Page 97 of Savage Hunter

“Yes?” My throat turns dry again. Her hesitation has me sweating. A horrific sense of dread is worse than getting kicked in the balls. If the bitch is still out there, then the Savages better be hunting her down while I get my feet back under me. And then I’ll join them.

It takes a lot of focus and more pain than I knew I could handle, but I slowly reach for Harmonia’s hand and she locks our fingers together. She stares down at me through her tears.

I meet her agonized gaze. “Tell me. It’s okay.”

Her next words are whispers.

“I killed my mother.”

I stroke the pad of my thumb over the back of her knuckles absorbing her whispered confession and wishing I had the power to shift her agony into me. I would take all her pain as my own, given the chance. “And you feel guilty?” Of course she does. How could she not? My Harmonia is as sweet as they come. I failed her. I rode in with demons on my heels and failed at the one mission. And now she is paying for my failures.

She flicks her tongue against the lip ring. She rolls a shoulder and the look of confusion on her face drives me to find the strength to sit up.

“No.” I see the second rage sparks in her blood. Her strength speaks to me as much as her anguish.

“I’m confused. Then why are you crying, beautiful?”

“Because of what you might think of me. I’m not like you or the Savages. I don’t hurt people. I don’t know what to do with all the emotions I am not feeling right now.”

Her trembling lips slay me.

“I told you. I’ll be your villain if you’ll be mine.” I try for a lightheartedness I don’t feel.

She falls into my arms and rests her head on my shoulder. “I am so sorry I couldn’t protect you. I failed you over and over. I should have been the one to end her and save you from this heartache.”

She raises to look me in the eye. All those tears drive a blade into my chest. “But you protected me, Wolfe. It’s because of you I am not quivering in a corner and wanting to die every second of the day.Youdied forme. No one has ever stood up for me and you did. You sacrificed your life to protect mine. I am sorry I ever doubted your true intentions.”

I brush at her tears. “And these?”

“I’m crying because I don’t feel the remorse I should feel. Something is truly broken inside me. All I feel is relief.”

I tuck her under my chin. I shake my head, dispelling the cloud of guilt and remorse for not being there for her when she needed me the most. “Baby, I don’t know how you went up against her and won—”

“—our love.” She cuts in with a fierceness in her eyes I know better than to brush off as simply adrenaline. “You cleared the enemies from my path and I sought my vengeance. You gave me the closure I didn’t fully understand I needed so completely.”

I cup her cheek, depleting my energy. Smooth. Warm. A gift I don't deserve but I’m a selfish bastard even death can’t beat. Yet. I’m not arrogant enough to think I can’t die.

“Your nightmares will change. You’ll see her face in your dreams.” I wait for her to open her eyes and when she does I pour all my love into my next words. “And when you do, I will be there to hold you and be your strength. You’ll never be alone again.”

“Always?”

“I can’t think of a better life to want. Always.”

Her smile is my undoing. “You better not break that promise. Keeping you alive shaved years off my life. I can’t do it again.”

“How close did I come to the end?”

“You flatlined three times. Each time your ass got harder and harder to drag back out of hell.”

Harlon throws the curtain hanging around my bed wide open to reveal a motley crew I feel is more family than not. Dragon and Riot have their arms around their women and the Genesis men are various forms of what dog tired looks like. Dragon is wrapped in bandages and has an arm in a sling.

“You guys look like you’ve gone to hell and back.”

“Pot and kettle, you stubborn bastard.”

Harlon’s tone is rough but his eyes are gentle. He clasps my hand and we share a moment unlike that last one we had where I was sure he wanted to deck me across the jaw.

“Harlon is the one who moved quickly which helped save your life. The doctors said if he hadn’t given you CPR when he did, you would not have made it back to us.”

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