Page 37 of Savage Hunter

I hate having my heart tattooed to the side of my arm for everyone to see. Wolfe tilts my chin up and kisses each of my cheeks like he’s done this forever. It feels natural, but those warning lights are going off again. “Don’t cry for him. Keep that energy for yourself. You’re going to need it for when we are alone.”

I gulp down anoh shitand wonder what he has in mind. The slightest of quirks to the right side of his lips tells me he might not be after talking after all.

I brace my hands on his chest and try to put distance between us but his arms only tighten around my waste. “Stay with me,” he says in a tone pitched low. Standing like this it almost feels like we have entered a cone of silence and are shut off from the rest of the room.

“Wolfe, I don’t know what you expect from me, but we…” How do I put this? “Um, things are different.I’mdifferent.” Please don’t make me spell it out.

His lashes lower, and he considers me through narrowed eyes. Behind me Rage continues to give his brother’s an explanation and I tune in on that instead of the truth I can’t change with Wolfe. It’s a safer topic than exposing my battered heart, soul, and body to a man I used to love.

Bricks and mortar form in my head and I take those mental visualizations and instead of breaking them apart like my therapist said, I use them to building a wall around my fragile heart. I’m going to need all the reinforcement I can get when it comes time to lay my shame at his feet.

“We all change, Harmon—”

I glance around to make sure no one is listening to us. “Shh,” I clamp a hand over his mouth and he presses warm kisses to the palms of my hands. Wolfe’s phone vibrates. He pushes our combined weight off the counter and pulls out his cellphone.

“Shit.” His lip curls as if whoever is on the other end isn’t someone he doesn’t want to talk to right now.

His eyes drop to the small loop in my lip. “Don’t go anywhere. I won’t be long. Let me deal with this and then we need to talk.” Wolfe picks me up and sits me on top of a long metal counter. “I’ll be right back.” Our breath mingles, he threads our fingers together, and he presses a kiss to the inside of my palm. He’s done that twice now and the second time is just as distracting as the first.

No promises. But instead of telling him that, I flick the ring in my lip.

My eyes don’t leave Wolfe’s retreating back as he heads upstairs. God, I love looking at him. Feeling his hands on me. Hearing his voice. My head says I should be happy. My heart wants it for me too.

And yet…

Months ago I would think nothing of Wolfe taking a phone call outside. He did it all the time when my mother would call him and he needed privacy to handle her dealings. Given the level of betrayal I’ve experienced, my trust is smashed to pieces. I no longer look at people and see their smile or hear their pretty words. Wolfe is no different. My hands tighten around the ends of the cold metal counter and I use the cool surface as a point to focus on. I want to trust what I see. I want to believe he is here because fate brought us back together, but I’m no one's fool. Not anymore. He fought for me, but he also survived when he should have died.

God, I hate being so scared all the time. I want to trust again. But how?

“The Cortes cartel killed my brother and sent me his head as a warning to keep away.”

I look at Rage who looks torn in two.

“This is bad on so many levels.” I don’t know who says it but I mirror their sentiments.

There are a lot of teeth gritting and fists hitting countertops and the walls.

“Why didn’t they send it to the DEA headquarters?” That’s Ares pressing Rage for information this time. He was missing for three weeks and the fact he didn’t reach out to his brothers for help has them all torn up.

Rage turns tired eyes on his brother and my heart breaks for the both of them. They’ve been through so much, suffered so much betrayal that I don’t know how they haven’t given up and just faded away by now.

“I wondered the same until I found out what your other brother has been up to. While Riot here was fighting your brother Kirill, your other brother, Silas, teamed up with the Colombian drug lord to distribute Euphoria through their sources. All the deaths in our clubs and the college kid’s overdosing on our watch is because we can’t seem to eradicate the Antonov bloodline.”

Silas.

He is Ares’ brother? I run through all the conversations I’ve overheard in the compound. There’s been so much talk about his family looking to ruin him, but I never heard all his brothers’ names. There are so many of them.

Silas. God, what kind of sick joke is this? The blood in my veins runs cold as my brain sticks on the name of my mother’s lover. The man who pushed me into the Society.

I know little about Euphoria. Only that the drug is killing teens and college kids all over the city. Ares explained it makes you think you are invincible. Worse yet, the pushers selling the tiny pills make you believe you can have as much as you want and never overdose.

But I know a lot about the man who does anything for power. If he joins forces with the Colombian cartel, death will follow. And if he’s working with the cartel where did that leave him with my mother? Are they working in tandem? It makes sense. There’s no way he would have dissolved that connection. Not with the power she offered him with her filthy crown.

My mind races with all the possibilities of what this means. A thought enters my head that has my heart racing and tiny silver dots pop in and out of my vision.

Oh, God. I look around me. Everyone is talking about Rage’s brother and why he ended up dead. Someone mentions Ghost and the conversation detours toward his daughter. She is in the hands of Ares’ brothers. But it’s worse than that. Doesn’t anyone see it?

“You are missing a big point,” I blurt out. Why are they not seeing this? “If Silas is working with the Colombians and we already know he has ties to the Society. This drug Euphoria. My God people, do you see what is happening? They are getting people to drug themselves so they can kidnap them, for one.” I look at Ares and I can tell he’s running the scenarios.

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