Chapter 5

5

DANTE

F ury is a fucking understatement. I was on my feet and ready to tear his throat out the moment he touched her. And now, Lord have mercy on the cunt who laid his filthy hands on my woman and anyone stupid enough to stand at his side.

How dare they make Natalie feel scared? Unsafe in her place of work? Big men who feel strong throwing their weight around my delicate little flower. They’re lucky she’s still standing here. If it were us alone, I’d kill ‘em.

The ringleader stumbles back, screeching in agony while his eyes lock onto his gnarled fingers that are bent the wrong way. His two goons allow him to pass by, creating a wall of meat between me and him.

If they think that’s going to stop me, they’re sorely mistaken.

I don’t give them a chance to make a move. While they’re still getting in position, I drive my fist forward. It connects to the soft, squishy side of the guy to the right, and he wheezes as the air escapes his lungs.

I send another blow, and then a third in quick succession. The second hook strikes his jaw and the third cracks right across his temple. He crumbles to the ground like a sack of shit.

The last man standing gets a swing in while I’m dealing with his buddy. It smashes against my jaw, hard enough for me to feel it but too soft to make me stumble. All the beatings I’ve taken over the years working for The Lion have conditioned my body to take much worse than that.

“Wanna take another crack at it?” I ask, grinning wickedly in his direction. I even tilt my head to the side and expose more of my chin for another blow.

His friends wail at his feet as his resolve for a fight fleets by the second. As bad as a punch can be, fighting is a mental game. Once you’ve lost the will to win, there’s no coming back. Still, he manages to prepare another strike. He cocks his shoulder, locks it for a hefty blow, but before it gets anywhere near me, I catch his fist in the palm of my hand.

Using my leverage on his arm, I pull him into me. He storms forward, and I drive the hardest point of my forehead down on the bridge of his nose. His legs buckle, and he crumbles as the blood begins to pour down his face.

Pathetic.

“What the fuck?” the ringleader spouts.

He’s on his feet again, stumbling away from me until he hits a dead end. The table where it all kicked off. I follow slowly, cautiously, on the off chance anyone else might try and get involved.

“Don’t hurt me,” he mumbles when I get close.

Without the chaos of our battle, I take stock of my surroundings. Everyone’s looking at us, with some even brave enough to get up close to the action. But none dare make a sound, nor do they try to stop what I’m about to do.

“Is that really what you want to say?” I grab him by the shirt and pull him with me as I start trudging back to Natalie.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. I was just having some fun.” He raises his hands in cowardly surrender. The broken fingers dangle loosely in ways that disgust even myself.

“Better, but I don’t want it.” With my grip on his shirt, I pull him down to Natalie’s feet. He falls without a fight. “You’re going to say sorry to her.”

Larry’s standing on the edge of the crowd, with a slack jaw and wide eyes at the sheer brutality on display. Good. I’ve had my eye on this sack of shit since Natalie was supposed to clock off for the night. He hasn’t even tried to hide his interest in her. And more often than not, I saw him biting his lip and gawking at her body in clothes that exposed too much.

But right now, he isn’t much of a threat. I’ll deal with him if he becomes one.

“What’s your name, son?” I ask, grabbing the guy by the neck while I force him to look at Natalie.

“Rick,” he says.

“Well, Rick, it’s your lucky day. I’m feeling generous.”

I can’t tell if she’s impressed or terrified by me. Both have their place.

“What are you gonna do to me?” Rick asks, cowering away from my grip. I don’t let him get far.

“It’s not my decision,” I answer.

Many more of the onlookers have taken to standing so they can get a better view of what’s happening. Some watch with smiles of twisted satisfaction, and others clutch their pearls in sheer disgust at how I’m treating one of the locals.

“What would you like me to do, my angel?” It rolls off my tongue and brings a quaint smile to her face.

It’s the only thing that makes sense. Natalie Pryce is the closest thing to a holy being I’ve set my eyes on, and she deserves to know it. No more squabbles with a man when she should be ruling the empires of heaven themselves.

“I…” Her eyes are glued to mine. “Don’t know.”

“Do you want an apology?” I ask.

“I do,” she says.

Rick starts sputtering apologies in a thousand different ways while spit and snot dribble from his orifices.

“Not good enough.” I tighten my grip around his neck and sink to one knee while plunging his face to the ground. “You’re going to kiss her feet and beg her forgiveness.”

He does. His mouth meets the grimy black covering her otherwise pristine white shoes. “I’m so sorry. Please. I didn’t mean it.”

I look up at her. Behind a nervous gulp and those big puppy dog eyes staring down at us, her lips curve upward with satisfaction. How many of these derelict pricks would suffer the same fate if she had the strength to do it alone?

Now, she’ll never have to worry about it again. I can be her strength. Make anyone, everyone, who upsets her suffer in ways unimaginable. Have them beg, praise, and worship at her feet the same way I want to.

“I forgive you,” she says. And with it, I release his neck.

I stand and wrap a hand around Natalie’s waist before kissing her with furious passion. Our lips explode into an inferno of burning while our tongues run long, soothing laps across the heat. She gives into me without question, and I give myself to her fully.

A sign. A warning. To anyone else in this shit-hole town thinking they can try and take what’s mine.