The chair creaks, and I turn. Charlie is staring at me. Walking toward him, I slide my knife out. I stop in front of him and rip off the tape.
“Do you remember me?” I ask, tilting my head, and he nods. “Why do you have my woman’s picture on your wall?”
“She’s pretty,” he says, and I blink.
“What was the plan? Kidnap her?”
“I like to look at them. I’ve never kidnapped anyone,” he says quickly.
“Was she going to be the first?” I ask, and he presses his lips together. “I’m going to kill you. Any last words?”
“Please, don’t. I’ll stop,” he begs.
“No, you won’t.” I smell his lie and his panic. “You’ll keep doing it. Taking their pictures, and then it won’t be satisfying anymore. You’ll step it up, and kidnap one. I believe you already have thought about it.” I get a piece of tape ready. “I’ll make it fast because I don’t have time, but I would rather make it last. Rylee is mine. No one is allowed to hurt her.”
“Wait—”
I cover his mouth. “No. I have a party to get back to.” I slide my blade across his throat and watch his blood drip.
I’m definitely going to need a clean-up. Wiping the knife on his shirt, I sheath it and go into the kitchen. I grab a plastic garbage bag and put the tape from his body inside. I can’t let Rylee’s image stay here, so I take all of them down, putting them in my pocket. I can’t take his vehicle, so I call Shade.
“It’s done. I need a ride and a cleaning crew.” I hold the phone to my ear with my shoulder and cut the zip-ties with my clean knife.
“Alright. Can you walk out of the neighborhood? I’ll have someone drop a car at the main road.”
“Yeah. How soon?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Do you trust them?”
“I trust everyone who works for me. I’ll have the body gone, and the house squeaky clean.”
“Thanks, man. I owe you.”
“I’ll collect.”
It goes against my record of spotless kills to leave the body here in a rush, but I don’t have a choice. It will be a bigger mess if I take him, and I don’t want to drive around in his car. Standing in front of him, I wait for his last breath. I don’t feel anything but relief. Can I kill every asshole who looks at my mate? No. Can I kill the ones who touch or think they can have her?
Fuck, yeah.
Charlie slumps forward. I make sure my phone is in my pocket and move toward the back of the house. I find the back door and slip outside, locking it behind me. As I walk to the side of the house, I prepare to shift my face.
I blame the next few minutes on my lack of preparation and the disruption of my routine. I should have smelled the lion. Ishould have known I was being followed, and I should never have allowed Bode to get close enough to hit me on the head.
As my mind blurs, I feel the blood dripping down my neck. This isn’t going to help my disdain for lions.
Rylee is going to worry.
Chapter Nineteen
Rylee
“You’re nervous.”
I look away from my phone and meet Alanna’s gaze. “Yes,” I whisper.
“He wouldn’t have left if it wasn’t important,” she says.
