Page 56 of Savage Fire

Trouble smacked him on the back of the head, making AFK wince.

“Back to the matter at hand,” Trouble chided. “You think he got your location when you called your mom? Do you think she told him you called?”

“No! She wouldn’t do that. Besides, now that you mention it, he probably had tracking software on all his wives’ cellphones. He’s a controlling asshole like that. I bet the moment I called her, he was already making plans to send Assholes One and Two to jump me.”

“But to what end? Like a seven years too late ‘fuck you for leaving’?” Hawk mused.

She shrugged. “I have no idea. They came out of nowhere, talked shit, took their cheap shots, and hauled ass when my neighbor showed up. Then the texts.”

“Seems to me like they’re stickin’ around. They have more in mind than just givin’ you a swift ‘hello’.” Trouble was making unfortunate sense.

The tension in the room heightened until it was on the brink of cracking.

Odin, his ice blue eyes sharp and deadly, leaned forward, bracing his thick arms on the table in front of him. “You think they were meant to take you?” His deep voice was flat but the menace in it filled the room.

Under her, Fang’s whole body lurched, making her body jerk with the movement. His arms around her were like iron bands, crushing her against his chest.

“Those motherfuckers came tomytown to takemywoman?” Fang seethed. Tessa could feel every word he spoke through his frame. His heart was racing, and she knew she needed to calm him before he did something stupid. Maneuvering herself, she turned, throwing her leg over his lap to straddle him, putting them face to face. Holding his face between her hands, she forced him to look at her. His beautiful, hard eyes were dark and filled with malice. She brushed her thumbs over his cheeks, marveling at how handsome he was, how rough his day-old stubble was against her skin, how much she…loved him.

God, she loved this man.

“Javier,” she murmured, leaning in to skim a kiss over his mouth. “I’m here. They didn’t get me. They can’t. I’m safe here. With you.” She kissed him again, thankful when the urge to do violence slowly bled from his eyes. Finally, he blinked at her, anguish and fear filling his expression. He kissed her. Hard. Forgetting the fact they were in a room with six other men.

A throat cleared and, eventually, Fang broke the kiss.

Dazed, Tessa didn’t fight him when he helped her up and carefully returned her to her own seat.

Now, facing a room of his brothers, Fang announced, “We find where these fuckers are hiding, we grab them, and we make them squeal.”

“Fuck yeah!”

“You’re damn right we will!”

“Let’s do this shit!”

“Hold the fuck on, brothers,” Odin interjected, killing the crescendo. “It’s a relief to know that the attack on Tessa wasn’t the Russians or the Colombians. However, we need to be careful. We can’t go around making waves right now, not with the threat of war on our doorstep. If we’re gonna make these motherfuckers bleed, we need to be quiet chaos, not a loud riot. You get me?”

A round of grunts of agreement sounded. Tessa latched on to the word “war” but didn’t have the headspace to conjugate it.

Right before her eyes, Odin went into MC prez mode, which reminded Tessa that the man had years of experience commanding a team in the Army Rangers. A team he’d lived and breathed with his VP Trouble.

“AFK, do some digging. Find any connection between the ranch and anyone who might be in town. Check credit cards, hotel/motel registrations—you know the drill. Grimm, you contact the LEOs in Heavenly, see if they can provide you with any information about who Mannerly might have sent to do his dirty work. Also, see if there are any reports from anyone on the property. Chances are those women and kids are too scared to say a word, but that doesn’t mean someone else didn’t make a few calls.” He didn’t outright say it, but Tessa knew Odin was concerned about possible abuse. And worse.

At that, Tessa’s pulse skyrocketed. Had something happened to her mother? When she’d lived there, Jacob hadn’t raised a hand to her or her mother, or his other women, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t in the seven years she’d been gone.

God…the guilt slithered in and made a nest in her chest.

“No,mi amor.” Fang was right there, his face inches from hers, his hands holding her head in place so he could capture her gaze, his thickly muscled thighs on either side of her chair. It was the reverse of what she’d done in his lap. “I can see the guilt in your eyes. Guilt that doesn’t belong there. You couldn’t have stayed, and your mom knew that. She didn’t want that life for you. You did the right thing. You made a new life for yourself, a lifetu madrewould be proud of. Don’t take that from her. Don’t take that fromyouby taking the blame for something thathjio di putamight have done.”

“Hawk, you arrange for a few more men to stake out her place. Rotate them out more often so their eyes are fresh. We don’t want these fuckers slinking in under our noses. Fang, I don’t think I have to tell you to stick close to Tessa.”

“No, you don’t,” Fang asserted.

“Still, I want you to assign a prospect to her as well. You can’t stay with her all the time, but when you do have to go somewhere, I want someone you trust to stay on her.”

Fang growled. He didn’t like the idea of someone else with her, but Tessa knew Fang would leave her with the prospect if his president gave him an order to fulfill. And Tessa understood that. She was grateful of their protection, even if it meant being stuck in captivity for Lord knew how long.

“I know there’s a lot you’re already doing, brothers, but I trust every single one of you with my lives. I know you’ll give it hell and love every minute of it,” Odin pronounced.

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