his name tearing from her throat. The

his sprint, Hiram launched a brutal, deva

e a baseball bat hitti

f the ground. He flew backward through the a

Mickey slid down the wall like a ragdoll, hitting the pav

lethal violence. His dark eyes we

y boot came down hard, pinning Mickey's wrist to th

his weight. He

pping cleanly in two was followed

word, they grabbed the semi-conscious, sobbing attacker, twisted his

st heaving as he forced the bloodlust b

dirty brick wall. Her sweater was torn at the coll

ed suit jacket. He closed the distan

apped the heavy, warm jacket tightly around her sma

terrified that touching her would break her. His

ss in his voice broke th

t, burying her face into his hard chest, clutching the fab

. His arms hung frozen in the

elt the hot dampness of her tears soaking through his shir

d her back, pulling her flush against him. His large hand fl

her head. "It's over," he swore, his voice a low, abso

ike a sedative. Antoinette's frantic sobbin

sk her to stand. He simply slid his arms under her and

to the warm, spacious back seat of the SUV. He slid in r

ut and hit the gas, spee

into a small insulated compartment and pulled out a bot

s were still ice-cold, trembli

out. He wrapped his massive, burning-hot hands completely over h

s seeped directly into her ski

unreadable profile of the man beside her. Every wa

t her head fall sideways, coming t

n of a second before he forced himse