Page 30 of Rumble of the Crumble

Maximus darted to the window, looking outside, brow furrowed. “Here?”

Butch, where is here?

More silence followed, then I got a strange feeling up my spine. It was the same sensation as when he’d touched my cock.

It was too similar to discount, then I retched as pain lanced my skull.“Argh,” I cried out, gripping my head and falling to my knees.

Maximus was right by my side. “What is it?”

“Someone has hit Butch over the head. I can feel his pain as if it’s mine.” My lion roared in my head and my shift was upon me before I could even consider stripping. I burst past everyone and halted at the door, Gordon opening it before I could look at anyone.

I raced out, roaring, with only one thought, I needed to save my mate. Maximus and Apollo chased behind me. I felt them through our link, but I pushed it aside, focusing on Butch’s energy.

I’m coming, hold on for me. You are not to die on me.

Tears mattered my fur as I ran on pure gut instinct. The weird connection guided me. At the edge of town, I was running on pure adrenaline. I stopped a second to get my bearings, then circled to run towards the pride house. Were my senses leading me astray?

I didn’t want to second guess myself when my lion was adamant this was the direction we needed to goin. I didn’t see any sign of Butch’s police cruiser.Are you sure this is not his scent from earlier?

My lion roared once more and everything inside me went cold at the scent of fresh blood. Butch’s blood. The same blood that ran through my veins after I’d bitten him. It led me straight to him. I didn’t stop to assess the danger, just charged into the burned out building, desperate to get to Butch.

My paws crunched over broken glass and burned wood as I skidded at the sight of Butch slumped on a broken chair, bloodied and unconscious, judging by the fuzzy connection between us. The fact it was there, was the only thing stopping me from losing my shit when it gave me hope.

Only the sight of the lion behind him, holding a gun to Butch’s head and grinning like the evil lion he was, made my worst nightmares seem like fairytales.

Did he know Butch was my mate?

“Well, if it isn’t my wayward slave.” The devil's eyes roamed over me, hungry with insanity, making my fur stand on end. There had always been something off about the other lion, but now he looked rabid. And he was far too close to my mate for my liking.That he was alone said how out of control Amell was.

With no thought to my own safety, I pawed at the ground, growling with all the rage fueled by the years of abuse he had inflicted on me. At the pain I’d suffered at his hands—claws.

“Look at you, being all macho. You know how much it turns me on.”

Keep him distracted,Maximus requested.We got you covered.

There was no problem there. I was going to rip the fucker's throat right out for daring to touch my mate. I shifted, wanting to throw Amell off his game. He’d always gotten distracted by my body, believing it was his to use.

I cocked out my hip, getting closer, taking a chance when the air scented with his lust, his beady eyes roaming over me.

“You want me, come get me,” I rasped past my too tight throat.

When the gun rubbed against Butch’s bloody skull, I took another step closer to the devil.

He cackled, an ugly sound that left my innards jumping like I’d swallowed an entire pack of jumping beans.

“I just need to deal with this minor issue, then we’ll leave this godforsaken place. I’ve got a nice little cage with your name on. You know I’ll need to punish you for leaving.” An evil gleam in his eyes made it hard to resist stepping back. The past me, whowasn’t mated, would have. This new me, the one who’d accepted what Fate had given me, was a whole parcel of rhubarb different.

A flash of Maximus’s mane behind Amell gave me courage and, with my focus on saving Butch, I leapt. Shifting mid-air, claws out, I ripped at the devil’s throat.

His eyes widened in shock while his brain took time to communicate that he was pissing blood down the front of his immaculate button-down. My momentum took us both to the floor, but as his hand hit the ground, the gun went off. Pain bloomed in my shoulder, but I didn’t let go as my jaw clamped around his bloody throat and I tore at the flesh. Like a cannibal who hadn’t eaten for months, I didn’t stop until there was nothing but a bloody pulp that had once been a monster.

Enough, Leo. You need to stop now, you're hurt.

The whispered words floated around my subconscious right before I fell forward, the world nothing but red.

Chapter Sixteen

Butch

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