The man in the doorway smacked her across the face, as suddenly and ruthlessly as a lightning strike.King was in action, lunging toward them as the cad snagged her by her hair, making her cry out.
She didn’t see him coming.The stranger didn’t either.That much was clear by the way the man’s eyes widened, a flicker of fear and recognition in his eyes before King lunged, taking him down and pummeling the man’s face as chaos erupted inside.
The man beneath him moaned.Tracker was trying to tear him off.He was shouting something that didn’t make it past the roar in King’s ears.
It was Kitty’s voice that finally broke through.“No, King.Please!I can’t make him angry.”
She was sobbing, and the sound cut at his ribcage, scraping his heart.His fists paused in their storm of blows, his breath ragged as the other sounds filtered past his rage.
Voices drawing closer.Shouts for backup.
Tracker’s words filtered in.“We need to get Kitty out of here.”
King stilled.Tracker was right, he had to get her safe.He looked up to see some young brutes, the kind who had more fear than sense.They hesitated at the sight of him crouching over the bloody pulp beneath him.
But they wouldn’t wait for long.
“Send for the master,” one of them said.
Kitty whimpered.
The man beneath him moaned.
King stood.He didn’t dive headfirst into fights.He didn’t start wars with rivals.He didn’t act, dammit—not without thinking.
That was the only thing that separated him from every other thief, gambler, and crook in this city.
That was what made him King.
He backed away, a sneer on his face as he addressed the bloody man on the ground and the others hovering in the hallway.“Tell your master he’s made the wrong enemy.”
No one spoke.Even if they didn’t recognize him, they heard the power in his voice.
Tracker was strong and straight at his side.Kitty trembled but didn’t try to run when King reached for her hand and tugged her close.“I’ve come to take what’s mine,” he growled.“Tell your master if he wants her back, he’ll have to go through King.”
The men jerked back stricken, but Kitty…
Kitty moaned, as if in horror.He looked over at her and saw tears streaming down her cheeks.His insides waged war, his heart split between this overpowering need to claim, to defend…and an intrinsic, gut-deep horror at the sight of her tears.
“Kitty,” he started.
Tracker shifted closer, a subtle reminder that they had to be gone.Quick.Or else the great and powerful King would be caught in a no-doubt deadly scuffle with lowly gutter trash.
He gripped Kitty by the arm and turned the full wrath of his rage on the men just inside.“Tell your master to come and see me.Or I’ll take everything he owns.”
He ignored Kitty’s sobs, hauling her alongside him, Tracker on his other side as they turned down one alley, then another.He trusted Tracker to know the way back because he was too caught up in trying to decipher what the hell had just happened to be paying much attention.
It was Kitty who brought them to a jerky stop when she dug her heels in with a loud shout.“Let me go!”
Tracker looked stunned as he stopped and looked back at her.King was no less surprised by her sudden show of spirit, but he leaned in close.“No stopping until we’re in my territory.”
They’d be safe there.
She’dbe safe there.No one dared mess with what was his in his territory.And no man, woman, or child would stand for an outsider messing with what was his either.
He glared down at Kitty with her wet eyes and her trembling lips.
And she was his now.Whether she liked it or not.