Page 96 of Empire of Savages

The muscle in my cheek bulged. “How did you get out of the clubhouse? The prospects were under orders.”If those fuckers dropped the fucking ball…

“I bluffed my way out. Told the guy on the gate Lucifer needed to stretch his legs—oh my God, Lucifer! Maddox shot him without warning before I could get in the door. Where is he, is he okay?” Alex looked around frantically.

Tugging her against my chest, I tucked her in close. “Bliss brought him to the clubhouse.”

She pulled back, her eyes widening. “Oh my God,Bliss. Was she okay?”

Gathering her back in close—where she was meant to be—I assured her, “She was shaken, but seemed okay. She went with Vox when he took Lucifer to the emergency vet.”

She let out a breath, nodding. Knowing it was Maddox who had hurt my dog made me want to kill him, painfully.

“Who was the man still inside, baby?”

She looked up at me then. “Maddox.”

“I hope that fucker was still alive when the fire started,” I murmured against her temple. “He deserves to suffer for what he did to my dog.”

“He wasn’t alive,” she replied, an internal strength sharpening her tired eyes.

Hooking my finger under her chin, I tipped her face up to me. “You killed him?” My chest filled with warmth—with pride—for what my woman had done. She’d taken control.

“Yes, but I…” She bit her lip, worrying it with her teeth. “I wasn’t the only one in my apartment.”

Shoulders stiff, I asked, “Who?”

She blew out a breath, lowering herself down to sit on the curb. “Reaver.”

I sat beside her. “Maddox’s bodyguard?”

“We both shot him. He gave me the gun himself.”

Why the fuck would Maddox’s right-hand man help the woman he was terrorizing put a fucking bullet in his head?

“I don’t know why he did it,” Alex started, sensing where my thoughts had gone. “But Reaver had a gun on me and the next thing I knew, I had a gun pressed to my hand and we both pulled the trigger. And Maddox wasn’t who I thought he was. He’s the bastard son of a crime boss, whose family?—”

“I know, baby. I did some digging of my own. I know all about Maddox’s father Killian Kavanaugh and the sort of shit he’s into.”

She shook her head. “You don’t understand. It’s bigger than that. He was going to sell Bliss to the Bratva. Or… or the Yakuza.Sell her.Like she was a piece of property.”

Alex continued to talk, but my mind snagged on two words: sell her.

This sex trafficking shit was bigger than I thought. Fuck, it was probably bigger than Kaash thought it was. A man like Kavanaugh wasn’t in the habit of sharing territory—not over something so lucrative.

An EMS clinician came walking toward us, a jump bag in her fist. She crouched beside us on the curb.

“I’m Angel. I’m here to check you over. Make sure you’re not hurt too bad. What’s your name?”

Alex told her as I relinquished my hold on her, letting Angel take over her treatment, but I didn’t move away. I didn’t want to take my eyes off Alex again. Didn’t want to lose her.

“Any shortness of breath?” she asked.

Alex shook her head. “Just the cough.”

“Headache? Disorientation?”

“No.”

The EMS listened to her chest for a moment before looping the stethoscope back over her neck when she was done. “Your lungs sound clear. Let’s take a pulse ox reading then we’ll load you on the bus and take you to hospital.” Angel clipped a reader to Alex’s index finger and hit a few buttons on a machine.

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