Page 81 of Bubblegum Pop

My aura exploded as I yelled.

She was trapped underneath the wheezing alpha, a sick grin on his face as a sharp line of blood beaded on her throat.

And the calm I kept so tightly wound inside me for years shattered; any restraint or control I’d honed since we almost lost Odin reduced to shards.

Rage blasted through all three of us, but I got there first.

Zeus raised his gun and Odin turned to the guards on our right, but I was faster.

I shot forward the moment Candy rocked her chair, hurling herself backwards, risking her life as she hit the alpha’s stomach.

They both went down, and the alpha stumbled backwards and away from her.

There was nothing to stop me.

With my mates behind me, I fell on the alpha, his knife clattering away as I threw the first punch.

My mind flickered back to the bar five years ago, when Zeus stabbed an alpha as I bent over Odin, the chair leg thrust through his eye, rocking back and forth as I screamed.

That same scream echoed in my ears as I swung for him.

His nose crunched as my fist hit home. But that was just the start.

I couldn’t stop.

Because all there was, was red fury.

It took me over.

I had to kill him. I had to end him.

She was ours. Our mate. Our love, and he dared to touch her.

A roar ripped from me as another punch landed. And another. And another. I kept going until my arms were swinging wildly, flying into every part of his body I could reach. I felt my shoulder go again; the pain devouring me, but in my rogue state, it was nothing.

My hips kept him pinned, but it wasn’t enough as he jerked, knocking me upwards. It gave me more space to slam my good hand against his throat.

Pressing my bleeding fingers into his neck, my aura flared as I choked him, his skin popping under my nails as my killing rage dominated me.

It suffocated me, clenching around my body like a black coil that I could only be free from if I saw the light fade in his eyes. I needed the darkness, pitch black nothingness, my light lost forever. Because it was for them.

My nails dug into fat flesh, and I heaved out a strained sob as I squeezed.

But before I could feel his last breath, strong arms around my waist yanked me backwards.

I snarled, throwing out my fist, connecting with hard muscle as my hand thudded on Zeus’s upper arm.

“Apollo! Stop!” he shouted.

It was no use. I was gone. The rogue state had taken me over, and I had to destroy everything in my path to protect our omega.

Part of me could hear Zeus, could see Odin and Bones bent over Candy, cutting her from the chair. Odin held her as she looked across at the mangled face of that alpha in disgust.

Zeus pressed me to his back, a hand on my breastbone, the other firm around my stomach, but it didn’t stop me hissing like a ferocious beast.

I had to get her. I had to protect her.

I had to rip that alpha’s body apart so he could never touch her again. I was going to kill him. I was going to tear his limbs, gouge out his eyes, drain his blood so the only thing left was a husk of flesh.