Blood Assassin (The Sentinels #2)(91)

He swallowed a sigh, realizing she was deliberately twisting his words. Which was precisely why he preferred to communicate in a more . . . basic way.

A damned shame he didn’t have time to prove just how romantic he could be. Not when Bas the Bastard was nearly at the suite.

Muttering a low curse, he was just pressing a frustrated kiss to Serra’s stubborn lips when the sound of a heavy thud, followed by the splintering of wood, had him spinning around, his fighting instincts on full alert.

The door flew open, hanging at a drunken angle as Bas stormed into the room, closely followed by the faithful Kaede.

A dark, murderous fury lashed through Fane at the sight of the assassin. What the hell was going on?

He’d warned the son of a bitch what would happen if he entered uninvited, hadn’t he?

Now he was going to beat the ever-living shit out of him.

Serra watched in horror as Fane charged forward. She knew what was going to happen before Fane grabbed Bas by the front of his silk shirt and tossed him into the wall.

For God’s sake. What sort of idiot burst into the room of a fully trained Sentinel?

Obviously the sort who picked himself up off the floor and launched himself into a battle where he was going to get his ass kicked.

“I told you not to barge in here,” Fane snarled.

Bas bared his teeth. “Fuck you, Sentinel.”

With a roar, the assassin was ramming into Fane’s chest, barely flinching when Fane’s massive fist hit him on the side of his face. Instead he used his own fist to pound into Fane’s rock-hard abs. Then, without warning, Bas slammed his head forward to smash Fane’s nose.

Serra gave a choked cry, moving to try to separate the two warriors.

Dammit. If Fane killed Bas then she was screwed. And if Bas killed...

No. Her mind couldn’t even go there.

She’d taken a step forward when fingers wrapped around her upper arm, bringing her to a sharp halt.

“No.” Kaede spoke directly in her ear. “Don’t interfere.”

Her gaze remained locked on the two men who stumbled into the couch, both holding on to each other with a death grip as they sought to gain an upper hand.

“I don’t understand.” She flinched as Bas jabbed his knee into Fane’s upper thigh. “What’s going on?”

Fane slammed Bas’s head against a side table, splitting the wood in half.

Already the scent of blood and violence filled the air.

“It’s been brewing a long time,” Kaede said, clearly unconcerned that his boss might be ripped apart limb by limb. “You might as well let them get it out of their system.”

Serra frowned. Of course the two men wanted to kill each other. And not just because Bas had kidnapped and poisoned her. They were too alpha not to feel the need to flex their muscles when they were in the same room.

Men.

But until this moment they’d both understood that they had to work together. At least until Molly was home.

“Did something happen?” she demanded.

Kaede snorted, his fingers biting into the flesh of her upper arm, but it was Bas who answered, his gaze briefly flicking in her direction.

“You thought you could meet with my enemy and not have me discover your betrayal?”

Serra disguised her grimace. He had to be referring to the hit man they’d confronted in the shed. But how the hell had he found out?

Had the two Sentinels following them been spying?

She gave a mental shrug. Who cared how he knew? All that mattered was that he didn’t use it as a reason to hurt Fane.

“My betrayal? Are you really going to go there?” She pointed a finger at his bloody face. “I have toxin flowing through my blood, you bastard. Don’t talk to me about betrayal.”

The assassin’s head jerked back as Fane clipped him on the chin with a right hook, sending him flying over the back of the couch.

Climbing back to his feet, Bas grabbed a heavy ceramic lamp, throwing it at Fane’s head.

“I warned you what would happen,” he snarled, still speaking to her despite the bloodthirsty Sentinel charging in his direction. “Do you think I won’t kill you?”

The two men collided once again. Bas was clearly a trained fighter, but he was no true match for Fane. No one was except Wolfe, the Tagos of the Sentinels.

Still, Serra knew that Fane was at a disadvantage because he couldn’t strike a killing blow.

Not so long as Bas was the only one who could remove the toxin from her body.

She had to end this before Bas managed to truly injure her guardian.

Shaking off Kaede’s hand, she moved in a wide circle. She didn’t want to wade directly into the battle. She just wanted to capture Fane’s attention.

Halting near the window, she shifted until she was in Fane’s line of sight without being close enough to get caught up in the violence.

“Fane.” She wrinkled her nose as he glanced in her direction and Bas used his distraction to land a punch just below his left ear.

“I’m a little busy,” he rasped, blood dripping from his nose and a large lump already forming on his temple.

“I need to speak with Bas.” She took a deliberate step forward, knowing it would horrify her guardian to have her within striking distance. “Please.”

The dark eyes smoldered with a fevered heat, a testosterone enjoyment at being allowed to release his pent up fury obvious in his tight smile.