Page 26 of Torn Souls

I rear back and blink at her in surprise. The way she smiles at my reaction has me fucking melting.

She giggles softly and the air in the room feels lighter with the sound. “What?” She sasses, “You’re all sexier than sin and I know you’ll be able to protect me.” She eyes the other men, her eyes glazing with desire instead of pain. “Why would I turn this opportunity down?”

A low chuckle comes from deep in my chest and I shake my head. “You are a breath of fresh air,” I murmur.

“Fuck,” is groaned from behind me. I grin knowing it came from Baker. I don’t have to look at him to know he’s probably adjusting himself behind the fly of his slacks. He’s not alone in that problem. I’ve been hard since the moment I saw her at White Stone the other night.

I’ve fucked my own hand more in the last few days than I have in a long fucking time. It wasn’t satisfying in the least. I’m sure nothing less than being buried inside of her tight, wet heat will satisfy the need roaring through my veins.

“You will never go back to that house,” I tell her, my words a command. “I’ll take care of your father, but I want to make him stew for a few days. Especially once he realizes you’re not where he expects you to be.”

She swallows hard and I can see the indecision on her face. Then, like a miracle, I witness the moment her resolve strengthens.

Her grip is firm when she grabs my wrists and pulls my hands away from her face to place them palm up on her lap. She fiddles with her bracelet and then drops it in my hand.

“It’s a tracker bracelet,” she informs me. “I don’t need it anymore.”

Without a word, I lean forward and press my lips against her forehead. She melts against me, everything dropping away except for the feeling of my lips against her soft skin.

“Maxim,” I command quietly knowing he’ll hear me, “take our woman home and help her get settled.”

As much as I would love to take her home myself, I still have work to do. I need Huck with me to keep digging into Chambers and everything he was involved in with Morozov. Baker won’t leave me unprotected, even if he may feel torn when it comes to allowing our woman to leave his sight.

Maxim will keep her safe. He’ll bathe in the blood of whoever threatens her, just like we all will.

My fingers curl around the bracelet before I stand and hand it over to Baker, knowing he’ll work with Huck to get any information he can about it. I don’t need to tell him what he needs to do.

I hold a hand out for our woman and that spark is back when her hand slides into mine and I help her stand. The way she tries to hide her grimace makes it difficult to stop myself from splattering her father’s blood across every surface of the house where she’s been imprisoned for far too long.

Soon enough he will meet the beast that lives inside of me. Frist, I need to ensure our woman is safe, happy, and healed.

Then I’ll worry about what Chambers has coming his way.

Maxim wraps an arm around our woman’s shoulders and grins at me. “Looks like it’s you and me,Zolotse,” he teases while wiggling his eyebrows.

Oaklynn giggles softly and shakes her head at him in admonishment. As much as I hate it, I allow my brother to lead our woman away. I want to pull her against my chest and kiss her until we’re both breathless, but I fight the urge.

For now. There will be time enough to have our woman in my arms soon.

“See you at home, fuckers,” Maxim calls out before opening the door and ushering our woman out.

The only reason I don’t pull my gun is because I trust the man and our woman needs a little light after she took the risk of coming straight to me without knowing how it would all shake out. I’m proud of her. She’s the perfect woman to stand at my side.

I look at Huck who is glaring at the open door to my office even though we can’t see Maxim or Oaklynn anymore. Baker looks dazed, a feeling I definitely understand.

“Did that just happen?” Baker’s question is filled with awe.

“It did,” I confirm. “We have our woman. She’s going to be in our home. Now we just have to get the pieces in place to ensure she’s never taken from us or be used against us by her father.”

Huck stands up slowly and nods, “Then we need to get to work.”

Baker comes out of his haze and looks at me with a pout. He whines, “I can’t believe Maxim gets to spend time with her alone.”

I glare at him and bite out, “I’m not thrilled about it either, but he’ll protect her, and we have work to do.”

Baker’s shoulders slump and he nods with understanding. “Let’s get it done then.”

No fucking kidding. I have a woman to get home to and spoil.

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