Page 178 of Toxic

He’d explicitly said NO contact with Liam.

I heard quiet footsteps in the hallway and realized it wouldn’t look great if Liam and I walked out of the bedroom together. But it was too late to do anything else. I turned away from him and his cold, strange expression, and I stepped out of the room.

When I saw Skye, I managed to stammer, "Oh, you’re back quicker."

"Yeah, Alex didn’t have to wait in line; the therapy chamber was ready to use."

Suddenly, his expression changed slightly, his brow furrowing a bit.

"I hope you don't mind—I invited Liam over for a quick chat…"

As soon as I said it, I realized I should've clarified that Liam had invited himself over. Especially when I noticed the weird look on Skye's face.

"You know, I only ever told you one thing, Soren, that could make me not want to be with you!" Skye choked out in a strained voice.

What was going on? Why did he look so stressed?

"What are you talking about?"

"Cheating, Soren."

A wave of shock hit me. Something was wrong.

"What are you saying? We were just talking!"

"Really?" Skye groaned in a pained voice.

For the first time, I turned to look at Liam—and nearly jumped when I saw the hickeys on his suddenly naked skin. The sight was so surreal that my mind went into a strange daze.

"What the hell?"

Liam must have taken his clothes off in record time. Stunned, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Now he was standing there fully naked, showing off his thin body covered in red love bites. But being closer to him, I realized they weren’t real hickeys; they were probably smeared lipstick. Still, from where Skye stood in the dimly lit hallway, they could easily be mistaken for the real thing.

And then I heard a loud, almost demonic roar… Skye's face changed in seconds, and I registered in shock what was about to happen—he would kill Liam. I knew he would, no doubt about it.

What I did next was nothing short of miraculous. My reflexes were lightning fast. In a strange impulse, I jumped and intercepted Skye’s leap, colliding with him mid-air. I knew I was risking the pregnancy, that if he hit me with full force, I could miscarry, but I couldn’t let Liam get torn apart. I knew that no matter what Liam did, no matter how stupid his stunt was, he didn’t deserve that kind of death. And Skye didn’t deserve years in prison.

Our bodies slammed together in the air, and I felt Skye’s hands grab me, preventing me from falling. The force of his momentum was somehow halted, but that didn’t mean it was over. As we landed on the floor—fairly smoothly, which was a miracle in itself—his body shuddered immediately, getting ready again. I knew he wanted to break free and continue the attack, but I didn’t let him, holding on tightly.

His red eyes met mine for a split of a second, he let out a deep growl, then jumped back, dropped to all fours and stormed out of the apartment in that awkward way. I could still hear his gnashing teeth from the hallway.

What the hell just happened?

Only then did I turn to Liam.

"What the fuck?!"

He was curled up in a ball on the floor.

Now he was scared, the fucker? Now he understood what a killing machine an alpha is when enraged?

A bit too late for that.

I rushed over to him, hissing, "You idiot! You would have been killed! Don't you get it?! This is an alpha, we don't mess with alphas!"

Liam’s face was pale and strangely tragic as he looked back at me. He was so small, and a chill ran down my spine as I thought about what could have happened. Liam was 5'6", and Skye was 6'6". My alpha would've torn him apart with his bare hands. No beta could stand against an alpha in a fighting mode without a gun in hand. They were as strong as gorillas.

"Maybe that would’ve been for the best." Liam blinked, and smiled ruefully.

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