Page 89 of Grim

He held out his arm for me to take, and I took it.

“Thanks.” He nodded and led me down the sidewalk back to the apartment.

I’d spent little time with Hawke. The little I did know about him, I’d heard from Delilah. I couldn’t help but have a biased attitude towards him for being the reason she was leaving. Now that I knew more about what these men had gone through, I could see understand why.

She was either not his mate, or he didn’t want her to be.

Which would be a damned shame, because Delilah was everything. She ran that bar. She helped other servers when she could. She was the hardest worker I’ve ever met. Plus, she was a freaking ball of sunshine.

I could see the magnetic pull they had toward each other. The looks across the bar, the blush Delilah had every time she saw him staring. The stolen kisses she said he took when he had drunk too much were evidence enough that Hawke wanted her.

They both felt something. The true question was, was it just lust or was there a bond there?

When Grim and I first saw each other it was so faint, but it grew the more we were around each other.

How could he stand being away from her?

“Do you think Delilah is your mate?” I blurted.

Hawke stopped in his tracks, letting go of my arm so I could stand in front of him. I had become bolder since I’d been mated. It could have been my confidence soaring because of what Grim and I shared, that I wasn’t alone anymore, or it could be the trust I now had in these men.

Grim thought of these men so highly, and I was doing the same. Especially since they were trying to find the source of the trafficking to save others like me.

I stared up at him. His short mohawk was freshly trimmed, and his dark eyes stared at me with such intensity.

It was like I ran over his cat or something.

“Why would you ask such a thing,” he growled and pushed by me.

Hawke stomped down the street, taking one step for every two of mine.

“Hawke!” I ran to keep up, but he was quick. His bulky form kept me from realizing the light had changed to red, and I bumped into his back when he stopped. I fell on my ass and groaned in embarrassment.

He turned, grabbing my arm, and pulled me up.

“Considering all you guys are big bulky men, you sure act like a bunch of pussies,” I snapped.

“Excuse me?” he asked astonished.

“Yeah, you heard me!” I puffed up my chest. “You act like a bunch of pussies. You guys hold grudges worse than a woman. You don’t believe in anything that Grim told everyone in that meeting, do you?” I glared.

“Of course I don’t. Why would the goddess listen to a human? It was just a coincidence that you guys are mates, that you ‘prayed.’ Trust me, we are all thrilled for you both. Grim’s my brother.” He paused, realizing the light had turned green.

He held out his arm again, and I took it, albeit reluctantly.

“The woman you saw, that we can’t see, was just an illusion. You had just witnessed the man that had…done things to you. You were in distress, Journey. Maybe you saw someone, but hell, it wasn’t the goddess.”

“Why don’t you think so? Why is it so unbelievable that she wouldn’t come to help me?”

Hawke stopped again once we reached the other side of the street. “Because the goddess doesn’t come a-runnin’ when one of her children is hurt. She leaves them, lets them rot. Her children can only depend on themselves to climb out of the hole they find themselves in.”

Hawke pulled on my arm and tugged me along the street. We reached the back of the tattoo shop and trudged up the stairs to the apartments.

It was far warmer up there than the first night I was brought here. All the windows on the upper floor were covered in heavy curtains, the floors covered with rugs, and even the doors had been replaced to hold in the heat.

“Fuck, he’s got it sweltering in here.”

“I get cold a lot,” I muttered, fumbling with my fingers.

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