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The power Romero had over me with just a single gaze was daunting. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and everything around him faded away.

It was an overwhelming déjà vu to get lost in him like this again, a stark reminder of the magnetic, indefinable bond that was between us, like a flicker of a flame in the dark, one that had been lit so I could find my way back home—because home had become wherever he was.

I knew it wasn’t one-sided. The asshole looked like he was smirking at me. I wanted to go to him; I would have gone to him, but he turned away again and the ashen little pieces of my brain-dead heart followed right behind him.

He turned his back on me so he could talk to the brunette Arlen claimed was her sister.

When she laid her hand on his shoulder, I promised then and there I would remove every single one of her fucking fingers.

The atmosphere shifted after Grimm and Cobra let both bodies carelessly drop to the ground. As soon as they cracked against the asphalt, a large flag unraveled from the old stoplight and I found myself staring at a Sigil of Baphomet, the official symbol of Satan. The Hebrew characters running counterclockwise around the ring framing the goat head had been made to spell out Romero’s name.

If I hadn’t already known the man I was enamored with was the king of the Savages—a satanic cult masquerading as a gang—I sure as fuck would have just been made aware.

One prominent question still took precedence over all the others. What the hell was he planning? So lost was I in my tumultuous thoughts that I missed the two people in masks who had broken from the crowd and were charging right for us. Tito didn’t.

“We need to go!” He jerked me backward so hard my arm almost popped out of its socket.

“That hurt, you dick!” I stumbled, catching myself whilst trying to pull away from him.

Seemingly not satisfied with my reaction, he picked me up despite all my protests, no doubt garnering the full attention of the crowd, and booked it back into the woods.

CHAPTER FOUR

I wasn’t a huge fan of guns. They curdled creativity and ended people too quick. I liked taking my time when I killed, savoring the affliction of pain, but I wasn’t in the mood to play right then, so I pressed the barrel to her palm and pulled the trigger, burning a perfect hole right through it.

Cobra’s good arm slightly jerked from the kick-back. She screamed, and I sincerely hoped it was loud enough for Cali to hear.

She’d been right in front of me and I turned away.

I never did dumbass shit but I suppose there was a first time for everything—and a last.

I knelt down and pressed the warm, now crimson barrel right to Beth’s trembling mouth, telling her to shut the fuck up without needing to say a word.

She had this idea in her head that she would be the next Tiffany, and it was about time she realized it was never going to happen.

“That looks like it hurts.” I nodded to her bloody palm. She made a low keening noise and continued to sob. “The next time you touch me, I’ll take off the whole fucking hand. You should thank me for being in a semi-good mood today and not killing you here and now.”

I stood up and tucked the gun away. No one stopped to stare at what I was doing. Everybody continued milling around, getting ready for what came next and keeping watch over me like junkyard guard dogs high on meth.

“I can cauterize this. Go handle shit,” Cobra said, already pulling Beth towards the fire where two of the corpses were burning.

I wasn’t going to object. I needed some peace but that wasn’t likely to happen. The rage I constantly felt simmering beneath my surface was close to erupting.

All because of one damn girl.

“We’ll find her again,” Grimm said, falling into step beside me.

I had no doubt she would be found. The issue was her being out in the woods with Tito of all fucking people. He was no better than his sister. It didn’t help that he knew I was the one who had indirectly killed her. How it eluded me that he was the one who could have sent Cali was another major fuck up on my end.

The past was the past, though, and shit could be done to change it. Focusing on my present would secure my future. I needed to get everything back on track—and fast.

That included getting my girl back before Tito opened his mouth and spilled his guts.

Cali only knew partial truths of sordid secrets about everything and everyone.

I’d weaved my wicked web so thoroughly for a reason. I could only imagine the thoughts already spinning around her psychotic little head.

“I know,” I finally responded to Grimm, pausing to look down at the naked woman still lying on the ground. Her clit was engorged and discharge was pooling between her legs.