Page 42 of Heron's Flame

“Hammerhead is a dead man,” he growled.

“And what of you, huh? Do I risk losing you right after we find each other? Because I don’t think it’s necessary to chase him down. You don’t need his blood on your hands.”

“Yeah, I fucking do,” he argued, resuming his long strides across the carpet, wearing it thin from his shitkicker boots and relentless fury. “He doesn’t get away with hurting you.”

“God, I love that you’re my dark knight. I can’t tell you how many times I wished someone would save me from Paul.I begged God, pleaded for rescue, and wished on every fallen star.”

He nearly stumbled as those words left my mouth, staring at me with raw pain visible in his eyes. “I would give anything to meet you before he did. I would have loved you from the beginning and saved you from him.”

“But not my father,” I replied in a soft voice.

Agony stretched across his features. “I’ll kill him too. They’ll both suffer.”

“You can’t kill everyone who’s ever wronged me, Heron.”

“The fuck I can’t.”

A sigh escaped my lips. “Babe, I need you to drop this and let it go. Focus on what we have instead of the past.”

His chin dropped, and I saw the rapid rise and fall of his chest. He wanted to argue and fight for me, and I loved that he wanted to burn the world down for me and vanquish every enemy. He was everything I ever wanted or needed, the yin to my yang and the other half of my circle of life that completed me in every way. I never knew how powerful love could be until we met. Now, I couldn’t live without it.

The hardest part still remained, but I didn’t have the courage at this moment to reveal the final piece of my tainted story. It had to wait until I felt I could reveal my sorrow and the painful loss of my child. Heron wouldn’t be able to hear it today without walking out the door and hopping on his bike.

He’d hunt Paul down, and I couldn’t let it happen.

“I want to stay angry for you, Babe. I don’t want to let that slip from my focus because if I do, it’s saying I’m okay with what happened to you. And I’m not fucking okay with it, Rebel. I never will be.”

“That makes two of us,” I admitted.

He sank onto the mattress beside me, reaching for my hand. His fingers tethered with mine as he breathed, trying so damn hard to give me what I asked. “How do we move on from this?”

“Together,” I replied firmly. “We get through every minute, every hour, and each day until it’s far into our past. Side by side. Holding hands, just like this.”

His forehead lowered to mine as we breathed in tandem. “Okay. For you, I’ll try.”

ABOUT A WEEK LATER, we stood by the bar, joking with Crow, Bella, and a few others, when Hawk entered, followed by that big behemoth of a man, Brax. I noticed him before Heron did.

Hawk called out, “Hey, Heron, you’ve got a visitor. Get over here.”

Heron shook his head as he turned from Talon, catching a glimpse of Brax as Hawk pointed at him.

Why the fuck was he here? Maybe that seemed rude, but the rally had been horrible for multiple reasons, and meeting Cerys and Brax had been one of them. I didn’t hate either of them, but I also wasn’t comfortable with Heron’s beautiful ex-girlfriend.

Heron blinked in surprise and seemed as apprehensive as me. He frowned as he saw the tense expression on Brax’s face. The guy seemed wound tight, and it showed.

He didn’t reach for my hand before slowly heading for Brax and Hawk, which irritated me. Irrational, sure, but I still felt uneasy about Cerys. He could have paid attention to mefollowing him, but I think he must have been curious, and that stole his focus.

I could see the hesitation warring on his face as he lifted his hand to shake with Brax. They shook, neither man appearing to try to overpower the other. “Hi. This is a surprise. What can I do for ya?” The cautious question proved he wasn’t comfortable with Brax showing up either. Good.

“Hi, Heron. Hello, Rebel.”

His greeting eased a little of my tension.

“I know this is unexpected. I’m sorry. I had no phone number to call you, and I’d like to talk to you alone.”

As soon as those words left his mouth, worry spiked in my veins. Why alone? What did he have to say that I couldn’t hear?

Heron glanced my way and shrugged. Fuckingshrugged.“Sure, follow me. Spark, stay here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

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