My brother ignores her, the same way I have.
"Like always, the only thing you deserve are my sloppy seconds."
My fist crashes into his face.
Angie and my mother scream as I grab my brother by the collar of his designer suit jacket and haul him up to his feet. He lets out a strangled cry of surprise as his eyes go wide.
Even though I give him an opportunity to gain his bearings, he doesn't do anything to defend himself other than throw acouple of weak punches in my general direction. It's like he expects me to stop.
Too bad for him.
I want to rip him limb from fucking limb. Until he bleeds out on this marble balcony.
He manages to land a couple of punches back on me, but I barely feel them. I can barely feel anything, other than the ice-cold rage that's been building for years.
I let it all out. All the resentment from taking the beatings he would dish out when we were kids. From him being the favorite, no matter how hard I tried. From him wanting to take away the one precious thing in my life.
I feel him tremble underneath me as he sobs like a sniveling baby, begging for mercy.
He didn't give me mercy. He didn't give Reyna mercy. He deserves none from me now.
"Killian, stop!" I feel someone grip the back of my collar and tear me away from my brother's prone and near-lifeless form.
My wild gaze swings behind me and I stare into Stone's eyes. His brows are drawn down in concern as he grips my shoulders, keeping me from turning back around to beat my brother to death.
"You can't kill him," Stone murmurs. "I know you want to. Hell, I fucking want to. But you can't. Don't let yourself get taken away from Reyna, not when she needs all four of us."
His words snap me out of my violent fog. I inhale a shuddering breath, the smell of blood thick in the air around us.
"You're right," I nod.
"You're fucking insane!" Angie shrieks behind me. The world has gone back to moving incredibly slowly again. In my peripheral vision, I see her hand raised like she's going to slap me.
Which is so ridiculously absurd I don't think I even process what's going on.
Then I see a blur of crimson fabric, and Reyna is standing in front of me.
"Oh no you don't, you fucking bitch," she says, catching Angie's extended arm.
"Let go of me!" Angie screams, swinging her other arm.
The crack of her palm against Reyna's skin makes my alpha instincts roar to life.
Before I know it, I'm moving, and Stone isn't holding me back anymore because he's moving too.
"I'm okay," Reyna says, glancing over her shoulder at us. Her lips tug up into a small grin, despite the redness of her cheek and the welt from one of Angie's rings. "I've got this. It's self-defense now, right? If I hit her back?"
Stone nods, his jaw falling a little slack. "Y—yeah."
"Perfect."
"W—wait!" Angie protests, trying to squirm away, but Reyna's grip on her arm keeps her in place.
Reyna cocks back her fist and punches her, square in the jaw. She releases her grip on Angie's arm, letting the crazy omega collapse to the floor in a sniveling heap, right beside her date.
"Just a tip?" Reyna says, shaking out her fist. "Don't put yourself in situations defending someone who doesn't give a shit about you. That motherfucker was only using you, and you know it. Get your shit together, woman, and stop being bat shit crazy.”
Reyna's heels click against the balcony as she spins on her heel and walks straight into my chest. There's a tremble I can feel along her entire body as she wraps her arms around my waist.