Page 190 of Alphas Like Us
“You’re a piece of shit,” I sneer and shrug off my friends that try to restrain me, and I glare at Donnelly. “Letgo.”
Hedoes.
They alldo.
Claws may as well be shredding my entire body and heart and skull. I don’t know what Rowin did exactly, if he threw out a pickup line or…I can’timagine…
I rub my mouth and take a deeper breath. I center my emotion on something productive. Bile burns the back of my throat, and everything inside of me isscreamingto find Maximoff. Adrenaline ramped, pulse beating in myeardrums.
Findhim.
I push past SFO and hawk-eye the sliding glass door, about to go inside. Four steps there, I change course. Instinct propels me, and I swerve onto Rowin. In one swift move, I twist his shirt in two white-knuckled fists and slam his back up against theglass.
“If I find out you touched him, I will kill you,” Ithreaten.
Rowin is only looking at SFO behind me. He’s waiting for the six guys to come to his aid. But not a single one moves. None of them save him. None of them wantto.
Because they’re not hisfriends.
They’remine.
And they know he’s a piece of fucking shit. I release my grip because I see a figure through the glass. Inside the saloon, Maximoff just steps off the windingstaircase.
“Akara,” I say, but he immediately detains Rowin before I ask. Pulling him far, far away from the entrance to thesaloon.
I waste no moretime.
I goinside.
“Maximoff,” I call out, quickly sliding the door shut. He’s in almost no clothing. A skin-tight swimsuit cut like boxer-briefs—if Rowin touchedhim…
My nose flares, and I realize that Maximoff is on a fucking mission. Storming past the interior cocktail bar with stoicism and purpose, he gestures behind me and asks, “Is Rowin outthere?”
I rapidly sweep his sharpened features. “What happened?” I don’t move away from this door because wolf scout is coming in hot. He has one sole focus. And it’s not on me rightnow.
“We need to get Rowin off this yacht. We can toss his suitcase in the sea for all I fucking care, but he needs out of here.” He fixates on thedoor.
“SFO have him—” I cut myself off and sidestep before Maximoff passes me. I block him with mybuild.
“Farrow.” His Adam’s applebobs.
“Look at me,look at me,” I breathe, our chests an inch apart, and as soon as I capture his attention, I say, “You need to tell me what happened,Maximoff.”
He blinks, eyes completely bloodshot. “Rowin trapped me against a door, but he didn’t put his hands on me. I shoved him off. That’sit.”
I almost rock back, like I’ve been sucker-punched. “He trapped you…against a door?” I picture it, and my chest just collapses. I reach out to hold Maximoff. To touch him, but I wait for theconfirmation.
He nodsrepeatedly.
Over andover.
We draw together. Chest to chest. His arms weave across my back, his rigid body not slackening. And I feel his pulseracing.
I whisper against his ear, “You’re safe, wolf scout.” I kiss his jaw, and he grips my neck with a shudderedbreath.
“Fuck,” Maximoff growls, pinching his eyes. He buries his face in the crook of my neck. And he screams. An angered, tormented noise barrels out of him. All this caged emotion is muffled against my shoulder and neck—and I hold him. Fuck, I’m not lettinggo.
I clutch him more securely. So he feels like nothing and no one will breach thisembrace.
