Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
A tremble rolled through me, and I released a shaky exhalation. “A treat, huh? And here I thought I meant a whole lot more than that.”
I managed the razzing through the need that spun through my body.
I could feel Silas’s grin against the side of my neck. “Thought you knew I had a sweet tooth? I’m good with having nothing else.”
“You’d better be because you’re stuck with me.”
He softened and hardened all at the same time, and his hands splayed wide over my abdomen, sending thunderbolts of heat firing through my belly.
He pressed his nose deeper into my neck, inhaling before he mumbled, “You’re everything, Brinley. A new beginning and my end.”
“You’re the home I didn’t know I needed.”
He slowly turned me around.
The air simmered, a driving song that whispered around us.
Every hair on my body lifted in attention.
His palm slipped to my cheek. “Wildfire.”
My hands landed on his bare sides. “King.”
An adoring grin flitted over his mouth, our gazes tangling in joy and commitment before he set his other hand on my face and pulled me to him.
His plush lips danced against mine. Featherlight brushes that I felt to my toes.
This kiss was slow.
Penetrating.
Winding right down to our souls.
Dizziness spun through my head, and I gripped onto him tighter.
“I love you.” He murmured it as he swept back and forth over my lips.
A frisson of perfection buzzed through me. “I love you. So much.”
“Ahhh!” The screech behind us stalled us out, and Silas’s spine went rigid.
“I knew it. Oh my God, I knew it.” A profusion of giggles rolled out of Elena. “I mean, I’ve been calling this since day one. The two of you were so obviously going to go boom. You had to be blind not to see it. All I’m saying is it’s about time the two of you caught up.”
Silas slowly shifted around.
Uncertainty rippled from him. Unsure if he should deny it and pretend like what was clearly happening was not happening or straight fess it up.
I bit down on my bottom lip to stop myself from being the one dishing the juicy details.
It wasn’t my place, and I could feel the war go down in the middle of him.
This was brand-new territory for him, too.
Some of the eccentricity drained from Elena, and she looked at me.
“Does your heart know?”
There was so much hope embedded in her words that it made me ache.
I glanced at Kai who was babbling away in his highchair, while I did my best not to reach for Silas again.
But instead, he was the one who was reaching for me, sliding his arm around my waist and drawing me to his side as he murmured, “Yeah, Elena, my heart knows.”
Frustration infiltrated his voice. “But this isn’t something we can go shouting about right now. Not in the middle of this mess. Situation is delicate enough.”
Elena’s head barely shook. “Love isn’t something you should be ashamed of, Silas.”
“I’m not ashamed.”
“But you all treat it like it’s something that should be. Hedge it up behind rules and ultimatums. It needs to change if any of us are ever going to truly be free.”
And I thought maybe Elena was the smartest one of all of us.
FIFTY-FIVE
SILAS
“Tomorrow night this goes down.”
I looked around at all my patched-in members who filled the dimly-lit room.
Church packed shoulder to shoulder with every one of them.
The single chandelier cast an eerie light over their faces where it hung in the middle of the old, rustic table, the images Madman had painted crawling across the walls and ceiling as if they’d come alive.
Monsters bred for a night like this.
Ansty, my crew shifted in their chairs and on their feet. Like maybe I was delivering a death sentence.
My guts fisted at the dread that for some it likely would be. It made me sick to think about losing any one of them.
But they were in this as deep as me.
I met their unwavering gazes.
Trevan’s.
Phoenix’s.
Slowly making a path over the rest of the men.
I could feel their loyalty and their devotion radiating from their marrow.
Clearing my throat, I leaned back in the high-backed chair at the head of the table.
Their leader. The one who brought them into battle and the one charged with getting them out on the other side.
“You were patched in as a Crimson Crow knowing our mission,” I said, voice rough. “Knowing we weren’t just here to wreak havoc. Weren’t here to proliferate crime and injustice. You knew you weren’t going to be running drugs or arms for the sake of greed. You knew we were infiltrating the filth in this world and doing your best to help eradicate its stain.”
Volatility curled through the tension.
“You made an oath to take the violence each one of us already possessed and turn it toward something good. And this job? Crimson Crows was born from it. It was the thing that turned the direction of my purpose and set it on a different course.”