Page 25 of Fierce Monarch

Especially because I could see beneath the mask. Her lips were pressed together so tightly that twin lines bracketed them. Her steps were a little heavier.

The only thing I couldn’t see were her eyes, and I knew she’d hidden them on purpose. Easier to fool the people she interacted with that she was fine when they didn’t have a direct view to her soul.

She moved as a unit with Dominic and Moore, though she didn’t touch either of them. She barely even looked their way. Dominic was dressed casually, as usual, but even he seemed subdued. Angry.

When Mari stumbled and flinched away from his touch, his anger grew until more people were veering away from him. I wasn’t even sure they realized it either. It was instinctual. A primal response to a predator losing his shit nearby and a desperate need to get out of the line of fire.

Fuck. I’d expected her to hate me, but I hadn’t thought her trust issues would seep over to the others. The distance between them proved she’d lost even more because of me. Dominic and Greyson were her home, her shelter. She was supposed to lean on them and let them guide her through this bullshit. Instead, she was secluding herself and hurting all of them in the process.

You’re a waste of space, Cash’s voice lingered in my head. Look what you do. You break people, hurt them. That’s what you were always meant for.

I didn’t believe it, but it said something that the old words still had a place in my mind.

The small group stopped near the four-story monstrosity of a mall. Mountview Mall screamed privilege and luxury, but Mari didn’t go inside. Dominic did, with Moore following close behind.

Meanwhile, Mari slipped into the flow of foot traffic and disappeared.

What the fuck?

I rocked onto my tiptoes, trying to peer over the bustling crowd moving around the entrance, but I couldn’t see her.

Not until I spotted a flash of chocolate down the block.

Mari was walking around the city alone.

A distant part of me recognized that it wasn’t normal, but anger and panic didn’t give a shit. My girl had a target on her back and enemies coming from every direction, and she was wandering around alone.

Absolutely not.

I was halfway down the sidewalk, moving through bodies with slow, careful movements.

Don’t be suspicious. Don’t look like you’re chasing her. Just a nice guy out for a leisurely stroll.

Mari took the next corner, and I sped up, desperate not to lose her. She took me through the city, keeping to her territory lines. I had no clue where the fuck she was going and no clue if she saw me, but some part of my brain wondered if she was playing with me.

Does she want to be chased?

I rounded another corner to find her gone. Vanished.

That anxiety pushing my heart into my throat got worse, making the vein in my forehead throb and ache. I was going to lose my shit if I didn’t find her because, Marcosa or not, she needed protection.

My protection.

Careful to walk on silent feet, I checked every alley in sight until I found her. She was at the far end, talking quietly on her phone. I still had no clue why she was there, though I had a good idea where we were. The warehouse district wasn’t too far off, where people worked around the clock and there was no shortage of witnesses. But in this unincorporated part of the city, it was probably just us.

With one eye on the ground so I didn’t kick something and startle her too soon, I followed Mari down the alley, hugging the wall until I was right behind her. The second she hung up the phone, I pushed her against the wall, my hips pressing hers to the brick, and knocked her phone out of her hand.

As expected, Mari went feral. Kicking and scratching. Biting and clawing. All she knew was a man was holding her in an abandoned part of town. Of course she was losing it. I didn’t want to scare her, but maybe she needed it, because who the fuck walked around alone in the middle of a war?

That thought brought the rage, the near-blindness-inducing panic at the thought of her being caught unawares or worse. What if someone grabbed her for Cash when she wasn’t paying attention? Prisoners weren’t treated kindly in his camp. I didn’t want that for Mari.

“It’s me.”

She stilled, a dangerous tension coiling through her.

“You normally follow people who don’t want you around?” she asked.

“When I have to protect them from themselves, yes. What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I snarled into her ear, despite the fact that I absolutely had no right to.

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