Page 23 of Foxes of Legend

I waved my arms in front of his face before he could go on a rampage. “It was nothing, he grabbed my arm and I kicked him in the balls and took off.”

“It’s notnothing, Dove.” Kairos’ eyes softened, his frown going lopsided as he glanced at Enko. He reached for him, but Enko ducked away like Kairos had thrown a punch. In the silence of the empty gym, all I could hear was the heavybreath of my giant mate, his muscles rippling and bulging from everywhere as his body tensed.

Enko strode to the door, flinging it open hard. It slammed against the wall, and then smacked against the frame before entirely falling off its hinges.

I gawked at Kairos as I recovered from the surprise. “What’s going on?”

Kairos’ mouth opened and closed several times as his eyes ping-ponged between me and the hole where the door used to be. Somehow, his voice remained calm through the situation. “Get to the dorm, Dove. You’re not going to want to see this. We will meet you back there as soon as we can.”

14

Enko

The Fire always made it harder to control myself. It burned through my veins, my muscles, hardening them into rocks. A smolder ready to ignite at the first breeze of anger.

A hand grabbed my shoulder and I spun around, fist ready to pummel whoever into the ground. But especially the one who deserved the brunt of this wrath. I barely stopped the punch in time to save Kairos’ GQ model face.

He raised his hand to meet my fist, “Chill out, man. He’s fourth on the leaderboard. We can’t kill him. The Archfox would go ballistic.”

“Chill?” I raged. “Fucking chill? Don’t tell me you’re going to do nothing after what he did to our girl?”

“We will punish him, Enko. All of us. But we need to talk to Seven before we do anything rash.” Kairos tried to calm me, but I was seeing red. Like Seven gave a shit about Dove right now. He was too preoccupied with himself, as always.

I turned around and kept going. Kairos made no further move to stop me. He’d learned to stay out of my way since he met me. It wouldn’t have been the first time I beat the shit out of him because I couldn’t control it. I couldn’t rein in that scorching fury inside me.

No, it was better he stayed out of my way.

Fuck, I didn’t want to be this person anymore. But when it came to Dove, I would do what was needed. That was why the goddess picked me. She knew I would do what needed to be done. Just like before.

This was who my Fated needed me to be.

I shook my head, trying to drive the memories from my head, but they fueled my rage. I tunnel-visioned on that sick fuck across the field.

I was faster than Kairos or he would have stopped me. I slammed into Vince at the full speed my magic allowed, bringing him to the ground with my hands around his neck.

My vision sharpened, the colors brightened. Feral instinct took over my senses as his eyes turned bloodshot. Students circled around us, none daring to interfere.

“You touch our girl?” I growled at the fucking prick, enjoying his flailing arms thrashing around as he suffocated, unable to get a drop of air. That feeling of power and control that was so dangerous entered my veins like the best drug.

No pain. No mercy. Only fury.

Kairos touched my shoulder, and I swung at him. He dodged, causing me to release Vince and allow him the air I had denied him. He scrambled backward in a crabwalk before holding his throat. His eyes widened in terror, his head shaking like he could deny what he’d done.

“Bro, she came onto me! Why would I touch her? Maybe she thinks she can have any guy she wants since she has three mates,” Vince snapped, shaking his head.

He yelled his lies for the onlookers, wanting interference in a fair fight. Those near him stepped away, bowing and shaking their heads as they retreated from Vince’s desperate grasping at straws.

Vince turned to Kairos who watched on with apathy. That was his way of controlling the situation, acting like he had ordered me to fucking beat the living hell out of Vince. “Call him off. You’re being unreasonable. You know I’d never—”

My fist connected with his face, silencing him. I didn’t remember closing the distance. “Don’t fucking lie.”

Was that my voice?

I couldn’t stop myself. I leapt on top of him. My fists kept flying, out of my control. Feral. That’s what made me a monster. But it’s also what made me valuable.

My fists were covered in blood, both my own from split knuckles and from the bloody mush that was Vince’s face. It splattered over my clothes, my face. I could fuckingtastehis blood on my lips.

The feral red dissipated. Kairos analyzed the situation, the damage I had done and the crowd that needed to be controlled. He’d fix this. Just like he always did. Not for me, but for the Fated that we were destined to share for the rest of our lives. For Dove.

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