Page 12 of Savage Possession
“I’m sorry, Ash. I really am. I don’t have any other family besides the one person who just betrayed me. But we have to get out of here. The people coming after me are not nice.”
“You said as much.” I pick up my weapons and holster them before I lift her off the counter. “Which of the Vultures put thatbruise on your face?” I touch the tender spot with the lightest touch.
“You’re not listening.” She grabs my upper arm and I stop walking to look back at her.
She stops abruptly as if expecting me to raise my hand to her.
“Let’s get one thing straight, I will never raise a hand to you. Ever. Never flinch from me. Understood?”
She considers me for a long minute as if she’s measuring the depths of my soul and the truth of my words. I must pass some kind of test because she slowly starts nodding her head and then I get a whispered, “Understood.”
“Good girl, my sweet angel. Follow me. I want to check the front and then we will head home.”
I continue to walk, but she doesn’t follow. I turn on my heel but give her the space she is after.
“It was my father. Not Grudge, shockingly. I refused to let my father marry me off just so he could broker a deal with Grudge, and he didn’t like my defiance.”
I give a curt nod. Now I have a target.
Isa rushes toward me and threads her fingers into the material of my T-shirt. “I see the intent written all over your face, Ash. No. Please, you have to listen. I don’t want my father to die. He wasn’t always so violent and bitter. Please.”
She continues to talk about her father, but I tune out. The monsters in me breathe a new wave of violence into the fire I always have simmering just beneath the surface. The need I have to bury a body rises and stretches. The inner roar is deafening.
“Ash? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, angel. Just give me a minute.” I close my lids and drop my head back. It takes everything I have in me to calm the urge to seek out blood instead of getting her to safety. Not everyone has the control that I do over their monsters. I came to terms with mine a long time ago. They need blood when they witness injustice, so I give it to them. What can I say, it’s that simple. The man who harmed such a sweet creature will pay in kind. Period.
She slips her hand into mine and links her delicate fingers with mine.
“He will pay,” I say, keeping my tone even and laced with forced calm.
I think of the fear in her eyes when I pulled up. The sweetness of her kiss. Her innocence and not truly knowing the danger she is in between two rival crews. Whatever game her father is playing will end up with him with my bullet.
“I missed you. I have thought about you since the day we met.”
My chuckle is a low rumble. “Changing the subject won’t save him. But tell me more. I want to hear how you pined for me.”
I sweep her into my arms and carry her the rest of the way to the front of the bookstore. I want to check the streets but I refuse to let her leave my side.
“Ash! This is serious. You have to know the Vultures are going to come looking for me and they are pissed.”
“I imagine so since you have their president’s bike crashed in the back alley.”
Her back goes straight like I offended her.
“Crashed? The heavy beast tipped over on its own when I climbed off. As far as I am concerned he’s lucky I haven’t torched the hunk of metal.”
I can’t argue with that. “Indeed.” I tap the underside of her chin with a finger. Fuck. She’s adorable looking all flustered and rattled.
Her delicate hand finds mine again as I keep the lights off and watch the main drag of our parish. Everything is quiet for now, but Isa isn’t a woman you let get away. I should know. I cooked up fifty different scenarios on how I planned on hunting her down the first chance I had. Grudge will do everything he can to get her back. When he learns I have her, he’ll seek blood.
“The Vultures have their hands in a lot of things. Trafficking, gun running, gambling. Drugs. The rival crew has been a pain in our collective sides for a while now. It won’t take much to force our president’s hand and cause a blood war.”
“I don’t want to be the cause of anything. I don’t know about any rivalanything,nor do I know who is against who,” she says with enough force to mean business.
The corner of my lip kicks up in a half smirk. “You should know you are the bride to my enemy and you just rode across territory lines. If I claim you as protected by the Savages, it will mean a war and people will get killed.”
She stumbles back with disbelief etched into her expression. “No. I refuse to be a part of that.” She takes a step back. Then another. I’m on her before she can turn and flee out the back door.
