Ruthless Reign

Chapter 2

Inside the house, glass shattered and a feral roar of anguish met my ears. The sound of Hardin in pain snuffed out the fire in my core and dammed the flood of my own emotion.

Myhands twitched as I looked up the stairs.

Kaleblooked, too, his jaw set, hands balled fists at his sides.

Iswallowed, my stomach souring as Hardin roared again and another great crash broke the silence that followed.

Istepped forward, but Kaleb hooked my wrist, dragging me back. “You shouldn’t go in there right now, Vixen. He won’t see you. He won’t see anyone in that state.”

“I’m sorry,” I said in a weak tone and cleared my throat, trying to bring some strength back to my voice, to my weak limbs. “I didn’t mean?—”

“Yes, you did,” he said, releasing my wrist. “You did mean it. And you’re right. Itis our fault.”

Iswallowed hard, knowing that regardless of that fact, I couldn’t hate them. Either of them. And the fucking truth was that despite the danger, I wouldn’t have left anyway. Not after Iworked so hard, and sacrificed so much to be here. To claim this future for myself.

Iwasn’t about to run away again. I just didn’t want to be told what to do. I wanted to choose it for myself. I’d earned that much.

SomethingAodhán said to me that day he picked me up near DamienSt. Vincent’s house replayed in my mind like it did often ever since.

Familyis who you choose and your life is yours to live and no one else’s.

Isighed. I really needed to answer his messages soon. I was worrying everyone with my total radio silence the last couple days, but I honestly didn’t know what the fuck to say.

Bothof us winced as another crash sounded inside the house.

“I’ll stay,” I told Kaleb. Swallowing, I tugged gently out of his grip.

“Becca, don’t,” Kaleb warned again.

Ishook my head. “He won’t hurt me.”

“You don’t know that. When he gets like this?—”

“He’s hurting, Kale,” I tried again, the next crashing sound punctuating my words. “He’ll hate himself if he wakes up and the whole fucking house is destroyed tomorrow. We have to snap him out of it. We have to stop him. Ihave to stop him.”

Kaleb’sface reddened and his shoulders rose, eyes shifting between mine as he tried to think of an argument that would sway me and likely saw that he wouldn’t come up with one.

Iwas right. Someone needed to get him out of his head.

Iknew what he was doing. I’d seen it before. WithCorvus. And my best friend, AvaJade. I wouldn’t let him erase the pain with rage. It wouldn’t fix anything. It was only going to make things so, so much worse.

“Fine, but I’m coming with you.”

Inodded.

Kalebfollowed close at my heels as I entered the house, my pulse thudding in my ears.

“Me first,” Kaleb said, rushing to get ahead of me, taking a deep breath and rolling his shoulders back as he approached Hardin’s door, looking at it like it might fly off the hinges and splatter him against the wall.

Somethinghard knocked against it, making him jerk back and shake his head.

Heknocked at the door. “Hardin?”

Somethingknocked into the door again, harder, rattling the hinges. A physical manifestation of the words fuck off in Hardin speak.

Isucked air in through my teeth.

Enough.

BeforeI could think too much about it, I knocked Kaleb aside and pushed into the room over his protests behind me. Hardin whirled on me in the dark with a sneer on his lips. A monster amid the carnage of what used to be his room but now looked more like a fucking junkyard.

“Out,” he hissed.

“Becca,” Kaleb pleaded behind me. “Come on, leave him?—”

Icrossed my arms over my chest.

“You about done?” I asked Hardin with a raised brow, pretending my heart wasn’t about to leap out of my fucking chest.

Hisnostrils flared and his dilated eyes widened at my tone.

“Oh fuck,” I heard Kaleb curse behind me, but when he went to pull me away, I evaded his reaching hand, stepping closer to the hulking form of Hardin in the middle of the mess he made.

“You’re acting like a child,” I scolded.

“Kale,” Hardin growled. “Get her the fuck out of here.”

Thatmight’ve been the most I’d ever heard him speak, but he wasn’t looking at me, and I wasn’t having it.

“Come on?—”

Iturned on my heel, gave Kaleb a shove that took him by surprise and slammed the door, locking it.

“Becca!” he shouted through the wooden pane, banging on the other side.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” I called back.

Slowly, I turned back around to face Hardin, reaching for the light switch in the dark. But when I flicked it on, the busted bulb only sparked before dying out. IlluminatingHardin’s rage-filled features in reddish orange for an instant before plunging us both back into darkness.

