Page 64 of Purgatory (Devil Dogs of the Apocalypse #1)

Alessandra

I wake to a light noise filtering into my ears. It’s not harsh or jarring. It’s soft. Familiar. Then, it dawns on me. Birdsong. Such a peaceful concept but one I had taken for granted far too often in my old life and never got the chance to enjoy in my new life. Until now.

Slowly, I open my eyes, taking in the soft sun rise coming in through the gauzy windows in Jax’s room. The air’s getting cooler and goosebumps form on my exposed arms before I tuck them beneath the blankets, into the inferno the boys created.

Looking to my left, I see Jax. The ever-constant furrow to his brow almost nonexistent as I look at him now.

The serious truths and secrets revealed last night seeming to have purged his subconscious of their destructive hold on him.

There’s only a small wrinkle remaining and I lift my hand to rub my finger lightly on the line, smoothing it instantly at my touch.

Suddenly, a low sound, almost a purr, releases from my broody giant making a smile creep onto my lips.

To my right is Cole. My rock. I never seem to feel out of control when he’s nearby.

Rather, everything is just clearer, easier, simplified.

Even when he lets his commanding side out, it’s like releasing the breath I didn’t know I was holding onto.

I’m lighter with him and he steadies me.

The tether to my balloon. I’m like a kite dancing in the wind without a care in the world, him holding me steady all the while .

Some of his hair had fallen down over his eyes so I lift my hand and gently move it off his forehead, granting me a sleepy smile from him as he wraps his arms more securely around my waist and pulls me in tight. Unfortunately, for him, I can’t to go that far... because of Hawk.

I lift the blankets up to look down at my slumbering joker and laugh under my breath at him.

He's positioned on his belly, face first on my lady bits. His warm, wet breaths sending shivers down my spine as they hit my core on a steady, slow rhythm. His arms, wrapped under my thighs, curling around so his hands rested on my hips. It’s as if he started to go down on me and fell asleep because he was so comfortable there.

Thunder thighs for the win!

I reach my hands down to stroke his hair and lightly massage his scalp.

Hawk returns my affection by squeezing my thighs more and nuzzling his nose against my clit before dozing off again.

He doesn’t make it that far to slumberland, though, as a light moan falls from my lips, sending shockwaves of lust through all three of them.

My marines at attention almost instantly for me as they gaze on me with desire filling their eyes.

“Good morning, beautiful,” says Cole as he draws me closer for a kiss.

“Mmmm, morning, baby doll,” Jax says as he angles himself over me, nibbling my neck, making my back arch.

“Oooh, breakfast is served,” Hawk groans as he dives head first into my pussy and feasts like it’s his last meal.

I’m officially spoiled. I’ll admit it. These boys know what to do, how to do it and when to do it. And I’m here for it. If this is what the rest of my life could look like, sign me up.

I move to flip over, positioning myself to straddle Hawk’s face while preparing to go down on Cole’s rather large wakeup call when alarm hits Jax’s face, stopping me in my tracks.

I look to where his eyes are glued and see Sadie standing ridged, hackles up, ears back and staring intently at the closed bedroom door.

She isn’t moving. I’ve never seen her have this reaction before but Jax seems to know exactly what’s going on.

“Jax?” I ask cautiously.

He slowly gets up out of the bed, kisses my forehead and moves to look out the window for a moment. He curses under his breath at what he sees before crossing to where Sadie still remains. A stern concentration overtakes his face, making his jaw tick as he looks to the men still beside me.

I follow his gaze to see Hawk and Cole having the same reaction as they take in Sadie’s cue. Silently, they each stand, getting dressed without a word and kissing me before joining Jax. Their stoicism wracking me to the bone. Ok... I’m terrified. What the fuck does this mean?

“Jax?” I ask again.

He turns slowly as Hawk and Cole move to stand beside him. “Baby, stay here. It’ll be ok.”

Erm… what???

“What do you mean it’ll be ok? What’s going on?” My eyes bounce back and forth between the three before Jax looks down to his pup.

“Sadie is trained. Not only as my therapy dog, but to recognize threats like when we were overseas.” He points down to her, sighing and looking back to me with determination in his eyes.

“This cue is only presented when a threat is near and she can sense them. Right now? We have company we need to deal with.”

