gaze is menacing and full of rage.