Page 43 of Heron's Flame

Before I could reply, he placed a tender kiss on my lips and walked away. Brax followed.

Everyone in the bar had stopped what they were doing to stare at Brax, and he felt it. His broad shoulders straightened as he called out greetings to the members he met at the rally. Questioning glances were thrown his way, but no one interfered. They wouldn’t.

I stared at the closed door after they entered a room, equally annoyed and curious as to the reason for Brax’s visit.

“Hey, Rebel.”

I didn’t turn my focus from the door as Bree approached me. “Hey.”

“I’m sure it’s going to be okay.”

Maybe. “He didn’t show up here for nothing.”

“No, he didn’t,” she agreed, “but maybe we go grab a drink from the bar while they hash out whatever needs fixed.”

I couldn’t help the soft sigh that escaped before I followed Bree to the bar. She sat on a stool, facing the bar, and patted theone beside her. I sank onto it, lifting my chin so I didn’t appear as concerned as I felt.

“Heron loves you,” she informed me, keeping her voice low.

The bar had resumed its normal volume when Heron and Brax left. Around us, conversations grew loud, jovial, and downright crude in some corners.

“I know.”

“Whatever you’re feeling, I think it’s justified. I’d have a hard time with it, so I can’t tell you to act like it’s nothing.”

“I appreciate that, Bree.”

“But I also know Heron is in love with you. That man is so far gone for you I don’t think he’d notice a naked woman in front of him unless it was you.”

I snort at that. “Nice try, Bree.”

“Seriously. I’ve seen club girls walk around in thongs and nothing else, and he doesn’t give them a glance. He doesn’t care because he has all he wants withyou.”

That warmed me more than I cared to admit. “Wow.”

“He’s a guy, and all our men are sex-crazed, but I have noticed once a member finds his woman, she’s it for him. No one else has a chance.”

She wasn’t wrong. I had observed the same with all the members who had ol’ ladies. The pool of club girls grew smaller simply because there wasn’t a demand.

“You’re saying I need to trust him, and I do, Bree.”

“Then the worry you’re feeling in your gut? It’s gotta go.”

Damn. I never felt so called out in my life.

“Hey,” she laughed. “Don’t look like I kicked your kitty. I’m just speaking from experience. I got jealous a while back with Raven, and he set me straight. Best sex of my life, too,” she admitted with a blush staining her cheeks.

I couldn’t help snickering. Heron had done the same for me. He didn’t know how much he helped me to heal with hispatient love. I’d spent a long time screaming into the night after the wolves had found me in Vegas. Most of the women captives hated the underground cells they kept us in, only opening the gates to hunt us or let us roam like cattle.

We weren’t taken for breeding, only for sport. I could handle that. Sexual trauma had left a stain on my soul, but in those woods, running, taking back control of my body began the process of healing and brought me to a point where I could finally accept Heron. Did it happen overnight? No. I fought my way out of the hellhole I had sunken into for an additional year after we met, but he never gave up on me.

I couldn’t give up on him, not that I ever would.

“He’s my everything,” I admitted, laying it all out. “To lose him would devastate me. There’s so much in my past, Bree. Too much to get into now.”

“I know.” She reached for my hand and squeezed. “More than anyone else here, I think I know what you’re going through. We’ve got similar pasts. When you’re ready to talk about it, I’d like to be there for you.”

Touched, I squeezed back. “Thank you, Bree.”

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