Chapter Twenty-Seven

Knox

R ing, Ring.

Knox growled low as the four of them stared at the phone vibrating on the table in front of them, lit up with her father’s face. “Is that your dad again?”

They were sitting in their private booth down at the bar, hoping the alcohol and the calmer atmosphere would make Amara feel a bit better. Her father had been calling all day though, even while they were shopping for things she would need to live with them: clothes, toiletries, make-up, and shit like that.

They had to wait a few hours for her healing to take care of her injuries, so that she could move around and try things on easier, but they had all been more than happy to do so. While she had slept, with her head in Drake’s lap, the three of them spoke quietly about what the plan was should her father come after them.

He had managed to convince her to let them buy her a little bit of lingerie, which she had been on the fence about. However, they weren’t able to get her as much as they wanted to because they had insisted that they be the ones paying for it all, and after a while, she started to feel bad and forced them all to go home with what they had. At least, she had things to wear now though.

Beside him, Amara bit her bottom lip and nodded, watching her phone’s screen until it was sent to voicemail.

Zeke pulled her onto his lap, and she rested the back of her head against his chest. “All of this will blow over,” he told her gently.

She looked over at Knox, where he sat on her right, and then to Drake, who was on her left. “How can you guys be so sure?”

Zeke was the one who responded again. “Because there’s not much he can do.”

“You don’t know him like I do. He won’t stop.”

If he was being honest, Knox liked the idea of her father trying to come after them. It would give him an excuse to put an end to this by killing him, but because of the look on her face, he didn’t voice those thoughts out loud. Instead, he said, “We’ll see.”

“I still think this is a bad idea,” Amara added, fidgeting with the napkin on the table in front of her. She hadn’t spoken much since that morning, and he could tell that she was receding into herself a bit. He didn’t like it. “I hate the thought of you guys putting yourselves in unnecessary danger because of me.”

“The alternative is to allow you to be in danger, and that’s not going to happen,” Drake stated simply.

She lifted her eyebrow at him pointedly. “I’m in more danger by disobeying him.”

“I dare him to try anything,” Knox growled through clenched teeth .

When her hand gently squeezed his, he felt some of his rage dissipate. It had been shocking at first, knowing that she had that kind of calming effect on him, but now he had grown to love it.

“I love that you guys are so protective of me. But you know as well as I do that killing an alpha will only cause problems for you.”

“We are not worried about that, Princesa,” Zeke muttered, kissing the side of her neck. “Only you. We will do whatever it takes to make sure that you are safe and with us. That is what you want, right?”

Amara let out a contented sigh and snuggled back against Zeke. “Of course it is. But I want you guys safe too.”

When Zeke kissed her behind her ear, she visibly shivered, and Knox’s cock began to harden in his jeans. He readjusted himself as he said, “We’ve been in a lot of shitty situations. This time, the only difference is we have something that’s completely ours, something we’re fighting for.”

“And no one is going to take that away from us,” Drake added with determination.

“I just hope that you guys don’t come to regret this,” she said softly. “I hope you don’t suddenly realize that I’m not worth it.”

Zeke began to nibble on her ear. “You know that’s not possible, Princesa.”

Knox watched her chest rise and fall with her shaky breaths. “You need to stop doing that in public.”

Drake looked over at him from where he sat, a knowing look on his face. They both knew that Zeke was trying to take her mind off of this whole situation, and Knox was down for the distraction. He placed a hand on her bare thigh and slowly slid it up her leg, skimming the outer edge of her panties. “Or what?” he teased.

“People will see, Knox,” she gasped softly.

His smirk turned into a broad grin. “Then let them watch. We own the bar. We can do whatever we want.”

As he continued to tease her, she turned to Drake, her pupils blown wide due to her arousal, which they could all smell. “Are you just going to let him do this? I thought this was your place of business.”

“I kind of like the idea,” Drake replied, gently grasping her chin and kissing her.

Amara smiled the first real smile of the day, her hand cupping Drake’s cheek. “You guys are terrible.”

Taking that as the go-ahead, he slid her panties to the side and slicked his fingers with her arousal before circling her clit.

Zeke used his thighs to spread her legs further apart. Despite her concern, they were in the far corner of the bar, it was dark, and what they were doing to her was hidden beneath the table. As long as she stayed quiet, no one would know.

Amara’s body instantly began to relax against Zeke. The tension in her muscles eased as she leaned back. Zeke nibbled his way up and down her neck, causing her eyes to flutter closed as her lips pressed into a thin line to keep herself quiet.

Drake began whispering in her ear before his hand joined Knox’s. He slipped a finger into her and began pumping in and out as Knox continued his slow assault on her clit. All three of them knew exactly what buttons to push to drive Amara over the edge.

Amara kissed Drake hungrily before then turning to him. With his free hand, he gripped the back of her neck and slammed his lips against hers.

As he continued to kiss her, Amara’s hand slid up his thigh before gripping his cock in her fingers. He growled low in his throat, and judging by the sharp breath that Drake sucked in, she had done the same to him. At the same time, she was gently grinding her ass against Zeke, driving them each just as crazy.

The four of them were lost in their own little world, completely oblivious and lost to the sensations they were all feeling when they suddenly became aware that they were no longer alone. Someone cleared his throat, and the four of them looked up to see five guys standing around the table. At the sight of them, Amara went rigid.

“What the fuck do you want?” he growled, upset that they had been interrupted before they could make their little mate cum.

He assumed that they were random guys at the bar, looking to cause some trouble. It wouldn’t be the first time that had happened. But then he caught a whiff of their scent and realized that wasn’t the case. They were shifters, from Amara’s pack no less, and knowing that immediately sent him into fight mode.