Iset my jaw. Feeling the door against my back, I sensed Kaleb there on the other side, waiting with bated breath to see if he’d need to break it down to get to me.

Hewouldn’t.

Amemory flashed in my mind, and I held on to it, remembering the feel of the monster in the dark. His hand grabbing me, pushing me up against this door. The feel of his lips rough on mine. His tongue invading my mouth.

Ipushed off from the door, closing the distance between us, stepping carefully over the carnage as I followed the sound of his ragged breaths until I was so close I could feel his heat.

Ithrew my arms around him, pressing my face into his chest. He recoiled at my touch, a soft growl on his lips, but I held on, pressing into him. Forcing him to take my offer of comfort.

Hestood there, his heart pounding through his chest into mine. His muscles rigid. His breaths sawing in and out hard and fast. His back shaking.

Iwasn’t sure how long I stayed like that, but Hardin didn’t push me away, so I stayed. AndI stayed.

Istayed until his breathing evened out and his muscles twitched and softened beneath me. Until his pulse skipped and evened into a regular rhythm. And eventually, until his arms came around me.

Hardinpushed his face into the crook of my neck, breathing me in, pulling me up off my feet. He sat on the edge of his bed, taking me with him onto his lap, never leaving that spot in the crook of my neck.

“I’ll stay,” I told him quietly. “And we’ll figure this out.”

Hesqueezed me tightly, and I swallowed against the swell of emotion constricting my lungs.

“Don’t,” came his muffled reply against my neck, his breath fanning over my collarbone having no fucking right to turn me on right now.

Mybrow furrowed. “Don’t what?”

Hesighed heavily, saying nothing else.

“You have to talk to someone,” I tried. “If you keep holding it all in all the time, you’ll explode.”

Ifelt the rubble at my feet and revised that last statement. “You’ll explode worse. AndI don’t think you want Kaleb or me in the blast radius.”

Hisarms around me loosened and already I wanted him to hold me tighter. Here, in the dark, with my own personal monster, was where I felt the safest.

Maybeit was where he could feel safe, too.

Withthe darkness obscuring his face, maybe he could talk to me. Just a little.

“Please, Hardin. Talk to me.”

“I could’ve killed you,” he said, his voice a rumble against my throat.

Ishook my head. “You wouldn’t have.”

Heshook his head in reply. “Not here. Not now. There. I-in the canyon.”

“What do you mean?”

Helifted his head from my shoulder and pushed his hand through his hair, letting out a ragged breath, and I was so fucking glad he was speaking to me that I waited, holding my breath, to hear him speak again.

Thiswas trust, I realized.

Thiswas the way he trusted people.

“The leader of the Sons, he had explosives strapped to his own chest.”

Mybrows draw together, finally seeing what they already knew. That this guy, whoever he was, was completely insane. AndI knew from experience that you couldn’t bargain with insanity. Couldn’t make deals with madness.

Icewater filtered into my veins and I shivered, prompting Hardin to pull me closer to him on his lap and snake an arm around my back.

“The explosives, both the ones strapped to him and the ones at the safehouse were both rigged to his pulse. If his heart stopped…”

Igasped. “They’d go off?”

Hedidn’t answer.

“That’s fucked up.”

Ifelt him stiffen.

“No, Becca. What’s fucked up is I…I almost k-k-killed him anyway. D-d-dammit.”

Heslid me from his lap, unceremoniously pushing me onto the debris covered bed.

Somethingin my chest hollowed out as the realization dawned on me and burning tears pricked the edges of my eyes.

Thereason he didn’t speak.

Hardinhad a stutter.

Mystomach twisted, and I rushed off the bed, reaching for him, hugging him from behind.

“But you didn’t,” I told him, choosing to not draw attention to the stuttered words. “You didn’t kill him. You were able to control that urge.”

Hegripped my wrist at his middle, drawing in a shuddering breath.

Hesaid nothing, and somehow I just knew he wouldn’t speak again right now. Not after stuttering in front of me. Not while his emotions were still so high.

Avisceral hatred for the person or people who ever made him feel like less of a boy—less of a man—because he had a stutter had me hot all over. It was their fault he stayed silent. Their fault he held everything in. Learned to be cold. Distant.

Iremembered Kaleb’s admission. That their dad was buried out in the canyons. AndI had to wonder if it was him who made Hardin this way. If it was, I was glad he was dead.

Myskin tingled, and I surprised myself at the amount of acid in the thought. The amount of truth.

