She’s the fucking truth.
“Close your mouth, Levi. You’re drooling,” Sebastian mocks.
Clearing my throat, I deny his accurate assessment, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Sebastian snorts, clapping me on my shoulder, “Sure, man. Just go make sure she’s okay.” Then his face turns serious, “Until we know exactly what, she shouldn’t be alone.”
I shake my head, “Wy or O should be the ones to be with her.”
“They will be, but there’s no limit on who can support her. Go,” he commands.
Sensing my hesitation, he pushes me in the direction Ariah just went, and my feet move before my brain can object.
I go over all of the instances I doubted her— all of the times I gave Wyatt and Owen shit for letting some girl mess with their minds, accusing them of not having their heads in the game.
Fuck. I got this one all wrong.
13
ARIAH
My mind keeps playing the last five days on a loop. That’s how long I’ve been gone.Almost a goddamn week.
I sit in the open back of the SUV as some doctor checks my vitals. She’s nice enough, but I’m less focused on her bedside manner. All I see is water being poured in my face, Sam being assaulted, and my dad being shot.
My dad.
I can’t believe the man covered in blood was him. He looked disheveled like someone left out in the Alaskan wilderness to fend for themselves.
His usually cropped short hair was a tangled mess, his bearded face paler than his typically clean-shaven alabaster complexion, making his freckled cheeks more pronounced. He looked like he'd lost ten pounds and some muscle.What did they do to him?
I step down from the truck, hoping to find someone to update me on my father. My thoughts drift to the hate in my mother’s eyes. The revulsion and contempt in every word spewed from her mouth, the power in the slap she planted on my cheek. I mindlessly raise my hand to the spot, wincing as my cold hands graze the still warm skin.
A hand slides up my arm, making me jump and attempt to tug away until I smell him.Wyatt.
I look up into the distraught amber eyes, my mouth parting to speak, but he envelops me. My face presses against the black bulletproof vest as I inhale him. His scent mixes in with the metallic smell of blood, but it’s his scent that reminds me I’m not in that room anymore.
His hands slide down my form, scooping me up by my butt into his chest. I squeal in surprise, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist as I rest my head in the crook of his shoulder.
“Never letting you go. I’ll kill anyone who tries to take you from me again,” he growls in my ear.
The bass in his voice sends shivers down my spine, but it’s his words that settle me.
“You came for me,” I whisper, lifting my gaze until our eyes lock.
Wyatt angles his neck, lowering his mouth a hairbreadth from mine as he professes, “I will. Every single fucking time, Love. We all will,” before claiming my lips with his in an all consuming kiss.
I’m caught in his spell, lost in a tangle of tongues, groaning at the feel of him hardening beneath.
“Hey, fucker. Stop hogging her.” Owen yanks me backward into a bridal hold before planting me on my feet. “Angel,” he chokes out as his calloused hands run along my skin, gliding across the spot where Seline smacked me.
Owen’s eyes light with rage, his jaw clenches, but his touch is gentle as he tilts my face to the side to better examine the still forming bruise.
“Who did this?” he mutters through gritted teeth.
“Seline,” is all I say, and I hear Wyatt curse.
Not wanting everyone to fuss over me, I redirect the conversation. “How’s my dad, and have you guys found Sam?”
