Savage Hearts (Queens & Monsters #3)(105)

His hair and beard are thick and dark. A small silver hoop earring glints in one earlobe. Beneath lowered brows, his eyes are a startling shade of pale green.

He’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.

“You’re here.” It comes out choked, on a sob.

Mal says softly, “Did you think I’d let you attend a Mob wedding without my protection?”

God, his voice. That lovely voice, deep, rich, and hypnotic. All the hair on my arms prickles. So do all my nerve endings. A dangerous current of electricity crackles through my body. I feel like I stepped on a live wire.

I whisper, “Yes.”

“You know better.”

“Do I? You didn’t even want to be in the same country as me.”

His voice drops an octave. “You know exactly what I want.”

“I know that you’re an obstinate fool who should have a little more confidence in me.”

In the mirror, our gazes are locked. I’d turn around, but I can’t move my legs. I can’t move anything.

“Confidence in you?” he repeats. “I have every confidence in you.”

“Pakhan had more.”

His eyes spark. “What does that mean?”

“Remember what he said to me at our dinner? ‘Empires aren’t run by the meek.’ I get what that means now. He wasn’t talking about you. He was talking about me. He assumed I’d be by your side when you took over.”

My voice breaks. “But you decided to give me away instead.”

The spark in Mal’s eyes flares into fire. He steps closer, bringing with him that scent I know so well. Pine trees and moonlight, fog caressing the branches of towering evergreens in an ancient woods.

My woods, the one where I learned how to be happy.

He growls, “I didn’t give you away, malyutka.”

“You sure as hell didn’t keep me.”

“Didn’t I?”

The emotion making me misty-eyed and weak-kneed evaporates abruptly, leaving me furious. I whirl around and glare at him.

“I have no interest in playing word games with you. Or mind games, for that matter. The answer is no, you didn’t fucking keep me. You put me onto a plane and shipped me off like cargo!”

His gaze rakes over me, as hot as coals. He takes in my expression and my dress in one swift, hungry look, then reaches out and grabs me.

He drags me against his chest and crushes his mouth to mine.

All the fight drains out of me like somebody pulled a plug.

I sag against him, kissing him back with desperation. His smell, his taste, his heat—how did I ever survive even a day without all this?

“I never let you go,” he says gruffly, his mouth moving against my bruised lips. “Not for a goddamn second. You were with me all the time, haunting me with that smart mouth and those beautiful eyes and that heartbreaking smile that kills me every time I see it. I didn’t last a week before I made the first trip here.”

“Wait, what?” I blink up at him, confused. “You were here? I never saw you.”

“That’s because you were asleep.”

After a moment of astonishment, I start to laugh. “You broke into my bedroom again?”

“The last time that will ever happen.”

The voice, low and lethal, comes from our right.

We look over and see Spider standing at the door.

He’s holding a gun.

I freeze in horror. I taste ashes in my mouth. Beneath my dress, my scar tingles and turns hot, like it just caught fire.

I wonder for a split second how he has a gun when everyone else was searched, realizing just as quickly that not only would security have cleared Declan’s personal bodyguard, but he probably carried extra weapons for the occasion.

Mal’s entire body has fallen perfectly still.

Spider gestures with the gun. “Riley, move away from him.”

“No.”

His furious gaze never moves from Mal’s face. “Do it. Now. I don’t want a repeat of last time.”

Shaking all over, I still manage to keep my voice even. “You’re not going to shoot him. Put the gun down and walk out.”

His laugh is short and hard. “He might’ve promised you he wouldn’t kill me, but the reverse isn’t true. Get your ass away from him right now.”

In a low, deadly rumble, Mal says, “Speak to her like that again, and I’ll happily break my promise.”

“Fuck you.”

Spider’s voice is loud and full of hatred. It echoes off the tile walls.

In the ballroom, the music is still going strong. A cheer goes up. Passing by the hallway outside, a woman laughs. She sounds drunk.

Mal releases me, moving carefully. He pushes me behind him and stands facing Spider, holding me back when I try to move to get between them.

Panic claws its way up my throat. “Spider, please! Please don’t do this! You can’t do this! I’m—”

“I don’t want to hear how you’re in love with him,” he snaps.

“No, listen to me—”

“Get the fuck away from her. Walk toward the door. We’re going to do this outside, for everyone to see. You deserve a public execution. The Hangman should die with an audience.”

Pushing me back, Mal takes a step forward.