Page 44 of Savage Hunter

Muscles bunch along Ares’ jawline that seem to mirror mine but for different reasons.

“My brother is after power and will use anyone to get it. He wants enough force at his back so he can come after us and eliminate the threat we pose. If we wait long enough, he’ll off Cortes and take his territory, trading routes and bank accounts. That will leave us only one man to go up against.”

Persi is fast to argue. “We can’t wait that long. We can’t. My sister.”

“I know, baby. We all do. We want nothing to happen to your sister. Right,moy brat? We’ll move tonight.”

Ares doesn’t look like he agrees with Rage at all. “Get some sleep. It’s getting late and we will need our heads on straight to work up a plan that doesn’t get us all killed.”

Not good enough. Noone in here realizes a single man can do just as much damage as an army. That’s fine. Let Ares sleep on it. He’s trying to keep his people alive and I can’t blame him for wanting time to consider everything from all angles. I don’t have that luxury. I’ll get Harmonia out and then I’ll go hunting. Going rogue is nothing new to me.

* * *

It takes me a while to find Harmonia. It is the scent of vanilla and brown sugar in the air that finally draws me to her. Faint, but just enough of a thread to follow her to the top of a hill overlooking the Savage land.

When I step out of the treeline and spot the halo of golden hair, I find she’s asleep in a hammock with her hands tucked under her head and a blanket of peace draped over her. The shadows under her eyes look deeper in the fading light.

I’m not sure whose house is being built or why there’s a hammock when no one is living here yet, but I’m grateful for the solitude all the same. I didn’t know how I was going to get her alone, but problem solved. There’s a lawn chair by a nearby tree. I grab it and quietly place it beside the hammock and just soak up the vision of beauty in front of me. I left all my weapons, ammo and anything that would remind either of us of the past and current turmoil back in my saddlebags.

It’s just us and a sheet of twinkling stars glittering above like silent promises everything will turn out okay in the end.

I fucking hope so. I run my thumb over the soft plumpness of her lower lip, remembering the silky softness of her skin. I trace the faint lines across her forehead like a bad dream has her caught in a state of fear or worry.

“Do you still love me,” I ask my sleeping princess. I wasn’t her bodyguard in name, but she was mine to protect and I failed her. How could she still love me after such a deep betrayal? A pike of unbidden fear shoots through me. I jerk my hand back and go to leave her in peace when the light of a screen catches my eye. I reach for her phone to find handwritten poetry pulled up on her phone.

To love is to die a million deaths.

As bright as the stars shine above, does the sorrow live in equal darkness.

I suck in harshly like someone has stabbed me in the heart. Pain ricochets through me.

I read her first lines, and it feels like I’m crossing some unseen boundary line. But I can’t help myself. I’ve hunted for her for so long, I carve any little detail about her life I can find and what holds deeper meaning than a person’s words?

The invisible blade sticking out of my heart sinks deeper until it’s too hard to breathe. If I read anymore I don’t think I’ll survive the depths of her despair.

I flick off the device and put it back at her side. Maybe one day she’ll feel confident enough to share her writings with me. Until then, I’ll wait.

Careful not to touch her, I reach out and run my finger through the silky softness of her hair.

It’s much longer than what I remember. She usually wore it pinned high on her head of tumbling curls around her shoulders when she lived with her mother. Not once did I see her as relaxed as she appears now. No makeup, no care in taming her hair. Wild and free.

But at a cost.

Unable to stop myself, I trace the back of my knuckles across the smoothness of her cheek. She’s cold to the touch. I take off my cut and drape it over her body. An exhale leaves her lips and the drawn tightness around her eyes and across her forehead smoothes out.

I sit back and scrub a hand down my face. It takes everything in me not to wake her up, put her on the back of my bike and ride off and just fade into nothing. I’d get some papers worked up and no one would ever hear of Wolfe and Harmonia again. It’s a fantasy I’ve worked out a hundred times in my head if I ever found her. I have the name and number of the person who could draw up paperwork for me and they could be ready by the time we take to arrive in New Orleans.

But at a cost.

I reach for my pack of smokes only to come back empty-handed. I knew I shouldn’t have given up the one vice that kept my nerves at bay. But an expert hunter remains undetected and the smell of cigarette smoke is a dead giveaway.

My gaze sweeps over her body. Her simple shirt with a set of red lips on the front and the words kiss my ass in a funny scribble have me smiling. She was always opinionated but more subtle about it. It’s good to see she isn’t afraid to express herself anymore.

But at a cost.

Shadows cling to her delicate features. I drag my fingers through my hair and pull at the roots. Anything to get my head in the game. Pain usually works, but my fucking brain keeps going back to the shit I want to forget. Why can’t I simply sit here and be in the moment?

Guilt a voice spouts off in my head. Yeah, I know why. I just don’t want to think about it for five damn minutes and enjoy the view in front of me. I searched for her for so damn long and now that I have her less than a foot from my fingertips my trigger finger wants to get to work.

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