Stepping forward, he grabbed Hudson’s knife hand while placing his right foot behind his right leg. With a light push, it threw Hudson off balance for a just a second, but enough time to move to the left so that Eden didn’t stand directly behind him.
He spun, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw her screaming at both of them, but he couldn’t hear her. Based on the way Hudson ignored her, the male had gone into battle mode, as well. After a moment, she ran from the room.
Hudson lunged at him, the knife now dripping his blood on the carpet. He dodged each blow by mere centimeters, waiting for the right time to make his move.
You can’t kill him.
But he’s trying to kill you.
You can’t fucking kill him!
As the internal battle within him waged on, he kept his gaze trained on Hudson’s calm face.
The attack came with force. Hudson lunged with the knife, causing Axel to dodge to the left. When Hudson’s boot collided with the side of his skull, he saw stars for a moment, but then spun and connected his foot with Hudson’s chest, sending the male to the floor. Hudson swept his leg forward, taking Axel off his feet.
Before he’d even caught his breath, Hudson straddled him, the knife high in the air, ready to be plunged into Axel’s chest. Reaching up, he grabbed the weapon hand, his fingers digging into Hudson’s wrist. With his free fist, he pounded Hudson’s kidney.
Hudson flinched and swore at the beating, but Axel kept at it. Pain radiated from the stab wound in his back, and the blood drained from him. He would lose strength quickly, and he wanted to finish this before that happened.
But what did the finish look like? He couldn’t kill Hudson, even if the male seemed hell-bent on ending his life. Eden would never forgive him, and frankly, he had no desire to kill the male. He just wanted to live in peace with Hudson’s daughter and not be vilified for doing so.
Suddenly, Hudson bent over and head-butted him, pain radiating from his forehead down into his chest, and he gave up his assault for a second. As Hudson sat up, Axel pushed his chest, sending him a bit off balance. Axel lifted his leg and caught it his boot on Hudson’s sternum. Letting go of the weapon hand, he brought his leg downward, sending Hudson to the ground at his feet.
He heard Eden’s screams again somewhere in the background as he grabbed the knife from Hudson and tossed it across the room. The male reached up and wrapped one hand on Axel’s neck, and the other fist met his nose.
As blood gushed, he grabbed Hudson’s arm and pinched the nerve right at the elbow. It caused Hudson’s arm to buckle and he tore himself away from the grip on his throat.
He punched Hudson in the face, then got to his feet. Hudson must have been dazed for a second as he didn’t get up right away. A wave of satisfaction rolled through him as a trickle of blood snaked from Hudson’s nose.
“Stop it! Stop it!”
Her voice seemed so far away, like she resided in another place and time. He heard the panic and desperation, but he couldn’t take his focus off the battle, even for a second. If he did, it could mean death for him.
Hudson got to his feet, his chest heaving, and wiped his nose with his hand as he glared at Axel. They stared at each other a few seconds, then Eden appeared in between them.
“Please. You two need to stop this. Hudson, it’s not what—”
Hudson pushed her out of the way and lunged at Axel. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Eden stumble and slam her shin against the coffee table. She yelped, and then fell to the ground.
Anger roared through him as Hudson made contact with him, both of them falling to the ground. He would make the male eat the damn table he’d shoved Eden into. Hudson brought his fist back, and Axel caught it, then slammed his palm into Hudson’s throat.
The male gasped for breath, his eyes bulging. Axel pounced on him, ready to smash his elbow in Hudson’s throat and end him. No one touched his female like that.
Just as he was about to deal the final blow, he found himself being dragged off Hudson. He fought, but couldn’t get loose. He noticed Hudson being hauled to the other side of the room.
“What the fuck is going on in here?” Noah bellowed.
His heart slowed, and he came back to the present. He realized people stood all around while Jovan and Blake practically laid on top of him. Panic set in, and he began to fight them.
“Relax, man,” Blake said, his voice a low growl. “You need to chill right now.”
“Get off me.”
“Only if you promise not to kill anyone.”
Shit. He’d promise to cut off his right nut as long as these two got off of him.
“Yes. Just get off.”
They stood and moved in front of him. Over Blake’s head, he could see that Hudson received the same treatment. Cohen and Kade hauled him to his feet, but didn’t allow him to go anywhere.
Axel glanced around the room and realized that almost everyone in the silo had been woken up and stood in the Great Room. He searched the crowd for Eden, and found her in a chair with Beverly looking at her leg. She’d pulled up her jeans, and blood dripped down her calf.
He tried to go to her, but Jovan and Blake held him in place.
“Now, someone better start talking and tell me why we’re all up right now,” Noah said, standing in the middle of the room between Hudson and Axel. He wore a pair of sweatpants and a really pissed off scowl.
“I caught that piece of shit trying to rape my doha, Noah!” Hudson screamed, and lunged toward Axel again.
Kade and Cohen pushed him back against the bar, trapping him.
Gasps of horror came from the peanut gallery, but the only thing he could concentrate on was the gash on Eden’s leg.
Noah walked toward Axel, his gaze confused. “You what?”
“That’s not true,” Axel bit out as he realized he would be on trial here.
