Savage Love

by J. L. Madore

  “I don’t want complicated.”

  I know. And I’m sorry.

  “Maybe, but what pisses me off is that you pretend things will be different this time.”

  It will. You, me, and Riley. I’ll give it up and give you simple. I swear I’ll make it work. I’m all-in.

  “But I’m not! The more I learn about your world, the more certain I am that Riley and I have no place in it. It was bad enough when you were a military guy, and I expected you to pick up and leave anytime you were called to serve. Now, I’m dealing with magic and Fae and who knows what else. I’m a cattle rancher from Oklahoma.”

  I fisted my shaking hands, unable to sign. My greatest fear was that life at Haven would be too much for her. That, no matter what went down, she’d never give us a fair chance.

  I love you, doc.

  She pitched another pile of straw and frowned. “You love me. I love you. It’s irrelevant. You left because I don’t belong in your life and you were right. That’s why, when this is wolf stuff is over, I want you to go and leave us be.”

  Bullshit. You want me gone because I hurt you and you’re afraid to trust me. You want to punish me, but you’re punishing us both. Me coming from the Realm of the Fair is moot. I’ll prove that to you. We’ll ranch. I’ll make you forget all about my other life. I’ll live this life, and we’ll be together.

  “Maybe that’s not what I want.”

  I pushed the pile of manure I gathered down the alley. By the time I made my way back, Hannah looked like she’d cooled down a bit. I can read you, doc. I have a lot to make up for, I get that, but you love me, and I love you.

  “And what about Jade? She loves you too. I’m not a jealous person, but hello? She’s gorgeous, confident, a magical healer, and—”

  Happily married with newborn twins. I smiled as her mind stumbled on that. I was honest. Jade is gifted, and she’s one of my two favorite women, but it’s not like that with her. Never has been.

  “I saw the two of you together. She seemed awfully familiar with you lying there naked.”

  I leaned the shovel against the paint-chipped wall and closed the distance. Jade has patched me up a hundred times over the last decade. Prudish modesty stopped being an issue years ago. She loves me, but not romantically.

  Gods, I hated to see Hannah struggle. This was good though. She was listening, and I would make her understand.

  “When you said your world was different than mine, I thought you meant in morality, or economy, or something. I missed the mark on that completely. It’s hard catching up.”

  It’s a lot, I know. My whole life, I was focused on finding and destroying my brother. When the shit hit a few months ago, I found out Jade’s biological father and mine are brothers—she’s my cousin. I also have four half-sisters I didn’t know about. The only one worth knowing, Zophia, just married my best friend, Kobi, and another male, Aust. It’s been a mind-fuck all around.

  I had pictures on my phone that Zo sent of the wedding. I patted my pocket but realized my phone was in the house. I’d show Hannah the pictures when we got back inside. Maybe seeing how normal and happy they were might help.

  “Jade’s your cousin?”

  She is.

  “And you’re okay with me asking her to verify all this?”

  Ouch. Of course. No lies. No secrets. You’re down the rabbit hole now, doc. There has never been anything between Jade and me except friendship and respect.

  “What about Bree? She seems to hate me for no reason.”

  Bree is Cowboy’s mate—a coyote. Weres are wildly territorial and protective of what’s theirs. Bree probably doesn’t like that Cowboy holds you in such warm regard.

  “She’s jealous of me? Seriously? She can turn into a coyote, is married to Waylon, and is jealous of me?”

  Why do you sound so surprised? You’re strong, capable, beautiful and independent. You share a past and a connection to a life with him that she’ll never truly understand. To her base animal, that’s threatening. Hell, I find it hard and I’ve got a healthy ego.

  “Don’t be stupid.” Kicking the shutoff valve with her rubber boot, she continued with the hose as the trough filled with clean water. The cattle jostled forward to drink. “I’m no catch. Absence made your brain go soft. I’ve got two-hundred-and-sixty-eight head and no idea how to feed them through winter. I’m behind at the bank and my neighbors, who always helped me in the past, are dead or trying to kill me. If I meant anything to Waylon, he’d be here helping me sort his family bullcrap out.”

