Page 22 of Some Like it Violent

When I didn’t say anything, the older cop exchanged a glance with his partner. “Step aside, ma’am. We’re coming in.”

“I said no,” I stated firmly.

The younger officer’s nostrils flared, his face showing he was becoming annoyed with me. “Open the door. This is the last time we’re asking.”

Before I could respond, he shoved the door open with his shoulder hard enough it slammed into my arm, pushing me backward and causing pain to bloom through my body as I fell on my ass.

The officers stepped inside, the storm blowing in too before they closed it. Their weapons were already drawn, as they were at the ready and scanning the interior.

“Kane Richter!” the older officer shouted. “We know you’re here. Come out now, or we’ll?—”

They didn’t get a chance to finish their sentences.

Kane emerged from around the corner, his frame big and looming, his whole demeanor so calm and collected that it was… frightening.

“Freeze!” the cops shouted. “Hands where we can see them.”

Kane didn’t say a word. Didn’t hesitate in his stride. He glanced at me, his nostrils flaring, the anger in him tangible as he saw me on the ground. He looked at the officers, not even fazed that they had their guns pointed at him.

“Backup will be here any minute,” the younger one said.

I knew that was a lie. Cell service up here was sketchy at best, but with the storm, it was nonexistent. You’d need a satellite phone or some kind of CB or Ham radio.

But none of this affected Kane. He was like a mountain as he stood there, his chest rising and falling evenly as he sized up the other men. And then he moved like a beast unleashed, closing the distance between them in an instant.

The younger officer barely had time to react before Kane grabbed his wrist, then twisted it with almost laughable ease. The sound of the bones breaking filled the foyer with a disgustingsnap.

The older cop shouted, and I heard a gunshot ring out.

Kane growled and backhanded him, dislodging the gun so it slid across the floor and over to me. I grabbed it immediately.

The younger officer’s weapon finally clattered to the floor, as he was unable to keep hold of it with his broken wrist. At the same time, Kane slammed him into the wall, the man’s head connecting with a brutalthunk. Blood spattered across the white paint as—at the very least—his scalp opened. He slumped, unconscious now, and slid to the floor.

The older officer was still shouting, but his words were jumbled, the sound of my pulse pounding in my ears. The man had another weapon, and before I could blink, he fired a shot at Kane. He lunged, the bullet grazing his arm but doing nothing to stop his momentum. He tackled the officer to the ground, his hands wrapping around the man’s throat.

The cop kicked and struggled, but Kane’s grip was unrelenting, his strength inhuman, as he leaned forward and put his face close to the other man’s, staring into his eyes.

I watched, frozen with shock and… horror? Or was it something else? Was it… arousal?

I stared at Kane as he pressed his thumbs into the officer’s windpipe hard enough that the man’s eyes popped wide open, and he clawed at Kane's hands. A gurgling sound filled the room as the cop tried to stay alive. And then there was a sharp, wet crack as Kane crushed the man’s throat and then twisted his neck, breaking bones.

But Kane wasn’t done. He got off the officer, moved toward the younger man, and jabbed his thumbs into his eye sockets, the digits sinking deep into his skull. Blood sprayed across Kane’s face and neck, and the whole time, he was grinning.

To make sure both men were dead, Kane grabbed the gun off the floor, pointed it at the younger officer first, and put a bullet in his skull. And then he did the same to the other one.

Kane slowly turned to me, his chest heaving, his body slick with blood.

He looked wild.

Feral.

Crazed.

For a moment, he just stared at me. It was clear this man was a monster, covered in the gore of the men he just brutally slaughtered.

But I wasn’t afraid.

I was turned on.

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