Page 40 of Dublin Brute

“Help!”she cries again.

My world tilts on its axis as her plea sears itself into my soul. She’s out here because of me, because I hurt her. If she suffers because of that…

My boots pound against the ground as I close the distance. The adrenaline coursing through me is like a performance-enhancing drug. It has me laser-focused on what I need to do.

“Help!”Nora’s third cry comes from much closer.

I’m almost to the next street, planning to intercept, when she rounds the corner.

She’s there, right in front of me and running.

Our bodies collide, but I wrap my arms around her and spin to absorb the momentum of our opposing trajectories. We still crash together in a tangle of limbs and an‘oof’of escaping breath, but I have her in my arms and that’s all that matters.

Her tear-stained face and panicked gaze snap the last of my control. How dare this fucker think to harm my angel?

I press her back against the brick building. Despite my need to look her over and assure myself that she’s unharmed, there’s no time. The thundering of boots on the ground brings her stalker into view a moment later.

The man in black barrels around the corner, his intentions written all over his face—dark and predatory.

Anger surges through me and I react before he knows what’s coming. With a swift motion, I extend my arm and swing with all the rage burning inside me. I clothesline him right off his feet and he flips back in the air. He crashes to the ground on his back, the impact hard enough to knock the wind from his lungs.

I don’t waste time with introductions. Before he can catch his breath or scramble to his feet, I descend. “I’ll teach you what it means to be someone’s prey.”

My fist connects with his jaw—a clean shot that sends his head crashing back to the pavement. I drop to my knees, my shoulders swinging with brutal precision as I unleash punch after punch, pommeling this fucker into the ground.

“How dare you scare her?”

He tries to recover, hands coming up defensively.

Good-fucking-luck.

I’ve heard the term ‘seeing red’ before, but never realized it could be an actual state of being. In that moment, with Nora sobbing behind me and this fucker looking up at me like I stole his kill, my entire world is tainted behind a veil of crimson.

“No one touches her. Do you fucking understand me?”

I don’t know that he does. He isn’t tracking much of anything now, but neither am I. The brute has truly been unleashed. Never have I been driven by such a violent need to make someone suffer. I’m fucking possessed.

“Stop, Brendan! Please!”

Nora’s high-pitched plea echoes in my mind, but her words are distant and warbled as if I’m underwater.

My fists are bloody, each swing sending gruesome strings of blood and spray into the air. Up the brick. Across the pavement. Soaking my clothes.

This predator deserves nothing less.

“Brendan! Please stop!” Her voice trembles through the chaos of fists and rage, pulling me from the dark pit I’m teeteringon. I look back at her just for a second—her eyes spilling over with tears, her entire body trembling.

Her terror freezes me in place.

Shit.

She’s seen everything—the fury of the monster unleashed. Everything I keep hidden from the world. The man groans beneath me, but he doesn’t matter—all that matters is Nora and her tears shining in the dim light.

Slowly, reluctantly, I straighten and take in Nora standing there—her eyes wide and wet as she watches me process what happened.

“Nora. Angel. It’s fine.” I move toward her, and she gasps and slides against the brick, backing away from me.

I raise my hands, but my gesture of peace means less while my fists are stained and dripping with blood.

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