  Hannah cut off the water and hung up the hose. She bolted off toward the tack room, and I followed. I sensed her emotional breakdown barreling down on her earlier this morning. I didn’t blame her.

  The past two days had kicked the snot out of all of them.

  Grabbing a roll of shop towels off the shelf, I ripped a square free and got dabbing. Hannah knocked me stupid. It didn’t matter if she was made up to go out for a night or waking up with her hair wild, or pink and puffy with tears. She blew me away every time I laid eyes on her.

  Holding her tight to my chest, I nuzzled the soft hollow of her neck and wished I could whisper comforting words into her ear. I could pay off her debts, but she would never accept. I could take her away, but this farm was her past, present, and future. I had already promised to stay and help her get the ranch back in the black, but she didn’t believe me.

  I had never felt less like a warrior in my life.

  I pushed the collar of her jacket out of the way and pressed my lips to her throat. In the chill of the barn, her skin was balmy warm. I nipped and kissed, smiling against her flesh as she tipped her head back and gave me access.

  That’s right. Urging her on, I triggered her body’s natural pull. That, at least, was one thing that hadn’t changed in three years. The connection we shared, the insatiable pull that drew us together, remained as strong now as ever.

  I didn’t know where we were headed, but Hannah was my home. Wherever she was—

  Knocked to the side, I grabbed Hannah and widened my stance to keep from toppling. The earth below us shook. The explosion that rocked the ground sounded like a bomb had gone off in the not too distant distance. Fuck.

  Wrapping my arms around her, I Flashed out beside the drive shed. The house was a fireball, black smoke vomiting in such volume that the entire front yard was engulfed. My skin crawled with something colder than the chill of the air. Icicles of fear dripped into my chest and started freezing in my veins.

  “Riley!” Hannah screamed. I caught her jacket before she got away. “Let go of me,” she spat, fists flying. I evaded the hits, determined to keep her safe. “Riley and your friends are in there. Chief and Myra.”

  And it wouldn’t do any of them any good for Hannah to join them. A vortex of flame rose from the front lawn and drew the thick blanket of smoke into the air.

  Hope flared in my hammering heart. That funnel wasn’t from the house fire. That blazing shaft of smoke and flame was being commanded.

  As the air cleared, I spotted Jade and Bree in the snow. They shielded Riley and fought off five attackers—three of them as wolves. Rage hemorrhaged from every pore.

  Hide in the shed, I signed. I’ll get her for you. I threw myself into a dead run across the yard.

  Blaze was one hell of a fighter on offense, but defense got sticky when protecting innocents. Bree hadn’t had our training. The coyote girl could fend off humans, and drunken assholes at the Hearthstone, but that was about it. Against male wolves, she was out of her depths.

  I targeted her for the save and went in hard.

  Five hostile males fought to wrestle the women across the front lawn of the farmhouse. Their meaty hands hung empty of weapons, which was good and no surprise. Weres thought brute strength was all they needed in a fight.

  Yeah, well, it wouldn’t do them much good against two Glock 40s, fuck-you-very-much. My boots made no sound, my breath coming out in sharp, white puffs. The exertion of racing thr
ough knee-deep snow had my sinuses stinging with the icy cold.

  As I approached, the wind changed.

  Bree lifted her chin and let off a low growl. “Four more coming in,” she yelled, kicking a guy in the sac before being flung to the snow.

  Four more. I had no idea if they were in wolf or human form, but nine was not a lucky number. I needed to even the odds before they arrived. Flashing forward, I grabbed Riley and Flashed her inside the drive shed.

  I didn’t stay more than a heartbeat. Releasing her, I pointed to Hannah and Flashed back to the fight.

  A wolf howled, rolling in the snow, his pelt on fire. And that, ladies and gentlemen is how Blaze became Jade’s nom de guerre. The female was a powerful fighter, but she wasn’t invincible, and I didn’t want her hurt.

  Arms raised and sparks flying, she fought and held them back far enough I could get off a couple of shots.

  Two fell like rocks.

  I took out another, and the world erupted in shouts and growls. Nine was now six—unless more joined the fun.

