Page 74 of Say You're Mine

"Let. Her. Go."

Elaine's face contorts, a rictus of rage and fear and something like madness. For a breathless, eternal moment, I think she'll do it. I think she'll slash that knife across Cara's throat, paint the world red with her hatred.

But she hesitates. A fraction of a second, a flicker of doubt.

It's all I need.

I move, a blur of speed and savagery. The knife clatters to the floor as I wrench Elaine's arm back, the crack of breaking bone lost beneath her scream.

Cara staggers free, one hand pressed to her throat, the other curled protectively around her belly. I want to go to her, to fold her in my arms and never let go.

But first, I have to deal with the monster who birthed me.

I slam Elaine against the wall, my forearm crushing her windpipe. Her eyes bulge, her mouth gaping like a landed fish as she scrabbles weakly at my grip.

"Listen to me," I snarl, my face inches from hers. "Listen, and understand. You will never touch Cara again. You will never come near our child. If you do, if you so much as breathe in their direction..."

I lean in closer, my lips brushing her ear. "I will make you beg for death. I will make you howl for the mercy of oblivion. And I will deny you, again and again, until the very sight of me is enough to make you piss yourself in terror."

I release her, stepping back to watch her crumple to the floor. She's making small, gasping noises, her hands clawing at her throat.

Part of me, the part that's still a scared little boy desperate for his mother's love, wants to kneel beside her. Wants to beg for forgiveness, for absolution.

But that boy is dead. He died in Faulkner's chair, in the endless, aching hours of torture and manipulation.

The man who stands here now, the man who will be a father and a husband and a protector...

He is reborn in blood and pain and the unshakable certainty of his purpose.

"June..." Cara's voice, soft and shaking, cuts through the red haze. I turn, and she's there, her face pale but her eyes shining with love and relief.

I go to her, gather her to me, mindful of the precious cargo she carries. "It's over," I murmur into her hair, a promise and a prayer. "She can't hurt us anymore. No one can."

She clings to me, her tears soaking my shirt. "I knew you'd come," she whispers. "I never doubted it, not for a second."

I close my eyes, breathing her in, letting her presence soothe the jagged edges of my soul. "I'll always come for you, Cara. Always. You're my home. My heart."

In the distance, I hear sirens, the shouts of Elaine's reinforcements. But I'm not afraid. Not anymore.

Let them come. Let them see what happens when they try to tear asunder what God has joined together.

We will fight. We will bleed. We will claw our way through hell itself.

Chapter twenty-two

Cara

As the adrenaline of the fight fades, as the reality of our narrow escape starts to sink in, I find myself clinging to June like he's the only solid thing in a world turned to quicksand. My hands shake as I fist them in his shirt, my breath coming in shallow, hiccupping gasps.

"Shh, baby, I've got you," June murmurs, his arms tightening around me. "It's over. We're safe now."

But even as he says the words, I can feel the tension thrumming through him, the coiled readiness of a predator still poised to strike. His eyes never stop moving, scanning the room, the exits, the shadows that seem to press in from all sides.

The weight of what we've just been through, of how close we came to losing everything, crashes over me like a tidal wave. A sob hitches in my throat, torn from some deep, primal place that knows just how fragile this reprieve is.

"June," I manage, his name a broken plea. "Take me home. Please, I just... I need to be somewhere safe. Somewhere that's just us."

Something fierce and protective flashes in his eyes, a glimpse of the feral darkness he usually keeps so tightly leashed. "Okay," he says, pressing a kiss to my forehead. "Okay, baby. Let's get out of here."

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