Page 139 of Knox Unleashed
I close my eyes and think of the way it felt when Knox kissed me. When he held me. How he gave me a taste of a life I’m grateful for but won’t get to share with him beyond what we’ve already had.
Faintly, as the strength slips from my body, I swear I hear his voice.
43
KNOX
“Maren.”
The word comes out on a choke. Every part of me has been fraying at the edges since I turned the bend of the cove and saw the bait store on fire. It got better when I noticed the remnants of Maren’s things scattered on the parking lot, telling me she’d gotten out.
But almost as soon as I’d felt relief, I’d pulled my bike to the open door, looked inside, and saw Caldwell using all his brute force on the woman I love. A woman half his size. His own child. Her feet kicking, her fingernails grabbing at any part of Caldwell she can reach as her hair flies wild around her face.
She looks fierce. Like a warrior.
There’s something unhinged about Caldwell’s posture, and the shadows of the flames flickering on his skin give him a terrifying appearance.
I rush to get off the bike, but I’m too late. Maren crumples. In slow motion, her head falls back, her mouth has gone slack, and her legs have buckled beneath her.
She’s managed to stay alive, to hold herself together, until I arrived.
I don’t think. I move. Straight into the flame-drenched bait shop where smoke claws down my lungs. My brothers are following me, but I was out of the clubhouse gates before half of them had time to get on their bikes.
Out of pure instinct, I lean into my grappling experience as I drop my center of gravity and drive forward, shoulder to his midsection. I wrap both arms behind his knees as I hit him square in the ribs. Lifting and turning him as I move, I manage to dump him hard on his back. The air punches out of him in a grunt as we both slam to the concrete. His body takes the brunt of the impact as mine slams down on top of his.
A deafening crack snaps through the store, and the beam that holds the roof up at the rear of the store breaks in two and collapses.
Caldwell wildly bucks beneath me, and I adapt, shifting with him to ensure my forearm remains pressed against his throat to pin him and control him. My old grappling skills serve me well.
But Maren. She’s still unmoving on the ground.
I clamber off Caldwell and dive over to Maren, protecting her from all the burning ashes that float into the air in a dance that’s in complete contrast to the horror of the flames.
“Sweetheart. Maren,” I say, tapping her cheek to wake her up.
I’m just about to slide my hand beneath her legs, to lift her up and carry her out, when something slams into the side of my head and knocks me over.
Caldwell.
I release Maren, and the next time he comes at me, I’m ready. I catch his wrist mid-swing and step into him. Old instincts take over. Control the arm. Turn the body. Drop him.
Caldwell slams face first into the floor.
He snarls, trying to scramble to his feet, but he’s too slow. I snake my arm around his neck to choke him out.
“You think…you can take her…from me?” There’s something otherworldly about the way he says it. Like he’s possessed.
He flails, bucking his body again, shaking himself loose, knocking me away as he climbs to standing.
I find my stance and release him just long enough to drive my fist into his jaw. Once, then twice. The shock of it travels up my arm as I process the crack of bone and the give of flesh.
“She’s not yours. She never was,” I say.
I duck his first punch; the second makes contact with my cheek, but I barely feel it.
Caldwell grabs his gun and points it toward me, but I reach out and slam it away. The velocity of the hit sends the gun flying into the flames. The bullets cook in the heat. The first one exploding with a raw chaotic force that has me diving to cover Maren’s body again.
But Caldwell reaches for the back of my shirt, pulling me off her as the other bullets explode. The collar of my T-shirt chokes me, and I grab my hands to the neck, trying to tear it to ease the pressure. My feet scramble on the concrete, but I manage to find enough stability to stand, and elbow Caldwell hard in the gut. Hard enough to make him release his hold.
