Page 12 of Property of Prowler (Kings of Anarchy MC: Nevada #1)

“Babe. We’re going to be dizzy with all the circling back we’ll have to do, but first, I want you to repeat whatever it was you said that you think I did.”

“Your ex.”

“My ex? What about her?”

“You’re together again or whatever it is. I get it, there’s history. That’s hard to let go of sometimes. So just let me bow out gracefully and keep some of my dignity intact. Especially where Cass is concerned.”

He’d be lying if he said the fact she was thinking about his daughter and her feelings, even when she was clearly going through her own, didn’t give her a bit more real estate in his heart. But he had to put a stop to her worry where Allie was concerned.

Gripping her cheeks in his hands, forcing eye contact. “You hear me right fucking now. Allie is nothing more than the woman who gave birth to my daughter. There is not, and never will be, anything between us.”

Instead of hope flaring in her eyes, the green reflected hurt and anger.

“I never thought you’d lie to me, Prowler. I knew when I met you that I’d end up in too deep, and you’d break a part of my soul, but I never thought it would be because of a lie.”

Wow, she sounded disappointed in him, and that almost stung worse than all the other shit—almost.

“I’m not fucking lying, Tay. There’s nothing going on.”

“Gah.” She pulled away from him. “Quit lying. I saw it myself. You locked lips with her right out there for anyone to see.” She waved toward the front of the house as a tear fell from her shimmering eyes.

Wolf stood at attention in the front of his mind. Head cocked to the side, listening and growling. It was the first time he was in the driver’s seat when in skin, and it felt strange … but kinda right.

“You won’t even kiss me in private, but you had no shame about locking lips with her on the front porch in front of half of your club.”

She dashed away tears.

Wolf paced and turned his anger on Prowler.

Fix this. Those two words floated through his mind.

“Did you know I stole a kiss tonight while you slept? I needed to know what your lips felt like on mine before I ended things. How pathetic is that?”

Wolf howled long and loud. Calling to Taylor. Prowler didn’t know how he knew that’s what it was, but he did.

She dashed more tears from her cheeks.

“And now I’m crying, and I hate to fucking cry.

You have no idea of the shit I’ve gone through.

Unwanted touches from those I should’ve been able to trust. Fucking beatings and broken bones.

I endured it all without so much as a whimper.

Now I’m crying over a man I tried so hard not to fall for but failed.

I let you make me weak, Prowler, and I may never forgive you for that.

I fought so hard to be strong, and I gave that up for mind-blowing sex, and I’ll never forgive myself for that. ”

Taylor stormed out before he could think straight. The sound of the front door lock engaging told him she’d left his house.

Moments later, everything she’d confessed became clear. Prowler was blown back with a typhoon of swirling emotions.

He was trying to sift through them as he got dressed to go show Taylor exactly what the new terms of the arrangement were.

Anger, Wolf’s and his, had his eyes flickering back and forth, a change threatening.

“Calm down, Wolf, we’ll fix it.”

I want their blood.

He was fully on board with Wolf wanting blood from whoever had silenced her tears in the past.

“Hey, you spoke directly to me?” Prowler mused aloud as he donned a shirt.

Well, you finally spoke directly to me, asshole.

Prowler hadn’t realized it until Wolf said it. In the last thirteen years, Prowler just kinda thought things, and Wolf either went along with it or pushed against it.

He had never taken the time to speak to him.

“You’re not exactly Mr. Congeniality yourself, fuzzy butt.”

Wolf growled, but it was a different kind of rumble. Prowler was realizing that Wolf had been communicating with him all along, just not with words. Wolf had a full vocabulary of sounds.

Maybe not all quantums had to have such a dysfunctional relationship with their animals. If that was the case, this new information could change the lives of some of his brothers for the better.

There was a burning question Prowler had based on what Kansas and Hunter had mentioned about Naturals.

“Do you see things … I mean, through my eyes … that I don’t?”

Sometimes.

“Did you see Taylor kiss me?”

Kiss us, yes.

