Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Grief dented deep in her brow, and her voice dropped to a horrified breath. “We were going to have a great time. We’d won the trophy that day, and I felt invincible.”
Agony lashed through her expression, and my arms spasmed with the effort of trying to hold her through it.
“We’d heard about this club that didn’t always card, so we got dressed up and went. There were these guys there—”
Old fear cracked on her tongue, and she squeezed her eyes closed tight.
“It’s okay, Emery.”
“No, Kane, it’s not. It wasn’t okay. We were never the same, and Jana didn’t make it through it.”
Her words pierced me.
An arrow staked straight through.
What the fuck had happened to these poor girls?
Sickness roiled at the possibilities.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.”
I knew firsthand how sick and twisted these monsters could be.
I tried to keep it contained. The rage that burned a path through my insides. But it was impossible when Emery began to sob. Her cries burrowed in the thunder that sieged my chest.
“What happened?” I issued it at the top of her head as she clung to me.
Those walls trembled around us. Bricks fracturing. Close to caving.
“I…I can’t, Kane. I can’t.” She croaked it.
“Let me destroy the bastards who hurt you. All I need is a little information, and I’ll see that it’s done.”
By my own hands.
It would be my greatest honor to take these motherfuckers’ last breaths.
Emery froze, and in that instant, both of us became distinctly aware of what I’d said.
I’d hinted at it before. Given her undercut warnings.
But this was a blatant admission.
I could feel the force of her gulp where she was still pinned against me.
“What exactly do you mean by that?” The question was ragged. Frayed and torn apart.
“Means I will go to any length to see to it that you feel safe. That you are safe. Warned you before that I’m not a good man…”
Maybe she’d understood on some level, but she hadn’t allowed herself to fully grasp the brutality of who I was.
I couldn’t do anything but admit to being that person right then.
“And I will gladly use that fact to protect what is mine.”
A shiver rocked through her. This one different than the chills that had been flashing through her body when I’d sent her soaring.
This was a flash of fear that was followed by what felt like a wave of acceptance. Her fingertips tapping across the spot where my heart pounded out of control, my own fear slashing through my insides. Dread that she was going to haul herself out of my bed and skip town.
Take Maci with her.
“Should I be afraid of you?” She whispered it into my flesh, those eyes concealed where she had her face completely pressed into my chest.
I shifted so I could take her chin and tilt her face up to me.
Forcing her to meet my gaze.
“I would never hurt you. The only person who should be afraid of me is anyone who would dare to think of threatening you.”
Her, and the rest of the vulnerable.
The fucking monsters that roamed this world. Monsters who would beg and plead for their lives when they met with the monster in me.
Emery met my stare, her fears and her faith and her doubt roiling in the depths. “I don’t think I could be even if you told me to be. I feel who you are. I see it. And maybe I should be terrified of it, but I’m not.”
In what seemed confusion, she slowly dragged the tips of three fingers down the scruff on my cheek.
Like she was struggling to process the way I made her feel.
The way this thing should have been impossible for us both.
“I need to know if what happened this afternoon could somehow be related to that, Emery. If it could be related to the suspicion you had about your sister. Any detail that might help us find out who might have come after you.”
Emery’s head barely shook. “I don’t have a name, Kane. No one does. The police looked high and low. There was no trace. And my sister’s death was ruled an accident.”
“Police have parameters that I don’t.” I gritted through another admission. Dragging her closer to who I really was. To what me and my crew did.
Emery’s eyes squeezed closed for a beat. “I would give it to you if I had it. But there’s nothing there.”
“I just want to take care of you. Give you everything that you’ve given me.” It was a rough plea.
Emotion crested in her features. “You already have, Kane. You’ve given me this.”
Shifting, she rolled me onto my back and came to straddle me.
Emery going all vixen.
Naked body lifted high, long locks of blonde a cascade around her shoulders, dipping down long enough to brush over those pert, perfect tits. All narrow waist and delicious flare of her hips.