Page 20 of Hawke

I took a deep breath, my hands already missing that jolt of electricity I’d been given earlier. My gut was screaming at me to justgo with him.

Please don’t let me get chopped up into little pieces,I told the voice in my head.

So, I reached out and took the helmet. Hawke smiled when I did, and my stomach filled with butterflies.

I’ve never kissed a man with a beard before. Wait, I’ve never kissed arealman before, but I could see myself falling for this one.

It could be the air of mystery about him, the way he tried to look so angry with me when I saw the faintest of smiles on his lips. But I already knew I was going to have a lot of fun trying to make him unravel. An impossible task, but one I would not stop trying.

So, I took the helmet.

He tsked.

“You have no sense of self-preservation, do you?” He motioned me to the bike.

“What’s the fun in being safe all the time?” I countered.

He sat on his bike, turning on the engine and revving it several times. He jerked his head for me to follow, and I hopped on the back.

“Where are the handles?” I asked.

He chuckled deeply and grabbed my wrists to put around his waist.

Oh, oh! This is nice.

Hawke’s back was muscular, and he was harder than stone. My body tensed at how close we were; I hadn’t been this close to a guy since—”

He revved the bike again, and my head snapped up. “Hey, you aren’t wearing a helmet!”

He pushed the gas, yelling over the roar, “What’s the fun being safe all the time?”

Chapter Seven

Hawke

Delilahwassafeinher apartment. I’d watched on the cameras, but my wolf stirred.

I couldn’t forget what Journey had said. She was marked. Obviously, there was something going on there. Maybe a bond, a real one.

I reached into my vest pocket, grasping the flask and taking a quick sip of the vile concoction. I can’t recall what I put in there, but it was inexpensive and the heat of it was enough to ease the discomfort in my stomach. I took more, walking down the street back to the bar. I needed to rest; I needed to think and damnit, I needed more to drink.

I unlocked the front door to the bar. It was quiet. The members were already upstairs and in their own dorm-like rooms. I thumped up the stairs, not seeing Locke. He usually walked the halls until the early hours of the morning, feeling like he should take care of this broken pack.

But we had Switch, the cameras in this place were ridiculous. No one could break in without us knowing about it. And stumbling into a bunch of sleeping shifters was a damned bad idea.

As I approached my room, I saw Sizzle coming out of the shower. He’d officially been kicked out of his upstairs apartment over the tattoo shop he shared with Grim because Journey and Grim were too damn loud. I chuckled at that, happy that Grim was at least getting some. Because no one else was.

We all went into ruts, sure, and for a while, the males and females were all too willing to help each other, but as time went on, the ruts and heats faded, and no one got any satisfaction. That was where we were now. No one could get an erection, well, except for me.

And I hid that. I didn’t want my brothers and sisters to be jealous, but it was only recently since Journey and Grim had gotten together that it had become worse. Almost unmanageable.

It was like a damned avalanche happening around here. The dynamic of the club was changing. Hope filled some of the members’ souls, but I couldn’t believe it, not yet.

Could Delilah be my mate?

I haven’t even talked to Grim privately to find out how he knew Journey was his. The jolt of electricity we felt years ago. Could that have been a sign?

I remembered that moment like it was yesterday, smelling her from across the street. She was stunning, though a bit on the small side. She had no meat or muscle, but she held her back straight and was the proudest little human, even though she was at her lowest.

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