Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 96(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 64(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 96(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 64(@300wpm)
“They’re dead,” he ground out. “And I’m gonna make it fucking hurt before it’s over with.”
I held him as tightly as he held me. I wanted to argue, to say I didn’t want him to go after them for me. Wasn’t that the reason I left? Because this life was too messy, too violent and gritty? I’d seen it before but had never experienced it firsthand, and I made the decision to leave before it inevitably would. But now here I was.
This was who Knox was. This was who my brother and the MC were. I had always known that. Known that this world was inherently ingrained in me, as I was sewn into the make-up of its culture.
There was no running again. There was no pretending this wasn’t the life I was supposed to lead and that this wasn’t the man I was supposed to be with.
Knox pulled back, his thumb stroking over my cheek, before he tipped my chin up. “Come on, baby.” And then he led me inside and right to his room.
6
KELSIE
Ididn’t realize I was crying until Knox wiped a stray tear from my cheek.
The lights were dim, and the air was thick with all sorts of unspoken things. My hands were still trembling, but so were his.
I knew it wasn’t from fear. But from fury.
Every muscle in his body was tight with that barely restrained violence toward his enemies that I knew all too well.
“They put their hands on you?” he asked, wanting clarification this time, his voice guttural. When I didn’t answer right away, he growled, “Baby, did they fucking touch you?”
I knew he didn’t just mean aggressively. He meant sexually.
I swallowed and shook my head. “They didn’t get far.”
I saw a muscle tic in his jaw, saw his body become slightly less rigid. “What did they do? What did they fucking say?”
The look in his eyes was one I knew well, and he rose to his feet. He needed to go hunting.
And I realized then that I needed him to do it.
I sat on the bed as he paced the length of the room. When he was close enough, I reached out, catching his wrist. “Knox.”
He froze and faced me, his chest heaving. The expression taking over his handsome features was crazed, frantic. His breath was ragged as he gritted out, “I’ll fucking kill them, sweetheart. I’ll bury them so no one ever finds their remains.”
“I know.” And I did. Without a doubt. And as I stared into his eyes, seeing the rage and concern and… love for me, I knew I could never leave this man. Not again.
It had been a mistake all those years ago. It had been the biggest mistake of my life.
His jaw was clenched, and I could see a storm of emotions wash across his face. Without saying a word, Knox hauled me off the bed, spun us around, and took me back down onto the bed so I was straddling his lap.
When his mouth claimed mine, it was a bruising, desperate kiss, and I was all for it.
I moaned into it, melting against the hardness of his body and letting Knox take what he needed—what we both needed at this moment.
His hands were rough, his grip possessive, and his kiss… God, his kiss seemed to swallow my shaky breaths.
After long minutes of making out, Knox tore his lips from mine and stared into my eyes. His gaze was dark and fevered. “I need to hear you say it.”
I knew exactly what he wanted. “I’m yours.”
The low rumble that spilled from between his clenched teeth made my pussy impossibly wetter. I gasped as he made quick work of stripping me bare. “I’m only yours,” I moaned.
Knox snarled, a dangerous sound, and then he had me on my back, his own clothes off, and wedged himself between my spread thighs.
There was no hesitation. No softness in any sense.
There was only rough and unyielding ownership.
There was only Knox.
And I let him claim me. Because I was his.
7
KNOX
Ifelt fucking wild as I stared at Kelsie. She was mine in every sense of the word.
I raked my gaze over her, taking note that she’d always been beautiful, but with time, she had become even more so.
I wasn’t going to waste another second.
I grabbed her wrists and yanked them up so they were above her head, pinning her down and caging her in. Right now, I felt frenzied, crazed. All I could see, smell, hear, and think about was Kelsie, about claiming her.
Her breath hitched as I leaned down, my lips brushing against her ear. “You’re mine,” I growled, my voice dark and wholly possessive. “And I want you to fucking swear it. I want you to mean it.”
She hesitated, and I tightened my grip on her wrists, snarling like a fiend.
“Swear it,” I demanded a second time, my teeth grazing her earlobe.