Chapter 19
It took everything Shelby had not to laugh at the stunned look on Daniel’s face as he stared at the water dripping off his body. As he swiped his hand over his chest and scowled down at it, a giggle escaped. She couldn’t help it. When his stunned gaze snapped up to hers, she slapped both hands over her mouth in a useless effort to keep the laugh bubbling out.
He growled at her, putting enough force into the sound, she could actually feel it reverberate in her chest. “What are you laughing at, woman?” he demanded as he took a slow, predatory step toward her.
She giggled again. “You.” She tilted her head back and grinned up at him. “Did you know you’re all wet?”
“I’m aware, yes,” he drawled. He hooked his arm around her waist and lifted her in one fluid motion, setting her on the countertop. When he braced his hands on either side of her, Shelby couldn’t help it. The way heat flashed in his eyes mixed with confusion, sent shivers of pure need and emotion rushing through her.
“Here, let me help.” She brought her hands up to his chest, humming with sheer appreciation as she touched rock-solid skin. She took her time, sliding her fingers over damp skin, enjoying every second of touching him like this. His head dipped, a low, possessive sound rumbling through him as his mouth found the curve of her throat. God. She loved when he kissed her there. Her hands came up to tangle in his hair. She sighed as pure pleasure, pure need shivered through her as she dragged her mouth up to his, every ounce of humor vanishing.
Until he turned the handheld nozzle on and held it directly over her head, drenching her from head to foot.
“You--you!” She gaped at him as water dripped down onto the ceramic tile, but the damn man only took a step back, crossing his arms over his chest. When he raised one golden brow at her, waiting for her temper, she laughed in pure joy instead. Hopping off the counter, she threw herself at him. Instantly, her chilled skin heated against his. “Daniel, you’re playing!”
One corner of his permanently scowling mouth lifted, and Shelby’s heart took a tumble in reaction. He was smiling. Daniel was smiling.
He kissed her gently, a soft brush of his lips, before he pulled back just enough to rest his forehead against hers.
“Did I do it right?” he murmured, vulnerability in the depths of his eyes as they searched hers. “I’ve never played before.”
Oh yeah, she thought, her heart slamming against her chest so hard it hurt. She was a goner. It was impossible for her not to love him. Going up on her toes, she wound her arms around his neck. She nodded her head against his, her voice soft. “It was perfect, Daniel.”
With a grunt, he hooked his arm under her butt, hitching her up until they were at eye level as he headed toward the bedroom. “You’re wet, princess.”
She grinned at him, her eyes wide as she bobbed her head in a slow nod. “I am. You tend to do that to me.”
A low chuckle rumbled in his chest as she ducked her head against it. “You’re blushing.”
“And you’re laughing.” She peeked up at him. Because she was certain their bodies would give out if they tried to have sex again, she decided to change the subject. “Are you hungry? You haven’t eaten anything today.” When his eyes turned black with lust, she made a face and poked him in the shoulder. “Food,” she said in her best stern voice. “I was talking about real food, Ashborne, so get your head out of the gutter.”
“You’re the one who started it,” he reminded her. “I’m just playing along.”
She beamed at him, but the second he put her down in the bedroom, her whole body started to shiver in convulsions. He grabbed a black hooded sweatshirt off the functional dresser and pulled it down over her head. She shoved her arms through the holes and grabbed her yoga pants, pulling them on. She pushed the sleeves up enough so she could see her hands, smiling as she realized she was more comfortable than she’d been in…well, forever. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten dressed in under three hours, or gone an entire day without make-up. While she couldn’t possibly look as good as she felt, it was heaven.
She canted her head as she watched him pull on his track pants. Though her blood started to heat, she was too exhausted to do anything other than let out a soft, appreciative sound. Damn, did she appreciate, too. He couldn’t have been more perfect if he’d been carved out of marble or photoshopped. For as massive as he was, with his bulging, rippling muscles and hardness everywhere, he moved with a kind of fluid grace that mesmerized her. The man was all predatory beast, every movement of his body precise and calculated.
As if aware of her thoughts, he snorted and reached out, wrapping his hand around hers
as he headed for the kitchen. “You need to quit looking at me like that, princess, or we’re never going to get around to eating.”
“But you’re so yummy.” She grinned at him as she followed him back to the kitchen.
“And that’s Queen to you now, dragon boy.”
