Page 135 of Remnants
When I toss him to the ground, he cries,begsfor mercy, and it only feeds the fury coursing through my veins. At the fuckingballshe has to ask for compassion when he’d shown none of that to and for my girl. At his cowardice by hiding behind Gordon for his actions.
Helaughedat her pain.
He didn’t hesitate to make things worse for her.
I won’t hesitate to do the same to him.
He fights me when I straddle his chest, swinging his fists and trying to twist and escape. All wasted effort. I reel the scales and my gift back from my fists.
To make this last.
My first strike knocks his head to the side.
He starts screaming, flailing beneath me, and I hit his other cheek. Back. And forth. Right. Left. All my anger gathers in my fists, and I let them fly. The rage in my chest pumps out in rhythmic pulses, sending it to my hands as I mete out justice. As I give him what he deserves for laying afingeron my girl.
I wipe any chance of a smug smile off his face when I break his jaw.
I make himbleedwhen his nose crunches beneath my knuckles.
My body is moving on its own, wrath piloting every punch, every jab. I can’t see anything in front of me anymore. Just red. Blood. Her. The pain in her eyes that she tries to hide. The vibrant red of her gift. That beautiful, deadly gift that has the power to destroy the world if she wished it.
“That’s enough.”
Someone catches my wrist. Snarling, I rip my arm free and turn on them.
“Unless you’re trying to take his death away from her, stop.”
Those words make me pause. Make me blink back the red haze until the bloody mess of Holt’s face appears. Chest heaving, I stare at the disfigured and broken face, worried I’d killed him too soon. His chest rises imperceptibly. It’s enough.
Standing, I nod once in gratitude to Aiden for stopping me, thengrab Holt by his short hair and drag him across the ground. He doesn’t fight it. Doesn’t move at all. Just releases a high-pitched noise of pain as his body scrapes over the rocky sand and intermittent tufts of grass.
I dump him at her feet.
Chapter thirty-six
Raegan
Holtlandsinahardthudbefore me. Sand clings to the blood on his face like an ugly mask. Spittle drools from the corner of his lips, his ragged breath stirring the dirt.
The others move around him like wolves forming a predatory circle. He wouldn’t be able to escape even if he wasn’t so injured. They watch him; watch me like they’re bearing witness to my vengeance.
Sinking to my knees, I bend so he can see my face, poking his arm and sending a single thread of my gift into him. “Are you still alive, Sparky?”
He screams, and the pungent smell of electricity saturates the air.
Kellan snarls and presses his boot over Holt’s neck. “Touch my girl again, and I’ll rip your body apart while you’re still breathing.”
Holt whimpers. The impending lightning clears, and Kell withdraws. “I s-soh-ee,” he cries pitifully, unable to form the words with how his jaw is now angled. “Do’n kill ee.”
“No?” I arch a brow, amazed he thinks so highly of me to let him live after what he helped put me through. After he held a six-year-oldgirl, pleading with him to let her go while a gun was pointed at her.
“H-heese. I soh-ee,” he continues to sob, his words becoming more difficult to understand.
I tap my finger against his arm again, but I keep my gift from spreading to him so he can hear me. “You know…I didn’t get the satisfaction of killing Gordon myself. I have over a year of trauma I’d hoped to take out on him. It looks like I’ll have to settle with you.”
He begs more. Crying and pleading with me for mercy, but all I can see is Mallory doing the same to him. And the cruel smile he’d worn for her.
“When I was spent…or in pain…when I needed someone most…you were there to inflict more pain. To smirk down on me like you thought you were somehow better than me. But you were the fool for not seeing what I was capable of. For believing Gordon would always be around to protect you. And I’m sure you remember…Gordon taught me that I’m a monster. I’mdangerous.”
