Page 234 of Filthy Royal

And she’d always find a way to protect her Alpha and the love they’d fought so hard to reclaim.

“Holy shit.” Damien’s rasp was filled with wonder. “Look what you can do, baby.”

Even some of the guards had stopped to stare.

Scarlett would have smiled, but she was too busy noticing something else extraordinary: her throat and wrists burned.

Hope coursing through her, she raised her wrists. Delicate golden filigrees snaked around each one. Her fated-mate marks had returned.

Whatever had been holding her back was finally gone.

More power flowed between the two of them—and something new and fragile and beautiful as well.

Her colors and shadows erupted everywhere, a dazzling light show.

Damien was affected too.

His body glowed, colors flashing across his skin as he leaped through her shield and mowed down twelve guards at once. He then took out another handful as if it were nothing, his movements faster, the force of his strikes more powerful than they’d ever been.

Together, they were invincible.

Before long, there were no guards left—only Darvish.

Scarlett moved to stand beside Damien.

Darvish’s face was twisted with venom, a stunned look in his eyes.

For so long, he’d ruled over the Golden Dome. Passing judgments and destroying lives to suit his purposes. He’d tasted success after success, spinning his plots in secret.

No more.

Now the Skolovs were onto him. Now she was ready to fight back. Now they had the incriminating vids he’d used to destroy so many lives.

Now he would truly begin to feel what it was to be powerless.

She could kill him in an instant.

But she wouldn’t. Not until they knew where to find Zaya.

“Give up now, Darvish.” Damien closed in.

Darvish stumbled back a step. “Never.”

“Tell us where Zaya is, and I’ll make your death as fast as Andor’s. Otherwise, you’ll suffer, and I’ll enjoy every fucking moment of it.”

Goddess, she loved Damien’s gentleness with her. But she loved his bloodthirstiness too. Especially when it came to Darvish.

“You think you’ve won.” Darvish shuffled back another step.

“I have the female of my dreams, and she loves me as much as I love her. I’ve got family. Friends. No matter what else happens, that will always be the case. Of course I’ve won. Can you say the same?”

Darvish’s nostrils flared, his body curling inward as if the words had found their mark, but his eyes stayed hard. “You think you know everything. You think you have everything, and that gives you strength. In reality, that just makes it easier to take it all away.”

The hairs on the nape of her neck prickled.

“You, Scarlett, should know better than to underestimate me.” Darvish raised his fist, fanning it open to reveal a small rectangular device.

“Damien!” She’d seen a remote like that before. “He has an exploding device hidden somewhere on the shuttle.”

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