AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Didn’t know I needed permission.”
His laugh was low, the darkness laced within it sending a different kind of heat to between my legs. This was not the time for this.
“There’s that disinhibition.” He pressed his lips to my shoulder, then brought them to my ear. “Remember what I told you about lowering your guard?”
I pressed my ass against the hardening bulge beneath it, bringing my back to his heated chest. “Stop threatening me unless you plan to follow through.”
“Are you calling my bluff, dove?”
“Luce, if you’re going to kill me after making me all these promises, you’d better make sure I enjoy it.”
“Damn, Star.” He laughed and stood up, making sure I was steady before letting me go. “I don’t know what kind of fantasies you’ve got in your head, but we should probably find out.”
“So you can actually kill me?” I shook my head at him, beginning to walk towards the house.
He caught up to me in two easy strides and forced me to face him again.
“Luce—”
His hands came up and cupped either side of my face. “I need to know you’re okay.”
The depth with which his eyes blazed down into mine had a breath catching in my throat. I was so comfortable with him I got caught up in everything else, but it was impossible to miss how intense this thing was between us.
One look in his eyes reminded me of that. I didn’t know what the hell I did to deserve him, but I was grateful for whatever it was.
“I’m a little surprised. Maybe it hasn’t sunken in yet, but I’m not going to break down. My brother and Claire are alive, that’s all I wanted and could ask for.”
He searched my face and dropped his hands, keeping any further remarks to himself as he walked us back into the air conditioning.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
I sat at the table, counting down the hours until I was to meet my brother.
Luce had made me get something to eat before wandering off with Cam and Ice to do whatever it was the leader of a faction did in times like these.
“Hey.” Bella’s soft voice came from behind me.
I turned my head and offered her a small smile. She must have gone to take a shower, because her hair was damp.
She pulled out the chair beside me and sat, helping herself to a few of the grapes I hadn’t eaten.
“I’m sorry how I reacted about Amo. That wasn’t cool.”
“There isn’t anything to apologize for.” I’d seen her face. Something had to have happened between them. I didn’t want to think my brother a monster, but it took monstrous men to survive the Badlands.
I swallowed and took a breath, remembering small details of our childhood. We weren’t born killers. It was our father that turned us into what we were.
He was the reason I found bloodshed entrancing and the sound of pain exhilarating. I could decide in a split second who would live and who would die.
If Amo was anything like I was, leading the Stags was as natural for him as it was for the sky to be blue. When I thought of it in those terms, this whole queen thing didn’t sound that bad.
We were raised to be the way we were for a reason. But that didn’t mean I condoned the things he’d done, if they were true. I simply couldn’t believe the rumors about the Stags if I didn’t believe the ones regarding the Savages. That would be hypocritical and wrong.
“Did he hurt you?” I dredged up the courage to ask.
She froze with a grape halfway to her mouth. “Directly? No. He sat back and watched as others did, made me kill three people in a fight to the death just to prove I was worth trading back to my family. Gave Butcher Cam to use as his initiation.”
I didn’t have words to make any of that better, or excuses to explain why he would have done any of that.
