Out of the Ashes (Sons of Templar MC #3)(95)

“People came into my life, shed some light. It wasn’t much, like the last glimpses of a sun before the night takes over, but it was something. It was a fraction more than existing, but nowhere near living. I was living life in f*ckin’ limbo.” His face changed completely, tender replacing the hard, battle worn look he wore as he spoke. He looked at me. Not at me. But into me. “Then you,” he half whispered. “Then you and Lexie let the light in and goddamn blinded me with it. That’s why I was angry with you. Furious. My battle in the dark had been brought into the light. I didn’t want to live in silence. You and Lexie, you don’t f*ckin’ shut up. You don’t stop talkin’ ‘cause you don’t stop livin. You made me want to talk. Have something to say. You gave me life, baby,” he said with passion.

I stared at him for a long moment, letting all of his beautiful words sink in, letting them warm my soul. “I love you,” I blurted. “I’m usually the one who can’t shut up, got words for everything,” I told him in a slightly choked voice. “But I got none. Apart from those three.”

Zane tightened his hand around the back of my neck and yanked me down so our mouths brushed. “Those are all the words I need, Wildcat.”

Then there were none.





Besides being deliriously happy, I was also living with the shadow of guilt. Zane had bared it all to me, everything. His broken soul, his heartbreaking past, everything. I was the one still holding onto secrets, onto my own damaged past. It hurt me, keeping secrets from him, but I was doing it for him. Telling him, opening that can of worms, would do nothing but bring back that fury, that thirst for revenge he had only just sated. And because those three weeks of us, of Zane, Lexie and me was so full of happiness, I didn’t want to pollute it with the poison of the past.

So that was the reason why. Why I slacked. Let down my guard. Failed to notice until it was too late. Lexie and I had just arrived home. Killian was due to pick her up any moment so she was anxious to get in the house, drop off her mountain of books and head off into the sunset yet again. She was chattering away and I felt a warm glow at her unbridled happiness, the fact she was healing so well after her loss. So I didn’t notice the car parked slightly up from our house. Something that would have sent alarm bells normally. I was also anxious to get home, knowing Zane would be back in a matter of hours. I had house prep to do, lady maintenance to do. So I was distracted and didn’t notice the door was unlocked. The door I always locked no matter how small, how friendly the town was.

“No Lexie, you cannot borrow that sweater,” I said, walking through the door. “It’s my favorite one and I don’t want the risk of it disappearing into the depths of your closet, never to be seen again,” I teased, dropping my handbag on the sofa.

“You are acting like I’d hold the sweater hostage,” she replied with slight sarcasm.

I glanced over my shoulder at her. “It’s happened before. Remember the time you wouldn’t give me back my second favorite tee until I let you cook quinoa in the house?” I asked snidely.

She screwed up her nose. “One time,” she argued.

“Remember--” I started but Lexie interrupted.

“Okay, so I have a small history with clothing kidnapping but I cross my heart it won’t happen with this sweater.” She gave me doe eyes.

I rolled my eyes. “Fine,” I conceded.

She grinned and moved to her room. “If you could get it for me, that would be great,” she called over her shoulder.

I shook my head, moving toward the stairs. “Child treats me like her slave,” I muttered, “doesn’t know it should be the other way around, considering I endured labor to bring her into this world.”

I was too busy chattering to myself and thinking about Zane arriving later on that night from his run that I didn’t notice the white rose petals scattered on the stairs. It was only when I entered my room and I smelled the perfume that turned my stomach did I realize. My blood turned to ice and I moved to sprint down the stairs.

“Lexie!” I screamed in terror as arms fastened around me.

“Long time no see, Button,” a sickening voice murmured in my ear. A voice that took me back in time and struck absolute terror through every inch of me.

I reacted on instinct. On pure, survival instinct. My heel went to his shin and I kicked hard. He wasn’t expecting me to fight back so his arms loosened and he cursed. It was enough for me to scramble out of his grip and sprint toward the stairs. Toward my baby. Her terrified face met me at the bottom of the stairs.

“Run!” I yelled at her, hearing his footsteps gaining on me.





He wanted to get home. He needed to get home. Not in the years since he had welcomed the darkness did he ever think he’d be anxious to get back. When he was on runs, doing what he did best, was when the demons were silenced. When he was beating the living f*ck out of people who needed to be beaten. Extracting information out of those who knew too much. Killing sick f*cks who wronged the club, wronged humankind in the worst way possible. Rapists were his favorite. He sought them out. Made them suffer. He couldn’t change the past. Couldn’t go back and save her. He could save others. Could make those men hurt in ways they never thought possible. What was another black mark on an already charred soul?

But now, he didn’t need to draw blood to get relief. Respite. He only needed to sink into Mia’s *. Taste her mouth. Smell her hair. Hear Lexie’s laugh. Play guitar with her. That was more effective than drawing blood. Taking lives. The light was coming back. Scratch that. It was back.