“Yes sir.” I give him a tight smile.My fury must have given him a welcome home he won’t soon forget.I almost laugh when the next thing he does is growl as he eyes Twenty-Three one last time.
He shakes his head. “Donotlet her get away from you. She’s dangerous.”
I nod, choosing not to say anything more, for fear I’ll provoke him into doing something rash. I don’t like the way he looks at her. I’ve seen her in action, but at the end of the day, she’s still a woman. How’d he let her best him tonight?
As I head out, it’s slow going, as I’m having to pick my way through the dense undergrowth. Much of the conversation transpiring behind us is still audible. “I’m looking forward to watching you bring her to heel, Father.” Hayze’s statement causes the girl in my arms to flinch and exhale hard through her nose. When I glance down, I catch the tremble of her lip. His comment upset her. I tuck that bit of information away and keep moving. There’s no time to think about it right now.
After we’ve gone a short distance, the questionthat’s been dancing precariously on the tip of my tongue falls from my lips. “Are you okay?” I drop my gaze to hers, allowing myself to study her for a quick second as I make purposeful strides back toward the compound. When she doesn’t answer but instead turns her face toward my chest, I give her a gentle shake. “Did they hurt you?”
“What do you care?” she mumbles, still refusing to look at me.
“I asked, didn’t I?” A smirk teases at my lips at the wrath emanating from her. So fucking feisty. Chuckling a bit, I whisper, “You’re mighty pissed off, huh?”
Finally, she glances up with a scowl. “I’m fine. It’s not the worst that’s happened. Not the first time some asshole shithead has put his hands on me without my consent, now is it?”
She’s got a point.
“It’s not even the first time I’ve been choked out.” My brows crash together at that statement.
Out of nowhere, she mounts an all-out effort to escape me. Her body wriggles and writhes. “Put me down,” she rages as her breath heaves from her chest. “Let me thefuckgo.”
None of her pleas will work on me. There’s no way I don’t follow through on a direct command from Finneas. Not happening. I hold her in a tighter grip. “Stop squirming.” I clench my jaw as she continues her onslaught of mischief until I see no other way to deal with her.
I promptly release my hold, and she spills from myarms to the ground. She hits with a thud, letting out a grunted breath, her mouth open in a wide O of shock as she stares up at me. From the lack of words, I’d say the wind is knocked from her, but she’s unharmed.AndI have her attention.
Folding my arms over my chest, I return her stare. “You said let you go. So I have. But what I want to know is this…” I pause for effect, eyeing the spitting-mad blonde at my feet. “Where exactly is it that you think you’re going?”
“Away from you, obviously.” She must not realize that’s not possible… though Finneas’s return does actually put that assumption into question.
“I hate to tell you this, but that’s not happening.”
“Why? Don’t tell me it’s because I’m one of your women now.” Her face pinches. “Because I’m not.”
“No?”But you could be mine… or maybeours.I raise a curious brow before planting my hands on my hips and jutting my chin toward her arm. “If not, then what’s that?” My molars grind as I steadily take her in, my eyes traveling her body from head to toe—from scowling features to the dirty white shift that hardly conceals her nakedness, then farther down bare legs.
“You know very well I didn’t ask for your asshole friend to brand me. I’ve seen the other women. I understand that we’re marked as some sort of fucked-up claiming—but it meansnothing.”
“Why do you think that?” Her mind fucking fascinates me, and her tenacious spirit draws me in. While she’s simply attempting to survive us, she’s beenweaving a web, trapping me in her snare. Fucking bewitching is what she is. The idea that she has enough wits about her, even after everything she’s been through, to verbally spar with me? It has my dick twitching hard in my pants.
Her breath comes unsteadily as her gaze flicks to the number branded on her arm. Several beats pass before she shifts her attention to our surroundings. It’s almost as if she’s looking for a way out. Ignoring my question about what she makes of us stamping our claim on her body, she wets her lip. “What did you mean when you said getting away from you all isn’t happening?”
My brow arches. She wants to deflect my questions? I can do the same. It’s probably for the best if she’s clueless about the bridge—her only true means of escape—being destroyed. “I take it you didn’t enjoy the Hunting.”
“What gave you that idea?” She lets loose a certain sass that I wasn’t quite expecting, considering the circumstances.
Has she forgotten where she is? How our women are meant to behave? It surprises the fuck out of me that she’d speak to any of us so freely. Does she not have any sense of self-preservation? It’s exasperating. But she’s oh so intriguing. I pause, working mentally through our exchange… am I the only one she speaks to like this?No. I know that’s not true.But why does the idea of it make my chest puff out?
I steel myself against all those thoughts becauseif I don’t… I’m terrified I’ll find myself getting in too deep. This pretty thing could tempt me into doing things I shouldn’t. Without even trying, this girl—Delilah—has begun to creep under my skin. She’s insinuating herself into my thoughts in a way I wish she wouldn’t but also crave.
Finneas was right about one thing. Delilahisdangerous to us. She’s a fucking one-woman demolition crew. If we’re not careful, she’ll take out the entire compound.
THREE
MALAKAI
Confusion slams into my world,and I’m left grasping at nothingness. My pulse beats ominously, one dangerously deep, painful thud after another. Something is wrong.
I don’t know how much time has passed before I awaken again, but the ache at the back of my head has only intensified. Unwilling to surface from the shadows that plague me, I groan internally. It’s hard to think beyond the pain. It’s as if someone cracked my skull open and swirled my brain around before extracting it via my nose like the Egyptians used to do. My entire fifth grade class had been fascinated, but the idea of it is as disgusting now as it was then.
