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A couple of weeks ago, I’d overheard my father mention Connor’s name on the phone. Not his real name, but the gang name he used. Shade. Because he was a man of the shadowy night, apparently. Father had some kind of deal with Shade, I’d gathered, and that knowledge had driven me to distraction. After all I’d sacrificed. After I’d lost him for the purpose of keeping him safe and earned his hatred in reply. After everything I’d done to set him free, he’d still wound up in my father’s clutches, and that was unbearable.
Too many thoughts collided in my head, but I needed to keep this simple, so I took a seat at the end of the sofa and tried to ignore the bare lengths of Everly’s legs as she settled at the other end. It was oddly cosy.
Rotating back, I moved on to the next weapon in my arsenal. My only objective was to keep her here. Safe. Beyond that, I had no clue what I was doing.
Connor was so different. Not only with his all-black clothes and the extensive tattoos from the backs of his hands up to his throat, the gang bandanna around his neck, but also his anger. It had done something to my body.
“I’ve got a fast car and no sense of self-preservation. Say the word and I’ll get ye out of here.” Genevieve snapped her head around. “You never offered me an out like that.”
If this is modern-day dating, maybe I should be the one laying traps and readying the duct tape.”
“He’s dead, and I wipe away my tears on handfuls of his cash while living in his stately home, so who’s laughing now?”
Nothing creaked, nothing alerted my senses, except for the floral scent of the woman who owned the space. Familiar, pretty, drugging. It drove me insane the longer I stood there. It made me fucking hard. Like I was a teenager with no control over my body.
People had come for her. The dickhead who’d stomped on my fingers had been carrying what looked like thin plastic strips. Zip ties, I was certain. They would have taken her, and I’d never… See her again? What the fuck did it matter to me? And yet it did. Throwing myself into my car, I got the hell out of there and didn’t let my thoughts go any further down that dark hole.
I’d use the information they gave me to neutralise the threat. With that, she’d go home. And I’d burn my sheets and never think about her again.
I was still dying over her. I had been for years. Somehow, I hadn’t been able to make it stop, and a few days in her company had me fucking caring about her. The thought of her being someone else’s had hurt. So much, I still felt the burn even after the wrong conclusion had been lifted.
other end of the hall, by the ops centre. I stopped. Drew my gaze around to be sure I had everyone’s attention. “Listen up,” I shouted. Then I turned us to show Everly’s face. “Mine. Do ye hear me? Fucking mine.” Message delivered, I knuckled the button for the lift and took her up to my apartment.
Probably better that she slept through it. I gritted my teeth and continued with the words I needed to say. “I own ye now. Just as ye own me. I’ll defend your life with mine and give ye everything ye want. A home, my last name, the blood of anyone who hurts ye. I’ll fucking knock ye up, too. As many times as we want.”
“See this, Deadwater,” I yelled at the city outside the window. “Mine. She’s all fucking mine. Ye cannae have her back.”
“You’ll stay close to me at all times or be escorted by a guard. Do anything else and I’ll lead ye by the scruff of your neck to the brothel where you’ll pick out your restraints yourself.”
Everly gave her a soft smile. “He’s yours, even if he’s my relative, too. I don’t know him, and I don’t want to take anything away from you.” I did. I wanted to handcuff him and stow his huge frame in the back of my car then steal him away to a secret hideout. Mentally, I tapped my hand. Bad Cassie.
He sat back to watch what he was doing to me, hunger in his gaze. “Your body is so beautiful. You’re perfect, Everly. I need ye to know that because what I’m going to do next is going to be disrespectful as fuck.”
One glance at the brutally beautiful man who’d fought his way through the club to protect Genevieve and an arrow had pierced my heart. Dramatic but true. Ever since, I’d wanted him. I didn’t know how to ask. I’d never even touched my lips to a boy’s, but I was certain I wanted his to be the first and last. He was mine.
You were beautiful, Connor, in every way. Never in a million years did I think you would be interested in me in the same way that I instantly wanted you. We couldn’t be a family in the true sense of the word. There wasn’t enough time, and our parents fell apart quickly. And yet with you, I found home. I found the only person who could make me feel safe and valued when I’d known only hate and control. I’ve never told you what it meant to me when you’d come home and I’d tell you about my day, and you’d listen.
“You were mine, and I claimed you with my whole heart. I never stopped loving you, Connor. You’re wanted, needed, loved. We owned each other, but I set you free, and it was the worst mistake of my life. If you forgive me, I will never say no to you again.”
“It’s positive?” I nodded quickly, rising happiness making me want to laugh. Connor held me close like he’d never let go. My killer ex-stepbrother had got me pregnant. Only in our world could that be the perfect resolution to all our wasted years.
