Ruthless Salvation

15

Terror, fascination, and a heady dose of lust combined in a cocktail of emotions that spiked my bloodstream until the room around me spun.

I’d never seen Torin without a shirt. His muscled body was perfection, but anyone passing him on the street could tell that much. What had me speechless was the jagged expanse of a lightning bolt tattooed across his back. I’d expected the tattoos on his arms to continue onto the rest of his body, but that wasn’t the case. The single piece of artwork on pristine skin reminded me of a Grecian statue marbled with a catastrophic crack.

“I knew he’d be hot, but sweet Jesus,” Micky hollered next to my ear.

“You okay? You look a little funny.”

“Yeah,” I answered distractedly. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the sight of Torin as he loosened up, his tightly coiled muscles visible even to those of us thirty feet away. “The intensity’s just … a lot, you know?”

“I feel you. It’s got me so fuckin’ horny.”

I turned to gape at her, but she was already hollering something about “rip his f*****g arms off.”

What had I been thinking when I agreed to this? Coming here was such an epic mistake.

I wanted out, but we were walled in by bodies all around us. I scrunched my eyes shut and prayed it would be over quickly, then panicked that I hadn’t specified a winner, so I repeated the prayer with a caveat that Torin would win.

What if he doesn’t win? What if I have to stand here and watch him get pounded round after round?

My stomach dipped and rolled like a tiny rowboat braving an ocean storm.

A single ping of the bell pierced the air.

My eyelids wrenched open.

The two men circled each other the same as each pair of fighters before, but their predatorial movements stirred nausea in my belly this time. Torin’s opponent was similar in height, but his shoulders and arms were more solid with mass and muscle. He was covered in tattoos, his head shaved clean to the scalp, and he stared down Torin with a palpable hatred.

Torin bobbed lightly closer, coaxing out a swing from Razor. The two measured up one another with a few easy jabs. I started to feel a tiny tendril of relief before Torin took a solid uppercut to the gut followed by a mean right hook. He stumbled to the ring as the referee stepped between them.

Each time Razor’s fists made contact with Torin, tiny snippets of memory assaulted me. Furious blue eyes. White-knuckled fists. Fear. So much crippling fear.

I closed my eyes and begged the contents of my stomach to stay put.

For three rounds, the two went at one another, the crowd growing more feral by the minute. I wondered if their rabid cries had consumed all the oxygen in the room because I swore it was getting harder and harder to breathe.

Despite the heated bodies around me, my hands were cool and clammy.

And had the room gone quieter, or was that a ringing in my ears?

I desperately needed to get a grip.

Focus on Tor. He’s okay. He’s alive. He’ll be okay.

I stared at where he sat in his corner as though that link between us would somehow keep us both safe. I stared with such intensity, I could almost feel myself touching him. Maybe I had, in a telepathic sense.

I didn’t know how else to explain the way Tor’s gaze lifted from the ground and collided directly with mine. He hadn’t scanned the crowd or been lost in a daze. His piercing eyes shot with intention straight to mine and locked on me with the precision of a sniper scoping his target.

The wig had been pointless.

He knew exactly who I was.

Fury darkened his face as he shot to his feet just as the bell rang.

OceanofPDF.com

Present

I COULDN’T BELIEVE MY EYES.

Stormy was there at the fight. And that look on her face? I’d never f*****g scratch it from my memory. The desperation and torment. It transformed me from man into pure primal instinct, and that instinct demanded I get to her. The fight didn’t matter. The bets and spectators and obligations—none of it mattered. None of it even registered. There was only Storm and her need for help.

The bell rang as I lurched to my feet, and Razor made the mistake of coming at me. He got in one hit while my focus was divided. That was it. A strike to the jaw that didn’t even register.

The beast raging inside me wasn’t about to let this motherfucker stand in my way. I attacked with savage, merciless blows one after the other, never giving him the opportunity to defend or counter.

When he crumpled to the ground, the referee came at me as though expecting to have to restrain me, but I wasn’t interested in spending a second longer than necessary in that ring. I only had one thing on my mind.

Jumping from the platform, I charged into the crowd that was now going ballistic. The unexpected assault had riled them to a frenzied state, making it harder to form a path through the chaos. Some wanted to congratulate me. Others were spitting angry.

I didn’t give a f**k about any of them.

Ripping off my gloves and discarding them to the ground, I shoved people out of my way until she was finally within reach. The only way to get her out safely was with her in my arms, so I scooped into my arms in one swift motion and continued my momentum toward the exit. The crowd thinned toward the perimeter. Increasing my pace, I tore past everyone I knew and didn’t stop until Storm and I were safely in the locker room. Alone.

I set her on her feet and slammed the door shut behind us. Only then was I able to gain some semblance of control over my ragged breathing and racing heart. I didn’t take too long, though, because I needed to know what was wrong.

Turning to face her, I placed my hands on either side of her face, angling her eyes up to meet mine. My hands reeked in their sweat-soaked wraps, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was making sure Storm was okay.

“Did something happen? Did someone hurt you?”

She shook her head in tiny, uncertain movements. “I’m okay.” Her voice was so goddamn small that it wasn’t even her—not the Stormy I knew. What the hell had happened to upset her so deeply? If she wasn’t hurt, then what?

I swiped the wig off her head and tossed it aside. She tugged a cap off her head and let her golden hair fall to her shoulders. A twinge of pain stabbed deep in my chest. She was so f*****g beautiful—an angel.