Sweet Retribution (Ruthless Games, #2)

by Callie Rose

Ryland drags in a shuddering breath, his nostrils flickering. “Because you can’t ask me to choose between two things I love.”

“Fuck, Ayla,” he mutters against my mouth. “I tried. Goddammit, I tried so hard not to want you. Not to fucking love you.”

“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear enough, angel,” he murmurs, his lips ghosting over my skin with each word. “When I said you were mine, I fucking meant it. And I’m yours.”

“How could I?” He traces the line of my jaw with his fingertips, his eyes warming. “I still owe you a hundred million heartbeats.”

“Angel.” Marcus’s fingers release my hair, trailing down the side of my cheek as he watches my face carefully. “Do you care about them?”

“Show me how you feel about my brothers,” he repeats quietly. “Because I already know how they feel about you.”

“See what you did to them, Rose?” Theo chuckles again, a rough, warm sound. “It’s the same thing you do to me. We’re fucking gone for you, sweetheart. We’re wrecked.”

Aut Viam Inveniam Aut Faciam. My brows pull together as I cock my head. “What does this mean?” His eyelids droop for a moment, as if he’s lost in the feeling of my touch. Then his expression hardens a little, and he answers. “It’s Latin. It means ‘I will either find a way or make one.’

“I’ll never want anyone but you, Rose,” he whispers. “I’ll worship you. I’ll protect you. And I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt you.”

His palm is turned up, and as I glance at our joined hands, I notice the dark ink of a tattoo just barely visible beneath the edge of his sleeve. It’s a snake’s head.