Page 42 of Trident: Mayhem Makers

Checking my grip on my throwing knife, and that the ones in my belt were all ready to grab quickly, I rolled my shoulders then getting back low, continued to move forward toward the doorway. After checking my crew were ready to follow me in, I stepped into the open with my arm raised, the knife leaving my fingers before the men inside could even register they’d been infiltrated. I’d aimed at the bastard who was standing over Jacie, tattoo machine in his hand. My woman was tied to a fucking coffee table and gagged. Fuck, she could be a handful, and I’d thought about tying her up a time or two, but never like this. Never so she could be branded like she was fucking cattle.

My aim was true and the Japanese bastard had turned toward me so my blade sunk straight into his chest, hitting his heart. He stumbled back a step before he crashed to the ground. Two other guards came running up from the basement but I didn’t need to worry, they’d barely made it into the room before one had an arrow through an eye. Mene was out there taking our backs like the legend he was. The other ended up with a hatchet embedded between his eyes. I was gonna have to talk to Toa later to ask where he’d picked up the ability to throw a damn axe that fucking far with enough force to do that sort of damage. But I wasn’t gonna waste time on it now. Maverick had gone for theman sitting on the couch beside the coffee table. He’d stood up when we’d stormed in and had tried to pull a knife but Maverick had been on him, knocking it out of his hand before he could throw it. Then knocking him to the ground and with his hands pinned against his lower back, sat on him. Clearly intending on letting me deal with him.

Grinder had gone over to Jacie and removed the gag from her mouth. There were tears streaming down her face, but I wasn’t sure if they were from the pain of being forcibly tattooed, relief we’d come to rescue her, or fury that she’d been kidnapped then branded. I went toward them, scanning the room as I moved. Looked like her uncle had met his end before we’d gotten here. The knife in his lung was not one of ours. I paused beside Maverick and Kenjiro.

“Get him on his feet, brother.”

In seconds, I was staring into the eyes of a monster. Even now he was calm, too fucking calm. We’d just killed all his crew, and he had to know he was next.

“I have plenty more guards who will be here any moment.”

A heavy thump near the rear entrance had us both glancing that way. Mene stood there, having just dropped the body of one of his men, who naturally had an arrow through his fucking eye. I was gonna be having nightmares about that for a while.

“You mean these guys? Afraid they’re all dead. Guess you’re alone. But no worries, you’ll be joining ‘em real soon. Right, Trident?”

I shook my head with a huff. Damn crazy bastard. Then focused back on Kenjiro, who was finally starting to look scared.

“You took my woman from me.” He opened his mouth to speak but I didn’t give him the chance to say anything. “Yeah, I know it was your buddy over there that took her, but it was on your fucking orders. And it was you sitting here watching my woman be tattooed against her fucking will just now.”

“She’s mine, she’s been mine since she was a child, long before you even knew she existed. My claim trumps yours. And I was simply labeling my property just now.”

Okay, put like that, I could understand Jacie’s issue with being called property.

“Just kill the fucker, Trident, so we can get outta here already.”

I gave Maverick a nod, then pulled out my Pàhoa and swiped it across the fucker’s throat, Maverick spun him to the side before he released him so the blood that was spurting from the wound hit the floor not us.

Dropping the Pàhoa, I rushed over to the table, where Grinder had just finished cutting her free from all the ropes. Lifting her into my arms, I sat on the couch that Kenjiro hadn’t been sitting on, and settled her sideways on my lap, holding her close against me. With a broken sob, she wrapped her arms tightly around my neck and buried her face against my chest.

Closing my eyes, I pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

“I got you, Ula'ula Mõ'i. You’re safe now.”

Closing my eyes, I pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

“Fuck, babe. We can’t do this again. You are my heart, I can’t live without you. Fucking love you, Jacie. I don’t care it’s only been a damn week. Us being together was written in the fucking stars. Meant to be.”

Her arms tightened on me a moment before she shifted, lifting her face away from my chest to look up at me. It killed me to see the tears slipping down her cheeks. Shifting my hands to cup her face, I ran my thumbs over the tracks, wiping them away, hating the redness on her right cheek that I was pretty sure came from her being fucking hit.

With tears stinging my own damn eyes, I lowered and pressed my lips to hers, kissing her softly, with care before, withmy eyes still closed I rested my forehead against hers and just breathed her in. Taking her scent deep into my lungs.

“I love you too, Trident. So much. And you’re right, time doesn’t matter, our age difference doesn’t matter. Labels are irrelevant. As long as we’re together, nothing else is important.”

Pressing my lips to hers again, a tear slipped down my own cheek, soaking into my beard. This woman was my home, and now I had her back in my arms, with her accepting my claim on her. My heart was whole.

Chapter 13

Jacie

I’d clung to Trident, refusing to release him from the moment he picked me up off that table until we were locked into a bathroom at the Losi Kahu MC clubhouse. Then I had no choice but to let go in order for us both to strip off. Once naked, Trident paused with a pained look on his face as he gently ran a fingertip over the hot mess of a tattoo Kenjiro had forced his man to ink on me. His head bodyguard was no tattoo artist, that’s for sure. He hadn’t appeared to like the idea much more than I had. But when Kenjiro had returned from wherever the fuck he went while I was being tied down, he had a kit with everything needed to ink up someone with black. When his goon had hesitated, he’d ordered him to ink his name on me, threatening to kill him if he didn’t do it.

At least it was in Japanese characters so no one would know what it said. Although, they didn’t have to put it right under my fucking collar bone. It looked like I’d be wearing a whole lot of high-neck shirts going forward, at least until I could talk to Silk. One of my brother’s closest friends, Eagle, was married to a woman who was an amazing artist, and owned her own tattoo shop in Bridgewater. I was sure she’d be able work out how to cover the thing.

“Can’t believe anyone would do this.”

I shrugged a shoulder, not wanting him to focus on it right now. I’d cried a river of tears already and I didn’t want to continue.

“Plenty of people get names tattooed on them, T. Nothing out of the ordinary really.”

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