Page 98 of Reluctant Rebel

Jinx’s mind reeled with the implication of those words. Mikhail must want her. He might evenloveher. She had always been so sure she was unlovable romantically, a lone wolf destined to wander without a pack. And now Mikhail was offering her not just his companionship but his heart. She had created a family with the others, and now, with Mikhail, something more. “Let’s deal with Carrick so we can discuss this further.”

Mikhail picked up her hand, kissing her knuckles. “Deal.” He pinned Carrick with a glare. “You dare to lust over my mate? You dare try to take her from me? You dare betray the throne?” he growled, his voice dropping to a guttural rumble that seemed to shake the very foundations of the palace.

Before Carrick could even blink, Mikhail was upon him, moving with supernatural speed, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. His hands wrapped around Carrick's throat, lifting him off the ground as if he weighed no more than a doll.

Carrick's eyes bulged, and he gasped, struggling ineffectually against Mikhail’s grip. “Please, My King. I-I-I’m being controlled by X. He can make people do whatever he wants. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

Mikhail looked over his shoulder, and Jinx shook her head in answer to his silent question. She moved until she was standing next to him. “Nope. He’s not being controlled. He comes by his sadistic ways naturally.”

Mikhail's eyes blazed with an otherworldly fire as he tightened his grip on Carrick's throat. His muscles rippled in his arms and chest, veins standing out on his neck as he squeezed. Carrick's face turned a sickly shade of purple, his eyes bulging as he clawed desperately at Mikhail's iron grip. His feet kicked uselessly in the air, unable to find purchase. The sound of his choking gasps filled the room, and Jinx chuckled darkly. “Try again,” she bade him.

Mikhail eased his hold just enough for Carrick to suck in some much-needed oxygen. “Th-this is … all one big misunderstanding.” He coughed raggedly. “I meant no harm. I was j-just joking.”

“Really?” Mikhail growled. He slammed Carrick against the wall. The impact left a spiderweb of cracks in the plaster, and Carrick slumped to the ground with a thud. “Do you get the joke?” he asked Jinx.

Jinx shook her head. “I’m not laughing.” In fact, aroused was more accurate than amused. She had never seen this side of Mikhail, and it exhilarated her. She could feel moisture practically dripping into her underwear, and her nipples were hard enough to cut glass.

Mikhail's eyes flashed with a primal intensity, his pupils dilating until they nearly eclipsed his irises as they latched onto her breasts. She could feel the raw power emanating from him, like heat from a raging inferno. “I’m definitely not laughing,” she added breathlessly.

Mikhail’s nostrils flared, his lower teeth elongating. “I’m not laughing either.”

With a guttural roar, he grabbed a hold of Carrick’s right arm, twisted viciously, then yanked. Carrick let out an agonised scream, his face contorting in pain as he tried to wrench himself free. Mikhail placed his booted foot on Carrick’s chest for leverage, and with a final, savage tug, the fae’s arm came free in a spray of crimson.

Carrick clutched at his ruined socket, his eyes wide with shock and terror. Without missing a beat, Mikhail swung the severed limb with a berserker's fury, striking Carrick across the face and chest. The blows landed with wet, meaty thuds and were relentless.

While her inner tiger rumbled her approval, the brutality of the scene shocked Jinx a little. Not because she cared about Carrick’s life but because it proved just how much Mikhail had been suppressing. A man had to have a lot of pent-up rage and pain to beat a guy to death with his own arm.My poor Mikhail,she thought, silently vowing to help him process his emotions in a healthier way in the future.

She must have made some sound when hot blood hit her face because Mikhail paused mid-swing, giving her his full attention. He held the arm out to her, offering, “You want in on this?”

Jinx had the absurd urge to giggle, and though it was completely inappropriate, she tumbled head over heels in love with him at that moment. She stepped forward, pushing the bloody limb away with two fingers. “Thanks. But I’ll settle for a bitch-slap.”

Carrick was barely alive when she bent down. Blood was still pumping from his torn arteries, but it was sluggish. His face was also smudged with blood from the beating. “This is what you get when hurting people makes your dick hard,” she informed him. “No means no!” Then she slapped him with an open palm even though she was sure he could no longer feel it. In fact, he let out one last gurgle before all sounds stopped.

Mikhail hurled the bloody arm aside like a broken toy, his chest heaving with exertion. He wiped a streak of blood from his brow, his hands trembling as he surveyed his handiwork. “Too much?”

Jinx shook her head slowly. “Nooooo, of course not. Why would you think that?”

Mikhail huffed, looking down at his hands. His claws were still extended and drenched in blood. “Did I scare you?”

She was genuinely surprised by the question. “No, of course not.”

“Good.” Jinx's heart raced as Mikhail's piercing green eyes locked onto hers. The air between them crackled with sexual tension. “We’re not fighting this anymore,” he growled, his voice low and husky.

She knew exactly what he meant. “We’re not?”

“Unless you tell me right now that this isn’t what you want, thatI’mnot what you want, then no. I’m done fighting against something I should have been embracing the whole time.”

This is it, she thought. This was the moment that would define them, one way or another, for the rest of their lives. “I’m not going to tell you that.”

Mikhail closed the distance between them in two long, determined strides and pulled her into his arms with an urgency that took her breath away. He cupped her face tenderly, his fingers warm against her skin, and claimed her mouth in a kiss that was both fierce and tender. She melted against him and parted her lips with a soft, surrendering moan.

“Not here,” Mikhail mumbled, pulling back.

He opened a portal behind her, and when he held out his bloodied hand, Jinx didn’t hesitate to take it.

39

Mikhail opened the portal directly into his bathroom. Clothes were shed hastily as the water warmed and steam filled the marbled space. He helped Jinx into the large shower, and as the warm water cascaded over their bodies, it tinged crimson before it washed away.

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