Savage Lover (Brutal Birthright, #3)

by Sophie Lark

These are complicated machines. You’ve got to be like a machine yourself. There’s no room for mistakes.

“You know I never get sick.” “Yes you do,” he says, smiling sadly. “You just never complain about it.”

“For a bad guy, he’s a pretty good guy,”

I’d almost say that I’m nervous. If I were willing to admit to feeling an emotion like that. Let’s just call it . . . tense.

We should have stayed together. If we all get out of this alive, I’m not letting Camille out of my sight anymore. She can stay safe right by my side.

You have to catch him right in the middle of those two states, when he can actually be productive.

But this is like playing in a big game—once you’re on the court, you’re not nervous anymore. You just do it.”

“But you’re okay? Really okay?” “Yes,” she says, her dark eyes flitting over to me again. I can feel my brothers watching us. I don’t give a shit. I grab her hand and bring it up to my lips, kissing it. “You’re incredible,” I tell her.

“I’ve always felt things . . . intensely. Or I thought I did. But every emotion I ever had, my whole life through, is nothing compared to what I feel when I look at you. I don’t care about the car, or the money we just took, or anything else in this world. Next to you, all those other things just fade away.”

Nero is the most gorgeous man I’ve ever laid eyes on. He has a fire inside of him that burns hotter than the surface of the sun. I know how strongly he hates—I can only imagine the kind of love he feels. It terrifies me. I don’t know how or why he’s given it to me. I feel like a mortal, chosen by a god. And yet . . . It feels right.

The way our hands fit together. The way our bodies fit together, too. The way I understand him, when no one else seems to. And the way he sees me, when no one bothered to before. The way we find peace in each other, when we’re two restless souls. I’ve known he was the one for me for a long time now. I just never thought I could be the one for him.

Then Nero says something even more insane. “Do you think you could ev...

I love you, Camille. I’ll never hurt you. You can trust me for that, if nothing else.”

“I love you so much it hurts. I’m scared to tell you, scared to even let myself feel it. But I love you, and I have for a while.”

“When did you know you were going to give this to me?” I asked Nero. “The moment you touched it, and I saw the look on your face,” Nero says.

The moonlight illuminates one side of his face, the other deeply shadowed. He’s always going to have two sides of him: the side that’s dark and vengeful. But also a side unearthly in its beauty.

I never realized how deeply certain insults had buried under my skin. I told myself I didn’t care what people said. But it was the compliments I deflected, while inside myself I clung to the belief that I was ugly, undesirable, and pathetic.

Now the most beautiful man in the world is looking at me with love and desire. And I realize it’s impossible that he could feel those things for me if I were truly undeserving.

“I’m really, completely happy,” I tell him. “So am I,” he says. “It’s weird, isn’t it?” I laugh. “Do you think that’s how other people feel all the time?” “No,” he says, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close. “I don’t think anyone has felt exactly like this.”

I love the stars through the windows, and the silver glow on Nero’s skin. He’s right—there’s never been another moment exactly like this one.

Nobody parties quite like an off-duty cop.

I’ll do whatever it takes to protect her. I’d take down the whole Chicago PD if I had to. I’d murder every man in this city, one by one.

“I never expected you to fall for anyone normal,”

Funnily enough, I don’t mind buckling down to work, now that it’s a choice instead of a necessity.

sometimes when something’s theoretical, it’s different than reality

Nero is squeezing my hand tight. When I look at him, his expression is fierce and proud. He’s not embarrassed of me.

Nero’s family is warm, charming—and most of all, just a family. Who love each other and drive each other crazy, in equal measure. I feel like I could fit here. I know that’s what Nero wants.

I’m not a fool—I know this is the Gallos at rest. In their den, so to speak. When they’re out hunting, they become a different sort of beast entirely. Violent. Calculated. Vengeful. But that doesn’t concern me. There’s a core of darkness inside of me, the same as Nero. We recognized it in each other. The Gallos see it, too. I do belong here.

“You said you weren’t anybody’s favorite.” He shrugs. “No, probably not.” “You’re MY favorite,” I tell him. “You’re my favorite person in the world.” He looks over at me, a slow smile spreading across his face.

Nero looks fierce or moody almost all the time—even when he’s relaxed. But his smile is truly stunning. It’s slow, it’s sexy, and it makes him look more wicked than ever. It makes my chest burn and my whole body go weak.

Nero should be a statue. If he were, I would worship it.

I fall more and more into my obsession with this man. I realize that I could never feel this way about anyone else. If I lost Nero, I would spend the rest of my life remembering what it was like to experience desire on this level. Pleasure on this level. Connection, admiration, love, on an all-encompassing scale. That’s the harrowing thing about falling in love. I’m Eve in the garden. Once I eat the fruit, I can never go back. I can never forget what I tasted. And I don’t care. I would give a thousand gray and lonely years for one hour of this. I would give anything to have Nero.

The finality of that is like a door slamming in my face. All the things I wanted to say to her, all the things I hoped she might say to me one day . . . it all waited on the other side of that door. Now it’s closed, and it can’t ever open again.

I almost believed that I could make that happen for her, just by holding that picture in my head. A possible future that she could step into, as long as I kept it ready for her.

“I won’t ever leave you,” Nero says. “Never, Camille. You’ll never have to wonder where I went. I’ll be right by your side.”

He makes me feel invincible, because with Nero next to me, nothing can hurt