I set Brandon down on the bed and I walk up to Greg, who is still standing in the doorway.
“Oh, old man,” I murmur, shaking my head. “You messed up.”
Then I shove him, hard. He’s caught off-guard and he stumbles backward into the living room. Jace is there, ready to end the life of the man who stole Alexis’. He killed her in cold blood and now, it’s time for him to pay the price. Greg falls into the living room and before he even lands, Jace slices his throat with a claw. Blood splatters everywhere, and I turn away, unable to look.
Andrew seems to catch on to what’s happening, and he screams. I think he’s going to jump at me, at first, but he doesn’t. Instead, he barrels past me into the living room and throws himself at Jace.
Then the real fight begins.
Chapter Ten
Jace
I’ll be honest: I sort of expected the cop shifter to be something fierce: a lion, a tiger, a bear. Hell, maybe even a dragon. This guy, though, shifts into something I couldn’t have possibly imagined.
He shifts into a fucking rabbit.
That’s right: Andrew, the guy responsible for my fiancé’s death, is a damn rabbit.
If he wasn’t trying so hard to bite me to death, I would laugh, but this is no laughing matter. The truth is that he took someone I really cared about. Not only did he ruin her life, but he stole it away entirely. I am normally a very forgiving person, but this is something that even I can’t forgive.
So I don’t.
He jumps at me, bares his teeth, and tries to bite me.
I’m having none of that.
Not today.
Not ever.
With a swipe of my paw, the rabbit is finished.
He dies instantly, falling to the floor, and I look down at him for a minute.
That was it.
There was no big, huge fight. There was no crazy tug-and-pull. I’m going to walk away from this completely unscathed – at least physically.
I shift back so I can speak to Polly and Brandon. They’re both in the bedroom, and I honestly can’t believe how well Polly managed to handle herself. She was a real trooper, as Alexis would have said. She really held it all together.
Somehow, despite everything she’s faced in her life, she managed to make the most of a horrific situation, and she totally kept her cool.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
It’s the stupidest question I could have possibly chosen.
Of course, she’s not okay.
Of course, Brandon isn’t fine.
Of course, none of us are going to walk away from this situation without emotional trauma or scars.
What has happened: this invasion into our home, into our lives...this is unforgettably horrible.
“I’m not okay,” she tells me. “But I’m going to be. Jace, you were incredible.”
I shake my head as I look down. I wish there was another way this could have ended. I wish there was another way I could have ended this threat to our lives. Part of me hates myself for what has happened. Part of me despises the fact that I’m responsible for taking two lives today.