Ifthe man was still alive, I’d want to hurt him for ever making Hardin feel like he should be embarrassed about something he couldn’t control.

Notthat I could actually do it. I barely knew how to operate a gun. Or how to defend myself, much less attack someone else.

Itwas that feeling of uselessness, I realized, that made me so enraged at their insistence that I remain close. Implying that it was their job to protect me. That my wellbeing was their responsibility.

IfI were more like AvaJadeI could take care of myself. I wouldn’t need them to come to my rescue. I could come to my own rescue. I decided right then, with my arms around Hardin, that I’d endeavor to be more like her. I’d work hard to be a person that could help protect others instead of always needing protection herself.

Hardinpried my arms from his middle and turned around. I let my head fall, expecting him to go back to stone cold silence. At least I’d succeeded in diffusing him. AndI hoped, in letting him know that there would never be any judgment from me.

Hisfingers settled beneath my chin, lifting my gaze from the floor.

“I…” he started, and I went still under his touch. I heard him swallow, sensing him carefully choosing his moment, his next words. “I’m not good for you. I could’ve gotten you…I’m n-n-not—fuck.”

“Say less,” I said, my lips quirking up into the ghost of a smile as I closed the short gap between our faces, pressing my mouth to his.

Hestartled, his lips hard against mine for a beat before I felt the shift in him. His hands came around me, crushing me to him with one firm palm pressed to my lower back and the other curled around the back of my neck. He groaned into my mouth as he parted our lips, claiming me with a kiss so deep and so feral I felt it all the way to my toes.

Ifisted my hands in the front of his shirt, needing to get closer, needing to feel alive after finding out that mere hours ago I could’ve died.

Thatcould’ve been it for me. For all of us. That same feeling I had when I awoke in the hospital after being shot in the chest in ThornValley washed over me again: the innate demand for life. To grip it with both hands and never let go.

Tolive like we’re dying because it can happen that fast. Without warning.

Itried to pull back from Hardin, but he only held me tighter, shifting his hand on the back of my neck higher to fist it into my hair, forcing my head back, forcing my mouth open wider for him as he took what he wanted from me.

Insteadof trying to take off my clothes, because Hardin was not cooperating, I snaked a hand down between our crushed bodies, gliding past his rock hard abs, below his belt, to the raging hard on in his jeans. I gripped it tightly in my palm, giving it a hard stroke that had him snarling against my lips.

Hethrust his hips back, extricating my hand as he took my arms and tossed me onto the bed. I landed on something hard but barely felt the pain as I kicked whatever it was off the bed, crawling backward on my hands and feet as I watched Hardin’s shadow grow as he neared.

Ilet out a short exclamation as he reached down and gripped the ankles of my jeans, tearing my pants right off my body in one quick motion, jerking me nearer to him on the bed in the process. I sat up, trying to reach for him, but his flat palm between my breasts settled me back against the mattress, pushing me into the Hardin scented covers.

Aheavy breath left my lips as he dragged that hand down my middle until his fingers snagged on the waistband of my lacy panties.

“Wait—”

Hetore them off and even though that shit was hot as hell, I mourned the loss of one of my favorite pairs. My grief turned to burning desire as he slapped my greedy cunt, sending a spark of want and life rushing through me.

Itipped my head up, my body arching as the flash of pain and pleasure raced through me like an electric shock.

Imoaned as Hardin brushed the backs of his knuckles against the ridge of scabbed flesh on my inner thigh where he bit me that night at the concert. My head spun at the memory.

Thewar of opposite emotions had been so intense that I’d wanted nothing more than to drown out any feeling at all. It was better than admitting the truth…

I’dnever experienced anything so purely erotic in my entire life.

Hardincovered my body with his own, a thumb brushing up the middle of my throat before he curled a fist around it, holding me there against the pillows. “I want to be gentle,” he muttered.

Icould feel it in the way he kept from squeezing too tight but the knot between his brows and the snarl in his upper lip showed me how hard it was to hold back as my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark.

“I d-don’t know how.”

Amuscle twitched in his jaw.

Icovered his hand on my throat with my own, guiding him to squeeze tighter, making his eyes narrow to desire-filled splits. “I don’t need you to be.”

Alow growl emanated from his chest as he lifted me by the throat to take another rough kiss from my lips.

“Pick a word,” he blurted.

Asafe word?

“Meatloaf,” I croaked and he smirked at my choice, the hunger in his eyes seeming to grow as his pupils dilated.