He bent down to kiss her. “That’s not funny. What do you want to eat?”
“Which part?” Shelby grinned up at him, before she wrinkled her nose at his warning growl. “I wasn’t kidding.” There was something in his eyes that warned her to stay off the topic, let it go. But it was the absolute confusion in him that worried her. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed it or not, Daniel,” she murmured as she went up on her toes to kiss him, before turning and opening the refrigerator, “but I really like looking at you.” She stuck her head into the fridge so he couldn’t see her blush. “And touching you.”
* * * *
“I’ve noticed.” Which he was grateful for. He didn’t fit the image of the men in her world. He wasn’t the lean, muscled pretty boys in touch with their emotions who she fell in love with in her movies. He would never be able to fit in with that crowd, especially when he was eight inches bigger than most of them.
It didn’t mean he wouldn’t try. She’d already proven the kind of bad emotional decisions she made--falling for him and hiring her bastard, fucked-up father as her manager. He was starting to worry about the kind of hell she’d get herself in if he found a way to break the mating bond without killing her in the process. Ryuu. One of the other dragons would have to move in with her, permanently.
“I’m thinking pasta.” She’d moved over to the pantry when he’d been lost in thought, and was eyeing up the boxes of pasta noodles. She handed him a box, then hesitated before picking out another ten boxes. “We should probably make the other dragons some food, too. Carboloading can’t be a bad thing as huge as you all are, and it has to take energy to shift, right?” She studied the boxes in her and his arms for a long moment, before nodding once. “That should be enough. We can make a salad and garlic bread, too.”
“They can feed themselves.”
“Of course they can.” She grinned up at him. “But they stopped whatever they were doing in their own lives to be here because we need them. Feeding them is the least we can do.”
It never failed. Whenever he expected the spoiled brat to rear her head, she’d pull the
ground out from beneath his feet. He set his boxes on the island, then turned to face her, one of his eyebrows winging up. “Do you know how to cook this?”
She stuck her tongue out at him, grinning when he let out a soft chuckle. She was happy, he realized. She was drowning in his sweatshirt, her hair hung to her shoulders in a mess of curls, but she looked genuinely happy.
“I have no idea.” Her nose wrinkled as she set her boxes down next to his. She turned one around. “There’s directions, right? There has to be directions.”
He snorted at her, amused. “You’re asking me, princess? I don’t cook.”
“We might need to take cooking lessons.” She wrinkled her nose. “Or hire a cook.”
Daniel tripped over his feet when he realized she was talking about their future together. She said it so casually, without thought. As if she already had her mind made up they were going to find a way to make it work.
He could see it, too. Could see himself waking up every morning for the rest of eternity with her beautiful face the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes. Could see himself loving her for the rest of time, and tearing the world apart to make sure she was always happy.
He cleared his throat as emotion clogged it. Ryuu. He never got sentimental. “Let’s get this food made.”
She grinned up at him, and handed him a large stockpot so they could get to work.
* * * *
Shelby shoved a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth as she settled next to Daniel on the couch. He shifted to watch her chew, a grin tugging at his mouth when she let out a huge sigh of relief.
“Well?” he asked, his voice a slow drawl.
She ate another bite before she grinned back at him. “Not the worst pasta I’ve ever ate.” She nudged his arm with her shoulder before she snuggled up against his side. “I’m pretty sure we won’t starve as long as we can make spaghetti.”
He laughed as he shoveled in half the food on his plate. “That’s a good thing, princess.”
“That’s Queen, remember?” she asked. She poked him in the stomach. “Don’t forget it.”
The impishness dancing in her eyes enchanted him. “Queen doesn’t have the same ring to it.” He leaned down to kiss her nose, before finishing his food. “We’ve got a little time before the others will bother us. Want to watch a movie?”
“How to Train Your Dragon”
She was radiant as his laugh reverberated through the cave. He hauled her into his lap and kissed her soundly, then kissed her again, deeper, just for the hell of it. Just because she made him happy.
They were both breathless as he set her back on the couch so she could finish her dinner and he could find a movie. While he was sure she’d picked that one because of its title, he looked for it anyway, and when he found it on the massive storage drive attached to the television, he hit play.
They were an hour into it when Daniel’s body jerked to attention, the creeping along his spine. He jerked around to find the other dragons stepping through the enchanted boulder. They headed straight for the hidden arsenal.