“Did you feel it?” He wasn’t sure why he was asking, but he needed to know. He was terrified and exhilarated at the same time. He wanted something from their first kiss. Since he was asleep, he was hoping that …

In a manner of speaking, yes.

“Is—”

Enough questions. I have one for you.

Instead of speaking aloud, he did a mental answer to get the feel of conversing with Wolf quietly too.

Are you going to stay here like a pussy, or are we going after her?

Prowler laughed, actually laughed. And the chuffing sound from Wolf was basically lupine laughter.

We just shared a laugh. Prowler sent silently to Wolf.

Wow, a decade and a half. That’s a hell of a learning curve you've got, slugger.

The slugger comment brought him up short. Wolf was telling him without telling him that he saw a lot through his eyes.

Locking the door behind him, he mentally spoke to Wolf as he jogged across the street.

Do you have memories of before?

Before what? Wolf sounded genuinely confused.

Before me.

Some, why? He sounded cautious.

Memories of the … the man before me?

Why he was asking, he didn’t know. Maybe morbid curiosity or maybe to know Wolf better. Or possibly because he still needed to know if it was really a one-off as Allie had said it was.

Her cheating had really fucked with him, and still was. It somehow broke the trust mechanism he had.

Most of my memories are of the times I am running free. The smells, the feel of the earth under my paws, the intensity of it all. Companion memories are … different. They fade with time. Even while they’re happening, they are dull, hazy, except …

Wolf trailed off as they approached Taylor’s house, and the sounds of heavy music and growling vocals were pulsing from the far side.

Following the sound, Prowler found her garage door about a third of the way up with light and sound spilling out. As he ducked under, he never expected the sight before him.

Taylor was beating and kicking the shit out of a heavy bag in nothing but a tee shirt, underwear, and taped hands. She was sexy as fuck.

And she was damn good.

Wolf chuffed his approval. He recognized the sound as pride.

I second that.

He was so turned on that the zipper was biting into his dick until her voice cut through a lower part of the song.

She was chanting insults at herself every time she connected with the bag. When he heard, “I deserved it. I always deserved it.” Prowler was propelled into action.

Closing the distance between them, he scooped her up from behind. She screamed and began punching behind her. He took the abuse.

“Babe, it’s me. It’s me.” After a while, she stopped fighting back.

“Prowler?” He heard the tears before he saw the evidence—the red glistening eyes, the trails down her cheeks.

“Yeah, babe.”

When he felt her body relax, he lowered her until she stood on the floor. Turning her to face him, he cupped her cheeks.

“You deserved none of the bad shit ever done to you. And one day, I will have names. The only thing you deserve is love, Taylor. Love and security.” He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “And I plan on being the man to give it to you.”

Taylor stared at him for so long he thought she’d never speak again.

When her smile finally came, it wasn’t the beaming one he expected when she was overjoyed. No, it was a cautious one. Like she didn’t trust herself to hope or trust Prowler’s words.

“How can you say that? We’ve fucked around for a few months, but you don’t know anything about me. Hell, I don’t know anything about you either. Like your favorite color or?—”

“Jade.”

“What?”

“My favorite color. Jade, like your eyes.”

Eyes that promptly rolled at his words. “My point is, we don’t know each other. I don’t even know your first name.”

“I know if I kiss you here.” Prowler nipped the area where her shoulder met her neck. He tasted the saltiness on her skin from her earlier exertion. But underneath that was her intoxicating scent of sweet coffee and musk. “Your knees buckle.” As if on cue, he grabbed her hips as her legs wobbled.

“That’s irr?—”

“Riley. Riley Reynolds.” He didn’t need to add the last name. She knew that from the school pick-up slip she signed that was Cassady’s last name.

“You’re just making my point for me.” Her voice came out husky and breathless, and he wanted nothing more than to pound into her body like a madman. He knew that would be a mistake and validate her doubts.

“We’ve never even been on a date. No movie, no dinner. Nothing but sex. I know from experience that sex is nothing to build a relationship on. I’ve got the emotional trauma and restraining orders to prove it. And it wasn’t even that good.”

