Page 10 of Love & Violence

The woman nods. “My name’s Rylee.”

“I’m Aryanna.”

Rylee smiles. “Yes. You’re my brother’s mate. He wouldn’t do this kind of crazy shit for anyone but you.”

“I can’t let him be killed. Because if he does, I’ll die right beside him.”

Rylee nods again. “Hopefully, it won’t come to that.”

“My father hates yours for some reason,” I reply, hoping she may be able to shed some light.

Draven’s sister frowns. “Yeah, I’ve heard the talk, but I have no idea why.”

“I wonder why they want to kill each other?”

“It had something to do with your mother,” I say because that’s all I know.

“Oh, wow. I didn’t expect that. It makes our situation harder if it was that personal.”

“Why do you say that?” Rylee asks.

My heart feels like it might beat out of my chest. “What if they were both in love with her?”

Draven’s sister’s mouth drops open before we both squeal, and I grab her when Draven takes a sharp right turn.

“Jesus, brother, are you trying to kill us?” Rylee shouts angrily.

Draven snorts. “Just stay down. I have a place we can stay for a while.”

Draven is focused on the road, so I turn my attention to Rylee. “What was happening with you and Domenico?” I ask.

Rylee shrugs. “It doesn’t matter. We need to focus on the two of you now.”

I nod, but it’s just one more thing for me to worry about.

We stay quiet and just hold onto each other whenever Draven turns or stops unexpectedly before taking off again at breakneck speed.

The drive seems to go on forever, and my body is starting to ache from being bent for so long. I exhale when I see a garage door to an older building open. Draven drives inside, and the door immediately closes behind us.

None of us move or speak for a moment, but I imagine I can still hear our breathing and our heartbeats bouncing off the steel walls and causing an echo. I’m sure I’m the only one who thinks that, but it makes it less scary than with no sound.

Draven gets out of the Jeep and opens my door. “Come on, little mate.”

I reach up, and he lifts me from the vehicle’s floor and into his arms. He stands with me cradled against his chest, both of us staring at each other. I wish I could stay here in this moment for hours, but the reality is starting to creep back in. We are in some dire circumstances and must figure out our next move.

My mate sets me on my feet but keeps an arm around my shoulders, holding me tight against his body.

“Man, are we fucked or what?” the other man says with a crazy smile.

“We’ll figure it out, Rat. For now, check the perimeter,” Draven orders.

Rat? Really? Who wants a name like that?

“Let’s go this way.” Draven gestures to the side.

Draven takes us through several doors and into what looks like a large studio apartment. It seems to have everything we’d need, including food, and we could probably stay here for a while. The only problem I can see is we might not be able to shift and run as our animals need.

“Hey, Babe, sit here.” Draven pulls out a chair for me.

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