Page 48 of Forbidden Bonds
His scent hits me even before the wall of men parts.
Hammond Cohen.
Rhett growls.
I suck in a breath. There is a fever in Cohen’s eyes. His skin is waxy, and a sheen of sweat dots his upper lip. A strange smell, like curdled milk, is the base note of his scent. Twisted. Alpha, but wrong.
Because he’s notmyalpha; he’s never going to be.
He steps closer, and I shrink back into the man holding me. For a heartbeat, instinct claws at me, the urge is strong to root out something dark from his mind and shove it back at him the way I did with that thug. But I hold it back. This was part of the plan. We needed to be captured so the rest of the team could find him.
Cohen’s eyes glisten darkly, then narrow as he takes another look, then steps right up to me. Like the other man, he yanks my collar aside and inspects the mark. His lip curls in disgust, and he drags in a breath then swings his head over to where Rhett stands.
“They bonded,” says the man who led my capture, indicating Rhett. “He went fucking apeshit when we tried to separate them.”
Cohen’s expression flickers. Old fears rise, threatening to suffocate me. My fledgling new powers beg me to lash out, to defend what is mine.
His gaze lingers too long, as if he senses the defiance in me.
Maybe he does. He is an alpha now, after all.
Steady,I tell myself.This is how we win.
Chapter Twenty
Rhett
General Cohen. Ten years of torment wrapped in one smug face.
The fury that engulfed me when that non-dynamic prick put his hands on my mate is nothing compared to the rage that swallows me now.
This man made her life a misery. Used and abused something that should have been precious. Death is too good for him. I want to peel the skin from his body and dismember him, a piece at a time until his heart gives out.
But I want to do it slowly. Maybe I’ll take ten years to do it. It only seems fair.
“Kill him,” Cohen snarls, eyes locked on me.
Try it, motherfucker.
I shouldn’t be able to move like this, but rage fuels me, every nerve on fire as I break free from the non-dynamics holding my arms, lower my head, and barrel into Cohen.
He’s weak. His skin gleams with sweat, veins bulging along his neck. His eyes are unfocused, his whole body twitching like something is tearing him apart from the inside. He’s dosedhimself with the real virus, and he’s mid-transition. It makes him vulnerable, even as his body gains unnatural strength.
My fingers wrap around his throat and squeeze. My wrists are cuffed together in front of me, so it’s awkward, but I’m fucking determined. I’m sure the government has plans for him, but too bad if I kill the fucker first.
Larissa screams from my left, but I have tunnel vision: I need to take this asshole out. Can’t let him touch her. Can’t let him hurt her again.
Distantly, I’m aware of a scuffle going on around me, of shouts and screams, and bullets pinging into the walls. Both sets of doors are wide open and yet more people surge into the room.
I’m ripped from Cohen and flung against the wall. My skull cracks against the concrete, and it takes me a moment to get the spinning under control. Then my heart slams against my ribs as an alpha in black body armor storms past from my right and lifts his gun.
The shot cracks. Larissa jerks backward, blood shoots in scarlet arcs across the wall and floor.
“That’s for my mate,” Ethan snarls. Someone tackles him to the ground.
NO!
She’s not moving.