  I evaded a lunging wolf, rolling in the snow and rising back to my boots in one fluid movement. I aimed and shot at any aggressor that moved on us. I wanted the girls safe. I wanted Hannah out of this. She was right. This wasn’t her world. She was defenseless against this kind of violence.

  A three-inch branch to my forehead had me down and reeling. I lost the use of my legs for a moment as the cracking pain knocked me for a loop. When the Were attacked, I dove right, then rolled left, narrowly escaping the follow-up blows.

  Hannah screamed back at the shed, and I cursed.

  Rolling to my belly, I watched two men take off. Instinct more than conviction brought my guns back into play. Two shots took one down and left the other rolling to his knees still moving. The branch to my head had done damage. My feet felt sloppy and inefficient under my legs as I ran to help.

  Thirty yards from the outbuilding, a massive gray wolf circled from the side, maw wide and teeth exposed. It gripped my shoulder and took me to the ground. The battle of leather against canines went to the wolf.

  Pierced flesh burned hot as snow covered my face and neck. Fury fired in my gut and overwrote every other thought. I screamed inside as the beast strengthened its hold and shook. With my free hand, I got my gun up and pumped off four rounds against the fur pelt.

  The wolf was possessed. It didn’t release, and two others were closing in fast. A bolt of fire hit, and the wolf howled like a demon. Heat blasted my arm, but I took my freedom and pulled back before Jade’s fireball torched my skin.

  Normally, I thrived on the chaos of battle, but not today. Not like this. Staggering to my feet, I fought to close the gap between Hannah and me.

  Long streams of flames erupted on both sides of me, clearing my path like a fiery airport runway. Hannah saw me coming and ran back inside the shed. I lost track of one of the wolves gunning down on her and scanned the scene.

  I pushed hard, breath sawing in my lungs, blood blinding me as I ran. What was worth all this death? Pack politics? Nothing was worth Hannah’s life.

  I rounded the doorframe of the massive shed and found them. Hannah stood before her sister, swinging a scythe like a maniac. The Were before them was searching for his opening.

  Not gonna find one, bitch!

  I set my guns on the fender of the tractor and lifted an arm to catch Hannah’s attention. Drop on three, I signed.

  She nodded, her eye’s flashing between the wolf and me for the count.

  One. Two. Three.

  Reclaiming both guns, I targeted the Were in the back of the head and heart. Firing both in unison, the beast had no chance. The breathy gasp of death satisfied something inside me that I never looked too closely at.

  I listed to the side and used my good shoulder against the tractor tire to bounce back onto my path to the girls.

  “Savage,” Hannah cried, running to catch me as my knee buckled and I went down to the dirt floor. She dropped the scythe and knelt at my hip. “What can I do? Are you okay?”

  Peachy, I thought. I was about to respond when a russet wolf trampled me, grabbed Hannah by her jacket, and threw her back. The impact knocked my guns from my blood-slick hands, and punctured something in my chest.

  Lung, I guessed.

  I rolled to the side and choked for breath, the long wooden handle of the scythe meeting my hands as if willed there by Castian himself. I took the win and swung.

  My first swipe sliced the beast’s hind leg. The second vivisected him. Guts spilled onto the ground and Riley gagged somewhere behind me. Dizzy and gasping, I hit the cold ground of the shed and blinked up at the beamed roof.

  Look through the cracks, I signed. What’s happening.

  Hannah’s tears fell like a summer downpour, hot on my face. I struggled with my hands, losing motor control. Doc. The girls. Tell me.

  My sketchy vision blurred. Fading consciousness flipped me the bird. Between blood loss and asphyxiation, I was tapping out. A cold spot clenched my heart. It didn’t matter how big a badass you were. Eventually, the Reaper found you.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Hannah watched Savage lose consciousness, and a panicky fear screamed in her ears. If he couldn’t help them, what chance did they have? Savage fought with violent intensity. He killed with unchecked brutality. Had he given his life to ensure they survived? Honoring his wishes, she raced to the shed wall and peered through a crack between weathered boards.

  The last man standing was Jonas Brooke.

