Seth chuckled darkly and dropped his hold on me, his gaze averting to the floor. “And what would you get in return?”
“My freedom,” I replied. “And the freedom of all my friends on his revenge list.”
Seth’s eyes shot back to mine. “You gave that up for me?”
I scoffed. “It’s not like I could trust Nikolai to honor his word anyway.”
Seth pulled me close, his arms wrapping around my waist. His gaze felt like a physical touch, and I shivered in anticipation.
“But what if he did honor the deal? Would you have turned me in?” He breathed a ragged sigh into my hair, and I could feel his heart beating through our embrace.
“No,” I murmured, wrapping my arms around his neck.
Every inch of me felt alive as I moved closer to him, our bodies flush together. His lips hovered just inches away from mine, and I could almost taste the words he was about to say.
“Why not?”
His voice was heavy with longing, and I wanted nothing more than to kiss him and tell him how much I loved him. But before I could do that, I needed to hear it from him first.
“I want to hear you say it,” he said softly, closing the gap between us as his lips brushed against mine. “I want to hear you say you love me. Because there’s something I’ve been wanting to say to you.”
The fire in his eyes made my breath catch in my throat. “What?”
My mind raced with possibilities and hope filled my chest. He paused for a moment before speaking again.
“I love you, Wren. I’m in love with you to the point it terrifies the hell out of me. I’ve never felt this way about anyone. Hell, I never thought I would. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”
I’ve never had anyone love me like that. I also never knew how amazing it would feel to hear it.
“Same,” I whispered, hoping he could see the truth in my eyes. “That’s why I couldn’t give you over to your brother. I’m in love with you, too.”
Seth’s grip tightened around my waist as he pulled me even closer to him. His eyes bore into mine as if trying to see every inch of my soul.
“This changes things, Wren.”
“How so?” I asked.
He slid his hands up and down my back, making my body tremble. “I can’t have you going after my brother. Keeping you safe and away from him is the only thing I care about. I know you want revenge for him killing Parker, but I need you to let me handle this.” His gaze darkened. “Let me get the revenge for you. I promise he’ll suffer for what he did.”
Seth had never let me down, and I knew in my heart that I could trust him. I never thought I’d be capable of letting someone in. The second I nodded, he crushed his lips to mine. I melted against him, loving how it felt to be in his arms.
When I broke from the kiss, Seth pressed his forehead to mine. “It’s time we made our move.”
I felt a shiver run down my spine at the intensity of his words. He was a man of action, but this was different. This was a whole new level of danger.
“What are you going to do?”
By the sheer fury in his golden-hazel eyes, I knew whatever his plan was, it would be big.
CHAPTER26
SETH
Nikolai made a huge fucking mistake going after Wren the way he did. He made an even bigger one by having Jagger try to kill Ripp. An eye for an eye was how I’d been raised, and I still planned on living by it.
Jagger didn’t succeed in killing Ripp, but that didn’t matter. The rules were the same, only I wasn’t going to fail. I looked down at my watch; it was half past one in the morning. As soon as Wren fell asleep, I left to make my plans.
“You know where he’ll be, don’t you?” Benny said as he walked over to my desk.
