Savage Hearts (Queens & Monsters #3)(61)

He simply responds in kind, shoving the muzzle of his Glock under my jaw.

We stand like that, elbows locked, weapons loaded, ready to blow each other’s head off, until he says through gritted teeth, “She’s alive?”

“Yes. No thanks to you.”

“Where are you keeping her?”

“Don’t waste my time with stupid questions.”

“I should fucking kill you!”

“Probably. But if you do, she’ll starve to death. Alone. Is that really what you want?”

He curses violently in Gaelic. It’s obviously taking every ounce of his self-control not to pull the trigger.

“She likes you, you know.”

Taken off guard by that, Spider blinks. “What?”

“It’s the only reason you’re not dead right now. She asked me not to kill you. Even after you put a bullet in her gut, she still said you were her friend. It’s really something else, when you think about it. Personally, if I’d lost a kidney, a spleen, and two liters of blood, my mood would be a little less forgiving.”

He licks his lips and adjusts his weight from foot to foot. His voice gruff, he says, “Let me take her home.”

“She is home. She’s mine.”

His eyes flare with rage at all the terrible things he’s imagining I’ve done to her. “You sick fuck!”

“Come on, now. You’ll hurt my feelings.”

“She doesn’t deserve this! She’s innocent!”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“Then let her go!”

I stare into his eyes, already knowing the answer before I ask the question. “Would you let her go if you had her?”

He clenches his jaw. His face turns red. He curses at me again, this time in English, using creatively colorful language.

“That’s what I thought. Tell me, did your boss send you, or was this little rescue mission your idea? I can’t imagine Declan embarking on such a desperate, destined-to-fail endeavor.”

“Where. The fuck. Is she.”

“This is getting tedious. Is there anything you want me to tell her before I go?”

He digs the muzzle of his gun deeper into my neck and snaps, “You’re not going anywhere.”

Stubborn as a bloodstain, this Irishman. Despite my inclination to hate him, I find myself admiring his resolve.

“Last chance. No apology you want me to pass along?”

“Give her to me. She’s nothing to you!”

“No sincere words about how sorry you are that you almost killed her?”

“It was an accident! It should’ve been you!”

“But it wasn’t. You shot her. Now she’s mine. I can see you’re having a hard time with both those things, which is good. You deserve to suffer. And I applaud your tenacity, but if you don’t leave Moscow within twelve hours, you’ll be buried here.”

I allow myself a small, humorless smile. “My promise that I’d spare you doesn’t extend to the rest of the Bratva.”

He’s about to override his good sense and pull the trigger to end me, when his eyes go hazy. He blinks and shakes his head, trying to focus, but his pupils won’t cooperate.

When he sways on his feet, I grab his gun from him and shove it under my belt.

He staggers against the bar, gripping it for balance, blinking as he tries to clear his vision.

“What have you done to me?” he rasps.

“Nothing permanent. You’ll have a nasty headache when you wake up. Get something for it at the airport. And you really shouldn’t accept a drink from strangers in a foreign country. You never know what might be in it. Or who paid them to put it there.”

He’s still cursing me as he goes down.

I watch him for a moment, out cold on his back on the floor.

Then I hand the bartender a folded wad of cash, down my vodka, and head back home.





31





Riley





Before I even open my eyes in the morning, I’m aware that Mal is lying beside me.

If his heat wasn’t a dead giveaway, the giant erection poking into my hip is.

“Don’t worry,” he murmurs, his mouth near my ear. “I’m not going to fuck you.”

It’s probably my imagination, but I could swear that sentence was followed by an unspoken Yet.

Commence hyperventilating and swallowing convulsively.

When I’ve managed to pull myself together, I whisper, “I thought you were mad at me.”

“I was. I’m over it.”

“Where have you been?”

“Why? Were you worried?”

“No. I just didn’t know what to tell Poe when he showed up looking for you.”

After a moment, he chuckles. “Liar.”

I open my eyes and immediately wish I hadn’t. Not only is he lying beside me, he’s under the covers with me. He’s naked from the waist up.

And his big hand is splayed possessively over my belly again. Underneath my shirt, pressed against my bare skin, his palm is fire. His touch burns straight down to my soul.

Jesus, take the wheel. I’m drunk driving.

Mal inhales against my hair. His voice turns husky. “You have no fucking idea what it does to me when you tremble like that.”