Page 55 of Savage Fire

Beneath her, Fang tensed. Yeah, she’d recognized the similarities when he’d told her about his mom getting pregnant with him at seventeen. The circumstances were drastically different, yet heartbreakingly the same.

“Jacob married my mom and moved us to Heavenly, Wyoming. He had a working ranch on four hundred acres. He’d been in Redding on ranch business, making deals for stock or whatever. I’d never left California before, so seeing all the ranch land, the animals—it was a little girl’s dream come true. A little over a year later, it became my mom’s nightmare.”

God…

“Apparently, Jacob had grander plans than marrying a single mom and creating a ready family. One night, he brought home a girl, just barely eighteen, and ‘married’ her in a ceremony that included taking her virginity and calling them husband and wife. He said it was Old Testament, that social custom and legalities were unbiblical. My mom was devastated. Her dream of having a loving, faithful husband turned to ashes that night. Over the course of eight years, Jacob ‘married’ another three women. All just barely eighteen. It turns out, he married my mom because he wanted someone older to act as a sort of madam wife, to keep the other wives in line, and be the voice of experience when the younger women started hatching his brood.”

A chorus of crude, angry curses filled the room. She could feel Fang’s rage building, like a diesel engine rumbling to life in his chest. The vibrations of his emotions moving from him and into her.

“Why didn’t she leave?” AFK asked.

“I asked her that after the first wife. She said we had nowhere to go. Jacob never allowed her to have a job, her own bank account, her own car. She was utterly dependent on him for everything—just as he wanted.”

“Where did Jacob get these girls?” Odin asked, the edge in his voice dangerous. The man was ready to murder.

“At first, I thought they were runaways or orphans or aged out foster kids he sweet talked with promises of a family or a new home, or whatever. I later learned, they’re daughters of men who share in Jacob’s ideals. Apparently, there’s a well-established polygamist community an hour from Heavenly. Jacob is originally from there. He was sent out by the community leader to start a new community in Heavenly. My mom was the first step. After a few years, Jacob leased out tracts of land to other men who were starting their own polygamist families. It was one big happy family at Heavenly Ranch.”

“That is some fucked up shit right there,” Hawk remarked, scrubbing a hand down his face. “I’m assuming that because the marriages weren’t performed in actual ceremonies, the local LEOs couldn’t do anything about it.”

Tessa nodded. “Yep.”

“So what happened to make you leave?” Trouble asked, his quiet yet tense observance finally breaking.

“The morning of my eighteenth birthday, my mom came to me, telling me I had to leave because Jacob intended to make me wife number six.”

Fang’s body jerked, and she knew then that he, once again, recognized a similarity. This time, to his Hive. He would have made her Bee number six.

His arms around her tightened, as he rasped into her ear, “Fuck, baby.” She could hear the agony in his voice. The remorse. The self-loathing.

“That motherfucking pervert,” Hawk snarled, the other men agreeing with grunts and hisses.

“I ran. I took a bag of clothes, some money my mom gave me, and I left town. I moved around, using busses. When I got to Cleveland, I worked a cash job at a carwash until I made enough to change my name.”

“Condesa,” Fang rumbled, remembering the name she’d given him what felt like a lifetime ago. Since that night, the night they’d first made love, so much had happened. So much had changed. So muchbetween themhad changed. Was that good or bad?

Tessa turned her head and pressed a kiss to Fang’s chin, telling him wordlessly that it was well. It was okay.Theywere okay.

“It was in Cleveland Condesa Ramos died, and Tessa Grimes was born.”

“You picked a good name, darlin’.” Trouble’s sweet smile made a smidgen of the tension inside her intestines unclench. She returned his smile, though it didn’t remain on her face long.

“After two years of a nomadic existence, I came to Vegas, settled in, planted roots, and I thought….” A sob built in her chest. Fang kissed her temple once more, silently encouraging her to continue. “I honestly thought I was free and clear.”

“Something must have happened,” Grimm drawled, his expression pensive. “Fuckers like that don’t let things lie. He wanted you for wife number six, and you disappeared. Why, after seven years, is he sending his goons to attack you?”

Tessa pinched her lips, scowling in thought. In the seven years since she left Heavenly, she’d been supremely careful about her movements. She’d remade herself into the woman she was now. Hell, she’d even made it a stipulation in her contract with the Elite Amateur Fight League, that she wouldn’t do any televised fights. She preferred the smaller fights, with the smaller purses, because while she wanted to make MMA her career, she didn’t want her name in lights. She was in it for the fight. The pitting herself against other, stronger, faster opponents, and coming out the victor. For her, it was about the battle. It was why she and Skathi had clicked so easily, so quickly.

“I didn’t make myself easy to find,” Tessa supplied.

“So what changed recently that made him strike out?” This time, Fang inquired, breaking his silence. She could feel the tension thrumming through him. His muscles were tight, hard, readying to go forth and kill. “Did you talk to someone from Heavenly? He could have tapped the phones.”

It hit her like a shot from a cannon.

“My mom,” she bleated, feeling the warmth leave her body in a flood of fear. “I called my mother. She told me he wasn’t there, that he was out doing ranch chores. It occurred to me that he might be listening, so I didn’t tell her where I was.”

Odin made a noise of approval, nodding. “Smart. He probably wasn’t listening but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have his own AFK to track down the location of the caller.

“Fuck you, there ain’t nobody like me,” AFK scoffed, a teasing glint in his eyes.

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