Page 78 of When Sinners Dare

“Told Wren what? Who’s Wren?” She’s shaking now like she’s just turned scared about something.

“No. I can't do this now. It’s after lunch, and I’ve got to go. This is so fucked up."

“Calm down. In fact, sit the hell down.” I walk over, pick her up, and put her back on the couch. She looks at me, shocked. “I’m not doing what I did to you last night and then having you run off. I know we got into it last night, but you’re okay to stay here. You stay as long as you like. No one’s gonna hurt you on my watch.” A smirk sets in on my face. “Apart from me.”

She smiles, but it’s weak as hell. “You didn’t hurt me,” she says. “I've done that to myself.”

Frowning, I toss a blanket over her legs, strip her shoes off and head back to the coffee machine. “Stay there. At least have a coffee and get your head straight. Shower. Clean up. If you need to do something after, we’ll go do it together.”

Coffee made and put down in front of her, and I sit at the other end of the couch. She just stares at me and tucks her feet in the blanket, swiping her fingers under her eyes to clear the smudged make-up. “Right. I’m ready for conversations,” I mutter, taking a sip. “Talk.”

She gestures to my chest and the bruises. “Do they hurt?”

“Yeah. Still breathing, though, so not that bad.”

She nods and picks up her coffee. “They shouldn't have done that,” she repeats.

“They're protective. That's a part of them I do understand.” The image of her with a smoking gun in her hand flashes through me again. “Not that you seem to need protecting. Seemed pretty good with that shot.” She frowns and looks around the room. “Not your first time, obviously.”

“Not the first time aiming, but it was the first time killing. Felt good.” My brow arches, and I can’t work out if that’s frightening as fuck or the sexiest damn thing I’ve ever heard. She looks back at me. “You said you had to watch something? With my brothers?”

“We don’t need to get into that." Maybe we do if I’m ever to understand what the hell’s going on here, but not at the moment. “What’s the problem you’ve got?”

She sighs. “I screwed up. It's unforgivable. Wren is Dante’s partner. I told her what we do. Well, what Dante does. Last night. It was cruel of me and now I don't know what to do.”

“Right, but why is that cruel? She must know already.”

She pulls her legs up tighter. “No, she didn’t. Dante has managed to keep it from her.” She looks at the floor rather than me. “He was taking his time, trying to bring her in gently, maybe. She’s such a good person. Nothing like us and look what I've-” The sound of my door splintering, and then cracking against the wall, pulls me straight to my feet. A fucking furious looking Dragon stands there in the doorway.

“The fuck?” shouts out of me. Mariana moves behind me, then gets her ass straight in front of me. I’m quick to shove her back where she’s come from because he’s barely even looking at me. He’s focused on Mariana and nothing else.

“You spiteful little bitch,” he snarls, stepping forward. “Anything. You could have done anything, and I would have forgiven it, but you chose to fucking ruin the one good thing I had.”

“Dante, I’m sorry and-”

“I fucking hate you for this!”

“You cool that shit down,” snaps out of me, as I move us both sideways towards the kitchen. If nothing else, it’s closer to the door downstairs in my room. My hands splay forwards, trying to keep him where he is. “I know what this is about, and I get it, but she’s staying here until shit calms down. We’re gonna fight about it if you don’t back up.”

He literally picks the goddamn table up and flips it over to get to us. “You’re damn lucky you’re not a man, Mariana, because I’d fucking kill you for this.”

“Please Dante. I was mad and hurt and I wasn’t thinking straight.” He moves directly at me, grabbing at me to force me sideways. My fist connects with his jaw the moment he tries reaching for her. Nothing happens other than his head moving slightly.Fuck.

I’m right back in front of her the second I can be, shoving her up into a corner.

“BACK THE HELL OFF! You touch her and we’ll be heading down roads like last night. Don’t make me lose it.” He’s not listening. He’s barely here other than for her, and that’s bringing rage front and centre in me. I move sideways, pulling her along with me until we’re sliding down the kitchen cabinets. Another move from him, another grab for her, and I try pushing him back damn hard. He just keeps moving and then somehow manages to turn me and sweep my own legs from under me.

My head rebounds off the countertop, then the floor, and I try finding some lines of sight in my skewed vision. There isn’t much, but I finally look up to find him caging her in the corner of the room. She’s screaming and he’s shouting and it’s all vicious hatred and tears.

“Couldn’t get your own fucking way?” he hollers, shoving her chest. “Vindictive little bitch needed to ruin something else?”

“No! You don’t get to throw that at me after what you did. At least I’m sorry!”

“First Mother and now this? You might as well have killed me. You knew. The one goddamned thing you could do to hurt me, and you fucking knew it. I’m done with your scheming little ass.”

“If you hadn’t treated me like less, I wouldn’t have-” His hand swipes across her face, sending her reeling across the room, and then he’s going after her. I’m up, reaching into the cupboard for the gun and running at him without thought. My full weight sends him crashing down towards the ground, and the butt of the gun lands hard on his head. It’s nowhere near enough to calm him down. I get tossed sideways, but my legs spin me to crouch in front of her again. The only way he’s getting to her is through me.

“Don’t do this,” snarls out of me as I raise the gun. “You don’t want to, and you know it. Calm the hell down.” She sniffs her tears back from behind me. “You hear that? Whatever she’s done, she doesn’t deserve this. Get a damn grip, dude.” He moves sideways in front of me, pacing, just like she did last night, and there’s no taking his eyes off her. “Dante, listen to me. Cool, yeah? Don’t make me use this on you. I’m trying real damn hard to stay calm here, but I'm about to turn fucking hostile, and none of this ends well.”

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