Page 73 of Big Knot Energy (Shadowverse)

Nodding at a bouncer as I crossed through the hallway, I stepped into the main area and did a quick scan. The place was hopping tonight, packed to the gills. I could practically hear the cash register clanging over the music.

The bar was packed two people deep, the floor was full of couples and packs, the tables were all filled. Amir sat at the bar, partially turned toward the bar as he lifted his drink.

Where was Issa?

Craning my neck, I checked over each of the servers, looking for long, dark hair and the most beautiful face I’d ever seen in my life.

And zeroed in a cocksucker’s hand wrapped around my beta’s arm. By the pained look on her face, that mother fucker was hurting her.

Protests rose as I bulldozed through the crowd, not paying a lick of attention as to who I was shoving out of the way as I made my way to the table of three alphas and Issa.

One of the bouncers caught sight of my charge and turned his attention, then joined me halfway to where the table sat close to the front wall.

Wrapping one arm around her waist, I lifted her from the ground the same time I latched onto the fucker’s thumb and bent until he had no choice but to release her or risk a broken fucking hand.

I should have tended to Issa. I should have taken her to safetybefore dealing with this asshole, before kicking him out and barring him for life.

But I didn’t do any of those things.

The second I saw the bouncer pull Issa away from the corner of my eye, I grabbed the alpha by the throat and lifted him out of his seat until his feet barely touched the floor.

“You fucking touchedmy beta?” I roared out, my voice growing louder than the music.

His two buddies shot to their feet and immediately dove for me, one from my right, the other circling to wrap an arm around my throat.

They might as well have been a breeze coasting across my skin for all the good they did. My rage had sent my alpha into full rut. This mother fucker needed to die.

Tossing him to the ground, I followed him down, my fists flying and slamming against his face over and over as an arm squeezed around my throat and pulled, trying to disengage me from the alpha whose face was quickly becoming covered with blood as his bones crunched under my knuckles.

“Ax!” someone bellowed, but I could barely hear anything over the thumping of my heart or the blood rushing in my ears. My body vibrated with rage, with bloodlust, with the urge to punish and inflict pain.

To kill.

I had never in my life felt this insane need to spill blood. I had never felt an urge to end someone’s life as strongly as I did now.

I hadn’t grown up like Enzo and his brother, had never had any interactions with violent criminals.

Didn’t matter. All I could see as I continued to throttle this piece of shit was his hand clenched around Issa’s wrist as she tugged and struggled to get out of his grip.

We’d promised to protect her. Had promised we would never allow another alpha to hurt her. And none of us had been there when he’d touched her.

“Fuck! Ax, stop!” A familiar voice. An alpha bark. But it didnothing to stop me, didn’t so much as brush through my nerve endings as nothing more than a suggestion.

More arms wrapped around my shoulders, my arms, even my torso and I was lifted from the ground, my hand still wrapped in the alpha’s shirt until it ripped under my grip.

A constant growl mixed with my curses and struggles to get back to the asshole, even as I was dragged through the crowd and literally thrown into one of the offices.

As I lunged forward, intent on getting back to pummeling the fucker to death, Cyrus, Enzo, and even Amir stepped in my way, using their bodies as a wall to keep me from exiting.

“Stop! Now!” Enzo barked. But just like before, his command merely brushed over my skin.

My joints and muscle were taut, my brain was on a single track, and my vision was tinted with red. Breaths sawed in and out of my lungs as I glared at the three men blocking me from punishing someone who dared to touch my girl, my beta, the person who held my heart in her tiny fucking hands.

My omega was here. I needed to calm down. My rational, logical side kept trying to push forward, to take control. Amir wasn’t small, but he was still my omega. I couldn’t risk hurting him.

The door behind them opened and I tensed, prepared to lunge at anyone else who came near my pack.

Hands shoved at shoulders until Issa’s worried face appeared through the space between the bodies.

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