Hudson yelled at him from across the room. “Yes, it is!”
He glanced over at Eden, who now had tears streaming down her face. She stood and came over to Noah.
“That’s not what—”
Benedict came by her side in a flash. “Quit defending him, Eden!”
“But—”
“Benedict,” Hudson growled. “Get her away from this room. I don’t even want her breathing the same air as that monster over there.”
Benedict physically hauled Eden out of the room while she screamed at the top of her lungs, trying to defend him. He brought his hand to his chest, but the ache seemed different this time.
“We need to hear what Eden has to say,” Beverly said as she walked up to Noah, her yellow robe swishing around her feet.
He nodded. “We do.”
Hudson finally broke free of his captors and marched over to Noah. “I want him gone, Noah. Do you understand me? I want him far away from here. I will kill him if you allow him to stay. I know what I saw, and I know what I heard.”
Noah glanced over at him, and Axel could see exactly where this would be heading.
“Hudson, we don’t even know what happened here,” Beverly murmured as she placed her hand on his arm.
Hudson looked at her incredulously. “Are you doubting me, Bev?”
“No. What I’m saying is that we have conflicting stories here, and I think we need to get to the bottom of it.”
Hudson shook his head. “No. He leaves.”
Beverly sighed and looked over at Noah.
“He’s got a bad cut in his back,” Blake said from behind Axel. “No matter what happens, he’s going to need a healing.”
Beverly’s brow furrowed as she walked over to him. She moved behind him and placed her fingers around the knife wound. “You did this to him, Hudson?”
Axel flinched at her touch.
“He was trying to rape Eden!”
“No, I wasn’t,” Axel said, his voice surprisingly calm, even to his own ears. “I—”
Shit. Could he admit to a whole room full of people that he loved Eden more than his ow
n life? That he would gladly die if it meant she lived? Yes, he could, but the words seemed to get tangled up on his tongue. He could think them, but they couldn’t move past his lips.
“You what, you dumb motherfucker?” Hudson screamed.
He sighed and looked at the floor.
“I want him gone. Now!”
“He needs to be healed,” Beverly said from behind him.
“Let’s get Macy to do it,” Blake answered. “We’re going to need all hands on deck to try to lasso that out of control train over there.”
“Come with me, Axel,” Beverly said, sidling up to him and placing her hand on his bicep.
“You don’t go anywhere with that monster!” Hudson screamed.
Axel stared at the male’s face, red and contorted with rage and blood, wondering how things had gone from good to complete shit in such a short period of time.
Beverly turned to him. “And you need to calm down, Hudson, and let me do my job. Nothing is going to happen to me with Blake and Jovan here.”
Axel followed her out of the room as she pulled out her cell phone. After a moment, she spoke. “Hi, Macy. I’m so sorry to disturb you and Titus. Would you mind meeting me in the gym? Axel needs a healing.”
He walked in between Blake and Jovan. He didn’t feel any fear, but complete resignation. He couldn’t voice his feelings for Eden, and he knew that once his wound had been healed, he would be sent packing.
“Thanks so much, Macy. I’m not really sure what happened, but Hudson has gone completely ballistic.”
They walked down the hall to the elevator, and Beverly pushed the button. She kept her back to him as they waited for the doors to part.
After a moment, she spoke. “Axel, I know you’re not a man of many words, but right now would be a good time to start talking.”
The four of them entered the elevator, and he stared at the floor.
“It looked like it was a pretty fair fight,” Blake murmured.
“Hell, yes, it did,” Jovan answered.
“I didn’t try to rape her,” Axel said, his voice low, although, he could understand how Hudson could think that.
He imagined walking onto the scene, just as Hudson had done. Axel’s body would have shielded Hudson from fully seeing Eden. Her squirming and cries for him to stop could definitely have been taken exactly as it had been—him trying to hurt Eden.
“Then what was that shit storm about?” Blake asked.
I love her. We were screwing around, just as I’ve seen every single one of you do.
Suddenly, he felt weak. He noted the blood dripping down his face, and felt it crawling down his back.
The elevators doors opened to the gym, and he began to sway.
“I think he’s getting ready to pass out,” Jovan muttered, grabbing him by the arm.
Blake held him up from his other side, and they then made their way through the double doors, across the gym mats and over to Beverly’s make-shift doctor’s office. He sat down on the gurney, pain lancing through his back. In fact, his whole body began to hurt.
Moments later, Macy came running over.
“He’s been stabbed in the back,” Beverly noted.
Macy smiled at him kindly, never one to scurry away from him. Although small in stature, he’d always thought of her as a brave female. Joining him and the others from Rescue One hadn’t been an easy task, and she’d lost everything when SR44 had been destroyed, only to find happiness here with Titus.
“Let’s get your shirt off, Axel.”
“No.”
He wouldn’t allow anyone to see the tattoo.
She stared at him in confusion.
“Heal me with my shirt on.”
A beat of silence ensued, and then she spoke. “Can everyone please leave the room?”
Blake and Jovan shifted uncomfortably.
“Are you sure, Macy?” Beverly asked.
“Yes.”
Everyone filed out of the gym, and silence engulfed them as the door shut.
