Page 16 of Blood of Vengeance

Her brow grew tight, the scrunch of her nose hitting me like a punch in the gut. Irritation caused by both my lack of fucking emotional regulation and her pained response to my carelessness made my chest tighten. I wasn’t going to win today, not with her. Not with my head filled with her words. With the fact that she would never trust me.

Time for a change of scenery.

“Well?” I finally said, the word coming out harder and meaner than I’d intended it to. The pain growing in my chest distracting me. “Get that ass on my bike. We’ve got places to be.”

She did as I’d told her, hopping onto the back of my bike like a good little girl. But this time, she didn’t shift forward or wrap her arms around my waist. She kept space between us and held on to the sides of my cut. I caught Cutter looking my way as I maneuvered the bike to head toward the road, his frown like a spotlight on my messed-up response to my mate. I had somehow managed to stick my foot all the way up my own ass in less than three minutes, and I had no idea how to remove the offending appendage.

Seven

Flinch

The last thing I wanted was my new mate out in the desert searching for the dead body of her father—my club prez—but that was exactly where we ended up, along with all my brothers from the club. Chiggy had been a popular president. His death would leave a scar for both the club and Locklyn. We needed to find his body, to offer him the same respect in death that we gave him in life. And I needed to focus on the club to accomplish that.

“The trackers said we’d find trails and evidence starting here. They did not track the body themselves, so finding him is on us,” Banger said once all engines had been quieted. The hard earth spread around us, the road we’d followed for a solid mile to find this spot really what could only have been called a path through the desert. A path that had tossed sand and rocks into our faces the entire way. I would be spitting grit for hours.

“I can’t see shit because my eyes are full of sand.” I rubbed a hand over my face, turning slightly and setting a hand on Locklyn’s thigh. “You good back there?”

“Fine,” she said. “I hid behind your back once we turned off the highway.”

Smart girl.

“I see tire tracks,” Cutter called, pointing up a slight rise in the distance. One that would require us to leave our bikes behind and hunt on foot. Or rather, paws.

“Let’s get ready to shift.” Zed swung a leg over his seat, rising to his full height. He spotted Locklyn on the back of my bike as he did. “Eyes to yourself, little girl.”

Locklyn stiffened behind me. On an instinct driven almost solely by my wolf, I rose to my feet and stepped directly between her and my brother. Keeping my eyes locked on his. Warning him. Zed’s expression stayed neutral, his wolf wary behind his human expression. Eventually, he gave me a chin bob and turned away. Backing down from the fight neither of us wanted to enter into. I would have, though. Would have pounded his ass into the dirt for Locklyn. For my mate. Even if she didn’t trust me yet.

“I’ll leave someone with you,” I said, that chest burn from earlier back and more irritating than ever.

Locklyn nodded, not looking at me. “Okay.”

She didn’t sound okay, though.

“You good?”

“I’m…probably not.” She finally met my gaze, her green eyes so much like Chiggy’s practically searing into mine. “But I want my dad found, so go ahead. Do the thing. I’ll be fine.”

The woman lied like I played golf. Badly.

“You will be fine. I’ll make damn sure of it.” I leaned in, dropping my voice to barely more than a whisper, the ache in my chest pulling taut. “I may be a shifter, but you can trust me. Only me.”

She didn’t respond, but the look on her face said everything she didn’t—it would be a long, hard road to get her to believe that. One I was going to have to traverse if I wanted her in my life.

I turned and headed for my brothers, something dark and twisty sitting deep in my gut. Something more uncomfortable than the burn in my chest. “Just keep an eye on our clothes for us once we’re gone.”

Zed caught me before I reached the rest of the guys, keeping his voice down as he asked, “What’s up with bringing tits along?”

I growled under my breath, not answering him. Keeping my eyes on the horizon as I fought the urge to shift and claw him a new orifice.

“Call her tits again, and the brothers will be out here looking for your body.”

He fell back, leaving me to walk alone. Swallowing down the anger that practically oozed from his body. His wolf didn’t like being talked to like that, and mine picked up on the beast’s irritation. They would both settle the fuck down once Zed learned about my mating. They’d understand. Any male shifter would.

But it wasn’t the time to tell anyone yet.

Cutter came next, the VP more of a smart shifter than a brash one, which was why the man was the most dangerous of the group. He didn’t ask a single question. Instead, he gave me four words of advice in a quiet voice no one else would have been able to hear.

“Keep your mate safe.”

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