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Lux sighed, then dropped her head to bang her forehead against the bar. “She’s Rafe’s ex.”
“She’s who?” I asked way too loudly.
Lux shoved a shot glass into my hand with a warning glint in her eye. I had no doubt she’d shove it into my mouth if that was what she thought it took to shut me up, so I slugged the tequila back in acquiescence.
“Before Willow, Rafe dated this little sub, a cute little wallaby. Killian warned him about her, but he wouldn’t listen, in typical Rafe fashion. They were close, super-close, and we all thought they’d be together forever. Then one day she asked him to shift. None of us realized he hadn’t for her before. Anyway, he scared the hell out of her, and she ran, taking a part of his heart with her. Lila— He was an insufferable asshole, more than ever, until he found Willow. Then he was normal Rafe again.”
“Good to hear I pulled my head out of my ass.” Rafe appeared by the bar in a flurry of shadows and feathers, and I got the impression he’d flown from his office. “Time to face the hangman.” His jaw set in a hard line, he crossed the room on two feet and approached the girl who had been so scared of him.
“Maybe he should have changed,” I murmured, watching his progress, how the girl bounced on her toes and turned all giggle-happy as he drew closer. “Why is she back if he doesn’t want her here?”
“What we all want to know,” Lux whispered back, never taking her eyes off the wallaby shifter. “Rafe is tight-lipped when he wants to be, and this is one of those times he’s pulling rank.”
“Not the smartest thing to do around friends, maybe?”
Lux hummed her agreement while I signed mypaperwork, reading each clause with care, but there was nothing in there worth freaking out over. Rafe’s offers were generous in both pay, hours, and superannuation, and his expectations were high. But they were standards I could work with and adhere to, and that made my heart happy.
Between Rafe, Knox, Lux, and the rest of the Fray team, I might have finally found a home that accepted me as I arrived.
Chapter Eight
Knox
I waited in the darkest shadows for Josie outside Fray’s rear entrance. The little alleyway that blocked out most of the light on its way to the street was getting quite a reputation.
A reputation that would be worse after tonight.
I lit a cigarette I didn’t smoke to let the air fill with a scent that wasn’t mine and leaned on the opposite side of the doorway. The short flight of steps that led from Fray’s back area where Josie and I had our first tryst had no railing, leaving the area open for me, just the way I liked it.
Black gloves covered my hands, but apart from those, I had no other toys organized for tonight’s excursion, bar one—the van that sat running at the end of the alleyway. Cade manned the driver’s seat, singing terrible and out-of-season Christmas carols at the top of his lungs.
I’d promised Josie dark, and I’d promised her she wouldn’t know who had taken her until I was ready to tell her. For our first month, I’d gone easy on her, building up to a moment I hoped would cement what we had, until I couldn’t hold out any longer.
I needed to play with her and know that was what she still wanted too.
Either that, or I’d break her and she’d run screaming for the proverbial hills. I wouldn’t chase her, which would break my heart because I’d fallen in love with my beautiful little submissive.
The door creaked open, and Josie emerged from Fray’s backdoor. Her head was down as she dug her hand around in her purse, and she never saw me coming.
There’s a little matter of personal security we need to discuss after tonight, pretty face.
But that could wait.
My gloved hand closed around her throat in a threat to her existence. I pressed her body face-first to the graffitied brick wall, letting her flesh dig into the hard, uneven edges as I dangled her a good foot and a half off the ground, and slammed my hips against her ass, letting her feel the pent-up energy that had doused me in arousal for too long.
“Knox?” She wheezed in my grip, failing at my forearms, but I’d left those covered with a soft cotton tee I’d just bought, leaving her with little to go with except for my height. Her hands contacted the gloves. I waited for a long moment while she felt around, her touch becoming frantic as she searched for some familiar aspect or key to my identity. “Knox?” she whispered, her voice a whole lot less certain this time.
I grinned and nipped the crook of her neck, earning a high-pitched squeal that shot blood straight to my cock and lit my system with adrenaline.
At the end of the alley, Cade turned the music up and sang louder.
She wriggled, then kicked, fighting for her life as I pulled her back into my body and wrapped an arm around her waist. Muffled sounds slipped from her throat with the little air I allowed her as she struggled, wasting energy and oxygen in her escape attempt.
Counting the steps and breaths in my head so she’d run to empty but not out of what she needed, I angled her body away from any part of me that she could damage and hefted her into the waiting van.
Josie tumbled into the space, banging her elbows on the spongy second-hand mattress I’d left for her to land on. Cade pulled away from the curb as I slammed the door shut, leaving us in a filtered haze until he pulled up a custom divider that blocked all sound and light from the driver’s area.
“Stop, please. Knox?” she whispered, backing up to the wall and searching the area with her hands at the same time.
