Page 61 of All's Fair in Love & Wrath

I hold out my hand, helping her slide off the barstool. We walk together through the common room, stopping by the kitchen to grab a few bottles of water, then head to my room. After being on the road all day, after only focusing on what I’ll do when I finally get to Cain, all I want to do is get lost in this woman. Hell, all I need is to be in her presence. I don’t need anything more. Who am I?

Sienna and I get ready for bed in silence, and when she rummages through her duffel bag, she looks up at me with big blue eyes, chewing on her bottom lip.

“What is it?” I ask.

“I’ve kinda run out of clean T-shirts.” Oh, fuck. I’ve handled having my life threatened, stabbed, beaten, and bruised. I can handle a lot of things, but seeing Sienna in nothing but one of my T-shirts may just do me in.

“You need to borrow a shirt, sweetheart?”

“Please?” I walk over to my dresser, pulling out a plain white V-neck T-shirt. Sienna takes it, thanking me, and then walks into the bathroom to change and finish getting ready for bed. By the time she returns, I’ve stripped out of my clothes,leaving me in nothing but a pair of boxer briefs, and got under the sheets on my side of the bed.

My end table light is still on, casting a warm glow in the room. The bathroom door opens and nothing—nothing—could have prepared me for Sienna walking right in front of me. I nearly swallow my fucking tongue at the sight of her. My T-shirt barely covers her ass, her perky tits visible through the thin fabric. Pointed, hard nipples strain against the material, making my mouth water. She is so fucking sexy. She’s taken her braid out, the one I learned she plaits on the side of her head that has the scars on her neck, always doing her best to conceal them. I know she’s self-conscious about them, but she’s so fucking beautiful, and I need her to see it. To wear her scars like fucking battle armor, like the goddamn fierce warrior survivor she is. Her posture is straight, arms relaxed at her sides, and I’d be a fool if I didn’t notice the difference from when I first met her.

Sienna climbs into bed next to me, and I have the strongest urge to pull her into my arms, to wrap myself around her and fall asleep as close as physically possible. She scoots around until she gets comfortable, letting the sheet fall just around her waist. My eyes trace over her body, the goosebumps on her arms, the fine hair that’s prickled and standing up straight.

“Tell me about your day, sweetheart.”

“I really like them, Axel. Kinsey is amazing, and she thought some self-defense lessons would help me, and it turned into me just beating the shit out of a punching bag. I don’t know how she recognized that it might be good for me, but it was needed.”

I chuckle under my breath. “Kinsey looks sweet and cute, but she’s fierce. Her brothers made damn sure she could fight. I don’t know if she told you or not, but when she was taken, she gave those assholes a good fight. Foughtlike hell, broke a few noses, if I remember correctly. She turned it into a bloodbath before they knocked her out.”

Sienna is quiet for a moment, and then I realize what I said could be misunderstood. I open my mouth to explain, but she beats me to it. “I wish I had taken self-defense lessons when Maddox begged me to. Not that I think it would have mattered. He drugged me before I even knew what was happening.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you, Sienna. The world should be a safe place for women to exist, but there are men out there corrupting it, poisoning it with their evil. I’m looking forward to the day I’m alone with him.”

“I want him to die, Axel. Painfully and slowly. Does that make me a terrible person?”

“Baby girl, maybe I’m jaded, but I think that’s completely normal after what he put you through. Have you met Saige? Is she a terrible person?”

“No, I want to be more like her. I don’t want to feel like a victim. I don’t want to give him any power; he’s had it for way too long. I want it back.”

“You don’t need to be more like anyone, you just need to be you. Do you think you could kill someone?”

“No.”

“And that’s o?—”

“But I could killhim. Iwantto kill him.”

“If you’re serious, I’ll make it happen.”

Sienna chooses to drop the subject, changing it entirely. “Do you really love being a Hell’s Heathen?”

“Yeah,” I answer without having to think. “I do.”

“You all remind me of what the Kingsnakes were like before Cain took over. Well, from what I could tell. I grew up in this life, but my dad kept me so excluded, probably to protect me from men. He never trusted anyone, even the good guys. Andthen after everything, I never wanted to go back to the clubhouse.”

“We may do terrible shit, but it’s all justified and in the name of the greater good. Saige used to be an attorney. She became a vigilante after she realized the courts don’t do jack shit most of the time to get justice. So, she takes it into her own hands. We do the same.”

“It’s why you guys are helping Maddox.”

“Partly.”

“Partly?”

“Yeah, baby girl, partly.” She doesn’t press for more information. She knows we’re helping her brother get his club back because Cain killed our brother, because we deserve justice for him taking Rolo from us. But what she doesn’t realize is that we’re also doing it for her. To give her freedom to live without constant fear at her back, needing to move from place to place every time Saint gets spooked. I’m going to free her from the hold he has on her, and I’ll burn the world to the fucking ground if I have to.

“Goodnight, Axel,” she breathes, rolling onto her side.