Page 55 of Wraith (Deviant Assassin #1)

Wild

“ Y ou can’t protect me from the past,” she says, softly.

Her eyes meet mine, wide and vulnerable.

Her haunted look piercing me like a bullet.

She’s showing me secrets she doesn’t want me to see, born from a forbidden place, and yet I can’t look away.

I long to protect her, to hold her close and surround her fragile soul.

I’ve longed for this depth of intimacy with her for so long, and yet now, every one of my senses is searching for a way to stop her pain.

She glances at Blade, and his jaw tenses, but he nods despite every line of his body being as rigid as stone, giving her a quiet assurance, and her gaze returns to me, holding my attention like a vice.

Kiera inhales, a shudder of air that hits me like a punch to the gut.

“It started a long time ago,” she whispers, voice soft but heavy with the weight of old memories.

“When I was a kid… my mother and stepfather were cruel, to put it lightly. Donna and Rick,” she practically spits their names, her mouth twisting with disgust. “They weren’t the kind of people anyone would call parents. ”

Despite the charged air, the room is deadly still, the weight of her words settling in thick and cold, and a tight, painful grip squeezes my chest. I’ve guessed something awful happened to her in the past, but hearing her say it… it’s something else, a darkness that seeps from her like a poison.

“I remember… nights hiding in the closet.” A tremor runs through her body, and her jaw clenches as pain flashes through her eyes.

My gut roils because I’m absolutely certain she’s reliving something horrendous.

It’s obvious by the way my strong, dark angel has curled in on herself, as if she’s trying to disappear.

A look I’ve seen far too many times on victims of the most hideous crimes.

“Because I knew Rick would come into my room with his damn Polaroid. He would make me pose as he took pictures, telling me he would make me a star. But really, he was selling the photos to his disgusting friends. To drug dealers for a fix.” Her eyes shutter, like a door slamming shut, the heat of her anger and the depth of her shame rolling off her in waves.

I’m not sure if it’s to block out the memories from playing in her head, or because she can’t look at me when she says what’s coming next.

“He would touch me, do those horrifying things pigs do to children,” she says, her voice trembling, as if each word is pulling her back through a memory too dark to bear.

“But then I met Blade.” She looks over at him, something softening in her expression, a tenderness that locks up all my muscles with a jealousy that’s as unexpected as it is intense.

This is not the time. It’s her feelings that matter right now, not mine.

“Blade made it all seem like it would be okay. He was my escape.”

She reaches out to him, and he crosses the small space between us, taking her hand in his, his thumb tracing slow circles over her knuckles.

There’s a rawness in his gaze, the guilt he’s held all these years, knowing he couldn’t protect her from it all.

The simple gesture touches something deep within me.

He loves her. Truly loves her. The kind of love that would make a man burn down the world to keep her safe.

We may be more fucking alike than I’ve realized. He’s not my enemy. Not if he’ll protect my Heathen.

“What happened that had him gone for so long? What caused the rift between you that’s clearly patched up now?” I blurt the question burning on my tongue, no matter how inappropriate the timing. I have to know, right fucking now.

“He left me.” Her voice cracks, and my heart clenches painfully in my chest. I want to reach out, to offer her comfort, but I’m not willing to do anything that makes this more difficult for her. “Someone told me he was gone, he’d left… and I had to pay off his debt, I had to… kill for it.”

Her words hang in the air, acidic and bitter, and the fury infusing every cell of my body isn’t something I can express in words. I want to find whoever did this to her and make them pay for every tear she’s ever shed; every moment of pain they’ve put her through.

“But they lied to her. And to me,” Blade says, his voice low and dangerous, a man on the edge; a predator coiled to strike.

I watch, trying to reconcile what I’m witnessing with the man I until a moment ago thought heartless.

She continues, her tone dropping to almost a whisper. “I hadn’t given them an answer yet. I was scared and didn’t know what to do. But then, one night… Rick found me. I was walking alone, late, in an alley downtown, and he followed me.”

Her voice catches again, and Blade’s grip on her hand tightens, his knuckles white.

A low growl rumbles in his chest, barely contained.

Waves of helpless frustration roll off him and I know he’s holding himself back, barely containing his anger, his own pain.

Like me, he’s desperate to tear apart whoever hurt her.

The man may be an asshole and an enigma but that much is clear.

“He cornered me, wanting me to pose for pictures again… to do whatever he wanted,” she says, her voice quivering.

“Rick said sixteen was getting too old for his friends and that he had other things in mind for me. He tried to… hurt me, held a knife to my throat. I grabbed it and tried to run, but he caught up to me again, and I panicked. I turned… I turned back, and in the struggle, I accidentally stabbed him.” She stops, blinking back tears, her fingers curling around Blade’s like a lifeline.

“I stabbed him in the neck… his carotid. There was so much blood, and I knew… I knew he was dying. If I didn’t help him he would die.

And I waited it out. Watched his eyes as his soul left them.

” Her gaze shifts to me, the haunted look in her eyes piercing through me.

“I should have been mortified. Had an ounce of guilt that I had just murdered a man. But all I felt was relief.”

