Chapter 4
DEVIL
For a split second, I didn’t know who’d slammed into me, hard enough to rattle my bones and lather bruises on my skin.
Then the scent of wide open fields and wildflowers reached my nose, and a growl poured up my throat, warning everyone to back the fuck off or risk me eviscerating them.
She was terrified. Why was my mate terrified?
“Woah, shit,” Justice blurted, the beta backing up with wide eyes and his palms up, facing me, our conversation forgotten. “Okay, we’ll finish this conversation later. Jessia, you alright?”
My growl rose. I curved over her, my arms engulfing her shaking body, trying to imprint myself upon her as if my presence might ease her fear.
“Right, gotcha,” Justice said, taking another step back and watching me with sudden clarity. “That’s… unexpected. But sure, backing up, moving away now. Come find me if you need anything.”
It took all my effort to jerk my head in a nod, and then he was gone. I scanned the hallway outside the dining room, my eyes narrowed as if my brothers had suddenly become threats. The irrational urge to grab Jessia and run took real effort to fight back.
“What’s wrong, angel?” I asked with effort, trying to soften the edges of my murderous growl and doing a shit job of it. I wanted to stroke her back, wanted to cover her face in kisses, but I settled for keeping my arms tight around her. “You’re safe, I’ve got you.”
“He found me,” she replied in a flat voice that made warning bells ring in my head. “He found me, and he’ll come back, and he’ll kill me this time.”
Now I really did kiss her, my lips finding her forehead and pressing for a long second, unable to help myself. “Come here.” I guided her into the dining room and left the door cracked so she didn’t feel trapped, guiding her into a chair. I hated the robotic way she sat, staring into space.
I pulled out the chair beside her and brought it close enough that I could warm her hands between mine. “Who found you, angel?”
“Pierce.”
The word was a whisper, barely audible.
“And Pierce is one of the men from the Alpha’s Bark?”
She shook her head, eyes dull, empty. “He’s my—my husband. I left. I ran away. I thought I was safe.”
“You are,” I insisted in as gentle a voice as I could muster, masking my surprise that she was married. Although the way she shook voided any marriage certificate in my eyes. “No one’s going to hurt you, and they’re certainly not going to fucking kill you. I’ll end anyone who even thinks about it.”
I meant what I said. I’d leave a pile of corpses if that’s what it took to keep Jessia safe and unafraid, but her expression didn’t change, not even her eyes flickering. But I could feel her terror. It sat in my chest like a spiked bomb, ticking down to an explosion.
I touched her cheek, needing her eyes to focus, needing to see the bright spark that made her her. “How do you know he’s found you?”
“There’s a letter,” she said, staring through me. “On my bed. It was waiting for me and—and the door was open in the hall.”
“Someone got in?” I snarled, then dragged my composure back together with effort. Someone had gotten inside the compound? “I’ll kill him.”
I got to my feet in a rush, rage beating through my heart, pumping blood fast to my body. “Stay here. I’ll tell Prodigy and get everyone on high alert—”
I froze when her fingers snagged my wrist.
“I don’t know why you’re the only person who feels safe,” she breathed, “but you can’t leave.”
The words were right there, on the tip of my tongue. But she’d only just got out of that basement, and she’d lost someone she cared about. The last thing she needed was more overwhelming emotions.
“Alright, angel, I won’t leave.” I dug out my phone from my pocket and fired a quick message to Prodigy, unsurprised when he immediately called. I silenced it and sat beside Jessia again, my eyes glued to her face, so much paler than usual, her lips colourless.
“What are the chances I can give you a hug right now?” I asked, my voice full of gravel I could do nothing about.
She blinked, her eyes focusing on me for a moment.
My heart damn near stopped when she pushed out of her chair and dropped onto my lap.
I wrapped her up in my arms, my lips finding the top of her head like it was the most natural thing in the world.
I couldn’t explain why I was safe for her, deep down at a soul level, but I could give her this.
I could hold her until she stopped shaking.
“How do you feel about becoming a widow?” I asked when her vicious shaking subsided to trembles.
A rasping exhalation was her only reply, but it encouraged me to keep talking.
“I’d make an awful hitman, but I’m down to kill him in a dozen different ways.”
“Why?”
Why? Fuck. I swallowed and said, “I don’t know how to explain it. But you—you’re so fucking good, and kind, and you deserve those things in return. If I have to kill every bad person in the world so none of that touches you again, I will.”
She blinked, processing my words, and then said, “I meant why would you be an awful hitman?”
“Oh, far too messy.” I tested out a grin, but it was hard to pull off with her shaking on my lap. “Hitmen need to be tidy and discreet, not leave a massacre behind them.”