Prowler let her go and turned as quickly as preternaturally possible. He didn’t want to, but he had to. He felt it coming. Wolf was practically thrashing against him, howling to get out. To kill everyone who came before them.

While he could control the change, he couldn’t control the eyes. They always gave him away. Neither man nor beast would stand for her talking about dick from another man.

“Go answer your front door, Tay.” He spoke without turning around while striding toward the garage door.

“What?”

“Just answer the fucking door,” he said in a singsong voice to mask his rising anger and impending change.

While jogging around the house, he talked Wolf down. When they found the fuckers she mentioned, the abusive one, the one she mentioned in the garage, and anyone else who hurt her, he promised Wolf a kill.

By the time he was ringing her front bell, Wolf was satisfied with their agreement and melted back into the shadows.

The door flew open, and Taylor stood there, still dressed in barely anything, with her arms crossed over her chest.

“What are you playing at, Prowler? I’m tired.”

“Riley, and I wanted to know if you’d like to go to dinner and a concert with me Friday? There’s a great local metal band playing on Fremont, and the pizza place close by has great pie. Even vegan if you want.”

Prowler watched, amused as she tried to fight the smile that was tugging at her luscious lips. Lips he needed to taste. He was jealous that Wolf knew them, and he didn’t.

Prowler could tell it was a yes before she spoke because of her eyes. They were so expressive and conveyed her every emotion. Which is probably why he avoided looking into them when the sex was really good. He would’ve given in and kissed her if he had.

Why not now, though?

What if she wasn’t the one? The question bounced around his brain. They were starting something, and even if she wasn’t, he’d never kiss another to find out. But then he remembered the wondering.

Could he spend a lifetime wondering? Wolf didn’t seem to share his doubts.

“Okay, Riley. You had me at metal. I’ll go out with you.”

His name on her lips was like a song from a choir. It moved him in unexpected ways.

“Perfect. I’ll pick you up at seven. Wear boots and sleeves.” She was going to be on the back of his fucking bike, and she was going to be his. Prowler couldn’t hide the shit-eating grin that took over his face.

Fuck wondering.

Grabbing her cheeks and pulling her lips to his, he kissed her hard. She didn’t open to him, but he didn’t expect her to. He knew it would shock her too much to respond.

The tingling that ran from his lips, through his bloodstream, and culminated in an explosion in his chest was new and telling. If that hadn’t been enough, Wolf’s howl was.

She is mine , he thought with wonder.

Ours, Wolf corrected.

Turning, he jogged back across the street, stopping halfway across her yard when he realized two things.

One, the sliver of light from her house was still streaming across the desert landscaping, and two, she didn’t ask about Allie.

Turning, he shouted to grab her attention.

“Taylor.” When she looked up at him, he continued. “For the record, I didn’t kiss Allie. She kissed me, and I stood there dumbfounded by the unexpected contact, kinda like you are right now. Except I wasn’t savoring it. And Taylor?”

He spoke her name again because her eyes had glossed over as her fingers gently caressed her lip.

“Close and lock the door behind you, babe. I’m not leaving until you do.”

Prowler waited until he heard the lock engage before jogging back home.

First thing he did after locking his front door was grab a beer and head out back for a smoke. After lighting up, he sat there flicking the top of his lighter rhythmically and thinking about Taylor and the new sensations coursing through his body.

He had so many questions for Wolf and new information to share with his brothers about their state of existence. So much was wrong about what they thought they knew, and so much was right. It was a little overwhelming.

He sat there for close to an hour, just enjoying Wolf’s presence for once and mulling over things.

The patio door opened behind him.

“What are you doing awake, Jellybean?”

His daughter took the seat next to him in the Adirondack chair. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“You can talk to me about anything, you know that.” He turned her way to stub his cigarette out, and she gasped.

Looking into his daughter’s face, he saw wonder in her eyes, eyes so much like his own. It reminded him of the way she looked at him as a toddler, like he’d hung the moon.

“Your eyes. I was right, you are a shifter.” Before the oh shit registered in his thoughts, she had launched herself at him.