Page 102 of I Replaced His Husband
"Come on, don’t ruin the fun," said their leader. He was the tallest of the three, probably around six-five. He must have realized what I was doing it for.
But something was wrong. My muscles weren’t reacting. I didn’t feel that surge, the flush of power I got during the beach fight.
Nothing was happening. My body was silent.
"Please, leave us alone," Kay said, loud enough to carry, but his voice was tight with fear.
"We’ll get to you in a minute, sweet thing. Gotta deal with your boyfriend first," the leader smirked, face twisting in a way that made my skin crawl.
"Back off! I’m pregnant!"
"We know, sweetheart. We can smell it all over you. Just means you’ll be extra wet for us."
Then… Kay turned to me, threw his arms around me, and looked up with wide, pleading eyes. "Please, Rain. Protect me. Fight for me!"
The pure terror in his eyes shattered me. I growled, and in one swift move, I pulled him behind me, shielding him.
Adrenaline flooded my veins, but I still didn’t feel the usual changes. No sign of fighting mode starting! My glands simply weren’t working the way they should.
But I couldn’t wait. I felt Kay against my back, pulling my phone out of my pocket, probably trying to call the cops without them seeing.
"Something’s off, Kay. My glands aren’t kicking in," I muttered, but there was no time to explain.
They were closing in on me. Aware we were cornered, I quickly looked around, grabbed a couple of glass bottles off the shelf, and stood my ground with my arms spread wide.
"You’re gonna have to go through me!" I shouted, but it didn’t come outnearlyas deep or monstrous as it had during my fight with the Dawsons.
"Chill out, man! We just wanna cuddle him a bit, then you can go," the leader laughed, but his smile didn’t last long.
Rage surged through me, even without gland-boosted strength. I hurled one of the bottles straight at him. It nailed him in the nose with a sickening crack. He dropped like a stone.
Both of his sidekicks lunged at me, pulling knives from their pockets. With only seconds to act, I grabbed a six-pack of mineral water from the shelf, and one of the blades pierced the bottle at the front; water spurted from the hole, obscuring the view. The other ran around his friend and swung the knife at me. The blade slid across the plastic and nicked my hand. I managed to kick his wrist with my knee, but the weapon didn't fall from his hand; I hadn’t used enough force. Enraged, he swung again, aiming for my face, and this time the blade grazed my forehead, blood streaming down immediately.
I knew I was in deep trouble. The second man was already charging, and their leader was rising to his feet. To my dismay, in a split second of masochistic surge of thought, I recalled what Kay had said about Maurice; how he once foughtthree alphas at once, but he was an actual trained martial artist. I was not.
I knew I would need a gun permit in the future if I survived this, and that was a big if.
Anxious, I was now spinning with the six-pack of mineral water as my shield and a glass bottle in my right hand. They attacked like maniacs, knives flashing. Every now and then a knife swipe would catch me lightly, and the tip of it sliced the surface of my hand or forearm a few times.
Fortunately, the narrow aisles worked to my advantage. Once I pressed myself between the juice shelves, I was able to fend off their attacks, since they could only come at me one at a time. At one point, the leader's knife got stuck so deep in the plastic that I managed to pry it from his hand. I took advantage of the moment. I threw the six-pack to the floor, grabbed another glass bottle from the shelf, and struck him on the head with such force that the bottle shattered in my hand, creating a tulip-shaped improvised weapon with sharp edges. The alpha was hit so hard he fell to the floor, but I had no break. The next one attacked, stomping over the fallen alpha.
I no longer had the six-pack as a shield, but seeing the alpha lying there gave me hope. Maybe I could still win this. I rammed into the man coming at me, surprising him, and his hand bent aside. I stabbed his right palm with the glass tulip, cutting deeply into his flesh. He roared and jumped aside, collapsing to his knees. He couldn't use his right hand anymore, and the knife dropped from his grip. I jumped over him, but the leader was already on his feet, charging at me. With horror, I realized I wouldn't be able to cover myself in time; the knife was on its way. Suddenly… the six-pack was pushed back into my hands! It was Kay.
Armed with it and with a wild growl, I charged the last man, using the plastic shield that was now spraying water everywhere. The water hitting his face was a great distraction, and in a split second I saw my chance. I lunged, pushing him to the ground. Instinctively he tried to save himself by putting his hand behind him, which caused his knife to fall to the floor. Kay kicked it aside with lightning speed. My glass tulip also fell from my hand as we hit the floor, but I was on top of him and didn't hesitate, punching him in the face with all my strength.
And I didn't stop, hitting him like a machine, one punch after another, until his face became a bloody pulp. I didn't have fighting-mode strength, but I was dizzyingly high on adrenaline.
Somewhere in the middle of it all, I heard police shouting for me to stop.
So I stopped, dazed and panting.
I turned my head slowly, face covered in blood, probably looking like a psycho, but not toward the cops.
Toward Kay.
He was standing near the soda cooler, eyes wide. Our gazes met. Even without fighting mode, I was still keyed up enough to let out a low, grumbling sound.
My voice sounded more like a growl than a human voice. Even though I wasn’t in gland-powered fighting mode, it still came out that way.
