Page 84 of The Untamed

On the hunt for a wife I don’t even want.

My thoughts drift back to the pantry. When I’d wanted to distract Ronan from me telling him the truth. He’d accused me of playing him, but I was a hundred percent on board with the idea of capturing his mouth with mine, kissing away all the questions he’d had.

And then what?

Would he have let me touch his cock again?

Could it have gone further?

The thought of someone catching us like that in the pantry, particularly Mom or Dad, has bile creeping up my throat. Nausea hits me in a wave. I pull the pillow tight over my face, hoping to get lost again in the replays of the day.

Which brings my thoughts to Rae.

Holy fuck had that been intense.

She attacked me and cut my damn chin, but then she let me turn the tables. I kissed her like I was starved for her taste. My dick ground against her, aching for relief. The best part was, I pinched her hard nipple and would have found a way to get it into my mouth had Kristen not screamed.

Again.

As though that memory is on repeat, I hear it again. Far away. Repeated several times.

Chet has a coughing fit. And then, so does Wild.

What the hell?

I jerk my pillow off my face and am met with the smell of smoke wafting through the air. At first I think it’s a nightmare come to life, but then I quickly realize it’s not a dream.

“Wake up!” I yell, my voice croaking with sleep. “Wild, there’s smoke!”

Wild curses and then shoves his foot into Chet’s side. “Dude, wake up. Fire.”

Chet scrambles up quickly but then has a coughing fit. While he tries to catch his breath, I shove on my boots and burst out of the cabin. Thick smoke covers everything around me, limiting visibility to barely an arm’s length in front of me.

What the hell happened?

Through the orange hazy smoke, I realize the fire is coming from the big house. As I race toward it, I discover nearly half of the home is on fire.

“Mom!” I yell into the house, shying away from the immense heat of it. “Fuck, Dad!”

Nothing.

And then I hear it.

The screams I’d heard before. Not my dreams. Real life.

Dawson.

He’s not even a year old. If something happened to Mom and Dad, he’d never be able to get out on his own. Cursing at what I have to do, I rush around to a part of the house that’s not quickly burning to the ground. With my elbow, I bash in the glass and then jerk the window up so I can crawl through it. A burst of heat surges out the window, causing me to groan.

This is going to suck so bad.

Dawson’s howl of terror has me hoisting myself through the window without further thought. The smoke is thicker inside and the heat is fucking unbearable. I’m instantly drenched in sweat and overcome with a coughing fit that makes me dizzy. Blindly, I stumble through the house in an effort to steer clear of the kitchen and dining room area that seem to be where the fire started.

I make it to Declan and Kota’s room first. When I burst inside, I’m happy to see both their beds are empty. Maybe Dad grabbed them and got them out of here already. Next, I fling open the door to Destiny and Raegan’s room that’s our current infirmary. Kristen is gone, of course, but now, so is Stacey. The only one remaining is Carter.

“Carter, man, we have to get you out of here,” I boom, rushing over to him. “What the fuck?”

A knife is planted deep in the center of his chest.

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