  Jonas owned the Feed and Seed out on the highway. Given his small stature and meek personality, she’d never realized he was part of Jessop’s pack. Staring at the carnage on her front lawn, he seemed stunned. Dead wolves. Wounded and singed men.

  He turned, arms up to the sky like he was a televangelist Werewolf preacher. “It didn’t have to be this way, Hannah. If you’d been honest about Myra seeking you out and given us the ring, this could have been avoided.”

  The ring? What ring?

  “Hannah?” Riley yelled. “Hannah!”

  Hannah spun in time to see Levi Dunn grab her sister and vanish. She ran at the blank space, her heart thundering like she’d run a four-minute mile.

  Sirens of emergency vehicles wailed in the distance.

  “Jessop may have tolerated you knowing about us,” Jonas yelled from outside. “He can’t protect you anymore. There’s nowhere for you to hide. We’ve got your sister. The only way you get her and your friends back is to give us the ring. We expect to hear from you soon.”

  She held her breath as Jonas signaled to two men and they disappeared with Riley, Jade, and Bree. Could everyone in Savage’s world do that?

  Jonas’s words rang in her head. Jessop had known she knew all along? Had he known she saved Waylon?

  Savage choked and she rushed over to roll him onto his side. What’s happeinging.

  She knelt over him, her entire body numb. “They’re gone.”

  Are we accounted for?

  Hannah shook her head. “Jonas and his men took Riley, Jade, and Bree to trade for a ring? I don’t know what that means but that’s what he said.”

  Jessop’s Alpha ring. The wearer rules the pack.

  “Mercy, you’re losing a lot of blood. I need to get you to a hospital.”

  Savage frowned and shook his head. No time. He fumbled a bloody hand toward his pocket and winced.

  “What do you need?”

  Phone.

  She searched both his pockets and both of hers. “No phone. What now?”

  Resignation clouded his gaze, and he closed his eyes.

  Her heart sank. “Don’t you dare give up on me, Savage. You can’t come back after three years to tell me you love me and then die. That’s not fair. You said you wouldn’t leave.”

  He opened heavy-lidded eyes and cracked a crooked smile. I wasn’t dying. I was thinking.

  She swallowed. “Oh. Sorry. What did you come up with? Anything good?”

  Unlock my g
od powers.

  She had no idea what that meant, but didn’t care. “Then unlock them.”

  It’ll change me. Complicate things.

  So? What good did it do either of them if he refused to change and died? “Go on. Do it before you pass out again.”

  Nothing happened, and her heart broke. Didn’t he know his life was worth anything and everything that came at them? She swallowed, her throat thick and tight. “Whatever it takes, you do it. Survive, dammit. You promised you’d never leave me again. Was that another lie? You swore to me, Savage.”

  He closed his eyes again, and she wasn’t sure if he was doing something or passing out. Tears dripped off her cheeks onto his face. “If you die now, the loss of our future is on you. Are you a quitter?”

  His hands shifted. Shhh. Can’t concentrate.

  “Oh,” she whispered. “Sorry.”

  Biting her bottom lip, she watched his eyelids flicker. His body stiffened straight as a board and Hannah felt the energy in the frigid air crackle around her. She backed up a few inches to give him space.

  What did unlocking god powers mean?

  She’d seen what Jade could do. His cousin shot fire from her hands, and could fight off four wolves and Were men at a time. Given what Savage could already do without powers, she imagined he’d become a truly lethal one-man army.

  That scared her for about two seconds. Savage might be King of Broody, but he had a code of honor that placed him right up with military superheroes in her mind.

  A tremor shook his body, and she gripped his hand in hers. “I’m here, tough guy. I’m right here with you.”

  His eyes flipped open, the blank orbs in his skull glowing silver. Her breathing hitched, her tears blurring her vision. She choked. If he did this for her and it was the wrong decision for him . . . “I’m so sorry.”

  Alone and helpless, all she could do was hold his hand and ramble on about things she thought, felt, and should have told him before he was dying.

  “I forgive you.” She wiped her face on the sleeve of her ruined jacket. “You sacrificed what we were building for the good of others—I get that—but you made one mistake. You should’ve told me. I would’ve understood. I would’ve waited. You need to make it up to me.”