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Now that Joaquin had siphoned off some of my rage, I was calmer and could think. “We should turn around. Go back and fucking hunt him down. End him.”
He folded his arms over his chest as he shook his head. “Not a good idea. Jaxson won’t hesitate to come after you. He’ll have you locked up in a heartbeat if something happens to Kevin. And we don’t fucking need to chase him. Sounds to me like your mate was how he pulled an income. He’s not going to be happy about losing her for that reason alone. But even without that, trust me, he’ll follow us. When he does, we can take that fucker out on our home turf where no one will ever know what happened to him.”
That had me frowning. “How can you be so fucking sure he’ll come after us? We’re traveling over three state lines, for fuck’s sake.”
Folding his arms over his chest, he smirked at me. “I’ll tell you all about Daniela another time. For now, go to your mate. Once she’s calm, we’ll head inside and grab some lunch.”
With that, he turned and walked over toward the diner attached to the truck stop, half of the men following while the other half stayed where they’d been. After taking a deep breath, I headed toward my SUV. Opening her door, I winced at the sight of her. She’d pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. Her eyes were red, and tears still tracked down her face. Fuck, what could I say or do to fix this? I shouldn’t have stormed off, but I didn’t know what else to do to protect her from my rage.
Lily-Rose
Cujo wincing at me had me wondering about whether I could shift and slip out the door around him. Run away into the trees that surrounded this parking lot. Those thoughts fled when Cujo moved closer, and fear rose up to consume me as I flinched away from him.
“Just let me go and I’ll leave. You never have to see me again.”
He jerked as though I’d punched him. “What the fuck do you mean? Let you go? You agreed to be mine. We’re bonded fucking mates. You don’t get to give up on this!”
Swallowing hard, I unclipped my seat belt and tried to move further away from his fury.
“Please don’t hurt me.”
I was mortified to be reduced to begging. It had never made a damn difference before, but I couldn’t stop trying. I hated how Kevin would beat me till I could barely walk, relying on my shifter healing – which the bracelets didn’t limit – to make it so I’d be able to work the following night. Unfortunately, being able to heal quickly didn’t make the blows hurt any less.
“Fuck me. Sweetheart, I won’t ever raise a hand to you in anger. Not ever. Nor will I ever give up on us. I didn’t walk away from you just now, Lily-Rose, I walked away to vent my rage away from you. I’m fucking furious at your father, not you. Never you.”
After wiping my tears on my shirt sleeve, I looked up into his eyes, trying to gauge if he was being honest. “For real? You don’t want to break off the mating?”
A flash of pain passed through his gaze. “Sweetheart, that’s not how mating bonds work. There’s no such thing as divorce in our world. We’re bonded. Forever. But even if that wasn’t how it worked, I wouldn’t pass you over for anything. Least of all because you’ve been the victim of abuse all your life. Fuck that.” He reached his hand toward me, holding it out, waiting for me to either accept or reject him. After taking a deep breath for courage, I placed my palm against his and he closed his fingers around mine, tugging until I uncurled from the seat and moved to exit the vehicle. As soon as I was standing, he switched his grip to my hips and lifted me up. Out of reflex, I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck the moment my feet left the ground.
“What are you doing?”
My voice came out breathless as I stared into his eyes, the silver threaded through the ice blue holding me mesmerized as he smirked.
“I’m fixing what I fucked up. Gonna kiss you senseless, then we’ll go eat.”
Sliding his hand up my back until his fingers were tangled in my hair, he tugged gently until my face was where he wanted it. When his lips pressed against mine, everything in me relaxed, loosened, as a wave of contentment flowed through me. Followed rapidly by a blast of arousal that I knew we couldn’t do a damn thing about. Yet.
Chaos’ voice was laced with humor. “Cujo, get off that poor woman before I find a bucket of water to toss over you to save her.”
As Cujo pulled away with a growl, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. These men were ridiculous, and it was just what I needed to reset my thoughts. When Cujo lowered my feet to the ground, still growling at Chaos, I took his face between my palms until he looked back at me.
“Let it go, Cujo.”
He stared into my eyes for a few moments before the tension drained from his body and he stepped back, taking my hand in his as he began to walk toward to the diner connected to the truck stop.
Once we were all inside and seated, a waitress came and took our orders. After she disappeared, chatter rose up between all the men. Clearly, they were all anxious to head home. It made me curious about what they’d been doing on their run, but I didn’t want to risk pissing off anyone by asking.
Joaquin was sitting on the other side of Cujo and as though my mate had heard my thoughts, he turned to Joaquin.
“What the fuck were you doing that had you conveniently close by when I needed you?”
Joaquin raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Because Daniela told us that’s where we needed to be.”
Another of the men, who had a patch that read Illusion, nodded. “That female ain’t ever wrong. We’ve learned to listen.”
I frowned. “Who is Daniela? I thought MCs were all men.”
All the men chuckled but it was Joaquin that answered. “Daniela isn’t technically a member of the club. And while only men are brothers within the Iron Hammers MC, none of us pretend for a moment that our women aren’t just as fucking important as we are.”