“Hunter,” Luca said.
Feeling Shelby’s eyes on him as he got to his feet, he reached behind him. Her hand slid into his as she stood. The urge to keep her safe was roaring in his blood. “It’s only one, but it’s close.”
None of them were stupid enough to question him. Luca nodded once. “How close?”
Daniel pulled Shelby with him toward the bedroom. “Close.” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at her. “Stay here. Do not move from this bedroom unless it’s one of us
come
coming
to get you.”
He didn’t wait to see if she’d listen. He pulled on his shit-kicker boots and a T-shirt
,
before he strapped on his guns and knives. The gun wouldn’t stop a Hunter any more than it would stop a dragon, but it sure as fuck would slow it down.
“Whoa.” Shelby caught his hand before he could stalk out of the room. “Daniel--”
The dragon inside of him growled at the fear in her pretty eyes, and without thinking of what he was doing, he leaned down to kiss her hard. “I’ll be back, princess. I’ll charm the cave when we leave. No one will be able to get past it.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, daring him to argue with her. “You will be back.”
He winked at her, before he headed toward the cave entrance where the other dragons had spread out, blocking his path.
“What the hell?” he snapped. “Get the fuck out of my way.”
“You’re not going.”
Daniel lifted a brow at Broderick’s command, his body tense as he prepared to go through them if he had to. “Are you going to stop me?”
“Yes,” Dallas said, planting his feet and crossing his arms over his chest. “They’re after you and your mate. The last thing you need to be fucking doing is going out there and making yourself a big ass target.”
Daniel nodded once before his hand flashed out. He grabbed Dallas by the throat, yanking him forward until they were face to face. “Don’t push me, and don’t forget who is king.
Now, get the fuck out of my way, before I go through you.”
Dallas sneered, but jerked his head in a quick nod. “After you, my Lord.”
They turned at once to head through the enchanted boulder. Daniel tucked his gun in the waistband at his lower back, his preferred daggers in each hand. “I want this bastard alive so I can make his death as painful as fucking possible.”
Dallas nodded. “Understood.”
They didn’t speak again as they split up into pairs, except for Dallas, who would maintain watch at the cave entrance. As Broderick and Bain headed down the mountain, blending into the darkness, Daniel and Luca headed up.
While they could all sense when a Hunter was near, Daniel seemed to have a different connection with them. Not only could he feel their presence, he felt their motivation and weaknesses. Occasionally, he heard them inside his head.
Luca cleared his throat as they scaled the side of the mountain. “Well?”
“It’s determined.” His senses reached out. “Deadly and stronger than any other…” His body went rigid as he cursed low. “It’s Cage. He’s hunting us.”
Chapter 20
“This isn’t fucking good.” Daniel snarled as he spun, heading through the forest after
Cage. “Dallas.”
Luca was at a dead run behind him. “He’ll kill him.”
Daniel cursed. Fuck yeah, he would. Dallas’ hatred of Hunters went beyond the natural animosity between the two species. It was personal, a bone-deep cold rage fueling every second of the dragon’s life. They had killed everyone he’d ever loved, and no matter how many Hunters he killed in retaliation, it was never enough.
Several times a year a murderous rage tore through Dallas. None of them had ever thought twice about tempering it.
Until now.
They needed Cage. They needed him alive. He had answers about who was trying to have Shelby killed, and how to find him. But just as worrying was Luca’s devotion to his sister’s happiness. For the first time, Daniel had no idea if it came down to it, which side Luca’s loyalty would play.
No. Ryuu. Daniel did know the answer. If it came down to it, Dallas was dead. Good or bad, Hunter or not, Cage was the father of Luca’s unborn niece, and Seren’s happiness would always come first with her brothers. Always. ’s soul to protect her. He’d given up everything, and walked into the proverbial pit of hell to keep her out of their psycho father’s hands.
So the answer was simple. They had to get to Cage first.
Unlike Hunters, who could , dragons were at home in the sky. Real physical and psychological problems took root in their heads if something prevented them from flying for too long, resulting in a madness that never went away. Like in cities, they were never fully comfortable in forests or dense woods. It was too close, too crowded, and they weren’t equipped to adapt.
While Hunters didn’t have the ability to shift forms, what they did have were extraordinary senses and superhuman strength, along with the ability to adapt and blend into any surrounding, despite their size. They could thrive in cities because of their human appearance.
