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“Samuel,” I warn.
“I’m your best friend and I get to tell you the truth. I’m on the outside looking in. I saw my best friend fall in love and almost lose it out of stupidity, blood lust and fear.”
Samuel has a flair for the dramatic but that doesn’t make him wrong.
I come to stand in front of him, the toes of our shoes touching. “I took an oath to protect her,” I growl fiercely. “Nothing scares me so don’t tell me what I’m feeling or what I’m thinking.”
Samuel’s eyes blaze with anger. He inhales sharply and his nostrils flare. When he gets like this, there’s normally bloodshed. But he doesn’t look like he wants to shoot me with the gun I know he has tucked inside the shoulder holster he wears.
“You’re scared right now. You lost your brother and now your connection with your wife is on the line. All out of fear. When are you going to ask for help, brother?” he hisses through clenched teeth.
That knocks the wind out of my chest and I suddenly feel defeated. I clench my jaw and turn to stand in front of the mirror. Nothing stares back at me until Samuel flips the light on. Suddenly I can see all too clearly when my reflection shows me the truth.
“I’m scared I’ve lost her.”
Fear is not an emotion I have much experience with. I roll the sour word through my mind. It leaves my stomach filled with acid. I curse softly and drag a weary hand over my face, fearing the fallout from what I am about to do. When I accepted Amethyst as a wife, I thought I could hide my darker desires. Now I might need them to save my marriage. My gut says I will need every weapon in my arsenal to lower Amethyst’s defenses. I can’t simply walk in and say surprise, I’m back.
Brown eyes are on mine when I turn from the mirror. A dark chill rushes up my spine at the compassion and honest pain my friend has for me.
“Brother.”
Something sparks in Samuel’s eyes.
I inhale deeply and let it out slowly, knowing what I need to do. This could bring her back to me or I might lose her forever. I’ve spilled blood for her without a second thought, but can I open my heart and show her the dark color of my love?
Tonight I guess we will find out one way or another.
“Samuel, help me win back my wife’s love, please.”
“I thought you would never ask. But if you hurt her again, I’ll take her and not give her back.”
I believe him.
CHAPTER 6
AMETHYST
As a teen, I knew I wanted a protective husband. A man that would put himself between me and the world. I wanted a man that would treat me like a queen and give me all the love my mother never had with my father. Oliver was that man. I knew it the day he took that bullet for me. And then he was just gone.
Emptiness fills my stomach. I reach for the rings hanging between my breasts, but I don’t feel the usual calmness they usually provide.
A heavy weight settles in the pit of my stomach. I try to lift it by inhaling through my nose and letting the stress out with a heavy sigh but I just feel more tense.
I lift my heavy hair off my neck. “Jewel.” I try out my safe word and I’m suddenly knocked into the past and the last time I heard my husband call me his jewel. Or it could have been a dream. I was in bed. The light of the moon spilling over me and my husband's mouth pleasuring me. I remember not wanting to wake if it were a dream or not interrupting him if it wasn’t.
A fine layer of sweat breaks out over my forehead, and I pat at the dampness. I can’t see anything through the blindfold. My heart is beating so fast I feel faint.
And then the door opens.
“Hello?” The tiny hairs on my arms rise and goosebumps race over my skin. I pull deeper into the cloak. “Let me know if you are in the room.”
Silence.
I strain to hear anything else but all I get is a vast void of darkness behind this stupid blindfold. I’ve had enough of this. I feel for the folded edge and move to yank it off, but my fingers grow still when a deep voice fills the silence.
“Don’t break the first rule, sweetheart, before the night gets started.”
I jump and nearly fall over, my heart on the floor between my legs. Strong arms come around my middle and the scent of a man surrounds me.
