Page 127 of Savage Reign

I leaned over and pressed my fingers over the tattoo on his wrist as well.

“What does this mean?”

“It’s the number seven twenty-six.”

I blinked. “Like July twenty-six?”

He shot me a small smile. “Yes.”

“That’s my birthday.”

His smile widened. “I know.”

I wasn’t too conceited to think he had gotten this tattoo for me. I knew he hadn’t. And the tattoo looked old, so he’d obviously gotten it before he met me.

“It is the day your father attacked our family home,” he said.

I didn’t reply to that. Was it shocking that my father attacked their home on my birthday? Absolutely not. Dad probably didn’t even remember the significance of the date when he decided to take his men for a bloodbath.

“I had this done to remind myself of that day. To remind myself not to put my heart on the line, and to always put the organization first. I threw myself into helping Maverick rebuild our empire, and perhaps I lost myself a little along the way.” He grabbed my hand, and brought it to his lips, kissing the inside of my wrist. My breath caught as I looked at him. There was something animated about his eyes. “For so long, this date was everything bad and wrong and ugly. But now…”

“Now?” I asked, my voice whisper-soft.

“It is the day you were born. There is nothing bad or wrong or ugly about it. It’s my saving grace.”

The tears that had pooled in my eyes fell. He wiped away the first drop, frowning a little. “That wasn’t supposed to make you sad.”

“I’m not,” I answered, moving closer to him. “I’m not. I just… I love you so much.”

His shoulders relaxed. “I love you too.”

He leaned down and kissed me before I could even say anything. I moaned against his lips and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me, and closer still.

Not enough. It wasn’t enough.

I climbed into his lap and eliminated as much space between our bodies as possible and he kissed me harder.

“Killian,” I cried when he pulled away.

His eyes glowed, and he grabbed his phone. “Fuck,” he said under his breath. I watched as he pressed a button on the phone before bringing it to his ear. I could hear Maverick’s voice on the other line.

“Killian?”

“Tell all the guards to evacuate from the garden. Now.”

I instinctively glanced around but didn’t see anything.

Maverick didn’t reply right away. Then, “Why?”

Killian turned to me, and I swallowed from the predatory look in his eyes. “Because when I fuck Mila out here, I don’t want any of these fuckers to see her. To hear her. I’ll kill them all.”

I shivered as Maverick laughed on the other end of the line. “Done.”

“Killian?” I asked.

His hands gripped my waist, and he looked around.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, heavy footfalls. We were pretty hidden in the garden as it was, so I didn’t see all the men who’d left, but there must have been a lot of guards on theproperty because it sounded like a roaring thunder. How did I not know there were so many men around?

---