Free Daring Fire: Paranormal Romance (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 2) by Mallory Crowe Page B

amounts of red that covered her front. One of them even licked his lips at the sight.
    They said they smelled the blood. Gena took a deep swallow as she came to the realization that her blood made these men hungry. They had asked whether Marcus had ever fed ON her.
    She looked behind her to study Marcus’s face. “As you can see, she’s mine. If we are done here, I am going back to the party.”
    He moved away from the alley, pulling her along with him, and broke her view of his face. She let out a silent sigh of relief, but a gravelly voice chimed in. “We know why you’re here.”
    Marcus stopped moving, and Gena wanted to shake him and order him to get her out of this situation as quickly as possible. “My circumstances aren’t exactly a secret,” he pointed out.
    Gena couldn’t help but wonder what those circumstances were. She still wanted out, but her ears perked up.
    “Aleksander betrayed you. You’ve been a loyal follower of his for years, and on a whim he banishes you. I know you had nothing to do with the attack on the queen.”
    Gena felt Marcus take in a deep breath. She wished she could get a good view of him to decipher what he was thinking.
    “Aleksander’s a dick. I have known it for years.”
    The interrogator of the group nodded. “You aren’t the only one who knows it. There are plenty of like-minded individuals who want to see Aleksander gone.”
    “Like Fredrick?” asked Marcus. “Last I saw him, he was missing his head. Even if I wanted Aleksander gone, there’s nothing I could do about that now.”
    The interrogator shrugged. “Aleksander will welcome you back soon enough. There’s no evidence you had any involvement with Fredrick.”
    “What makes you so sure?”
    The speaker smiled. “I’m sure because Fredrick was working with us.”
    There was a tense pause when no one spoke. Gena could practically feel Marcus consider his options. Whoever this Aleksander was, Marcus had motive to make him “gone,” and these men wanted him to do it. What would they do if he said no?
    “I can take care of Aleksander on my own, and I don’t need some fucking dinner-snatching strangers to help me do it,” replied Marcus.
    Marcus finally walked away and pulled her with him. His arms had fallen from their previous positioning wrapped around her, and she immediately felt the loss of body heat. However, one of his now free hands grabbed her wrist and pulled her along with him. He took long strides and she almost had to jog to keep up with him, but she’d happily run to get away from that alley.
    “Wait!” called a voice from behind them.
    Marcus stopped, but Gena tugged at his arm, urging him to walk away. Marcus nodded to her in acknowledgment but still looked back to the men with an impatient glare.
    The speaker threw something toward her and Marcus. She flinched and held up a defensive arm over her face, but Marcus just reached out and grabbed the flying object out of the air. His arm moved so fast it appeared as a blur in front of her eyes.
    As he lowered his hand at a perfectly normal speed, Gena saw that the object was a cheap cell phone. The interrogator said, “We will be in touch.”
    Marcus didn’t respond, but just turned away from the three and finally led Gena from her attackers.
    The farther they moved from the threat, the calmer Gena’s breathing became. Marcus periodically glanced over his shoulder and she did the same. She didn’t see any sign of the three men behind her.
    Instead of going back to the club like he’d said, Marcus led her along the dark streets of the city. After a few blocks, the shock of the evening faded and Gena slowly collected her wits. She tried to free her wrist from Marcus’s grasp, but he just held on tighter.
    “Let me go,” she said quietly but firmly. She wasn’t going to be manhandled again tonight.
    Marcus stopped and turned his gaze to her small wrist wrapped in his large hand. It almost looked as though he forgot he was still holding