The silence stretches, her words filling the room, saturating it in pain and regret, and beneath it all, a simmering rage. I want to take that pain away, make her forget it ever happened. But I can’t. All I can do is be here, show her she’s safe, that she’s not alone.

Reznik probably feels the same.

Maybe this is where we finally find common ground, find a way to make all this work. For her.

“He wasn’t a man, he was a monster,” Blade says, contained violence roiling off him in waves.

Kiera clears her throat, eyes red-rimmed. “Everything went to shit, and I didn’t know who else to go to. My only choice was the guy who said I had to pay off Blade’s debt. I told him I’d do it if he’d clean up the mess in the alley. And that’s how I became Wraith.”

She looks down, shoulders sinking, like the weight of the memory is too much to carry.

“Kiera,” I murmur, taking a step closer, aching to touch her, to offer her some kind of comfort. Blade’s eyes flick to me, wary, but there’s something else there too—a vulnerability I’ve never seen. I take a deep breath, feeling the words press against my throat, and finally let them out.

“Look,” I say, taking care to soften my tone, “It’s clear during that call…

” I use my chin to nod at Blade. “… I was trying to get you off the hook with Umber. Even if there was only a snowball’s chance in hell of success, I still tried to get Blade off the hook.

” Shaking my head, I chuckle at the irony.

“I can’t believe you’re fucking Shadow. This turned into such a clusterfuck.

” Kiera’s eyes widen, searching mine, and Blade’s gaze bores into me, his posture suddenly taut.

“Now I know who you are; it’s only fair you know the truth about me,” I say quietly.

I won’t give my grandmother up. But I can still be honest without going into those details.

“I didn’t want work for the conglomerate.

I’d planned on rising through the ranks of the FBI; was groomed for it since childhood.

Being pulled into Umber was a family thing.

I’m loyal even if I’m also a lot of other fucked up things.

Unfortunately, Umber wants Wraith taken out.

But my last communication with them,” I narrow my eyes at Blade.

“Before you framed me for Kiera’s faked death; was about a mole in their ranks and they ordered me to find Kiera and torture her for any information about said mole. ”

Kiera growls out, “What the hell?” her free hand tightening into a fist. Rage flashes through her eyes. The barely contained emotion within them makes my cock throb.

It’s so not the time for that, but my cock adores my deadly Heathen’s fire.

Blade stiffens, a flash of fury crossing his face. “You motherfuc?—”

“But it’s not like that.” I hold up a hand to stop Blade from losing his shit.

“I won’t be losing you. Not to Umber or to anyone else.

If you want… if you’re open to it…” I draw a deep breath and hope Blade doesn’t try to make it my last, “… maybe the three of us can make this work.” My voice softens, and I look at her, really look at her, my heart in my throat.

“Kiera, you mean the world to me. I’ll take you any way I can have you.

We’ll figure this out as a team, the three of us. ”

Curiosity joins the vulnerability in her eyes and maybe even desire.

However, my words have stirred Blade’s fierce protectiveness again.

He doesn’t like it, judging by his clenched jaw, his fists tight at his sides.

Despite what he’s trying to project, there’s a hunger there too, an edge of desire that flares as he glances between me and her.

He’s drawn to the idea, the forbidden thrill of sharing.

“Kiera’s my wife,” Blade says, his voice low and dangerous as he denies the desire evident on his face.

He doesn’t step away. Instead, he leans in, his lips brushing hers, gentle but possessive, reminding her—and me—who she belongs to.

As if unable to stop herself, she melts into him, her hands tangling in his shirt, and I’m drawn to the intoxicating gravity between them.

He’s marking her, claiming her, and it ignites my possessive instincts.

Before I can react to the emotion surging through me, she reaches for me, fingers curling around my arm, pulling me closer until I’m inches from her, from him.

The warmth of her breath, the subtle scent of her skin mingling with the lingering smell of jasmine, fills my senses, clouding every rational thought.

Her lips find mine, soft, sweet, and I’m lost. The world narrows to the taste of her lips and the feel of her body pressing closer to mine sparking a fire in my veins.

Blade watches, tension rolling off him, but there’s also something else in his eyes—something darker, primal, almost desperate.

He wants her, wants her to be his, but there’s a part of him that wants this too, this connection between the three of us, a union that would never exist except for the magnetic pull of this woman, drawing us together.

The three of us move in sync, a careful balance of touch and need, each of us grounding the other in ways words can’t explain.

Blade’s hands slide over her shoulders, guiding her back toward him, his eyes on me.

I read the challenge and the invitation, if I have the balls to accept.

Energy thrums between us, a force stronger than any hesitation, than any fear.

His guard slips, and I’m sure he wants this shared experience as much as I do.

But then, just as I’m leaning in, caught in this heady, forbidden haze, Blade pulls back, his expression twisting into something raw and conflicted. The air between us sharpens, tension coiling like a wire ready to snap.

But even as the moment fades, I know something fundamental has shifted between us. The air crackles with unspoken needs and dangerous desires.

Whatever happens here, we’re just getting started.