Dragons, however, were not meant to be confined. They needed wide, open spaces. Along with advances in modern technology, which made tracking them easier for the Hunters, they were dying out faster than they could procreate.
It didn’t help that dragons tended to be unpleasant, overbearing, anti-social and possessive as fuck. They could be tamed. It just took a hell of a special female or male to make them even want to try.
A low growl took root in his throat before his next thought could fully form. He stopped dead in his tracks. “Luca.”
“Yeah.” Dragan skidded to a stop behind him, his body already coiled for fight. “What is
it?”
“You don’t think Dallas would use Shelby as bait to lure Cage out, do you?”
Daniel didn’t need Luca to answer. He read the same conclusion he’d come to in the other dragon’s face.
“Go.” Luca jerked his head in the direction of the cave, already on the move again. “I’ll grab Bain and Broderick, then loop back around.”
Daniel nodded. His human form wasn’t fast enough. With a shimmer of the air around him, the dragon was airborne.
* * * *
An hour into obeying Daniel’s command to stay in the bedroom drove Shelby out of her mind. She was bored, and she was worried. It wasn’t a good combination.
Cleaning didn’t help. By cleaning, she meant gathering up the arsenal of weapons the man had left strewn about, in and under every available surface in the cave. Rearranging the furniture didn’t help, either. She braided her hair, remade the bed, moved the furniture back to the original positions, and organized the dressers. Then she stood there, at the edge of where the bedroom ended and the rest of the cave began, her bare toes just inside the invisible line as she contemplated technicalities.
She knew Daniel could be an overbearing bastard at times, but surely when he’d commanded she stay in the bedroom, he hadn’t meant it literally. She’d searched every inch of the room, unable to find anything that would make her safer there than anywhere else in the cave.
Yet she couldn’t make herself leave the bedroom. She’d done enough horror movies in
the early years of her career, acting the dumb young victim to know it was always the stupid blonde who didn’t listen to rules and the first one to bite the dust in some horrible way. Shelby may be blond, but she wasn’t stupid.
She leaned back against the wall, then slumped down it, thudding her head lightly against the cool stone behind her. Following rules wasn’t unusual for her--it was what she did every day. She didn’t have to cry on command, or feign anger, or pretend to fall in love with the biggest douche bag on the planet. She just had to save Daniel’s sanity, and stay where he’d put her.
She sighed, a long, dramatic sound as she pulled her knees up to her chest. She tried to close her eyes, but images of a faceless Hunter after Daniel invaded her brain. She snapped them open again. Bored, she swiped her finger over the ground next to her. Her nose wrinkled as she brought her hand closer to her face. She squinted at the shiny, iridescent dot shimmering on the tip of her finger.
A dragon scale. Of course it was a dragon scale, why not? Her laugh bubbled out as she closed her eyes and made a wish. The second she let out the small puff of air, every instinct she had roared to life.
She didn’t waste time trying to convince herself she was imagining the warning bells going off in her head. Instead, she scrambled to her feet and dashed into the bedroom, digging through the bottom drawer of Daniel’s dresser. She grabbed the first knife she wrapped her fingers around. In a move she’d learned in the first action film she’d done, she slipped it up the sleeve of Daniel’s sweatshirt just as the boulder in front of the cave shimmered.
Slamming the drawer shut, she stood up as nonchalantly as possible, even managing a cheerful smile she didn’t feel as Dallas stalked in.
The reason for her unease became clear the second she met his eyes. They were the same, yet
…
…
different. Like he’d closed off. Disconnected. She’d seen that same expression in Daniel, only this time, Dallas wasn’t her mate. She didn’t have to be a genius to know her safety and wellbeing were not at the top of Dallas’s priority list at the moment.
“Hi.” She smiled, ignoring the way the blade bit into the tender skin on the inside of her wrist. She leaned to the side as if to see around him. “Um, where’s everyone else?”
He stalked into the bedroom and wrapped his large hand around her upper arm. “Daniel wanted me to come get you.”
“Oh.” This time, she didn’t fake the worry in her voice. She knew Daniel trusted Dallas,
but instinct told her something wasn’t right. “Where are we going?”
“Cage is stalking you. We can’t be sure Seren hasn’t betrayed us by telling him how to enter the cave.”