“What’s going on, Axel?”
“Nothing.”
“Why don’t you want me to see your back?”
“I just don’t.”
She sighed and cross her arms over her chest. “Look. If I heal you with the shirt on, there’s a chance of infection.”
“I’ll take it.”
“Axel—”
“No, Macy.”
She nodded. “Okay. Can I at least put my hands up under the shirt?”
He couldn’t see a problem with that. “Okay.”
Her hands snaked up under the hem, and he winced as her fingers grazed the wound.
“Sorry about that.”
Taking a deep breath, he tried to concentrate, but his thoughts kept returning to the mess in the Great Room. He hoped Eden hadn’t been hurt too badly when Hudson had pushed her. Pure rage surfaced once more, and he shifted uncomfortably, his fingers itching to wrap around Hudson’s neck and squeeze the last breath out of him.
After a moment, Macy sighed and walked around to face him. “Axel, what happened up there? You aren’t concentrating, so let’s try to get all the garbage out, and then I can try to heal you again.”
He stared down at her crimson hands, and realized he wasn’t being fair to her. She shouldn’t be covered in his blood. Instead, she would have cleaned the area off with antiseptic and a cloth, then healed him.
He tried to swallow past the lump in his throat as he wanted to tell her everything, but once again, the words wouldn’t come.
“You didn’t want to hurt Eden, did you?”
“No.”
Just the thought of it made his stomach clench and bile rise in his throat.
“I never believed that for a second, Axel. Can you tell me what did happen?”
He shook his head, knowing full well he should tell her, but it seemed as if by doing so, he’d be breaking an oath to Eden.
She pursed her lips as she stared at him. “Okay, Axel. Here’s the deal. What we need—”
The gym doors burst open, and Noah strode over.
“Is he going to be okay, Macy?”
She nodded and moved over to the sink to wash her hands. “I think so.”
Noah ran his hand through his dark hair. “Listen, man. I’m going to need you to disappear for a while, okay? I’ve never seen Hudson this unhinged, and he’s promising to kill you.”
“He won’t.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. Two assassins going at each other is never a good thing.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Can you tell me what happened, then?”
“You should ask Eden.”
“I will. Right now, she’s almost as upset as Hudson is. She wants to kill both her father and her brother.”
He grinned. “They better be careful.”
Noah chuckled. “Yeah, she’s out of control. Do you have somewhere you can go until all this blows over and Hudson regains some sense of sanity? I can give you money for a hotel or something, but you spend so much time downtown, I figured you had a female or three down there.”
No, his female was right here. But, if him leaving allowed everyone to work through what happened and gave Eden the chance to get her side of the story out to people who would listen, he could leave and go to the little studio he rented from Foster.
“I can go.”
“It shouldn’t be for too long. Can you tell me what happened before you leave?”
He sighed, wishing this night would end. “I didn’t hurt Eden.”
“Did you mean to hurt her? Did you want to?”
What type of bullshit question was that? He actually felt offended. “No. I would never hurt a female, Noah. No SR44ian male worth anything would ever do such a thing.”
Noah walked over to the corner and grabbed a chair, then dragged it over in front of Axel and straddled it. “I know, but I have to ask. Hudson seems hell-bent on believing you were trying to when he walked in on you.”
“Ask Eden.”
“Yeah, okay. Get healed and head out, Axel. I’ve got females and kids in this place, and I can’t have you two going at it. Someone else besides the two of you could get hurt.”
He nodded, then Noah stood and strode out of the gym.
Macy walked over to him and smiled. “Should we try the healing again?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you think you can concentrate?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I take off your shirt?”
He thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “You can’t say anything to anyone, though, Macy.”
A brief flash of confusion crossed her face. “Okay.”
“Promise me.”
She held her hand over her heart and bowed at the waist. In their native language, she said, “I give you my word on my life that I will not reveal your secrets.”
He nodded.
She walked behind him and helped him slip the shirt over his head, the pain in his shoulder blade now at excruciating levels.
She mopped up his back for a few moments, then gasped. “Oh, Axel.”
He didn’t know if that meant his wound was bad, or that she loved or hated the tattoo.
“It’s going to be beautiful.”
Two hours later, Axel slid into the driver’s seat of the black Denali. As he pulled away from the silo, he knew it would most likely be the last time he saw Eden, or any of the others, for a while, or maybe forever. He bet that no matter what Eden said, Hudson wouldn’t want him to come back. As far as the male was concerned, his doha would always be a precious, delicate treasure to be guarded and handled with gentle hands. Most everyone already saw Axel as some type of pariah, and they’d probably be happy to have him gone.
The farther he drove, the less his chest ached. By the time he arrived at the tiny apartment, nothing resided in his sternum except the cold, empty darkness that had accompanied him for most of his life.
He turned off the car, got out, and locked it. After fishing the apartment keys out of his pocket, he opened the door. Glancing around the small space, he set down his duffel bag.
This place had once been a place of refuge, a place where he’d come to be alone. Now, it seemed desolate and unfriendly.
He lay down on the bed and sighed as he closed his eyes. Sleep would eventually come, and so would his demons. Once again, he’d have to deal with them by himself.
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