Wraith and Luc barrel toward me as the fight continues around us while I run straight into Wraith’s arms. He lifts me up against him, his strong arms holding me tight as I loop my restrained arms over him and hold on. “I’m so glad you found me.”
“You’re my home, Prinie. Wherever you go, I’ll be there.”
He slides me down his strong body, his eyes fixating on my bloodied neck, and for the first time, he doesn’t look at it like it excites him. Instead, the sight truly terrifies him. His hand rushes to the wound, and he presses hard. With his other hand, he rips his shirt sleeve off, and then wraps it around the wound “We need to get you taken care of. Now! Keep pressure on that wound with your hand.”
The gunfire slows around the completely mangled church. Dead bodies litter the aisles. The pews are blown to pieces. The old organ has bullet holes in it. I feel like I should light a candle and send a prayer up to God apologizing, but we don’t have time for that. We need to get our wounded home. Plus, I need to check on Koda.
“Is Koda okay?”
“I left him with Chills. They knocked him out pretty good.”
My body goes numb at the thought. “They hit him because of me,” I whisper.
“You want someone to blame, princess? They hit him because of me, not you. This was all about getting back at me for killing their mom. This was a long laid-out plan. They have been waiting for years for me to care about someone enough that I would be scared of losing them.”
I put my hands out in front of him, and he unties my restraints, then he rubs my welted wrists. “Take me home?”
Wraith leans in, pressing his lips to mine gently. It’s tender, full of care and adoration. “I’m never letting you out of my sight again. You’re not allowed to go anywhere.”
“Well, that goes both ways, Wraith. You have to learn not to run away when it gets tough.”
He pulls me to him as our brothers all rally around us.
“Sorry to interrupt, pres, but I have Chills on standby at the clubhouse waiting for us to get back. I’ll send in a clean-up crew when we leave, but we should do it soon. The gunfire might have drawn attention,” Kevlar tells me.
I look up at Wraith whose eyes are taking me in, they’re drowning in me.
“Okay, we move out. Get this place clean. No trace of us being here. If there’s any of these assholes left, I want to give one of them a message to send back to Damir. Because shit just got real, and now he’s gonna be even more pissed. That puts Zero in a real line of fire.”
“I’ll go hunting for any stragglers,” Luc calls out, taking off with a few brothers to search the surrounding areas.
My stomach clenches. “You think Damir will take this out on Zero?”
“If he couldn’t get to you, he’ll go for the next person I care the most about. He tried once and failed, I’m sure he’ll try again, especially now I’ve taken out the rest of his damn family.”
It clicks into place. “Vlatko was their father?”
“Yeah, and mine. Sava and Damir didn’t know I was their full brother. Apparently, Vlatko was still sleeping with my mother even after they kicked her out for her drug addiction. She got pregnant with me, and they knew I was his. He paid for a test… a ninety-eight percent DNA match. But Vlatko was too ashamed to tell anyone he’d still been sleeping with her, especially since she was now a whore. So, I was his dirty little secret, left to wallow in filth while my brothers lived the good life, getting all the love and attention from her because our father loved them.”
I cuddle into his side, being the only one here who knows how horrific his past truly was. This is just one more hit from his mother that he didn’t need. “I’m so sorry, Wraith.”
“Don’t be… I’m not. If I grew up with them, I’d be a part of the Triglav Clan. I wouldn’t be part of the Defiance, and I would never have met you.”
“Sorry to break this up, but if you want the clean-up crew to get here, we gotta get this underway,” Kevlar interjects.
“Right, let’s go. Everyone back to the clubhouse. Kevlar, you know what you gotta do.”
Kevlar nods as I walk with Wraith out the back of the church. Sava’s dead body catches my attention. It’s sad Wraith won’t get to know his brother, but considering they were just going to keep coming after Wraith for something he did years ago, then that’s not a family Wraith deserves to have.
We make our way out to where a bunch of cages are all lined up. No bikes. I guess riding up on a Harley does give away the element of surprise. Wraith walks me over to a black pick-up and hoists me into the passenger side. He leans over doing up my belt, then plants a gentle kiss on my cheek. “Keep putting pressure on your neck, baby.”
His caring side is shining through, plus, he called me baby. Swoon.
“Okay.”
Wraith closes the door and walks around to the driver’s side. He says something to Kevlar and Texas before jumping in.
Just us.
Alone.
Tension fills the air as he starts the pick-up.
I told him I loved him.
I wonder, did he truly take those words in?
For some reason now, it’s all I can think about.
Did I scare him by saying them?
Does the fact he didn’t say it back mean something?
“You okay over there, you’re thinking pretty
