Severed Ties: A Dark Stalker Romance (Tainted Love Book 1)

Bone crunches beneath my fists and blood coats my knuckles, but none of it belongs to me. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a good old-fashioned brawl, and while I should be angry at these assholes ruining the opening fight night for an establishment I’ve worked so hard to build with the Saint James family, I’m enjoying the hell out of it.

The only thing that makes me uneasy is leaving Clara alone in the office. She’s a flight risk if there ever was one, and the idea that she could walk out in this chaos makes my blood run cold. I never want her in any kind of danger, but especially not when it could be easily prevented if she’d just stay where I told her.

My fist connects with another man’s nose and blood spurts across the concrete below our feet. Fuck yes. I need this. I need it almost as badly as I need to breathe. Maybe this place will be enough to keep me entertained after all.

A feminine scream tears my attention from the asshole I just hit and my stomach drops. No. Please tell me she didn’t leave the security room. Please tell me her stubbornness didn’t prevail over common sense.

My eyes scan the crowd of people throwing punches and slamming their bodies into one another, but I can’t see her. I can’t see anything past all these assholes, and dread washes over me in heavy waves. What if she gets hurt? Or worse? Wynter will kill me if the only person capable of doing her role while she’s on maternity leave dies on my watch.

Someone shoves me, their large hands press into my back and shoot me forward, taking me off guard. I should know better than to take my focus off the fight, but I have to make sure Clara is okay.

By the time I’m able to look up again, I catch sight of her by the front door. She’s favoring one leg as she hobbles toward the exit, and blinding fury grips me by the neck and squeezes. One of these motherfuckers hurt her, and I’m going to end him for ever daring to touch my woman. He doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as her, and I’m going to make sure he never drags in another breath.

When I look up again, Clara has disappeared out onto the street and the need to go after her beats down on me heavily. But I have to deal with this shit first. I have to get shit here sorted before I even think about going after my little fawn. But she better believe she’s going to be in a world of trouble when I catch up with her, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep the beast locked away.

Better run, little fawn, because when the big bad wolf catches you, he’s never going to let you go.