Page 184 of Filthy Royal

The darkness inside Scarlett slammed against her barriers once again.

“I don’t think so.” Darvish regained some of his usual smugness. “Especially when I’m not the one with multiple tasers pointed my way. But I will definitely think of you when my pet’s back by my side, your sister next to her, the Skolov name nothing more than a pathetic footnote in Anarcheim history.”

“You truly are a delusional fuck.”

“You’re a dead one.”

“Your orders, Alpha Lord?” The guard spoke into his wrist comms but kept his gaze trained on them, his laser steady as he aimed it straight at Damien’s heart.

“Bring my pet to me alive.” Darvish was still riled. “Kill the male but drag his body back with you. I want to return his broken corpse to his brothers as a warning.”

Kill. The. Male.

Blistering, uncontrollable, murderous rage slammed through her.

Damien spoke to her in low tones, assuring her he had it under control, but it was too late.

Her back bowed as the darkness punched through her skin and erupted outward.

She barely registered Damien’s curse as he leaped forward, swiping out with his claws to take out the three closest guards—even as the walls shook and rocks smashed to the dirt as her gift wreaked its vengeance.

Only this time, it wasn’t the ceiling that collapsed.

It was the floor.

The ground rumbled, then tilted violently, tossing her, Damien, the supply pack, and those guards still standing around like space debris during a solar storm. Damien pitched forward while she toppled back onto her ass.

Her position provided the perfect vantage point to watch as a small crack appeared directly in front of the stumbling guard with the comms, his arms pinwheeling as he fought to keep his balance.

In the next blink of an eye, the small crack disappeared, swallowed by a major fissure as the ground fell away and took the guards with it, all of them screaming as they disappeared, plummeting into an abyss that hadn’t been there moments before.

Horror swept through her.

Especially when the yawning chasm didn’t stop; it tore through the crust as if it were fabric, consuming all in its path, just like the monster inside her, snaking its way to where her Alpha stood.

“Damien!” She leaped up and ran toward him, arms outstretched and panic sweeping through her, knowing she’d be too late—only to have a heavy mass slam into her, sending her hurtling backward.

She landed on her back, the comforting weight of her Alpha on top of her, less than an arm’s length from where the ground had finally stopped splitting.

There was silence, broken by the occasional plink of rocks as they bounced down into the new hole, the grave of twenty males. Thanks to her.

A tomb that could have been Damien’s too if he hadn’t reacted so fast.

“Scarlett? Baby?” Damien’s hold tightened, his heart pounding fast against her skin. “You okay?”

The pain was excruciating. The shattering of her hopes and dreams even more so.

“Baby, talk to me. Are you okay?” The anguish in his voice prompted her to take action.

She nodded. It hurt too much to talk.

“Got to get you away from here before more guards come. Then we’ll take care of you.” His arms slid beneath her back and thighs; his touch so gentle as he lifted her that tears pooled in her eyes.

He was handling her as if she was delicate crystal.

When the truth was, she was the most dangerous thing around.

“Hold tight.” He whispered the words against her skin, nuzzling her temple. “You’re going to be okay, Omega.”

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