“I think you know why we are here,” one of them stated before focusing on Amara. “It’s time to come home, Amara.”

Zeke instantly slid her off his lap and into the seat beside him as Knox and Drake both rose out of the booth. A few of the guys backed up a step when they spotted the look on his face. He may not be able to get to her father right now, but he was more than happy to use these guys to send a message should the need arise.

“She is home,” Drake retorted.

The second guy rolled his eyes. “You guys really don’t want to take on Brad. Just give us the girl, and we will be out of your hair.”

Knox laughed as he bounced on the balls of his feet. It had been a while since he had been in a brawl, and he was just itching to do it again. And so was his wolf. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. So, what are you going to do about it?”

The third guy with the group was just as giddy and excited as he was. “Is this the kind of bitch you are, Amara?” he asked. “You going to let these guys fight your battles for you?”

Knox snapped his fingers in front of the guy's face, hoping to piss him off enough to make him take a swing. “Hey, fuckface. You don’t get to talk to her anymore. She’s no longer your alpha’s property.”

“No one leaves the pack without Brad’s say-so,” the first guy said. “And he will not allow Amara to leave us for a pack of mutts.” He took a step forward, toward Drake, and his eyes narrowed. “You really don’t want to fuck with us. We’ve been given permission to tear this place to the ground.”

Their gazes turned to Amara as she rose out of her seat behind them. He wished she would have stayed in the booth where it was safe and they could protect her, but he wasn’t going to be the one to stop her. He knew better. Besides, a part of him wanted to see what she was capable of.

“I’m an adult. He doesn’t get a say in what I do anymore.”

“Adult or not, he’s still your fucking alpha, bitch,” the third guy sneered, snatching her wrist and yanking her against him. Knox, Drake, and Zeke growled a warning in unison. “You’d do well to remember that.”

“Let. Me. Go!” Amara growled deeply as she kneed the guy in the crotch before he or the other guys could react.

At that moment, Knox was pretty damn proud of her. He, Zeke, and Drake had been more than ready to step in, but watching her stand up for herself was sexy as hell. Suddenly, he was torn by the desire to fuck the shit out of her, making these assholes watch as he claimed her again, and kicking the shit out of them for trying to take her from them.

The bar around them fell quiet, and all eyes turned in their direction, reminding him that they weren’t alone. The air became charged, strained, like it always did before a fight. The tension fed Knox’s beast, which was already pacing anxiously inside of him, waiting to be set free.

“You bitch,” the guy wheezed just as he lunged for Amara again.

This time, Knox reacted faster. He pushed Amara behind him and shoved the guy back hard enough that he fell to the floor, clutching himself and groaning in pain. “Don’t fucking touch her.”

Guy number one turned to him, his lip curled in a snarl. “That was a big fucking mistake, asshole. In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s more of us than there are of you.”

“Care to find out how that’ll end?” Drake taunted, his eyes flashing with his wolf.

“Get them,” was all the first guy said before all hell broke loose.

Patrons of the bar screamed and scattered as the fight began. Fists were flying through the air, tables were broken, and Knox had stopped trying to keep track of who was who anymore because he didn’t really give a shit. He had been holding back his bloodlust for a while now, and he was jumping at the chance to let it out again.

Brad sending these pricks to their place of business to try and take Amara back had been a huge mistake on his part because he would be getting at least one of them back in several different pieces. But it also meant that Knox now had an outlet for all of his pent-up emotions, and he accepted it graciously.

Knox only paused his attacks once he came to the sudden realization that he had lost track of Amara. He had been so lost in the fight, in the need to draw blood, that he had become hyper-focused on that feeling alone. After a quick scan of the bar though, he spotted her ushering the last of the patrons out of the door and out of harm's way before she took cover behind the bar herself. Because he had been focused on her, he almost didn’t see the chair that had been thrown in his direction. Thankfully, he managed to duck at the last minute.

The chair shattered when it hit the ground, and he snatched up one of the broken legs and smacked one of Brad’s guys square in the face with it. The man’s head snapped to the side, and blood gushed from the massive gash it left behind. He then whirled and stabbed another in the thigh with the sharp end, that one’s scream of agony filling his ears.

The scent of blood permeated the air and only fueled him further. His vision had gone red, and he didn’t feel the pain in his knuckles when he tackled the guy with the gash on his face and straddled him, punching repeatedly. Over and over again, his fist flew through the air and slammed into the man’s skull. Skin hitting skin, bones cracking and crunching beneath the force of his blows, the splatter of blood as it covered him and the floor around them. He loved it, lived for it.

His eyes blazed, his canines fully emerged, as he gave himself over to the beast inside of him. Because his only thought was to make it hurt as much as possible, he hadn’t realized that the man had stopped moving until a small hand wrapped around his arm, stopping his next strike, and a familiar voice called his name.

“Knox,” Amara said gently over the roaring in his ears. “Knox, it’s over.”

He continued to stare at the guy beneath him and the mess he had made of his face. His body was shaking with adrenaline, his chest heaving with every sharp breath he took. His arm was still poised for another attack, but a tiny hand covered his bloody fist as Amara shifted around him and came into view. Her other hand went to the side of his neck, gently turning his face to look at her instead of the carnage he had caused before him.

“It’s done,” she repeated when his eyes finally met hers. “You got him.”

With a snarl, Knox grabbed her face with his bloody hands and crushed his mouth against hers, smearing blood all over her cheeks. Relief mixed with his adrenaline. He protected her and sent a message to her prick of a father at the same time. Amara was theirs, and they would kill to protect her.