Shelby nodded as if it made perfect sense. She tightened her fingers around the hilt of the knife to keep it in place as she ran to keep up with Dallas’ long, determined strides.
She didn’t point out Cage had helped Daniel get her out of the hospital. She didn’t think it would change anything even if he did believe her.
His face was set, completely shut down as they stepped through the enchanted boulder. She tried not to worry that he wasn’t acting right. She liked Dallas. She really didn’t want to hurt him. Even then, the chance of him doing serious damage to her in the process was likely.
They didn’t go far, which was a blessing because she was still barefoot.
Dallas’ bellow cut off her spinning thoughts. “Cage! I have the mate. You want her, come and get her.” He waited a beat before he roared, “Show yourself!”
Shelby swallowed hard as the mountains surrounding them quaked. Chunks of stone poured down off the mountainside as Cage stepped out of the tree line’s shadow across the natural clearing from them. His gaze flicked over her for the barest of seconds before he leaned against a tree, crossing his booted feet at the ankle. Boredom flashed in his eyes.
“I’m not here to fight,” he drawled, though the deep rumble of his voice still echoed through the small valley, doing nothing to calm the shuddering mountains. “I didn’t come for the girl.”
Dallas hauled her up against his side. Her eyes flicked from him to Cage, and back again. She liked Dallas. Daniel trusted him, and though she didn’t remember much from the hospital, she vaguely remembered Daniel going head-to-head and toe-to-toe with Cage while mistrust had shimmered in the air between them.
While Dallas was acting off, Cage was doing his best to appear as non-threatening as a six-foot-ten, three hundred pound giant was able. He stayed on the opposite side of the clearing, his stance lazy. While Shelby could see the weapon sheaths attached to his hips and crisscrossing his powerful chest, she was pretty sure they were empty.
“Where’s Ashborne?” Cage demanded. “We need to talk.”
“Hunting you.”
Shelby loosened her grip on the knife slightly, just enough to allow her easy access if
things got any worse. Tension and temper rolled off Dallas in waves.
She nudged him lightly with her elbow. “Dallas?” When he ignored her, his jaw ticking violently as he watched Cage, she huffed a little and nudged him again. She let him see how worried she was. “I don’t think he’s armed.”
“He’s a fucking Hunter,” he snarled. “It’s all they’re good for. Mindless killing.”
Oh boy. Even at this distance, she felt Cage’s body coil as he realized what was happening before Shelby did. , a scream tearing out of her throat as tempers ignited. The dragon leapt out of Dallas
,
just as Cage hit the beast head on, sending them both flying into the side of the mountain.
* * * *
“Come on, baby, I need you to open your eyes for me, alright? Please, baby, open your eyes.”
Shelby groaned quietly as she tried to obey the command in Daniel’s desperate voice, ’t get herself to do it. He’d called her baby. Not Shelby and not princess. Baby.
She jackknifed into a sitting position as fear bubbled up inside of her. The second she saw the temper and worry on Daniel’s gorgeous face, she understood.
She was dead. She knew it. She had to be. It was the only way in heaven or hell Daniel Ashborne would ever call her baby.
Clamping her hand to her head in an effort to stop it from spinning, she groaned quietly as she tried to scoot backward away from Daniel. If she was dead and he was there, it meant he’d followed her just to yell at her.
“Give me a few before you start bellowing at me, Daniel, alright?” She scooted back some more, not because she was afraid of him, but because she couldn’t see anything but him. Not that his face was a bad thing, ever, but if she was in
h
H
eaven…she blinked. She recognized the couch. “Why does
h
H
eaven look like the cave?”
He scowled, and butterflies suddenly leapt to life inside of her. Even furious, his eyes still warmed her. She shivered, then decided she should be closer to him instead of farther away. His gaze darkened as he watched her. A low, dark growl rumbled in his chest. “Stop moving, damn it. You have a and you’ve lost a lot of blood.”
Her breath caught with hope. “So…I’m not dead?”
His growl turned into a snarl. “Ryuu. Fuck no, you’re not dead, though you goddamn did
your best to make it happen!” He shoved a hand through his hair before he surged to his feet, stalking to the other side of the cave and back. It was almost a full minute before she felt the temper in him ease enough he could turn to look at her again. “What the hell were you thinking,
woman?”
