Page 32 of Savage Hunter

He should be dead.

But I feel his warmth. His hands. His lips.

I want this to be so real.

How is he not dead?

The narrative plays on a loop in my head on repeat. How did he survive so many armed guards? There was so much blood. I keep looking over his shoulder for signs of my mother somewhere, but I only see the angry creases at the corners of Ares’ eyes when he bounds up the stairs looking like he wants to commit murder.

I don’t believe it’s him until Ares is there and giving him the death glare a father would an unwanted boyfriend in his daughter’s room. For a second it looks like there’s going to be a brawl in the middle of my small bedroom but the mention of Rage has me shoving the testosterone-filled alphas thumping their chest out of my room.

I pull Nova in, and close the door in the men’s scowling faces. I need a freaking minute to catch my breath and get my heart out of my throat. Fire heats my cheeks and I can feel Nova’s eyes on my every move.

“Avery, what’s going on? How do you know Wolfe?” Nova takes both my shoulders in hand and stops me from pacing ruts into my carpet.

How is he not dead?

I step out of Nova’s hold and back into my walk-in closet. “Umm… he’s a friend,” I state plainly. Her arched brow and pursed lips say she’s not wanting a fly by answer. She wants details.

I grab a pair of shorts and shirt from their hangers. Nova gives me her back while I pull on my panties and a bra first. After I get my clothes on I break records getting my damp hair into a braid and my shoes pulled on.

“Are you ok? Do you need us to have Wolfe leave? The look on your face… you looked scared. Did he ever hurt you?”

I looked like I saw a ghost.

She turns as I stand. My fingers find the edge of my shirt and I keep their nervous energy busy by tracing the hem. “I know you and Ares will have a lot of questions, but I just need some time. Will you accept I knew him before? And can we just leave it at that? For now.” Echoes of the past wash over me. I’m too shocked to put my words and thoughts into actual sentences beyond what I’ve already said.

“I know that isn’t much but please trust me.”

I drag the edge of my lips between my teeth and spot movement over Nova’s shoulder through my bedroom window. I track the progression of Wolfe as he tramples the wild flowers in the backfield. Ares is several paces in front of him. Wolfe had taken my signals of not sharing my real name, how long before he spills all my secrets? I have to get to him before that happens. I watch as he hangs back and looks up at my window. Will he come back? My heart races. Right when I think he’s going to turn around, he turns toward the woods surrounding the compound and pulls out his phone.

“When you say before do you mean before you came here?”

Huh? I swivel my gaze to a curious-looking Nova.

I know what she’s asking and damn if it doesn’t give me a sudden stomach ache. I clench my fingers into the hem of my shirt and swallow back the sour taste washing up the back of my throat. “Yes, before the Society. Wolfe is a good man,” I say again and leave it at that.

Hot shame builds inside me. As much as I want to die and leave this world on some days, I can’t. Not with the knowledge of Wolfe still being alive. Like I’ve done so many times, I smother my emotions and take Nova’s hands in mine.

Her smile wants me to believe everything will be peachy, and I want to believe her silent support. I do. But when shit can go wrong in life, it usually does.

“Understood. I won’t ask anymore questions, but if you want to talk you know I’m here, right?”

I nod. “I do. Thank you.”

But in all honesty the new world I’ve built beneath me feels set on quicksand. Talking is the last thing I want to do. That is how secrets fall from lips—when they are moving. It doesn’t help that I’m one good rainstorm away from dying and that he just walked into my room covered in blood and soot.

Nova and I hold hands as we leave the main house and take a worn dirt road to Doc’s old place set back a few hundred yards. She uses me as support while I let her warmth keep me from falling into the past. Low-hanging pine branches slap at our faces as we move as quickly as Nova’s belly allows. I was new here when the doctor betrayed the Savages and tried to kill Dragon. It got pretty bad after he kidnapped his little girl and used her to get to my new family. Things haven’t turned for the better since then.

I plaster on a fake smile when we reach the porch.

“Hey, sugas. Ares is waiting for you both inside.”

Fergie is the mother hen who keeps everyone in line and the compound in order before Nova arrived. A lit red Marlboro hangs from her freshly glossed lips. She points her polished finger toward the front door.

The club candies sprawl on the wide railing opposite Fergie passing a cigarette between them and the prospects. Wait, no. Casanova and Blaze are patched members of the crew now. Keeping up with all the ins and outs of the biker life is something I haven’t caught onto yet.

Warm summer air filters through the surrounding trees and plays with the spiked mohawk Piper running down the center of Piper’s head. Acid green tips make the top half of her hair blend in with the low-hanging pine branches. She waves at me and I do the same. On the outside, I don’t have a lot in common with either of the wild party biker girls. But our troubled pasts made us instant friends when I came to live here.

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