Page 288 of Conquered

“Princess? You don’t need to—” I start, but she cuts me off with a fierce look in her eyes.

“He took my mum’s life long before he drove the knife into her body, Ash,” she tells me, staring down at the gun as if it's an inevitability. “So yes, I do need to. Show me?”

The last is said with a thread of uncertainty, her eyes wide and pupils blown with the adrenaline no doubt coursing through her veins. I cannot deny her, now or ever. She owns me, body and pitch-black soul.

Stepping up behind her, I pull her in close until our bodies are flush. I can’t help but nuzzle her hair with my nose, my fingers tightening on her hips.

“Focus, husband,” she chastises, but I can hear the smile, and a small growl sounds in my throat at the term. I fucking love it when she calls me that.

I push my semi into her, thriving on the gasp that leaves her own lips when she feels me growing. Deciding to play with her a little more, I remove one hand from her hips, gliding it down her arm, goosebumps following in my wake. Wrapping her hand more firmly round the gun, I place my own on top of hers and use it to take aim at his other ankle.

“Such a good girl knowing not to put your finger on the trigger until you’re absolutely ready,” I praise, my breath tickling her ear, and I delight in the shudder that rocks her body. “Now place your finger on the trigger. Yes, that’s it. Take a deep breath, let it slowly out, and pull when you’re ready,” I instruct, holding her aim straight so that it doesn’t waver.

“P–please…Lilly…” the bastard whispers, and I look to see his eyes pleading with her, but my wife shows no mercy, ignoring him completely as she exhales and then pulls the trigger, just like I told her to. His ankle shatters, blood and bone flying from it. She doesn’t flinch, just lowers her arm, taking her finger carefully off the trigger and letting me take the gun. I hand it back to Hunter, an unspoken trust passing between us. We are brothers in bloodshed now.

“Done like a pro, my love,” I whisper, placing a soft kiss on her neck before letting her spin round and face me.

“What happens next? How will Julian not find out what happened here?” she questions, a cute as fuck frown marring her forehead.

“Now, we burn this shit to the motherfucking ground!” Loki crows, whooping like the fucking pyro that he is. A grin takesover my face before I can stop it, and I cast my glance down at Lilly to see how she’s dealing with this.

“Where are the matches?” she asks, giving me the sexiest smile known to man that has my dick rock-hard in an instant.

Unable to hold back, I grab her face with my free hand and give her a bruising kiss, telling her how much I love her with my lips and every caress of my tongue. We break apart panting, the stinging smell of expensive brandy burning our nostrils as the guys smash bottles around the room, pouring it liberally on Adrian’s prone form. He splutters awake, eyes unfocused as he tries to make sense of what’s happening around him.

“Brandy?” Lilly questions as her nose twitches, and she turns to look around the room.

“The finest we could find in this dickhead’s cellars,” I tell her, slinging my arm across her shoulders and pulling her close. “And it’s less suspicious than petrol.”

She makes an impressed sound, her head bobbing, and my lips twitch to see her act surprised that we know what we’re doing.

“Not our first arson, Pretty Girl,” Loki tells her as he comes to stand with us, Kai, Hunter, and the twins following.

We all watch in silence as Jax picks up the blowtorch once more and lights it, flames racing across the books and curtains where the alcohol has seeped into them.

“I can’t believe that you’re burning all these innocent books,” Lilly admonishes as we watch Jax make his way round the room setting the books and curtains alight, Adrian’s futile attempts to escape boring by now. “Fucking heathens.”

“Can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, pixie girl,” one of the twins says with a grin, and I flash him a glower, which only makes him smile wider.Fucker.

We stand sentinel as Jax approaches the man in the chair, watching as the flames catch on the alcohol that was poured overhim. His mouth opens in a soundless scream as he’s engulfed in fire, and I feel nothing other than a swelling sense of satisfaction that he will no longer be alive to torment Lilly. That revenge has been enacted on behalf of her mother.

“Let’s go,” my wife says, my arm dropping as she turns around and walks towards the door.

We all follow her out, her Knights, her lovers, her soulmates.

CHAPTER TEN

LILLY

Wearily, we pile into two cars, me and the guys in one and the Shadows in another. I’m so tired, so strung out and bone weary that even the excitement of finally being reunited with my guys isn’t enough to keep my eyes open. I fall asleep sandwiched between Ash and Loki, each one of my hands tangled with one of theirs.

I wake up a couple of hours later as we arrive outside a warehouse-type building next to the river Thames, the late night sounds of London filtering into my consciousness when a blast of cool air hits my face from an open door.

“Where are we?” I croak out, rubbing my gritty eyes then grimacing when dried blood flakes off my fingers.

“A safe place that no one else knows about,” Ash tells me, pushing some of my hair back, his fingers trailing down my cheek and sending tingles racing across my skin.

I look around to see that it’s quiet, although it appears that the other warehouses have been converted into apartments, much like the one before me. Ash helps me out of the car, andI lean on him as Kai leads us up the steps to the large, solid, wooden door.