Page 81 of Lawless in Leather

That seemed to stop him. Behind them, she could hear the sounds of alarm. Too many voices. No one was screaming but she knew the sound of a crowd about to freak out. “Mal, it was just a light. Let go of me.” She waved a hand in front of his face. “Earth to Mal. We need to go back and make sure everyone knows things are under control.”

He shook his head. “Nope. You don’t know what’s happening back there.” He moved away from the door so her foot couldn’t reach it, then twisted to throw it open. And carried her out into the night.

They were in the back alley behind the club. Rose was parked at the far end, and that’s the direction Mal headed.

Raina socked his arm again. “Mal, if you don’t put me down, I will start screaming my head off.”

He stopped. “It’s not safe.”

“It’s perfectly safe,” she said. “You’re overreacting.” She hoped he was overreacting. But she couldn’t see anyone running past the other end of the alley where Madame R’s front door was so she had to assume that it had just been the lights and nothing else had happened after Mal had carted her off. She wanted to know for sure.

Which meant she needed him to let go of her. He wasn’t hurting her but she needed to snap him out of whatever was happening in his head. To stop when she said stop. To hear her. To stay in control. She could feel the tension in his arms, locking around her so tightly it was almost painful. His breathing was heavy, eyes scanning the alley for God knows what danger he was imagining.

“Please, Mal,” she said softly. “I’m okay. Let me go.”

His eyes locked onto hers, his mouth set.

“Let me go,” she repeated.

That seemed to register. He set her on her feet. She stepped back, just a little.

“Mal? Do you know where we are?” she asked.

“Outside the club,” he said.

Well, that was good. She’d been half worried he was having a true flashback. But he sounded rational, not like someone having a panic attack.

“We should go back,” she said. “Get everything calmed down.”

“You don’t know what’s back there.”

“Neither do you,” she shot back. “And that’s my club. I’m responsible for my staff and everyone else inside that building. I’m not going to leave them all there. You wouldn’t in my place.”

He shook his head.

“I’m not asking you,” she said. Anger was starting to build now, mixing with the adrenaline and worry. “I’m telling you. I’m going to go back inside. Are you coming with me?”

He stepped toward her. She moved back. “Mal, if you try and pick me up again, I will do something unpleasant to you.”

He stopped, mouth twisting. “I want you to be safe.”

“I’m standing right here. Perfectly well. I don’t think any glass got on me.” She suspected her wings might be a bit mangled from Mal’s manhandling but Brady could fix those. “I’m okay. I’m not so sure about you, though.”

“I’m not going to apologize for trying to keep you safe.”

“I’m not asking you to apologize. I’m asking you to stop for a minute and see if you can see that what you just did was an overreaction. You just grabbed me and forced me to go with you. And you didn’t listen to me when I said stop.”

“I needed to get you out of there.” His voice was rough. Almost impatient. Like he couldn’t understand why she was angry. She needed him to understand.

“I understand that you thought that.” She made an effort to sound calm. “And I know you’re trained to act and get the job done but you scared me.”

He winced as though she had punched him. “Raina?—”

She held out a hand. “No. Sorry. I need some time with this. You didn’t hurt me, I know you wouldn’t hurt me and I know what you were trying to do but you did scare me. And I’m not okay with that. A protective streak is one thing. But this went beyond that. I’ve had guys who wanted to control me before. Who wanted to tell me what to do. To make me do things their way. Who wouldn’t listen when I said no. I’m not going there again. It’s not love. It’s control.”

He stayed silent. Watching her. Every muscle in his body tensed. She could see the struggle in him. To not do what his instincts were telling him to do.

To take over. To take her away.

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