Page 74 of Under Pressure

She was about to become a victim.

“I’m getting tired of playing second fiddle to that asshole,” he spat, foaming at the mouth, clearly out of control and beyond enraged. “It’s time you see me for who I really am. I’m the guy who wins, not him.”

All she felt was his rifle jabbing into her back, and his grunting for her to keep moving or he’d kill her. She tripped over a chair leg in front of her, falling onto the table beside it. The man’s bear paw landed on her shoulder, peeling her back up—forcing her to look into his hateful eyes.

Should I try to fight him, grab the gun? Or should I bolt and test my luck?

Veins visibly pulsed hot blood up his throat and jaw, showcasing muscles that looked jacked up. Quickly, his attitude snapped, showing her that she was onto something—the man was on something.

“So, you came to fix your boyfriend?” He snarled. “Yeah, we’d like to fucking fix him up, too.”

“I just want to go,” Kendra shouted.

“They kept asking me how to get him back in here. I told them all we had to do was get you.” He laughed, revealing a neck too thick to be natural. “Get her, and he’ll come. That’s what I said.”

“What—”

He lunged forward, grabbing her throat and lifting her off the ground. Suffocating, all she could see was the rage in his eyes—and the pleasure he was taking from hurting her.

“Hell, it worked when I drove you off the road. It worked at the bar. And now—I bet it’s going to work right now.”

It has all been a trap.

But Kendra couldn’t breathe anymore. She was suffocating. Everything came crashing before her eyes—her son, Delta, her sister… Blackness crept into her vision.

Just as she felt her throat about to collapse, a man in full black with a black mask covering his face crashed into the hallway, leaping at Hunter. But it was a masked man she’d seen many times before.

Delta? the last lucid part of her mind questioned, trying to connect what she was seeing. Is it really Delta?

The man in black sent his rock-hard fist into her assailant’s face, impacting faster and harder than anyone could have expected. Upon contact, Hunter’s grip on Kendra’s throat opened, dropping her from his grasp. She sucked in air as fast as she could and heard Hunter’s assault rifle clatter to the ground. As she fell, she couldn’t find the ground safely and collapsed backward, whacking the back of her head on the corner of one of the glass cabinets in the hallway. Immediately, things got fuzzy, and blood began trickling down the back of her neck.

Hunter stumbled to the side of the hall, leaning against the wall to collect himself. Delta stood tall, menacing. There was no doubt what he was prepared to do.

Lying on the ground, Kendra watched the battle unfold through dizziness and a pounding head. It was then she knew that she’d hit her head too hard to get up and walk away.

She was at Delta’s mercy.

She just had to have faith.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Delta squared himself to Hunter, fighting over Kendra’s slumped body that was bleeding out on the ground. Hunter’s metamorphosis was clearly complete. He’d finally altered his genes just enough to entrench the results. Delta knew exactly what that was.

It was damn lucky that he’d geo-fenced Kendra’s car, because he would have never gotten there in time otherwise. With his son in the picture, he couldn’t deny his heightened protective instinct—his heightened need to fucking kill any man who hurt either of them.

He stared down Hunter, feeling violence course through his veins. Icy chills rans up his rippling biceps, which were tightening and flexing. Focused, he was about to slaughter. That other instinct he had—the one built for missions in hellholes—was at the forefront. He had transformed into the side of him that was a ruthless warrior, ready to do whatever was necessary.

Keeping his eyes on the crazed man in front of him, Delta was prepared to fight. The assault rifle was on the ground, to the side, and Delta’s pistol was in his waistband.

“I was hoping you’d come, too,” Hunter snarled, touching a mass of blood pouring out of his brow from a fresh gash that would no doubt need sutures.

But Delta wished he’d hit him harder. Hunter was stronger, more powerful than ever before. He had been preparing for that moment. Delta silently stalked him, circling—flexed and fearful for the first time. He didn’t know what was going to happen. He just knew that he couldn’t lose her.

“Time’s up.” Hunter jumped forward. “You’ve been out to pasture for too long.”

“So, kill me—like you killed the others?” Delta blew up, striking Hunter square in the jaw.

Hunter spat out blood, his shoulders heaving, and he lunged again.

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