Four men lay on the floor. Three of them were already still, twisted at ugly angles, faces bloody and swollen. Jaxon had the fourthone by the collar. The man’s head lolled like a broken doll, but Jaxon wasn’t stopping.
“You tried to run over my woman, you son of a bitch!” he growled and punched the man again and again. Slow, heavy, deliberate blows that landed with wet, awful sounds. His knuckles were split open and bleeding. She couldn’t tell if the blood was his or the intruders'.
The monster he usually kept locked deep inside had finally broken free, and it was finding food for its rage in abundance. Tazzy waited for the revulsion to hit her. It never came. Instead, a strange, quiet understanding settled in her chest. They had pushed him to this. The only reason that raw, dark violence had come roaring out was to protect her.
But then she remembered that, if Jaxon were to kill the man, he would be the one to end up back in prison. That she would not survive.
Tazzy ran forward without thinking, grabbed Jaxon’s raised arm with both hands, and held on tight. “Jaxon, stop! I’m safe. Sabre’s almost here. You’ve protected me. It’s done. Please. Please, Jaxon, stop!”
Shrieking as he dragged her forward, she tried again. “Daddy! Please, Daddy. You have to stop!”
He froze mid-swing. His chest heaved like a bellows. For one terrifying second, she saw the darkness still swirling in his eyes. Then it slowly faded. He dropped the unconscious man like he weighed nothing and pulled her hard against his chest. One bloody hand gripped the hair at the nape of her neck.
“You were supposed to stay in the closet,” he growled against her hair, voice rough and raw. His breathing was hard, and she could feel his rapid heartbeat.
“I know,” she whispered, clinging to him. “But I was scared.”
Before he could answer, the front door burst open. His brothers poured into the house. They filled the room in seconds, guns drawn and ready to fight. The sight of four broken men on the floor didn’t even make them flinch.
Law crouched beside one of the unconscious intruders andchecked his pulse. “Well, they’re alive,” he said. “That’s something. We need to get Ezra out here and tell him to bring an ambulance.”
“They broke into my house, with my woman here, Law. Believe me when I tell you they’re lucky to be alive. Tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing.”
Gage was already pulling zip ties from his pocket. “You did better than I would have. A man’s got every right to defend his home and his family.”
Sawyer clapped Jaxon on the shoulder. “Nice work.” He shoved the closest man to him with his foot. “Can’t say about the General, but these four won’t be bothering anyone for a while.”
Reid put his phone back in his pocket. “I called Ezra. He’s heading this way.”
Tazzy stayed pressed against Jaxon’s side, her fingers curled into his torn and bloody shirt. It was good that the others were here, but it was even better that none of them looked shocked by what Jaxon had done. Sirens could already be heard in the distance.
Once the ambulances arrived, there was time to assess the damage. Tazzy had been indignant that the paramedics didn’t pay more attention to Jaxon’s injuries, though she had to admit they were minor by comparison.
On the plus side, that gave her a chance to help him. Taking Jaxon’s hand, she gently led him into the kitchen. Sitting him at the table, she carefully cleaned his bleeding knuckles with a warm washcloth. He winced but didn’t pull away.
After coming into the kitchen to check on them, Deke gave Jaxon one of those chin lift things that could mean almost anything. “Tazzy seems to be okay,” he said. “I’d say that’s the most important thing.”
“It’s the only thing that matters,” Jaxon said. Tipping her chin up to meet his gaze, she saw his eyes were filled with worry. “I’m sorry if I scared you, Darkling. But when I said I’d do whatever it takes to keep you safe, I meant it.” His voice was quiet, watchful.
Tazzy placed her palm to her chest. “I wasn’t scared of you, Daddy. I was scared for you. You don’t have to hide who you are from me. Ilove you. All of you, even the new, darker parts. They make me feel safe.”
He cupped her face with his uninjured hand, thumb brushing her cheek. He studied her. “You really mean that?”
“I do.”
A few minutes later, Ezra arrived. Tazzy worried that, for some reason she couldn’t possibly imagine, Jaxon might be in trouble. But she needn’t have worried. Ezra took one look at the four men on the floor and simply shook his head.
“I’ll need to take your statements so we can get the charges right on these thugs,” he said. “We’ll get statements from the perpetrators later when they’re finished with their beauty sleep. We’ll just say they’re too 'scared' to talk right now anyway. I’ll let Bones check them out at the hospital before I put them in jail. And don’t worry. This is a clear case of self-defense.”
Relief overwhelmed Tazzy once Ezra and the ambulances left. Then it was Sabre’s turn, each man telling Jaxon to call if he needed anything. They waved the Sabre team out the door and turned to see a completely destroyed living room.
Jaxon walked over and started picking up the glass from one of the windows. Tazzy carefully walked over to him and took his hand and squeezed it gently.
“Daddy, let’s do this tomorrow. We can close the shutters and let it wait. Let’s go back to bed,” she whispered. “You’ve made everything okay.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Jaxon squeezed and released his hands to stretch the tight skin of his knuckle. Truth be told, they’d healed more than he thought they would in the past two days. He stood in the shadow of an old barn just outside Graceview Retreat Center. The mid-morning sun was already warm, and the air was sharp with the scent of pine and damp earth.