Chapter 9
NINE
HEAT
“Leon,” McKenna was the first to speak up when the two of us stepped into the main room of the clubhouse. “What are you doing here?”
“Could ask you the same thing,” Leon growls, eyes flaring with the natural silver in them that seems to glow.
“Where are your sunglasses?” McKenna demands.
“Didn’t need them here.” If looks could kill, I’d swear he’d maim me if he could. “You want to release my godsister?”
“Godsister?” Interesting.
“Yes, she’s Hel’s goddaughter and raised by my mother from the time she was thirteen. Now, you want to let Mick go?”
Mick?
That name definitely doesn’t suit McKenna.
“I think she’s good right where she’s at. Can’t get into trouble that way,” I remark, giving McKenna a squeeze.
I’m doing my best not to think about the other tidbit Leon shared about this woman. The very fact she’s his godsister and raised by the Goddess of Death should have me letting her go like her skin’s on fire, instead I’m holding on tighter.
Fuck.
“Wait, you’re Hel’s goddaughter?” Brimstone asks, face paling.
Anyone who has a brain knows to fear the woman.
“Yes,” McKenna says, pride filling her voice. “Is there something wrong with that?”
“Nope, no problem at all,” Brimstone grunts, shaking his head. “I didn’t know Hel had it in her to be a godmother, let alone a mother to someone who isn’t of her blood.”
“Well, she is a mother to me,” McKenna snaps and tries to pull away.
“Not letting you move from my side,” I tell her quietly, tightening my grip on her.
McKenna huffs and glares at me before turning her attention back to Leon. “What’s going on, Leon?”
“You tell me,” he growls, glaring between us.
“I talked to you, you said you’d call me back, you didn’t.
I get a call from Rashon, who is on vacation for a few days to be with his family, telling me you were dragged out of a store by someone claiming to be your man, when I know you don’t have one.
You’ve never had a man, so tell me, little sister, what the fuck is going on? ”
“I—”
Leon holds a hand up, stopping her. “Before you think to lie to me, remember you’re a shit liar and don’t have a poker face worth a damn. Also, I’ve been to your place and spoke with Hel. So start talking.”
Now this keeps getting more and more interesting.
“I have a stalker,” McKenna blurts out. “It’s not that big of a deal. I was just getting away for a little while and—”
“You call having them write ‘Die Whore’ on your wall no big deal?” Leon snarls, interrupting her.
“The fuck?” Fire demands.
“Or worse, the writing on the mirror, cliché as fuck with its ‘Why don’t you love me?’. You think none of this is a big deal?”
“I didn’t see the mirror,” she grumbles quietly, bowing her head.
“McKenna,” I call her name, wanting her eyes on me. When she lifts her head, I demand, “Start talking.”
“Geez, you could at least offer a girl a drink first,” she snaps.
“I’ll offer my hand tanning your ass if you don’t get to talking about what the fuck is going on,” I warn.
I have no problem putting her over my knee right here in front of everyone.
Won’t be anything for me to be ashamed of, not if I have my hand on her.
She, on the other hand, might not appreciate anyone seeing her bare ass as I turn it a nice shade of red.
“You wouldn’t.” If it were any other time, I might find her widened eyes laughable.
“Try me, Trouble. You’ll find out quick just how fast I move.”
“This isn’t any of your business. Like I said, it’s not a big deal. Besides, you have enough on your plate with Kinley and the threat against her.”
The very fact she’s trying to downplay this shit pisses me off, more so she’d do it thinking what’s going on with Kinley was more serious than whatever this is with a stalker.
“McKenna,” I growl and move us to a table so we’re not just standing in the middle of a goddamn room. I plant my ass in the seat, pulling her down on top of me, legs straddling either side of my legs, locking her to me. “Now start fuckin’ talking.”
I ignore the others who swarm the table, including Leon.
“As I said . . .”
“You’re seriously pushing for that spanking, and I don’t think you want Leon to see me punishing you.”
“He’s seen my ass . . .”
“For the love of Gods, McKenna,” Leon booms. “Stop with the distractions and explain to me why you’ve never once mentioned a stalker and ran the fuck away. Then we’ll get to the reason you’re sitting in the lap of a man I know to be deadly.”
“Deadly?”
I watch as McKenna goes stiff.
“Deadlier than you’ll ever know, but that’s why I am who I am.
I do what I have to do to protect my club, my brothers, and those under our protection,” I tell her.
“Also means knowing what I now know, I’m not going to let anything happen to you.
You’ve got the club’s protection, not just because of that, but because of what you did for Kinley as well. You helped when you didn’t have to.”
“I didn’t do anything,” she utters.
“You heard her, called Evelin about it, found her, got her inside, covered her up, and shielded her. That’s helping Kinley,” I point out. ”Now, tell us about what’s going on, McKenna, and why someone would be tailing you.”
McKenna holds my gaze, searching for what I don’t know, but whatever it is, she seems to find because she nods. “I don’t know who would be tailing me. Why they would do what they did to my home, but it’s been going on for months.”
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” Leon barks out.
I don’t look at him or anyone else as I focus on McKenna. Right now, she’s giving in and telling us what we need to know.
“Go on?” I tell her.
McKenna sucks in a breath, slumps her shoulders, and drops her gaze.
“At first, I thought it was just some joke. Someone leaving notes on my car. Then on my door at home. After a while, the notes turned to items being placed in my car or on my front step. It escalated to text messages and phone calls.”
The more she talks about it, going into detail about what was in the notes, what the items are, there’s no way in hell it could be viewed as a joke.
“Then I started feeling like someone was following me. The other night, I got home and found my place trashed, with the writing on the wall, I flipped out. I called Hel, then I left, came here, though she’d suggested it after I didn’t want to go stay with her.
” McKenna sucks in a breath and finishes, “Yesterday, after getting here, and well, before the flat tire, I got another text message. This one saaying I couldn’t hide. ”
“That’s why you were refusing to come to the clubhouse,” I mutter, seeing her reasoning. She wasn’t trying to bring her troubles to the club.
McKenna nods and tries to get up. “I can’t stay here, and I won’t let my troubles become someone else’s. It’s not that big of a deal. I’ve dealt with stalkers before, eventually, they always go away.”
“That’s not true, and you know it,” I grunt, letting her up, but only to be able to twist and turn her on my lap so she’s cradled.
“You know, Mick, if you would’ve just come to me in the first place, we could’ve dealt with this all before it escalated,” Leon grumbles. “But I know you better than that. So damn soft-hearted and trusting of others.”
“I am not,” McKenna snaps, her gaze whipping in the direction of the other man. “I just don’t like jumping to conclusions and pointing fingers. I don’t know who it is, and if I did, then I would have told you. I can’t accuse someone of stalking me.”
“Hate to break it to you, McKenna, but that’s the thing about stalkers, you don’t know who they are until they want you too,” Fire mutters.
“Well, still, I wasn’t being soft-hearted or stupid about keeping this to myself.”
“No one called you stupid, Trouble,” I tell her.
“Whatever,” she mutters and twists her head back to me. “Let me go so I can leave now.”
“Already told you, you’re not going anywhere, and you damn well know why.”
She grew up around Gods and learned about the fate of those around her. For that matter, she grew up with her godmother being the Goddess of Death, so she should understand it better than anyone what the connection we both felt was when I had my mouth on hers.
As soon as I get inside her, that bond will seal itself, linking us in a way that can never be broken.
My cock twitches at the thought. The rest of me, however, is unsure of whether this is a good thing or not. I never wanted a woman who was solely mine. I was good with being by myself, not worrying about claiming a woman as mine. Yet, this woman, in only twenty-four hours, has consumed me.