Cole opened his mouth to fire back—but the SUV door behind him opened again. Another man stepped out. He was smaller and seemed a bit more cautious than Cole, although hisexpression was unreadable. Kimi recognized him as one of Cole’s men.
“Boss,” he muttered, glancing between Gorgon’s men posted along the fence line. “Maybe we should?—”
Cole cut him off with a sharp gesture. “Shut up.” Kimi saw it then—the flicker of tension in Cole’s posture, the way his bravado thinned at the edges. He hadn’t come to talk. He’d come because he was desperate.
And Gorgon seemed to notice it too. He shifted slightly, his chin lifting. “You’ve got one chance to turn around and drive away,” he said. “If I were you, I’d take it.” It was so quiet, she was sure that they were all holding their breaths waiting for Cole to answer. Even the wind held still.
Then Cole grinned again, too wide, “You don’t scare me,” he foolishly said to Gorgon.
“That’s your third mistake,” Gorgan spat. And with that, Gorgon’s hand went up—a silent signal. Buck’s men moved instantly, weapons raised but steady. The click of their safety latches being released sounded like thunder. Cole froze. The guy who was with him cursed under his breath. Kimi didn’t breathe at all.
“Get in the car,” Gorgon said quietly. “Now.” For a second, Cole didn’t move. The weight in Gorgon’s tone wasn’t louder—it was heavier. It was the voice of a man who didn’t bluff.
Cole’s jaw flexed. The false grin cracked. He turned without another word and told his guy to get back into the SUV and slammed the door. Snow sprayed at them as the tires spun and the vehicle fishtailed before finally tearing down the road again, swallowed by white. Only then did Gorgon lower his hand.
The yard stayed still for another heartbeat—listening and waiting. When Gorgan exhaled, the others slowly relaxed their aim and lowered their guns. Kimi staggered a step back, thewind ripping through her lungs. She’d expected gunfire, not the kind of silent victory that left the world ringing around her.
Gorgon turned to her, his eyes were unreadable. It was the closest thing to gentle he ever looked. “You shouldn’t have come out.”
“You were about to kill him,” she challenged.
“I would’ve,” he said. His tone wasn’t defensive. He was just being honest, and she appreciated his honesty.
Her throat was dry. “You can’t just decide who lives and dies because they crossed your fence.”
He stepped closer, snow crunching under his boots. “Maybe not. But anyone who comes for you crosses a line they can’t step back from.”
She didn’t know whether to shout or cry. Her voice broke anyway. “You can’t make yourself responsible for me.”
“I already did,” he whispered. He reached out then, his knuckles brushing her jaw in the smallest gesture—steady and grounding. The same hand that ordered men to hold fire now trembled almost imperceptibly where it touched her.
The anger in her chest twisted, softened, and turned into something worse—understanding. “You can’t save me from all of this,” she whispered.
His voice dropped, rough but certain. “Doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying.” For a second, neither of them moved. Wind howled around them, snow slicing sideways like shards of glass. The world burned white and cold, but between them, the air stayed warm. And Kimi realized that it wasn’t just about him saving her anymore. It was about her choosing to stay with him. The storm was no longer outside the fence. It was in her, too, and she wasn’t sure how to tame it.
Gorgon
The world didn’t calm once Cole drove away. It just went silent—the kind of silence that came before something broke, and he felt as though he was holding his breath waiting for that to happen.
Steam drifted from the exhaust of trucks still idling in the yard. Snow hissed as it melted against hot metal. His men were waiting for orders, eyes flicking between him and the road like dogs watching their master decide whether the hunt was over.
It wasn’t, but it would have to wait for another day. “Stand down,” Gorgon said. “But keep your ears open. He’s not gone for good.” One by one, they obeyed, their shoulders loosening and weapons lowering. The only person who didn’t move was Kimi. She stood near the steps, her hair whipping across her face, wearing a coat that was too thin for the wind. Her hands were jammed into her pockets, and defiance was written in the set of her spine. But her eyes told another story—raw, wide, and shaking.
He told himself to look away, but he didn’t. There was something about Kimi that seemed to draw him to her, and there was no way that he’d ignore that now. She was his, and the sooner she realized that, the better.
He pulled her into his arms and sealed his mouth over hers, putting on quite a show for anyone still standing in the yard. He was marking her as his own, and the guys would know exactly what that meant—she was hands off to everyone else now. Kimi seemed to get the memo, too. He ended the kiss, and she staggered back from him. She looked at him as though she knew exactly what he had just done, and he couldn’t tell if she was pissed or amused. Probably a bit of both.
“Was that for them or for me?” she said, looking around at the rest of the guys in the yard.
He shrugged, “Both,” he said, honestly. “Because you and the guys all need to realize that you’re mine now,” he said.
She put her hands on her hips, and he knew that she was going to give him some trouble. Honestly, it made him horny as hell when she gave him sass. “Now wait a minute,” she started, “just because we slept together doesn’t mean—” He didn’t let her finish. Instead, he pulled her against his body again and kissed away her next words.
When he finally finished making a meal out of her, he let her slide down his body, careful not to let her go again. “We did more than just sleep together, baby. And if you’ve already forgotten how well I fucked you last night, I can give you a refresher course.” Trudi barked out her laugh behind them, and Kimi’s cheeks turned the cutest shade of pink.
“I think that you’ve proven your point,” Kimi whispered to him.
“I know that the guys understand, but do you, honey?” he asked.
