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“Yes,” I answer. I’m still not quite sure how she’s feeling about what I just unloaded on her, but she’s not scrambling to get away from me, so I call that a definite plus. “It’s case by case and depends on the severity of the crime.”
“What about people who hurt men? And what happens if it’s a woman who hurts another woman or child?”
“It doesn’t happen often, but they’re given the same sentence.”
Her finger is at her mouth and she’s chewing on her nail as she thinks. “How many have you had to do?”
“Seven.” I keep my voice calm when inside my nerves are still shot.
She drops her hand to her lap, her thumb nail bitten to the quick.
“What happens if you later find out they weren’t guilty?”
I shake my head. “That’s never happened and won’t ever happen. We don’t dole out the punishment lightly. We make sure all evidence points to them committing the crime. We only use the penalty if we’re one-hundred percent sure. We don’t kill for the fun of it, it’s not something we enjoy, but it’s something we feel is deserved if the crime warrants it. It’s what makes Malus so safe, because everyone knows crimes such as those will not be tolerated.”
Her eyes slide away from mine and she looks off toward the kitchen. I watch as the expressions on her face change several times. Some make me even more nervous and some make me believe this might end in my favor. All of them have my heart pounding in my chest.
Finally, after what feels like a thousand minutes, she looks back at me. Her expression has settled on acceptance.
“Okay.”
I lift a brow. “Okay?”
She nods. “Yes, okay.”
The simple word makes me want to laugh. Just okay. No, I need time to think or this is too much to take in. Just okay. I can work with that. Even so, I want to clarify.
“You’re okay with what my brothers and I do here? You’re okay with us taking the law into our own hands?” I pause and level her with a look. “You’re okay with us killing people we feel deserve it?”
She attempts to sit up, and I try to get up to help her. She stops me with a raised hand. “Stay.”
I sit back and clench my jaw when she struggles. She moves slowly, but she eventually moves down to my end of the couch and settles her ass right over my thighs, sitting sideways. One arm goes around my neck and her other hand cups the side of my neck.
“I trust you, JW. I trust that you’ll do the right thing. I trust that you wouldn’t harm anyone who doesn’t deserve it. I think it’s amazing and kinda heroic that you protect the people of Malus, even if it’s not always in the traditional way.”
My heart settles. It’s now that I truly believe that this woman was always meant to be mine.
“You’re really somethin’ special, you know that?” I rumble.
A big grin forms over her face. “I know.”
I chuckle and steal the grin right off her face with my lips. We’re both breathless by the time I pull back.
“Stay,” I whisper. “Move to Malus. Live here with me, Gypsy.”
I’m not beyond begging if it comes to it. Luckily, I don’t have to.
“It’s about damn time you ask that.”
“That’s not an answer.”
She leans down until her mouth is only a whisper away from mine and says softly, “Yes, I’ll move in with you.”
I want so badly to crush her in my arms. To take her to my bedroom and worship her body like it’s the holy grail.
For now, I settle for a feather soft kiss.
EDEN
