Page 15 of Savage Fire

Hawk leaned back in his seat, narrowing his eyes at Fang.

“You serious? You finally got her to give your ugly ass a shot?”

Fang laughed, grinning. “You fucking doubt me?”

“It only took you a year, asshole,” Hell Hound inserted unnecessarily. Fang was well aware of how long it had taken to finally wear down the beautiful, hard-headed woman.

“It was only a matter of time before she fell for my charms,” Fang declared, leaning back in his chair, raising his arms over his head to clasp his hands behind his neck and flex his biceps. “The ladies can’t help but want a bite from Fang.”

Odin, the big, pussy-whipped motherfucker, rolled his eyes.

“So, does she know about your Hive?” the prez asked, his expression carefully blank.

Fang knew what Odin thought about Fang’s lifestyle, but he’d always been cool about it as long as he kept his personal drama outside of the clubhouse walls. All the brothers knew, sometimes giving him shit about it, but they’d let it go because, within the club, whatever happened in a brother’s personal life was his business alone. They didn’t say shit, they didn’t share shit. Club was club. None of the men at the table had ever said a sideways word about his Hive, so he wondered about the hard looks on their faces now.

“Not yet, no,” he admitted, anger snapping at him at the round of sharp curses at the table.

“You fuckin’ serious, brother?” Trouble grated, dark disbelief on his face. “You can’t expect her to be okay with that. Tessa isn’t the kind of woman who is into that lifestyle. Hell, she’s been more than vocal about what she thinks about the club bitches gettin’ passed around.”

“Yeah, man, that woman is straight up all about monogamy. She wouldn’t be okay with sharing you. And that’s what that Hive is. Those womenshareyou.” Hawk shook his head slowly, his gaze filling with concern. “You’ve got to tell her, brother. Give her a chance to make an informed decision—”

“Since when have I ever needed advice from you fucks about how to handle my women?” Fang sneered, shooting to his feet.

They stood, too. The menace wavering in the air sucking the patience from his mood.

“Since you decided to set your sights on my old lady’s best friend,” Odin answered.

Fang cursed. “You haven’t said shit about it before now, and I haven’t exactly made my interest subtle.”

No, he hadn’t. From the moment he set eyes on the lush Tessa, he hadn’t made a secret of wanting her in his bed. When he’d first strode into the clubhouse that fateful day, nearly a year ago, he’d been pissed about a cat fight between Sipha and Anise, and not in the fucking mood to deal with any bullshit. His sour mood had changed instantly, though, when he’d spotted the tall, thickly framed blond standing in the clubhouse common room. Dressed in curve hugging jeans, a worn t-shirt with a weird gorilla inked perfectly over ripe, melon-sized breasts, with scuffed black combat boots on her feet, she stuck out like a blinding light in a bottomless abyss. At six-foot-three, Fang had been used to leggy females who still barely reached his chin, but this woman, this Amazonian, was nearing six-feet tall, and she wore her height well, moving with confidence and a smooth agility you didn’t often see in women with height. But it wasn’t her juicy ass, plump tits, or long, thick legs that had made his heart stop. When she’d felt his gaze on her, she’d turned to look at him, fire of annoyance in her sapphire eyes, and he’d felt his soul fly from his body. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. And he had to have every perfectly succulent inch of her.

After that, he’d pursued her every chance he got, growing more and more desperate to have her. And now that he was only a few hours away from finally having her where he wanted her, these motherfuckers were going to throw guilt at him about it? Fuck that!

Odin pursed his lips, his ghostly ice blue eyes narrowed at Fang. “That was all flirtation. If I had known you were serious about getting with Tessa, I never would have let it happen. That woman is too good for that harem shit, brother.”

That fucking twisted Fang the fuck up.

“What?” he snarled, “you saying I can’t take care of her, that she wouldn’t be treated like a goddamn queen?”

“One of six, Fang?” Odin snorted. “That’s not a queen, that’s a consort. At best, she’d still have to share you with five other women. She’d still have to live in a house with five other women, all eager to climb into your bed. I know Tessa—that woman spends a lot of time in my home with my woman. She may come off as a hard ass that can handle anything, but there’s no way she’d be able to handle being committed to a man who couldn’t—wouldn’t be—committed to her.”

Odin’s words struck Fang dead in the chest.

The Prez was wrong, though. Tessa was a hard ass, yes, but she was also a woman adrift. After the death of her MMA career, with no family, and no new driving purpose in her life, she was left…treading water in a large, lonely ocean. Fang could anchor her. He could be that thing in her life she could count on. Hehadbeen; after her abduction and attack, he’d been there for her, right where he fucking belonged. And he’d grown accustom to being that constant in her life. He’d become addicted to her need for him. He just needed her tokeepneeding him. Her moving in to his home, becoming one of his Bees, was just the first step to him finally having the chance to take care of her. Protect her. To chase away the lingering nightmares he knew she still suffered at night. She’d have the benefit of his protection and wealth—stability and safety, and he’d finally know what it felt like to slide his hard, heavy, aching cock into her tight, hot body. To press her sumptuous curves into his bed as he pinned her down, his body naked and sweaty against hers. All that mouthwatering, voluptuous flesh bared to his hands and mouth.

Fuck, he was getting hard, and right then, beneath the glares of several pissed off men, probably wasn’t the best time.

Pulling his shoulders back, he looked each one of his brothers in the eye and fumed. Fuck them. They didn’t know him, his intentions. They didn’t know what he and Tessa had been through together, what they talked about in those late nights when she’d woken up screaming, and he’d lay there beside her in her bed, soothing her. On those nights, in the dark and quiet, they talked. No, they didn’t go deep, they didn’t talk about their pasts or anything like that, but they did share about their lives. Everything he learned about Tessa had made him all the more determined to have her. To own her. And yeah, she’d be pissed about the Hive at first, but once he convinced her to give it a try, he knew she’d fall right into place. Into his arms, into his bed, into his life. Permanently. Once Tessa was one of his Bees, he’d never let her go.

“You guys don’t know shit about me and Tessa.”

Hawk went to open his mouth but Fang slammed his fist into the table.

“I’m done talkin’ about this. This is my business. Tessa agreed to one date, and I am shooting my shot. And none of you are going to say a fucking thing about my women until I’ve had a chance to bring Tessa ‘round.”

“You watch how you talk to me, brother,” Odin warned, his massive body thrumming with barely leashed malice. “I don’t give a shit how pissed you are right now, you keep your tone respectful, or you and I are going to have some problems.”

Biting back a retort, Fang took a moment to observe the room.

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