Page 101 of Ravaged By a Devil

I don't pause. I don't breathe. My eyes stay locked entirely on the pillar, putting my body directly between the flying lead and the woman I love as I tear through the smoke toward Alexis.

Just as Nolan recovers from the breach enough to snap his arm back around and aim his pistol directly at Alexis again, I throw my entire weight forward, launching myself through the haze.

I slam into him from behind like a freight train. The impact knocks the gun clean out of his grip, sending it skittering uselessly across the slick marble tile, and we crash down together, rolling violently across the floor.

Nolan grunts, thrashing underneath me, reaching blindly for a backup blade at his waist, his teeth bared in a desperate, wild snarl. But the second my hands lock around his throat, the entire world shrinks down to the suffocating heat of his pulse beating frantically beneath my palms.

"You touched her," I growl into his ear, my voice dropping into a hollow, terrifying whisper that cuts straight through the roar of my brothers' gunfire in the background.

I drive my knee hard into his ribs, pinning him beneath my full frame until his chest stalls out. Nolan clawed at my wrists, his eyes bulging as the air burns out of his lungs, realizing too late that no amount of soldiers or weapons can save him now.

"I promise you," I snarl, tightening my grip until the bone in his neck gives way under my knuckles. "You aren't leaving this room alive."

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

ALEXIS

Fear pounds violently under my skin, every breath scraping hot and frantic down my throat. I’ve never been front row to raw, unbridled violence like this before. The metallic stench of blood, the blinding flash of gunfire, and the deafening roar of automatic rifles echo off the high marble ceiling, shattering every sense of reality I have left.

I stare wide-eyed as Cain pins Nolan to the floor, his broad shoulders heaving, his bare knuckles white as he mercilessly strangles the breath out of the man who tried to kill me.

"Nolan’s lost it! He's lost control of the whole damn situation!"

A frantic, panicked voice cuts through the ringing in my ears from a few yards away. My head whips to the side just in time to see Brendan grabbing his brother Lachlan by the collar, dragging him toward an iron door set into the shadows of the rear wall—what looks like an old service tunnel running beneath the property.

"We need to move now!" Lachlan hisses back, darting into the dark passageway right behind him.

Elijah and Levi emerge from the thick gray smoke, their rifles raised, moving with precision toward the chair where I’m bound.

Elijah reaches me first, his eyes sweeping over me to check for injuries as his hands immediately move to unfasten the chains wrapped around my chest. "Hold still, Alexis. We’ve got you."

"No!" I gasp, shaking my head frantically as I gesture toward the open metal doorway with my chin. "Brendan and Lachlan! They just escaped through the service tunnel!"

Elijah’s jaw locks instantly. He trades a sharp, wordless look with Levi before nodding once. "Stay down," Elijah commands, pivoting on his heel. He and Levi sprint across the room, slipping into the dark mouth of the tunnel to hunt them down.

The moment they vanish into the darkness, a single, deafening cry echoes through the cavernous hall, making me jump in my seat.

My head snaps around.

Nolan lies motionless on the marble floor. Standing over his lifeless body is Cain, his hands firmly around Nolan’s neck.

This moment will change me forever—I know it. The brutal reality of this world, of his world, crashes over me with a weight I can never unsee.

Then Cain is suddenly standing up and on me.

His hands work in a desperate blur, tearing away the remaining ropes and iron chains that bind me to the chair. The second the last strand snaps free, my knees give out, and I fall forward, collapsing completely into his arms.

He catches me instantly, pulling my trembling body tight against his chest, burying his face in the crook of my neck as if he’s making sure I’m real, making sure I’m still breathing.

"I'm sorry," he rasps, his whole frame shaking against mine as he holds me like I’m made of glass. "I'm so fucking sorry, doll. I failed you. I promised to keep you safe, and I let him take you⁠—"

"Cain, look at me," I breathe, pulling back just enough to cup his face in my hands.

When my eyes hit his, my breath hitches in my throat. The ruthless monster who just put a bullet through Nolan Devlin is gone. His dark eyes are red-rimmed, wet with tears he refuses to let fall, filled with a raw, desperate fear that terrifies me more than the room full of blood behind us.

I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him down to press my forehead against his. "You didn't fail me," I whisper fiercely, holding him tight as the final tremors of adrenaline run through my body.

"You came for me. You came for me the second I needed you. I know I can always trust you to save me, Cain. Always."