Page 50 of Tangled Souls

Mikhail should have never been able to get into the building. He should have never been able to get as close as he did.

And as he was leaving, he should have been grabbed.

“He hurt you,” Kirill seethes as he moves closer and crouches down.

“I’m fine,” she grits out, but I can see the pain in her eyes just like everyone else can. She closes her eyes and shakes her head. She looks at me, but there’s no resentment or regret there.

“We need to go,” Huck interjects, always the voice of reason.

He steps forward and offers our woman his hand. Her movements are slow as she slips her hand into his. When he helps her stand, she winces and lets out a grunt of pain which has us freezing in place.

“Not here,” she whimpers.

She reaches down and runs her fingers over the rip in her dress with sadness in her eyes. Even though I have no right, I step closer and press my lips against her forehead.

“I’ll buy you a million more dresses,Zolotse,” I promise. “The only thing that matters is your safety.”

Her big brown eyes meet mine and for the first time in a long fucking time, it feels like I’m on the verge of tears. I failed her.

“Stop,” she demands.

My eyes pop open as I search hers. I’m not even sure when I closed them. A wave of pain, of self-recrimination, washes over me.

I hope the guys beat the hell out of me. Nothing less will do as penance because I allowed this to happen.

“No one has seen him,” Baker’s words are cold and unforgiving as he looks up from his phone, no doubt getting updates from the men who should have kept this event safe.

But what about me? I should have kept her safe. Instead, I’m watching the bruise darken on her jaw in real fucking time.

“Blaming yourself isn’t going to help anything,” Oaklynn’s words are soft.

They wrap around me like fog but barely penetrate. Rage and fear are on the battlefield and I’m not sure which will win at this moment.

Before I know what’s happening, Oaklynn’s lips are pressed against mine and a growl comes from the depth of my chest. The beast wants to be free.

Not to fuck our woman and show her who she belongs to, but to hunt down Mikhail and bathe in his blood. The beast wants to present his head to our mate on a silver fucking platter.

“Choose the rage,” she murmurs against my lips, coaxing the darkness in me to flare and consume. “Fear has no place in this. I’m fine,” her words are final.

Absolute.

I blink a few times, and her face comes into focus. Not just her gorgeous features, but the warrior within.

“Let’s go,” Kirill’s impatient order has us moving.

Instead of heading back toward the ballroom, we move farther away. We take the hallway and move in the same direction that Mikhail did earlier.

I don’t regret not going after him, not when it would have left Oaklynn alone and hurting. Still, that doesn’t mean I don’t wish I had him in my clutches.

If I hadn’t let him get away, I could be showing him exactly what happens to someone who hurts our woman. But revenge will have to wait for now.

When I catch Baker’s eye, he gives me a nod. My shoulders relax slightly because I know he would have called in Wolfe and his team. They’ll get all the guys who were supposed to keep Mikhail out of tonight’s event down to the warehouse. Maybe they’re clean and Mikhail is just that good. Or maybe we have a rat we don’t know about.

Either way, I’ll be able to vent some of my rage.

It won’t be enough. It’ll never be enough until Mikhail is bleeding out at my feet, and I can watch the life drain from his eyes.

This shit is exactly why Mikhail’s father was never worthy of the power he held. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Mikhail would have kept his father’s legacy going and we can’t allow it to happen.

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