She winced as his bellow rattled around in her head, ratcheting her headache from intolerable to nearly excruciating. “I don’t know.” Her voice sounded weak to her own ears. “I don’t remember--”
Her words cut off as she saw Dallas in the kitchen, working thread and needle through a good size gash in his leg. Her throat closed up as she spun around, ’s body, only to see the Hunter leaning against the wall behind her, the puckered scar bisecting the left side of his face twitching.
“Oh.” She slumped back down on the couch and blew out an unsteady breath. “Okay, so no one’s dead?”
She regretted the question as soon as Daniel’s lip lifted into another snarl. “No. Not yet.
Whether or not I kill Dallas is still in question.”
She ignored that, because she knew whatever Dallas had done, if it was bad enough to deserve death, he’d already be dead. Her eyes searched Daniel’s. “What happened? I remember
Dallas and Cage…but that’s it.”
She wanted to reassure him that she hadn’t ignored his command to stay in the cave, but that would mean ratting out Dallas. Whatever his intentions had been, it hadn’t been for her to get hurt.
* * * *
Daniel shoved his hand through his hair again as he stared at her, unable to tear his gaze away. Because the other side of him was still too close to the surface, he growled quietly and pushed the coffee table closer to the couch. He sat, then leaned toward her, bracing his arms against his spread legs.
He didn’t know how he’d managed to hold back the tremors this long. He knew how fucking dangerous it was to be this close to her until he let the rage free, but he knew she needed him, thanks to the mark. She wasn’t looking to the others for answers. She’d screamed his name when Dallas and Cage had used the air above her as a battleground.
“Dallas isn’t talking,” he started, unable to keep the fury from his voice, “but from what
Cage has said, Dallas was doing his best to egg him into a fight. He finally got what he wanted, but you’d already stabbed Dallas by the time Cage leapt across the clearing after him.”
All the blood drained out of Shelby’s face as she searched in and around the couch, pulling the cushions out, only to shove them in again while muttering under her breath.
He pulled the four-inch blade she’d used on Dallas from the sheath he kept at his ankle.
“Looking for this?” he asked dryly.
She scooted back on the couch. “You mean I--” her words cut off as her gaze snapped to
Dallas. “Oh God, I did that to him? Why?”
Daniel tucked the dagger back into its sheath. His head was pounding with the need to destroy something. “You don’t remember?”
She started to shake her head, then groaned. “Cage. Seren saved my life. She’s pregnant, and Cage helped us escape the hospital. He wasn’t armed when he stepped into the clearing, but Dallas kept running his mouth. I didn’t want either of them to die, so I guess I stabbed Dallas to slow him down.”
Because that reasoning didn’t make a damn bit of sense to him, he ground his teeth together to stop the bellow trying to escape. “How did you know Cage wouldn’t kill him?”
“I didn’t.” She winced and brought her hand up to her head. “I meant to stop the fight before it happened, only it didn’t work that way. What happened to me?”
“Your wrist or your head?”
She dropped her gaze to her wrist. As soon as she saw the gauze, she immediately shoved her arm behind her back. The movement was so ridiculous, he would have snorted if he wasn’t so close to violence. Who the hell did she think had wrapped it in the first place? She peeked up at him. “I cut myself, didn’t I?”
“Yes,” he snapped through gritted teeth.
Bain cleared his throat from behind Daniel. “It was smart to tuck it into your sleeve, but you defeat the purpose if you slice your own wrist before you can gut the other guy. You’re lucky you didn’t hit an artery.”
His sweet little mate glared over his shoulder at Bain. “It wasn’t like I had time to plan out a strategy. I just grabbed a knife and hid it.”
As soon as he was capable of talking in more than one-word sentences, he would forbid her from doing anything dangerous ever again. Bain was right, her reasoning was sound, but she sure as fuck didn’t have the experience with blades as sharp as his to pull something like that off without practice.
He dragged both hands through his hair before he reached out and tangled his fingers with hers, startling her into stillness. The cave was full of dragons
,
and Cage, and because he had no fucking idea how to say what was storming through him, he let her see the madness in his eyes. Hearing her scream for him, seeing her caught between Dallas and Cage as they’d used the air above her as a battle ground…
He’d thought he’d known fear before, but he hadn’t known shit. Helpless terror had gripped him when he hadn’t been sure he’d get to her in time. His throat closed up now as his body began to shake. Closing his eyes, he dragged in a harsh breath, then dropped his head against hers. “Never do that to me again, woman.”