I stand up when he finishes explaining, quickly throwing on my discarded clothes and walk over to the window to see what we might be facing. My heart jumps and my breath catches in my throat at what I see outside.

Where Cole and Hawk’s bedrooms look out to the lake and beyond, Jax’s bedroom window overlooks the front of the house and the entrance to the estate where pickup trucks are currently overfilling the yard and continuing to funnel in through the gate.

Dozens of guys pour out from them with everything from guns to bats to even one guy sporting a fucking samurai sword, of all things.

At least half of them are also carrying large sticks that are being lit on fire as they stalk towards the house.

Suddenly, one of the guys outside speaks, his gritty voice full of malice and malcontent. A familiar voice. Too familiar and also impossible.

He’s supposed to be dead...

“We know you’re in there you fucking cunts! And we know you’re the ones that killed my brother, Earl, and his crew. Ain’t no one else around here for miles.”

Not one of us responds to his accusations. I stay as quiet as I can. Even my breathing is sparse, afraid anything might tip off that we’re in here.

The guys are the same, as far as remaining silent. However, a conversation continues between them consisting of minor hand movements. I have no idea what any of it means and I'm too paralyzed to try to decipher the code.

“We know you’re in there! You know, we drove all over hell looking for you last night.

” I can hear the light-heartedness to his sing-songed speech and he lets out a faint chuckle that sends chills through my bones.

This guy is a fucking psycho and, although we’d never met before, I can tell he’s even worse than his brother, Earl.

“Lucky for us, we found you while you were having yourselves a good old-fashioned party. Tell me, was it in memory of my brother and his kin or were you, God forbid, celebrating something after blowing his goddamn brains out?”

We still remain silent, barely moving, except now our gazes move to each other's. Mine full of terror and uncertainty, theirs full of grit but with an undercurrent of regret, sorrow and apology. I don’t like their looks one bit.

I’ve seen firsthand what Jax had done at the lake house.

Their faces should be full of confidence and assuredness.

“Y’all need to get your sorry asses out of that goddamn house in ten minutes or else we burn the motherfucker to the ground with you in it. There’s atonement needed and I’m gonna seek out my righteous vengeance from each of you one way or another.”

The voice carrying from outside is starting to sound more and more like the harbinger of our deaths.

Fuck that. Not like this. I didn’t come this far to die at the hands of rapist, hillbilly scum.

And especially not after I finally found my happy ending.

I know life’s not fair, but seriously? Have we not been through enough already?

I mentally give out a grand fuck you with blazing middle fingers to whatever higher power decided this was our fate.

I move toward the guys, seeking safety in their arms and reassurance in their eyes.

They know what to do. They know how to fix this and make it ok.

..Right? Right. Of course, they do. They’re fucking badasses.

Then, once they’re done, we’re going to ride off into the sunset together and that will be that. Done and done.

Hawk pulls me into his arms. His chin resting on my head as Cole and Jax surround me on either side. I can feel the pressure of Hawk’s embrace tightening and Jax’s hand reluctant as he strokes his fingers down my face.

“You’ll be ok, baby girl. We’ll make sure of it.” I see the sincerity in Jax’s eyes but there’s something else that I can’t quite figure out .

“What do you mean? What do we have to do?”

Jax moves to his closet, fishes out a rifle, then turns to his side table and removes his pistol, checking the magazine and reloading. He looks to Hawk and Cole. “Check the hallway.” He tosses them the pistol and Hawk catches it.

They move to the door as a unit and Hawk slowly pries the door open slightly to peak out, aiming the pistol at anyone who might be lurking out there. He turns back around after a few seconds and mutters, “Clear.”

Jax’s shoulders drop a millimeter before he nods and says, “Ok, grab the stashes in your rooms and bring it all back here. Be as quiet as you can. We need to see what we have compared to what we’re up against. Get the gear from the safe downstairs also.”

Cole and Hawk nod and leave the room without a word.

Within a few minutes they return with their arms full and I’ve got to say, it’s a whole hell of a lot more than I thought we had in the weapons department.

Shit’s fucking intimidating how they can whip up a damn arsenal in less time it takes for me to make coffee.

They set everything on the bed and back up, surveying their lot, but I can’t help but notice that something is missing.