Dead Man Walking (The Fallen Men, #6)

by Giana Darling

“I know about death. I won’t let it take you.”

I knew then, as I’d only been curious about it before, that Beatrice Lafayette was going to be mine.

How could I resist a man who was so willing to kill for me?

Bea is me

Priest McKenna had a home in my heart and I was aching to let him know it.

“I will keep you safe,” I said in a voice that sounded strangely like a vow. An oath when the last promise I’d ever made was to make promises no more. “Everyone who knows me fears me, and those that don’t yet, will learn to.”

But you should know, from now on, there won’t be a time I’ll be absent when you need me. I may be more death than man, but I can still haunt you.”

He was the only place I felt safe. I wanted to make his body my address and his soul my home.

“Better men could love you,” I said, my voice guttural but strong. I opened my eyes and pinned her with the heaviness of my conviction. “But now, I’ll kill any of them who try.”

Whether you realize it or not. Whether you accept it or not, Priest is the kind of man who would just as easily die for the people he kills for.”

“A rún mo chroí,” I muttered in Gaelic, then hesitated in my translation. “Secret of my heart. My secret heart living outside of my chest.”

The beauty of her trust felt like a black satin bow wrapped too tight around my fucking heart, but I welcomed the ache and held her well into the night.

“You don’t need prayers when you got me,” he said matter-of-factly. “But if it makes you feel better, you kneel, and you pray for them until I can get to them.”

“Okay, Bea. You keep my heart safe, and I will keep you safe.”

“Don’t believe in fate,” he protested as he tongued my pulse point. “But fuck me, if I don’t believe in you.”

It seemed I was obsessed with every single fucking thing about this woman. I wondered if I was in her dream, decided it was unacceptable if I was not, and then considered waking her just to ask the absurd question.

Priest 😭

All the horror of my life was worth it if it meant I’d get my heart back.

Yeah, for Bea I could be whatever the fuck I needed so long as it meant she was back at my side where she belonged, shooting me one of those bright smiles for no reason other than that she was happy to be with me.

“I know nothing about love, but I know about death. And I am not afraid to die for her,” Priest stated, his eyes finding mine over Seth’s shoulder.