Page 56 of Savage Hunter

But a villain. I never thought of myself as a bad girl before.

I want to belong to him? I’ve always been the good girl in his eyes. Never be the one to step out of line. Do as I am told.

But a villain. I never thought of myself as the villain. I’ve always been the good girl in his eyes. Never be the one to step out of line. Do as I am told. I never thought of myself as the villain.

I can’t be him. He doesn’t know what he is asking for. I meant it when I said I was not his angel. I place my hands over his and feel a multitude of raised slashes across the backs of his knuckles. Scars. Did he get some of those because of me? Probably. But he was a fighter long before we met.

But me? I’m nothing like him. Looking out at the body laying face down in Dragon’s front lawn makes me think I might be a villain after all. I know for sure I’m no one’s good girl no matter how desperately I want to be for Wolfe. That part of my life is gone.

We can never go back to when I was the innocent girl wanting the affections of an older, forbidden man. I’m too broken for that and I don’t have the heart to tell him I don’t know if I can love him when I can’t find it in me to love myself.

The pain of realization in my chest morphs from utterly unbearable to devastatingly heart-shattering.

I look around me. Blood and bodies litter the floor. Claws made of past trauma dig into my heart and threaten to drag me into hell but I fight their hold. The last time I saw so many bodies wasthatnight. The night I lost him.

I blink through the tears.

“Stay here with me, Harmonia.” Wolfe scoops me into his arms and holds me tight against his chest. His warmth wraps around me as much as his arms do. My feet are off the floor when he raises to his full height. Feeling like a doll compared to his size I wrap my legs around his waist and tuck my face into his neck. He smells of blood and determination.

His large hands run up and down my back.

“You’re safe here. I’ve got you. I’ve finally got you.” He turns into me and touches his cheek against mine. We stay like that and I use him as my anchor.

“I’ll never be the bold princess you remember, Wolfe.”

His gaze holds mine. “No, you’re someone even stronger.”

I have a sudden urge to laugh in his face. Stronger? I don’t know what to make of that so I keep quiet. I don’t agree wholly, but I can’t argue either. I defeated Brutus after all. I slowly lower my legs and back away from him. This time not out of fear as much as knowing we can’t stay here.

“We need to go find the others.”

“Agreed. Help me gather their things. Ares will have questions and we need to gather everyone quickly.”

And take a headcount, he means. But I know he doesn’t want to scare me.

I bend down and start pulling guns off the dead men. Knives. Phones. It’s that or start crying and I am not about to let the tears win right now.

“These men came with one purpose. To kill as many of us as possible. He said girls in Spanish, didn’t he? Me and someone else.” I don’t mean it as a question, but Wolfe nods causing loose hair to slip over his forehead. It gives him a dangerous vibe of controlled chaos.

“Then I guess it’s a good thing you are a cold-hearted killer or I might already be back at the mercy of my mother.”

I watch as he cleans his hands on a discarded piece of cloth he finds on the floor. Done, he checks every pocket of the men he just…killed. In order to protect me. I swallow that truth down but it feels like eating sawdust.

“I have always been a cold-blooded killer, Harmonia. You just never wanted to see the darker side of me. And that is okay. I never wanted you to see me like this. Like some…”

“Villain.”

“Monster, Harmonia. I know what I am.”

“You mean protector,” I counter. “I could go on. But let’s face it, Wolfe. I didn’t trust you ten minutes ago, and you still killed to protect me. You took that sin so I could live. I see that now. I’m sorry I doubted you.”

In complete contrast to the brutal force he used to execute my attackers, he gently brushes my hair from my face and strokes his thumb over my cheek.

“Never doubt what I’ll do to keep you at my side. I lost you once. It won’t happen again. I’ll say it as many times as you need to hear it.”

I fight the knee jerk reaction to tell him I’m broken and don’t deserve his sacrifice. Before my emotions get the better of me and I cry like a weakling again, I gather all the guns and knives and pile them in a nearby closet. I come back to find Wolfe turning a man over and searching the front pockets of his vest.

“They won’t have any ID on them. You know my mother trained her enforcers better than that. And it’s Avery now. Not Harmonia.”

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