Reign of Wrath (Dirty Broken Savages #3)(88)

I took all of it as silently as I could, not giving him the satisfaction of showing pain while he took his anger and desperation out on me.

But no matter how much agony the injuries to my body have caused, it was nothing compared to being chained to the wall, unable to do anything, while Julian tried to kill River.

As soon as I see her coming toward me, I strain against the restraints, trying to get to her. To touch her and make sure she’s alright. Nothing has ever mattered more.

She grabs the key to the chains down off the wall where Julian stashed it and starts freeing me, her movements jerky and desperate.

The very second I’m free, I grab her. Just having her here, having my hands on her, helps a little bit. She’s solid and real and alive.

The whole time I was watching her be hurt by Julian, fighting him off, struggling to keep the upper hand and not let him get the better of her, all I could think about was how there was nothing I could do.

Just like with Jade.

I was stuck watching her, and my brain screamed at me to do something—anything—to make sure she didn’t die.

My wrists are scraped raw and bruised from how hard I fought against those chains, but none of that matters now. I barely feel the injuries Julian inflicted with River right here in my arms.

She grabs me back, running her hands over me, either checking to make sure I’m not more hurt than she can see or because she just wants to touch me.

Either is fine.

We grope each other, just for the sensation of touch, going from hugging to looking each other over.

River’s dark blue eyes are a little frantic as she searches my face. Worry burns in their depths, and I can imagine how much it hurt her when Julian made the video call to show them what he was doing to me. I never would’ve wanted her to see that, but that’s the kind of cold bastard Julian is.

Was.

Now he’s nothing but a pile of blood and bones on the floor.

“Fuck. I’m so glad you’re okay,” River breathes out. “God, I was so fucking—”

She breaks off, shaking her head, and when she looks up at me again, her eyes are shiny and glassy.

Instead of telling her that everything is okay, I lean down and kiss her. It makes more pain throb in my face from my split lip and the bruises on my cheek, but I don’t give a fuck. The kiss is tinged with coppery blood and the taste of River, and I bite at her lips like I’m trying to get the skin to split, trying to let her soul out so I can capture it.

I want every part of her. Every little thing I can get. I don’t want anything held back between us. That fear of losing her, of being unable to do anything but watch her die, turns every emotion trapped in my chest up to eleven. I kiss her like a starving man, like I’m drowning and I need to keep breathing her in to survive.

My hands roam over her body, finding bare skin through ripped patches of fabric and seeking out more. Everything in me calls me to keep going. To never stop.

Something has snapped inside me—the same kind of emotion I felt after she got taken and held captive by Julian, what feels like forever ago now. It’s a wild, unhinged need to make her mine so completely that nothing and no one can ever take her away.

There’s so much raw emotion, more than I’m used to, coursing through me. And instead of trying to hold back the tide of it, I just let it flow through me. I let it take over, allowing myself to run on instinct and pure need instead of trying to think my way through this.

River clings to me, and I turn our bodies so I can press her against the rough brick of the wall where I was being restrained before. My lips go from her mouth down to her neck, kissing and biting, licking and sucking at her skin.

She moans my name, clinging to my shirt, and I let out a ragged breath at the pure perfection of that sound.

I can already feel my cock thickening, growing hard and aching in my pants, and I grind against River, pressing my shaft between her legs.

She moans again, spreading her legs a bit, and I wedge my thigh between them, pressing it right where I know she wants it.

“Priest!” she gasps out, her eyes wild with desire. “Fuck.”

“Come on,” I mumble against her lips when I go back for another kiss. “Show me. Show me what you want.”

River grinds against my thigh, humping it with wild abandon. She doesn’t seem to care that we’re in this warehouse, and that there are bodies of people she and my brothers killed scattered around the space. Neither do I. All I can see or feel or think about is her.

Her, and the incredible heat as she grinds on my thigh, chasing more friction, more pleasure.

I kiss her deeply, thrusting my tongue into her mouth and seeking out the exquisite taste that’s all River. That indefinable, addictive flavor that I can never get enough of. I can feel how much she likes this, how wet she’s getting for me as she drags her pussy over my thigh, and I like that too.

But it’s not enough.

It will never be enough.

Desperately, I reach down between us and shove at my pants, undoing my fly and button to free my cock. My shaft is hard and leaking at the tip, aching to be inside her. It’s impossible to remember a time when I got this turned on this fast, but the circumstances are different here.

This is us being driven by a need to be together, to reaffirm that we’re alive and still breathing. And for once, I don’t hold myself back.

I shove her clothes out of the way, ripping through the fabric of her dress to make enough space for what I want. What we both need. I rip her panties off and lift her up, ignoring the screaming pain in my body as I drive into her with no hesitation.