Page 47 of Sunshine & Ink

Raker snarled at him, knocking the other man’s hand away.

“You must be fuckingblindto think you could take her. She’s bound to me.”

“You left,” Leo replied.

“She put me in jail,” Raker said coldly, and I saw Leo dart a startled look at me.

“Oh no, Sunday wouldn’t do a thing like that. You must be mistaken.”

Oh god

My eyes went to where flames were licking at my ring. I had felt so proud to get it.

Somebody does love me, I had thought.

Raker’s smile was grim with no humor in it.

“I guess you don’t know her very well, do you? She’s a lot harder and tougher than you give her credit for.”

“Don’t act like you know me, Raker,” I protested, trying to twist my wrist out of his grasp.

But he still held tight.

“She bears my marks; I tattooed my fucking name on her shoulder. That makes her my property.”

“Oh, Raker!” I said. “I don’tbelongto you anymore.”

His fingers curled around my arm, brushing my long hair aside to expose more of my tattoos.

My skin prickled at his nearness, his power washing over me.

“Look at this,” he breathed. “The serpent. Twined around you, Sunni, so you can never not be mine. And the mark on your thigh is even bigger.”

His fingers moved up, brushing my long hair so it exposed my shoulder.

“My name,” he rumbled to Leo, his voice low and hypnotic, his eyes burning holes in me. “How could you take her with my name, you fool? Wouldn’t you know that meant I’d never let her go?”

But when Raker’s hand reached possessively up to the tip of my shoulder, his big body stilled, and I felt anger radiate from him like a supernova.

“Where is my name, Sunni?” he bit out.

I didn’t have to twist around to look at what he saw.

His name, that he had written with such flourishes, in his distinctive style, was no more, tattooed over with desert flowers and a flowing, shimmering river.

“Gone,” I spat, trying to twist away from him. “And I’ll do the same with the rest of your tattoos as soon as I have the money for it.”

I’d seen Raker angry, but I’d never seenthatlook on his face before. Dark, chipped steel, and furious.

“Sunni, if we weren’t in public I would put you over my knee!”

“Well, too damn bad,” I said, my heartbeat still pounding and thrumming in my chest. “Your promises weren’t forever. And neither was my love.”

Raker’s arm only gripped me tighter, my belly tensing nervously, and for one horrible moment I was afraid he wouldtake me by force, but then we heard the rumble of motorcycles, getting closer.

“Souls must have caught sight of one Saints motorcycle,” Willow said.

She and Elise had heavy, thick blankets in their arms and were attempting to smother the fire. The smell of acrid, burning wool filled my nostrils.

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