Page 107 of Wolf.e

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Jake asks.

“Sure would, baby.” Brinley doesn’t miss a beat as she readjusts her sweaty grip.

“I’ll gladly take another bullet if it makes its way through me to get to you,” I tell him.

I make eye contact with her. I know him, he’s going to make his move.I nod at her and mouth the words she needs…

“Just shoot.”

Just like I knew he would, Jake makes the wrong choice. He moves from my shadow, his arm reaches out for his piece on the table. The second he does, Brinley takes a shot. It may have been meant for his hand but it hits him in his forearm and instead of picking it up, he actually knocks his gun to the floor. He continues to reach but she shoots again, this time hitting him in the shoulder. He drops to the floor beside me, and stares up at me, poised to talk, probably beg, as Brinley moves toward him, probably for a better shot to take him out completely. She’s fast but not fast enough.

Jake reaches out and grabs her ankle, pulling her feet out from under her, she lands on her back. She turns over to get up but Jake dives onto her and locks his good arm around her shoulders, sliding it up to her throat in a chokehold. Her gun is still in her hand, but Jake’s knee is on her arm and when he pulls her body up, she drops it. He makes it to his knees, holding her back to his front. He’s stronger than her and he tightens his hold on her neck, but he can't grab her gun from the floor anymore than she can. His free hand is useless, blood pouring out of the shots she landed. I see the panic begin in her eyes. He’s choking her. I will fucking gut him if she doesn’t do it first. My eyes meet hers trying to calm her and remind her.

“Be stronger,” I tell her through gritted teeth struggling furiously at the binds that hold me.

She instantly seems to calm down and from there she doesn’t hesitate for one fucking second as she dips her chin down, wiggling it under his forearm, then she finds the strength from somewhere to reach her hand backward and plunge her thumb into the bullet hole in his forearm. He howls as she spins out of his hold, picking up her gun and without any hesitation she shoots, hitting him in the stomach.

I expect her to stop but she doesn’t. She shoots again, hitting him in the knee. He falls and slumps back against the wall, crying out in pain. Tears fill her eyes but she just keeps going, emptying the mag into him, one to the throat, where blood begins to leak in quick spurts, he covers the wound with his hand but it does nothing to stop the flow. She takes another shot that hits him in the chest. He hits the floor with a thud and blood spurts from his mouth. When she fires again and realizes it’s empty, her arm falls limp at her side as if the weight of the gun suddenly just became too heavy. Two big tears spill onto her cheeks, but she knows she’s done her job.

I look down at Jake, this man I thought I could trust, and I feel absolutely fucking nothing as the life drains from him. I grin with the satisfaction of knowing my face will be the last thing he ever sees.

Mistake number three: Underestimating my fucking queen.

On the short list of things I never, ever thought I’d do, killing a man is probably number one. Killing two men? Unheard of. Yet here I am, Brinley Rose Beaumont—a killer.

And I’ve never been more grateful to watch the life drain from someone’s eyes as I am in this moment.

I stand in a fog as I realize I hit Jake exactly where I needed to and didn’t give it any thought before I pulled the trigger. I start to shake violently as my body starts to go into shock. Gabriel’s voice pulls me back from the haze. My eyes meet his and he holds them.

“Come here, baby,” he says, guiding me. “Don’t stop looking at me. Eyes on me.”

I set my gun on the table and step over Marco’s lifeless body, pressing myself against Gabriel, kissing any place my lips can connect. His swollen battered lips meet my head and his deep whisper tells me I’m okay, how good I did, how strong I am, that I saved his life.

It settles me and pulls me out of the shock.

“You did so good, but you’re not done yet, baby. I need you to get the step stool from the closet in the kitchen and my knife from the table. You’re going to have to cut me down.” He nods in the direction he means.

I do as he says and cut him down quickly even with my shaking hands. He drops to the floor between Jake and Marco, his legs probably numb after hanging there for who knows how long. I scramble to his side and lean down to kiss him, his blood fills my mouth and I bring it in, I want it all.

“That was so fucking dangerous.” He’s angry but still kissing me.

He’s alive, he’s okay, and my gut was right.

“If I didn’t come, you would’ve died,” I whimper as he shushes my cries.

A few minutes pass as the feeling comes back into his arms and they encircle me, they stroke my face, wipe away my tears. His tongue sweeps into my mouth in a way that tells me even now, in the midst of all the wreckage and how angry he is that I put myself at risk, he’s hungry for me. Always hungry for me.

“How did you find me?” Gabriel asks, his eyes are bloodshot and the skin around them is already bruised.

“You AirTagged my car,” I admit what I know in a shrug. “I snooped.”

Gabriel eyes me up in thought but doesn’t say anything.

“It was weeks ago, and I was curious about you. I found more of them with your photo box. So I AirTagged your boot.”

“There’s a reason I did that—it was to keep you safe,” he says with a smirk, amused that I was keeping tabs on him.

“I did it because I could,” I say in a cocky tone, kissing his chin.

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