Page 20 of Out of the Darkness

Xavier

Xavier had known that Colby was after him, thanks to Isabelle’s warning a couple of days ago, but his involving Madelyn was crossing the line, and he wasn’t going to stand for it. The moment he realized that Colby was inside, he lost it. He didn’t even bother trying to figure out what was going on before he stormed through the door as if he had every right to be there.

In his mind, he did. The house belonged to his mate, and his mate belonged to him. The fact that Colby had dared to approach his mate meant he may as well have signed his own death certificate. The guy was lucky he had only hit him when he really wanted to tear him limb from limb.

Colby laughed and spat more blood from his mouth while Xavier flexed his fists, readying himself to deck the guy for a third time should the need arise.

“Obviously, that’s a touchy subject,” Colby stated, wiping his chin.

“What are you doing here, Colby?” he growled dangerously. “Your issue is with me, not Madelyn.”

“Oh, relax, Xavier. I’m not here to kill you. Yet. I just wanted to meet the girl who seems to have tamed the great assassin.”

His jaw clenched, but he otherwise hadn’t reacted. He hadn’t gotten around to telling Madelyn about his past yet, at least, not much of it anyway. He had wanted her to be more comfortable with him, wanted her to be more accepting. But judging by her lack of reaction behind him, Colby had already told her and probably gave more detail than was necessary.

Xavier watched as Colby scanned Madelyn’s body slowly, his eyes darkening as he pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth. The guy was a sleazeball and wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that he was checking her out. And right in front of him, no less.

“I can definitely see the appeal,” Colby commented before focusing on Madelyn. “You know, sweetheart, I can take care of you too. Once this asshole’s out of the picture, of course. I think we can have a lot of fun together.”

“Fuck you,” Madelyn sneered at the same time Xavier growled in warning.

Madelyn was braver than he gave her credit for. She had to know that Colby was a killer just like he was, and she still had the balls to speak to him that way.

“Oh, I’d love to. Just give me a time and a place,” Colby said with a smirk, blowing a kiss in her direction.

“Yeah, that’s never going to happen,” Madelyn spat.

Colby shrugged in response, the determination in his eyes only pissing off Xavier’s wolf that much more. “We will see about that.”

“That’s your problem,” Xavier stated, taking a step back so that he was closer to his mate and in between her and Colby. He wanted to keep Colby’s attention on him and not on Madelyn. She wasn’t supposed to be a part of this. “You always seem to want what you can’t have.”

“That’s just it though! I can have it because you aren’t going to be around long enough to stop me, are you?” Colby exclaimed excitedly.

“That has yet to be determined.”

Colby cocked his head to the side, ignoring his remark. “Did you even tell your little girlfriend that you’ve been marked for death?”

“No. I didn’t think it was necessary. You’ve never been able to beat me before, Colby. I don’t see how this time is going to be any different.”

Madelyn’s nerves were coming off of her in waves, and he felt every shift in the air when she shifted behind him. It was distracting, and the need to reassure her consumed him, but his focus was needed elsewhere. It wasn’t smart to drop his guard when it came to Colby, and those instincts once again proved to be true.

“I’ve learned a few things in your absence though,” the guy replied before suddenly pulling out a gun and pointing it at him. “Like how to lull my target into a false sense of security.”

Behind him, Madelyn gasped, and he discreetly gripped her thigh with his hand, silently telling her it was okay. He wasn’t even remotely surprised that Colby would try something like this. It was just like him—always quick to action and very little thought. That was why he didn’t get the attention he wanted within the family. They were tired of having to constantly clean up his messes.

Xavier’s job now was to figure out how to get them out of this situation with both him and Madelyn unharmed.

“Except it didn’t work on me, did it?” he asked as he carefully took another step back, forcing Madelyn to do the same to put some more distance between her and the gun. “I knew you were going to try something. I am always two steps ahead of you, Colby.”

“Maybe,” Colby shrugged. “But that’s still not going to stop me. I know you are unarmed, and if you move to try to take my gun, I’ll just shoot Madelyn. Which you obviously don’t want to happen either. So, you see, I win. There’s no way for you to get out of this.”

Triumph was evident in Colby’s voice as he spoke. He really did believe that he had won; he thought he had the upper hand solely because he had gotten Madelyn involved. If anything, it had put him at even more of a disadvantage because Colby had gone after the one thing in the entire world that Xavier would give up his life for.

Colby was right about the fact that he wasn’t armed. He didn’t usually pack heat when he came to visit Madelyn because there was no need for it. However, that didn’t mean he was completely defenseless. He had a trick up his sleeve that very few people knew about. Something that was always with him, simmering just below the surface and waiting to be set free. The question was whether or not he was ready to expose it.

Xavier had always intended to tell Madelyn the truth about what he was and introduce her to his wolf. He had just wanted to wait until she was ready to hear it. She was always going to find out about that side of him. The problem was that he wasn’t sure he wanted Colby to know his secret. Who knew what he would do with that kind of information? If he revealed what he was, he was going to have to kill Colby. There was no getting around it, and that would mean another mess to clean up.

“Maybe I’ll just kill Madelyn too,” Colby continued thoughtfully when no one said anything else. “That’s probably the smartest idea, right? No witnesses and all that. So, I guess the real question is: Which one of you wants to die first?”

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