Page 125 of Mob Bride

“What?” I jerk backwards as I turn panicked eyes up to Shane.

“Come on, little one. We have to get you and the other women out of here.”

“But I haven’t signed anything. It’s not legal if I don’t sign.”

I spin and search for the court clerk. I rush to her and snatch a pen from the desk.

“Where do I sign?”

“Congratulations. I wish you the best.”

“Thanks.”

It’s far too curt, but I’m tapping my toes and forcing myself not to tap the desk with the pen as she puts the papers in front of me. I could sign away my first born for all I know. I don’t read any of it closely. I just skim enough to know it’s the marriage license then the register.

“Thanks.” I mean it more this time.

Shane wraps his suit coat around me. I notice all the men have done the same with their wives. They’re herding us to the back of the building where there’s a larger parking lot. As we each step out, our husbands pull their guns with their righthands while using their left hands to shield their wives with the suit coats pulled up to hide us.

We’re almost to the cars when I recognize the popping sound.

We run.

No one slows until we make it to the vehicles. I try to look around, but the men have formed a circle around the women, and I can’t see past them. I’m disoriented as I hear a series of more shots, and none of the surrounding men fired them.

“Tate!”

I watch Siobhan push forward as her husband lurches to the side. His shirt’s blossoming red along his right side. She knocks him to the ground and tears the gun from his hand. Ally and my mom wiggle their way to Tate and roll him over as the men try to get Siobhan back into the circle. I watch her lift the gun; her left hand holds it with her right cupped around the bottom of her other hand. I watch her squeeze the trigger before my gaze follows her line of fire. I spot a man I recognize stagger backward. Then he disappears as he falls to the ground. Even from this distance, I can see the wound. She shot him dead center of his heart. She shifts to her right, and she fires again. This one lands through a man’s left cheekbone.

“Do you have a spare?” I whisper to Shane as he leans over me, but his upper body’s twisted away from me as he searches for other shooters.

“Left ankle.”

I shift, trying to reach his leg, but Mair and Dillan are in the way.

“Dillan give her mine.” Shane barks the command, then Dillan’s handing me a pistol butt to me.

“You donotexpose yourself unless there’s no one left to shield you, Carrie. I’m serious.”

“And I’m seriously not letting one of them shoot my husband.”

He drops his voice as he glances down at me, but I’m pretty certain other people hear him. “Unless you want to start married life with an arse you can’t sit on for a week, stay put.”

“You can’t spank me if you’re dead.”

He stares at me for a long moment, our wills at battle once again. One day, I need to explain to Shane my resistance to telling him about my mission wasn’t to protect it or even to protect me. It was always about protecting him. That’s why we butt heads. It’s when we want to protect each other. But neither of us wants to accept that means our partner’s putting themselves in danger.

He cups my jaw in a punishing hold, not allowing me to look away. Our gazes lock while it’s quiet. No one’s shooting right now, but the urgency in the air doesn’t ease. We stare at each other as I shift the gun in my hand to have a better grip.

He brings his lips to mine. “Feck, I love you, Carrie.”

Then his kiss devours me. I fist his tie and yank down as I pull away.

“You have a nasty habit of kissing me before I can speak. I love you, too.”

Hardly the romantic moment I might have wished for, but then again, I proposed via text, and we got married in a courthouse.

“We have to get Tate out of here. He’s losing a lot of blood.” My mom barely finishes speaking when Siobhan’s string of curses would put a sailor to shame.

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