Belatedly, I realised that might scare the ever-loving shit out of her, but Jessia just blinked again. “Does it count as a massacre if it’s just one person?”
“With what I’m going to do to him? Definitely.”
She peered at me, and I jolted to realise she saw me, the emptiness gone from her eyes. “I try to be a good person, but I think I’d like it if you killed him.”
“Then consider it done. We’ll tighten security. Pres has probably already given the order. And when we find Pierce, I’ll make him regret every second of his life that he made you feel afraid.” I hesitated, but since she was speaking… “Why did you run away, angel?”
When she was quiet for long seconds, I thought she wouldn’t answer, but I kept my arms around her and my mouth shut, knowing damn well more violent threats to her ex would spill out.
“He hurt me,” she said after a while. Quiet but—angry. “I had to run, or he’d have beaten me to death.”
There was no trapping the growl that rattled my chest this time. It vibrated through my rib cage and into her side where she rested against me, and for some inexplicable reason she sighed and softened against me, her head settling on my shoulder.
“I didn’t read the letter,” she confessed. “I was too scared to open it. But the envelope, it—” Her hands flexed in her lap, and I felt it through the explosive fear—a burning coal of rage. “It has my old name on it.”
I had to force air into my lungs, had to grab my fury in an iron fist and shove it down. She’d been so afraid of this Pierce motherfucker that she changed her name?
“I can read it for you.”
She nodded.
“And I’ll come back to your room with you, show you it’s safe now. Consider me your bodyguard.”
A semi-smile quirked her lips as she slid off my lap, her hands steadier, her expression afraid but not hollow. “My bodyguard.”
“Yep. I’ll even get a fancy suit and a jaunty hat if you like.”
She gave me a wry look that made me grin. “What bodyguards are you thinking of? The ones I’ve seen don’t wear hats. They wear really tight black shirts.”
“That, I can make happen.” I got to my feet and held out my hand, my heart tumbling over itself when she placed her palm in mine. “I’m sure I’ve got a black polo two sizes two small. The only problem is… it’s so short, it might be a crop top.”
Her smile sank deeper, rounding her cheeks. “I’m sure you’ll cope.”
“Me? Sure. You? You might be overcome with lust at the sight. Me in a crop top? Hottest thing you’ve ever seen.”
She slanted a look towards me. “Okay, Mr Confident. If you say so.”
She stiffened as we left the dining room, but she kept her head up, her back straight, and walked with me across the clubhouse without baulking. “Fil.”
“Yeah, angel?” I worked to stifle my growl when Winner crossed our path, my protective instincts on high alert.
“Thank you. For protecting me.”
“Always.”
She might have said something else, but the sanctuary doors came into view and she turned quiet, holding tight to my hand.
When I got my hands on the fucker who made her feel unsafe in the one place she was supposed to feel the most protected…
I didn’t know what I would do yet. It required thought, required time to dream up the most painful, torturous punishment.
“Hey! What the fuck,” Thora shouted when we strode through the main room. “You can be in here, prick. Get out.”
“It’s okay,” Jessia said, angling herself closer to me as if she’d protect me, too. “I asked him for help.”
Thora crossed her strong arms over her chest, her mouth in a flat line. “You’ve got ten minutes, then I want you out of here.”
“Aye, aye, captain,” I said, halting myself mid-salute because I’d like to keep my teeth in my mouth and not see them on the carpet.
“Justice is giving a class later,” Thora told Jessia, ignoring me altogether. “It’d be good for you.”
Jessia’s smile weakened. “Yeah. I’ll see.”
Thora gave me a warning look, then stalked over to the sofas, dropping down where she had a clear view of us. She didn’t trust anyone, but it was hardly surprising when she’d been abused at the same farm as Lynn.
“My room’s this way,” Jessia said, her face losing a little of its colour as she guided me down a hallway. “This door.”
She took her hand from mine and stepped back, knotting her fingers together as I pushed open the door and scanned the room, ensuring it was empty. I checked her wardrobe, searched under the bed and in the en-suite before finally grabbing the white envelope off the soft lilac covers of her bed.
Jenna, it said on the outside. And the slip of cheap lined paper on the inside said, I told you, Jen. You’ll never be without me. I’ll always find you when you run.
“What does it say?” she asked, tentatively approaching the door.
“Nothing worth repeating,” I answered, screwing it into a ball and pocketing it. “Nothing you need to see.”
But the damage was done; she was already afraid to enter her own room. And until I found the fucker and killed him, she’d never feel safe.