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I nod. “He’d never let anything happen to you.”
She turns, rushing toward the campsite. I follow her quickly.
“We have to go back,” she says breathlessly. “We can’t let anything happen to him. We’ve got to go back and convince him to come with us. How could youleavehim there?”
“He’s never begged me for anything,” I growl. “Never, not once. Not until recently. I told him I wanted to stay, to fight with him, but he begged, Kay, for me to take you away and keep you safe.”
“So that manwasafter me.”
“Yeah, I ran into him before. The prick tried to buy you.”
“So he could use me against Ryan.” She walks over to me and reaches for my pocket, passionate and erratic as hell. “Where are your keys? We have to go right now. We have to get back to him.”
I grab her wrist, guiding her hand away. “I promised Ryan I’d keep you safe. I’ve already broken enough promises. I’ve already betrayed him so bad he’ll probably never forgive me, but I’m not breakingthispromise, firecracker. Even if it means kidnapping you, you’re coming with me.”
She takes a step back, shuddering all over. She’s looking at me as though I’m some animal. Fine then. Screw it. That’s what I’ll be if it means keeping her safe.
* * *
I hold her in the tent, the night quiet around us, an owl hooting in the distance. She wriggles against me, reminding me why I’m still wearing my jeans. I’d lose it if I felt her ass against my underwear-covered dick.
“Are you going to wait for me to sleep to ensure I don’t steal your keys?”
Somehow, I smirk. I almost laugh, but I stop myself. This isn’t supposed to be a time for laughing and joking.
“You’re not stealing anything. I’d wake up.”
She shifts closer to me. “Are we safe here?”
“We weren’t followed, but men like Randall—if that’s his name—have a way of finding people. The right questions, the right law enforcement contacts… He might know we’re in the general area, but don’t worry. I’m not letting anything happen to you.”
“We should sleep in shifts,” she says, “just to be safe.”
I don’t tell her how good that sounds. I planned on staying awake, which would’ve been a bad idea. I don’t want to scare my woman more than I need to or make her feel like she has to be paranoid, even if she should be.
“Don’t you think?” she presses.
“Are you willing to do that?”
“If we’re going to do this, we have to be a team, right?”
I hug her closer to me, savoring her warmth. “Yeah, we’re a team.”
I tell myself I’m not going to fall asleep. I’ll lie here and listen for sounds of danger, but holding my woman in my arms is way too comfortable. It gets me thinking of the future—holding her like this without any danger hanging over our heads and knowing I never have to worry about letting her go. It’s like a warm blanket wraps around me—a blanket of love. Hell, maybe some of my Kay’s poetry is rubbing off on me.
I must be sleeping, but when I open my eyes, it feels so real. It doesn’t feel like a dream. Ryan is young, with a cheeky smile on his face as we circle each other with the boxing gloves on. We’re in the front yard, and his dad is watching us, and from the upstairs window, so is Kayla—little Kayla, the girl she was.
Suddenly, I’m in her bedroom, reading her a story. She’s looking up at me with a goofy grin, and her lips spread wide like she’s never had so much fun in her life. I try to turn and run away. I don’t want to think of her like this.
“Do you think we’ll be together one day?” she says, but her voice isn’t her own. It’s dark, wicked. Horns are sprouting from her skin. I writhe, desperately trying to wake up. “Kai? Do you? Will you be my boyfriend one day?”
No,I try to say, but it’s the same as the movement. I’m stuck, paralyzed, locked in place. There’s nothing for me to do but watch as this wicked version of young Kayla begins to grow, her horns getting bigger, her eyes becoming wide black circles of pure hate.
“Will you?”she roars, the whole room trembling, the entire dream shaking.“Will you be mine?”
Eventually, I’m able to turn, duck, and run. Somehow, I end up in a small stone cell. Ryan turns and faces me. He’s wearing overalls splattered with red. He’s got a knife in his hand. I look down to see… to seeme, bleeding red all over my Titan’s MC jacket.
“What did you expect?” Ryan says sadly. “She’s my baby sister, bro…”