Hejerked up the hem of my shirt, pawing my bra out of the way as he closed his mouth over the mound of my right breast, his teeth teasing the nipple.

Isank my hands into his hair with a moan, but he released my throat to snatch up the hand, jerking it over my head as he lavished my tit with his hot tongue, drawing taut circles that made my pussy clench and my stomach flip. And then he bit me and I gasped, squirming beneath him at the shock of pain.

“Fuck.”

Heground his hard cock against my bare pussy through his jeans, and I opened my legs for him, dying to feel him inside me.

“Hardin,” I moaned as his mouth traveled south and he growled in response so I said his name again. “Hardin.”

Hedug his fingers into my hips, claiming me as he pressed a kiss to the bite mark rapidly turning into a scar on my inner thigh.

Hardinreached to remove his pants and the anticipation made me feral with desire as he kicked them down, and I reached into the void between our bodies, finding his thick cock.

Hehissed as I took him in my hand, giving him a long stroke that had his whole body tensing. He leaned back, rising to his full height next to the bed, an invitation that I greedily took, crawling closer.

Hepushed his hands into my hair at my crown before curling them into tight fists, pulling the strands taut against my scalp as he dragged me closer, lining up my mouth with his wide tip.

Iopened good and wide as he pushed past my lips and the silky heat of him slid over my tongue. He let out a strangled groan that traveled all the way through me like an electric shock. I wanted to hear him again. Wanted to claim all of his sounds as if they were trophies and I was going for the fucking gold.

Swirlingmy tongue around his tip made him shiver and another muffled sound pass through his clenched teeth. He shifted his grip, clasping either side of my face with hard fingers as he pushed deeper into my mouth.

Irelaxed my throat for him as he used his grip to guide himself all the way in. My lungs protested the lack of air and my throat constricted around him in a full-body gag as my nose touched his abdomen.

Hegroaned loudly as my eyes rolled.

“Fuck,” he hissed as he pulled out, and I dragged in a short breath before he was back again, pushing deeply down my throat. Holding my head steady with his mammoth hands, he pistoned his hips, fucking my mouth, the tight hole of my throat, each movement becoming more and more frantic as my pussy throbbed and my own wetness soaked my thighs.

Iwanted to make him come with my mouth, but after three more strokes, he fully withdrew, dragging me up by my face to steal a brutal kiss from my lips.

Mystomach fluttered as he pushed me backward, and I fell hard on the mattress with him landing between my knees.

Ireached for his cock again, but he snatched my wrist away, settling between my legs.

Therewasn’t time to think before he lifted my knees, holding them apart as he drove into me. Even wet and ready, my body screamed at the sharp, sudden fullness.

Hishands found my shoulders, gripping them, using that grip to increase his depth, increase the hardness of his savage thrusts as he began to fuck me. Using my pussy to temper his rage.

Ithrew my head back, the pain pleasure combination of being fucked by HardinSt. Vincent the purest form of erotic torture.

Hegrunted and cruel fingers gripped my jaw, forcing my gaze back to him, as if he needed to see every moment of my pleasure to be able to sate himself.

Igave him what he wanted, eyes locked on his as I moaned, my body jerking hard with each of his violent thrusts.

Hisupper lip curled back, black eyes glittering as he released my left shoulder, those rude fingers fingering the apex of my pussy as he rubbed the sensitive bundle of nerves there between us in short strokes.

Mythighs pressed hard to either side of his hips as he pushed me to my edge, pummeling my pussy until I felt the build of my climax rushing to the surface.

“Fuck me like you mean it,” I hissed between moans, sensing somehow that he was holding back and hating it.

Hardin’seyes flared wide in the dark, his face twisting at my command as he quickened the pace with his fingers and I screamed my release, my whole body shaking with it.

Beforeit was even finished, Hardin flipped me onto my stomach. I only got to mourn the loss of him for an instant before he was back inside me, pressing my face into the mattress, fucking me like an animal.

Iarched my back for him, whimpering as his palm cracked down on my right ass cheek and then my left.

Hisgrunts turned to cries as he chased his release. I clenched my core tight around him and his body fell over mine as he came, still thrusting, his breath hot against the back of my neck.

Hardingripped the back of my neck, twisting my head at a sharp angle to kiss me as he poured into my pussy from behind.

Asour lips parted, he pressed his forehead to mine in a moment of rare vulnerability. I didn’t need him to speak to tell me what he was thinking because I was thinking it, too.