King's Reign (Sydney Storm MC #6)(69)

I’d wanted him to kill me instead.

It had been the most selfish moment of my life, because I never wanted to leave my children without a mother, but in that split second when I thought King would die with that man’s hands around his neck, I wanted to offer my life in exchange for King’s.

I hadn’t been able to breathe.

I hadn’t been able to think straight.

All I had wanted was to give my life for my man’s.

And then my brain had kicked into gear, and I’d done some straight talking and reminded myself I was a mother with responsibilities. I’d told myself to find a way to save both of us and then I’d done that.

I’d picked up King’s gun. I’d been completely focused on my goal. I’d killed a man. Something I never imagined doing.

That moment had winded me, and I was sure it was going to take a long time for me to breathe properly again.

Devil had driven us to my place, and King hadn’t let go of me until we were there safely. He’d told me to go inside while he went over some stuff with Devil. Brynn had gone out for the day with Jamie, so the house was quiet as I slowly made my way to my bedroom. My legs felt heavy, my heart, too. And my head was filled with a non-stop replay of that man’s gun pressed to my head. I felt the gun still now. Every time I saw it in my head, I felt it like it was still digging into my skin. It continued to make my heart race with fear. And as much as tears threatened, I refused to allow them. I refused to allow his actions today to make me run or hide away from the world. I was stronger than that.

I had just sat down on the edge of my bed when the front door slammed closed. I jumped at the noise in a way I didn’t usually jump, but I closed my eyes and breathed through it.

And then King stalked into the room, a rush of wild, angry energy that completely threw me.

Coming at me, his eyes ferocious, he roared, “Don’t you ever put yourself in harm’s way like you did today!”

My heart banged against my chest at his outburst, and I shot up off the bed. “What the hell, King? What’s gotten into you?”

“You!” he barked, jabbing his finger in the air at me. “You’ve fucking gotten into me. If you are ever in a situation like that again, Lily, you fucking run when you can. You do not fucking hang around and pick my fucking gun up and shoot someone. You get your ass out of there as fast as you can and you save your fucking life. You do not think about me.”

His anger bled into me. It combined with the adrenaline racing through me, and I slammed me hands against his chest and yelled, “I will never not think about you! And don’t you ask me not to. If your life is being threatened, I will do anything and everything I can to save you.”

He gripped one of my wrists, squeezing it tightly as he pulled me to him. If I thought his eyes looked ferocious before, I wasn’t sure what I’d call them now, because they blazed with more fire than I’d ever seen from him. “This is not something up for negotiation. You have never held a gun before. You have never shot a gun before. That situation could have turned out a whole lot fucking differently than it did today. You could have been killed. Do you fucking understand that?”

I glared at him. “Do you fucking understand that you could have died?”

His other hand snapped around my neck and his eyes bored into mine. “I live with that fucking understanding every day of my life. You do not. And I’ll be fucked if you’re going to start now.”

“So teach me how to use a gun. Teach me how to defend myself. Make me as fucking indestructible as you, King, but don’t you ever dare take away my ability or right to defend my man’s life. I won’t stand for it. I’m your woman, and I have your back just as much as you have mine.”

His nostrils flared as his fingers dug into my neck. “Fucking hell,” he rasped before his mouth crashed down on mine and he kissed me so savagely it hurt. But I wanted that pain. I needed it. And I gave it back to him just as savagely, and when we finally came apart, we were both breathless with desire.

We tore at each other’s clothes until we were both naked. His hands then came to my body with the same brutal energy his mouth had, and he wrestled me to the ground. When he had me pinned under him, his hands holding mine down, he thrust his dick inside me harder than he ever had and growled, “I cannot fucking lose you.”

He pulled out and slammed back in.

I put my legs around him while trying to struggle out of the hold he had on my hands. He kept pounding into me as I demanded, “Let me go. I need my hands on you.”

He didn’t let me go.

He bent his face to mine and bit my bottom lip before kissing me.

He then bossed, “Stop fucking arguing with me.”

“Stop fucking bossing me.”

“Jesus fuck,” he said, steam practically billowing from him. He thrust in hard again. “You’re gonna spend the rest of your life fucking challenging me, aren’t you?”

“Yes, because you’re gonna spend the rest of your life not listening to me.”

He tightened his hold on my hands even though his hold was already hard as hell. On another thrust, he ordered, “Tell me you won’t put yourself in danger.”

“Let me go first.”

“Fuck, Lily, fucking tell me and then I’ll think about it.”

“Fine, I’m not gonna put myself in danger, but that’s because you’re gonna show me how to use your gun.”