Page 13 of Savage Hunter

“I’ll lead you up the back way. Be a good girl and don’t disobey me on this.”

He speaks as if his word is law.

Maybe in his world as the head bodyguard, but I make my own decisions from here on out.

I pull his hand from between my legs and push off the lounge. Naked and feeling like I’ve taken my life in my hands for once, I smile down at him spread out before me looking sated yet stern. Only Wolfe could look happy and mad at the same time.

“No,” I state flatly and gather my crumpled dress. “I’m going to wear the scent of you and this ruined dress all the way to my mother’s office and tell her the truth. You’re overreacting, Wolfe. She won’t kill you anymore than she will me. You’ll see.”

I wish I’d known how wrong I was before it was too late.

Three

Avery

Igather the ends of my dress and give Wolfe one last kiss. We are at the back stairs that lead directly to the second floor of the mansion. A quick peak reveals a handful of limousines coming in, circling the large water fountain to drop off guests. My mother will look for me soon, if she hasn’t already knocked at my door.

Towering over me, my new lover brushes my tousled hair from my face. “Listen to me, Harmonia. Go to your rooms and gather yourself before joining the other guests,” he commands softly. “Tonight is not the night to play Russian roulette with your mother's wrath. She’s a loaded weapon you’ve never seen go off. Trust me.”

What does he know that I do not?

Wolfe gathers my hands in his and comes in to press kisses on either cheek.

“I can see the defiance in your eyes.” He gathers my chin in hand. “Listen to me. Trust me. You’re too precious to see hurt.” He’s twelve years my senior, but sounds wiser than most people twice his age. What looks like worry and a plethora of other emotions sweep over his handsome face before he neatly tucks them away from sight. In the blink of an eye he’s back to his stoic expression, his thoughts hidden from sight.

I sigh heavily.

He makes me feel treasured unlike anyone else ever has. A princess when all I’ve ever felt like is the unwanted child. All those funny memes that say be bold and take what you want come to mind. Well, tonight I did. I don’t even care about the red doors or about whatever secret lies behind them. I want Wolfe. Nothing else matters.

“I do trust you, Wolfe.” His arms tighten around me for a fraction of a minute before he releases me and places a kiss on the top of my head. But it’s the pat on my ass followed by words of praise that has me ready to do anything he says. It’s an odd feeling and one I don’t understand. Yet.

His eyes track the shadows. His voice is tight and controlled. Just like his touches. He’s entered bodyguard mode.

“Good girl, now go. I’ll watch over you until you’re inside.”

He took the time to re-dress for this evening’s event before ushering me through the darkened passages back to the main house. On the outside, the man blends in with the wealthy guests gathering in the halls only a few feet from where we stand. But underneath the tuxedo jacket are two fully loaded guns and an array of other weapons he has clipped onto his belt. I know because I unabashedly watched him dress.

I trace the tips of my fingers over his smooth jawline and fix a stray piece of hair falling over his forehead.

I wanted to stay unfeeling for so long, but the night my mother introduced him to me as her new security detail I knew I wanted to be more than an unseen wallflower.

He can’t possibly think my mother would actually harm him. Her a weapon? She’s made of stone, but she’s not a killer. But she will definitely keep me from him. There are lines she will never erase in her mind. I’m on one side and she is on the other. He is right.

“We can’t stay here, can we?” I boldly ask. We’re tucked in next to the wall where no one can see us so I take the extra moment to read his expression at my question.

His hands take either side of my face. “We were never supposed to happen.”

“What are you saying, Wolfe?”

His hands drop to my shoulders and then encircle me. He draws me into his chest and I press my face into his neck, drawing in the smell of sex and sin. I pull back to look into his eyes.

His gaze strays to the forced smile on my lips a moment before reconnecting with my eyes.

“Everything will be okay,” I promise, though the pit of my stomach feels hollow. I recognize the longing in his gaze and in his possessive embrace. I’ve lived with it for the past year hoping he would one day be allowed to come back. Millions of question sit on the tips of my tongue about his time away. Where did he go? What did my mother have him do? Did he touch another woman?

But later. I know time is limited right now. A part of me hopes to hear him tell me to pack a bag, but when he says nothing I finally give in. I can’t find it in me to do something that will earn his disapproval.

“When will I see you again?”

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