Bastian equals protection.
Bastian equals trust.
She has absolutely no idea that the hand she’s holding belongs to the most dangerous man she’ll ever meet. If she knew the things I want to do to her, she’d run screaming back into the forest.
Poor, broken Haven has no idea she’s trading one collar for another.
Chapter 3
Kai
There’s blood in my eyes and my mouth. I can taste it. Smell it. Feel it coating my face and my hands. Even the downpour isn’t washing it away.
Everyone’s talking at once. Shouting and yelling.
Ezra’s limp body dwindles as I’m dragged away. I kick my feet, thrashing as I try to get back to Ezra so I can finish the fucking job, because I don’t think I killed him, and fuck it, I want to.
I need to.
My brain flashes me an image of Haven on her knees, that collar around her neck—but all I can see is five-year-old Haven crying when I left her tied up too long.
I’ve been hurting her since we were kids, and tonight someone else dared to try.
“Leave me!” I roar, yanking so hard that I get one of my arms free. I turn to the other guy still holding me, and snarl at Kruger. “Get the fuck off me!”
“Not a chance, bro.” He twists my arm, and then grabs my other one, locking them behind my back.
I’m waiting, fuckingexpectingsomeone to come up and start punching me. Maybe Ezra, if Ezra wasn’t still lying there, dying.
Kruger drags me off the DJ stand, him and iPhone maneuvering me into the trees through the pouring rain.
By the time the leaves block the strobe lights and we leave the panicked crowd behind, my heart rate has dropped, and my veins aren’t pumping pure adrenaline through my body.
The icy rain helps. Like it’s cooling down the inferno of hatred seething inside me. But, man, there’s just too much of it.
“You wanna tell me what the fuck snapped in that head of yours?” iPhone asks, handing me a bottle of water.
I chug half of it before I dare take a breath. And it helps, suffocating the rage churning inside me some. But then my knuckles start aching, and my brain flashes me an image of Haven on her knees, that collar around her neck, looking so confused and scared andnakedand?—
“Dude, stop!” Kruger seizes my arm, hauling me back as I make a lunge for the dance floor, flicking his head to get his wet hair out of his face. “Whatever point you were trying to make, you fucking made it already.”
I pull out of his grip, drag my hands through my own matted mess.
“Cunt!” I yell, kicking a tree. “Fuck!” I grab my foot, hopping on one leg until iPhone angles me toward a tree and I can lean against it for balance.
“Motherfucking cunt!” I roar toward the dance floor. “I’ll fucking kill you!”
“Yeah, Kai, dude?” iPhone laughs with zero humor. “Ezra’s knocked the fuck out, bro. He can’t hear you for shit.”
Kruger grabs my wrist, shoves a lit joint between my fingers, forcing me to cup it so it doesn’t get rained on. “Smoke this. Chill the fuck out.”
iPhone pats my shoulder. “We gotta get your story straight before the cops show up.”
Cops?
Jesus.
I hit the joint like my life depends on it. Because, fuck, it probably does.
