I’m lying against Skull, my head on his chest. His heart beats in my ear and the sound reassures me. My body is pleasantly numb while still humming from the workout he gave me.

After our shower, he dried me off and took me to bed. He bent me over the bed and took me hard and I loved every minute of it. I smile as I feel the way Skull’s hand slides up and down my lower back. I love this. Almost more than the actual sex, the after time when he holds me close and I feel so connected to him. It feels as if it answers a need deep inside of me that I never knew I had. Until Skull, it felt like everyone I ever cared about left me. Skull is the first person who makes me feel like he would die before leaving me. No. That’s not right. The truth is, he would die for me. He’s already proven that. He loves me. As screwed up as my brain is right now, I’m sure of that.

“Your body is tense, mi cielo. What are you thinking? Do I need to work the stress out of you again?”

I smile and kiss his chest, pushing my body into him with a giggle.

“Is that what you just did?”

“I thought it was. Though, maybe I need to do it once more if you’re already stressing out again.”

“I was just worried about what’s going to happen,” I confess, carefully choosing my words. “I promise you, I never realized what would happen when we met. I would have tried to warn you—”

“Shh,” he whispers, his hand moving up to brush my hair. “It is not important, mi cielo. I told you it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Besides, I did a partial background check on you. I could have pushed Torch to dig further, but I didn’t. That’s on me.”

“Why would you have? Most women don’t come attached with baggage that’s pulled from the demons of hell.”

Skull snorts, going back to brushing my hair. “Querida, you were mine the minute I saw you standing on the street. It wouldn’t have mattered if you belonged to Lucifer himself. I still would have claimed you.”

“What happens next, Skull?”

“We will wait another day or so, then attack again. I won’t stop until I bury Colin.”

“I wonder where Matthew is?”

“I’m not sure. We’ve been running checks and there’s not been one word from Matthew. It appears Colin is spearheading this. Though, there is talk of Edmund’s brother taking the reins again.”

My heart slams against my chest. I turn to the side, hoping Skull can’t feel it. I do my best to keep my body relaxed. I don’t want to give myself away. “Is that good or bad?” I ask, trying to figure out how Skull feels about this situation. Would he be willing to work with my father? Could they join forces and be rid of Colin? If I could arrange that, maybe I wouldn’t have to give him up. Maybe…

“None of it is good, querida. Besides, the strikes we made go farther than just the Donahues. They are just one faction inside a bigger one. Retribution will be sought. No, our only hope is to bury any of the Donahues we can. If we can cause enough problems and draw attention to them, the family will deal with them too.”

“Won’t the family lash out at you?” I ask, not quite grasping what he’s hoping to accomplish.

“Probably,” he says, and my stomach flutters.

“I was kind of hoping they’d back off after you struck back,” I whisper stupidly.

“We just keep going, Beth. Eventually we’ll find something to bring it to a head.”

That one sentence makes my heart turn over in my chest. I can’t stop the tremor of fear that moves through me, and I know Skull feels it too because he pulls me up his body so I am forced to sit up, straddling him.

“I know you don’t think so right now, Beth, but I promise you it will be okay. We will be okay,” he insists, his hands holding my hips loosely and his eyes boring into me, willing me to believe him. Again, Latch’s words haunt me: You need to have more faith in your man.

“I’m scared, Skull,” I whisper. It’s the most truthful I’ve been with him in what feels like way too long. “I’m terrified.”

He reaches over to the nightstand drawer and pulls out a gold chain. He holds it up, letting the gold wrap around his inked fingers. It gleams with the light of the lamp. At the end of the chain is a locket in the shape of a heart. It has two letters woven together—an S and a B. I recognize them before the tears flow heavier and it blurs everything. He holds each side of the chain apart, never turning away from me. I bend my head and he pulls it down so it rests against my neck. The heart lands perfectly between my breasts. The cold metal sends a chill through my bare skin. His hand comes to my cheek, holding it gently, and I lean into him.

“I take you, Beth, as my lawfully-wedded wife. To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health,” he whispers to me, his eyes never leaving mine, and I don’t bother stopping the tears as his love wraps around me as surely as his words do. “From this day forward, we shall walk hand-in-hand in this world and into the next. I promise to love, honor, and protect you. Put no one or nothing before you. I vow to worship your body night and day and never let you forget who you belong to, and not stop until you come so hard in my arms every night that your fucking toes curl, your body is weightless, and you hear angels singing.”

“Now that’s a fucking vow,” I whisper, returning the same words to him that he’d given me earlier.

“Just wait till I deliver on them, baby,” he whispers, leaning up to take my mouth.

The last thought I’m able to hold onto is that Latch is right. I need to have more faith in my man. I’m going to hold on. I don’t have a choice. With my decision made, I give myself to him and lose myself in his touch.