Page 33 of His Forbidden Alliance

He was pale, and his breathing was shallow. I was pretty sure he was going into shock. He certainly wasn’t in his right mind. I grabbed his arm and hustled him inside. “I’ll help you.”

He looked back toward the burning vehicle. “The police?”

Fuck. He was really out of it. “We’ll deal with them when they get here. We need to take care of your hand now.”

I pulled him into the kitchen, turned on some cool water, and stuck his hand under the faucet. He gasped and started to pull away, but I gripped his wrist tight, holding his hand there.

“You need to let the water run over it as long as you can.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I can do that.”

I left him at the sink long enough to grab a blanket off the couch and wrap it around him. He was shivering, and his pupils were huge. He needed care, but we didn’t have time.

I laid a hand on his shoulder. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I… I think so. Sorry. I’m not usually…”

I kissed the top of his head before I thought about what I was doing, but I couldn’t regret it when he looked up at me and smiled.

“Where’s your phone?” He pulled it from his coat pocket with his good hand. “You’ve got to call somebody to help you take care of this.”

He nodded. “Right. You can’t be here.”

“I’m sure some of your neighbors have already seen me.” Why was I arguing with him? He was right. I couldn’t stay with him, couldn’t talk to the police. I shouldn’t even let the firefighters see me.

“My brothers. I can’t tell them about you.”

“Say I’m some guy you hooked up with.”

“Okay, go hide. I’ll pretend you left.”

I didn’t love the idea, but at least he seemed more with it now. He could handle this with his brothers’ help. “All right, but call them now. Hurry.”

“Go upstairs and stay there.” The arrogance was back in his voice, and it made me smile.

“What if you need⁠—”

“I need to protect you. You… Fuck. You saved my life.”

“You don’t owe me anything.” I didn’t need things to get any more complicated between us.”

“Yeah, I do.” He tapped his phone, and a moment later, whichever Theriot he’d called answered.

I retreated toward the stairs and stepped out of his sight while staying close enough to hear what he said.

I was a hell of a lot better off if his family knew nothing about me, and I sure as hell didn’t need to meet them under these circumstances. I had no doubt they’d suspect I had something to do with the explosion, but I would do whatever it took to protect Rafe. I didn’t like thinking about what that meant. How had he gotten to me so fast and so deeply?

14

RAFE

Afew moments after I sent Zach away, a plainclothes cop banged on my door, and I turned off the water. The pain that surged through my hand made me gasp. How could I have been so stupid? I wasn’t getting into that car. The worst thing was, grabbing a burning piece of metal might not be the stupidest thing I’d done that night.

I took a deep breath. I could do this. I hated how I’d fallen apart in front of Zach, but I wasn’t going to let myself look weak in front of a fucking cop.

He started speaking as soon as I opened the door. “I’m Detective Robichaux.” He gestured toward my car and the motorcycle that was also destroyed. “Are these your vehicles?” He flashed his detective badge as he asked the question.

Remington told me to be as vague as possible until he got there and took over. “They were. I guess they’re not anymore.”