Page 51 of Protector Unmatched

Pearce motioned to the two unconscious men on the floor. “Take your pick. I’ll check on Tim. He doesn’t look too good.”

While Ryder bent over the man who’d shot him to drink his blood, Pearce approached Tim. He appeared to be unconscious. Pearce put his hand under Tim’s chin to lift his head.

“Don’t touch him!”

Pearce spun around and saw Daphne stand in the open door, her eyes darting between him and Ryder, who’d also jumped up, his fangs dripping with blood.

“Fuck!” Pearce and Ryder cursed simultaneously.

“Step away from my brother!” Daphne ordered them, walking farther into the room, her hands shaking, her eyes shock-widened.

Pearce lifted his hands, then took a few steps closer to Ryder, away from Tim. “You should have stayed in the car,” he said calmly, mostly to distract her from what had happened here, but in his gut, he already knew that she’d seen too much. Her expression of horror and disgust said it all. The little trust she’d had in him had been wiped out by whatever she’d witnessed. Just how long had she been standing there? He could only guess that it was long enough to realize that neither he nor Ryder were human.

Knowing it was time for damage control, Pearce cast Ryder a sideways glance. The young hybrid had retracted his fangs, but his lips were smeared with blood. “Call backup.”

“Already did after I called you,” Ryder replied. “Enya and Grayson will be here shortly.”

“Good.”

Pearce caught a movement in the corner of his eye and spun around, but it was too late. Daphne shrieked. The man Pearce had knocked out earlier had snatched Daphne from behind and was holding a knife to her throat.

Pearce instinctively made a step toward them, but a warning growl made him freeze.

“One false move, and the bitch dies.” To underscore his threat, the thug pressed the knife harder to her throat, making her gasp.

Pearce saw the cold fear in Daphne’s eyes and wished he could undo it all. He should have smashed the guy’s head in when he’d had the chance.

“You hurt her, you die,” Pearce said with a calm that belied the storm inside him.

The assailant looked to where the second guy lay on the floor. “Vasili? Are you all right?”

The man was still out cold and didn’t answer.

“You killed him?”

“He’s alive,” Ryder replied.

“And what the fuck are you?” The thug motioned toward Ryder, while still holding Daphne in a tight grip.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Ryder answered casually. Then he looked at Pearce. The question was implied.

Pearce nodded. Then he locked eyes with Daphne. “Trust me, Daphne.”

In the next second, he made himself invisible. It was the only way to eliminate the assailant without risking Daphne’s life. That he’d have a lot of explaining to do afterward didn’t matter right now.

In his invisible state, Pearce rushed toward the attacker, snatched his wrist, and twisted it away from Daphne’s neck. He kept twisting until the knife clattered to the floor, and the thug screamed in agony. Daphne freed herself from her attacker’s hold and stumbled away toward her brother, while Pearce kicked the asshole to the ground and pummeled his face until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up. It was Ryder.

“Don’t. I can take care of him later. In a different way. He won’t know what happened.”

When their eyes met, Pearce realized that in the moment of utter rage, he’d made himself visible. He turned his head and saw Daphne stand beside her unconscious brother. She’d seen the violence he was capable of.

Fuck!

Slowly he lifted himself off the badly beaten man and turned to Daphne. “He would have killed you.”