Page 44 of Legacy

Now, if it were Avra, they wouldn’t hesitate to engage immediately, but they would keep watching with me.

“Who…” The man knelt and brought his hand to his head, where I held him. “Who the fuck do you think you are? Getting in my business and…”

I cut his words off as my grip tightened. “Xenos.”

Immediately, the man stilled, and all the resistance in his demeanor left his body.

“Elias Xenos,” I replied, my anger growing with every second this piece of shit stayed in Avra’s and the little girl’s presence. “You disgust me.”

I released him, letting him collapse into a heap on the ground. He pushed up with his hands and staggered to his knees as if in prayer and ready to plead for mercy.

Any excuse he gave would only incite my desire to slice his skin from his face right there in the streets as a lesson to others thinking of copying his behavior.

“It was, uh, it was just a miscommunication. A mistake.”

My hands shook, ready to follow through with the vision of filling the streets with the music of his screams.

However, with Avra holding the child behind me, it wasn’t something I could indulge in.

The little girl hadn’t a clue as to the monster I was, but Avra knew. Would she look at me differently now, knowing what I planned to do with this fucker?

“A mistake.” I repeated the idiot’s words, looking at his pathetic form. “Is that right?”

He nodded like a puppet. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Oh, I’d make sure of that.

I said nothing, only watched as the asshole crawled backward and tried to gain his feet. Avra moved closer to me with the child tucked close to her side. She set a palm on my forearm, and we watched the man stand and run.

I shook out my wrist. That fucker was big.

“Dumbass,” I heard Avra say as her fingers tightened on me. “Make it hurt, Eli. Don’t let him get away easy. I want him to suffer before you end it. Make him beg for you to end it.”

I glanced at my men, who all stared at Avra. I had no doubt every one of them had just fallen in love with her by making that request.

“You can always join me.”

She lifted onto tiptoes and whispered, “I’m saving my skills for three others first, then I’ll consider joining you in the future.”

Immediately I grew hard and wanted to fuck her. My reaction to this woman made no damn sense.

The mood instantly vanished as a woman screamed, “Isabella!”

Her frantic cries prompted the girl to wiggle for freedom from Avra’s arms.

“It’s okay,” Avra cooed. “We will get you to her.”

We rushed toward the harried woman, panic etched all over her face, and my men pursued their quarry.

Barely a second before we reached her, the little girl jumped into the lady’s arms, screaming, “Mama.”

The worried mother’s features relaxed into sheer relief as she clutched her child close, and then she lifted her gaze to mine, inclining her head in a gesture of gratitude.

I released a deep breath and said, “At least we don’t need to worry about her identity.”

Twelve

Avra

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