Ruled

by Elle Kennedy

  Available now.

  “I miss our house.” Sighing, Piper nestled her head against Lennox’s shoulder and curled one arm around his chest. “Are you sure it’s too dangerous to go back?”

  She’d been asking that same question for weeks now. Lennox was getting tired of answering it, but of all the people he’d extended his protection to over the years, Piper was one of the few he had a soft spot for. She’d turned twenty a few months ago, and despite the hard life she’d lived, her youth and innocence had been preserved. Well, maybe not the innocence—even as she voiced the question, her hand was drifting seductively toward Lennox’s waistband.

  “It’s too dangerous to go back,” he confirmed. Then he chuckled and intercepted her hand before it could slide inside his pants. “And what you’re doing is equally dangerous, love.”

  Her laughter warmed his ear. “Aw, come on, Lennox. How long are you going to hold out on me?”

  Hmmm. Probably until he could look at her without seeing the bedraggled sixteen-year-old who’d shown up at his doorstep four years ago. He’d been twenty-three, and lusting over a teenager hadn’t felt right. Sure, Piper had grown up since then, but it was still hard for him to reconcile the skinny kid he’d taken under his wing with the gorgeous woman she’d become.

  Which was ironic, because he had no problems lusting over his best friend, and he’d known her since they were both in diapers.

  As if on cue, a blond head across the room swiveled in his direction, and the object of his thoughts flashed him a mischievous wink. It was as if Jamie always knew when he was thinking about her, and he had the same sixth sense about her. Growing up together had created a bond between them. They knew each other inside and out.

  Though in a moment, another man would hold claim to the inside her part.

  He’d known it was bound to happen after he and Jamie moved to Connor Mackenzie’s camp. In a world filled with danger and uncertainty, it was important to form alliances, and Connor was a valuable ally to have. Lennox was damn grateful for the man’s assistance.

  Connor’s right-hand man, on the other hand . . . Lennox liked the guy, he really did, but Rylan’s flirtation with Jamie was starting to wear on his nerves.

  It was Rylan who was sprawled on his back right now, his chest bare as Jamie’s fully clothed body straddled his on the frayed couch. He reached up to cup Jamie’s breasts through her shirt, summoning a moan from her rosebud lips. Even though her blue eyes went hazy with pleasure, they stayed locked with Lennox’s.

  If any other woman were looking at him like that, all heavy-lidded and visibly turned on, Lennox would have sprinted over there and joined the party. But he knew Jamie wasn’t sending an invitation. She simply got off on being watched.

  Watching was all he was capable of doing anyway. Jamie had been his best friend for more than twenty years. She was the only person in this fucked-up world who he trusted implicitly, who he could confide in and count on. After everything they’d been through, their friendship was rooted in feelings. Respect, admiration, affection . . . all those pesky emotions were too dangerous to bring into a sexual relationship. Sex was fun, but it was complicated as hell when feelings were involved.

  And these days, life was already complicated enough.

  For twenty-seven years, Lennox had lived and struggled in the free land, labeled an outlaw by the Global Council that ruled the Colonies with an iron fist. In order to prevent another war and ensure that the remaining natural resources weren’t squandered, the council was all about population control and enforcing rigid restrictions on its citizens. If you didn’t live in one of the four council-run cities and follow their rules, then you were considered a threat.

  Lennox had never been too good at following rules. Except one: keeping his hands off his best friend. He’d already suffered too much loss. His parents, his friends, and now, thanks to an ambush by the Enforcers, his house. Jamie was important to him—he’d be damned if he lost her too.

  He shifted his gaze from Jamie and Rylan, focusing instead on the back corner of the barn, which was stacked to the rafters with furniture and other random junk. The rest of the room had been cleared out and cleaned, the large space empty save for a couple of couches and an assortment of ratty old armchairs.

  It was a far cry from the setup at the old place. Lennox didn’t want to depress Piper by admitting it, but he missed their house too. It was hard to consider any place “home” in the free land, but that cozy split-level had come damn close. He and Jamie had stumbled upon it after Enforcers ran them out of their camp on the coast. They’d fixed it up, scrubbed it down, and turned it into a place where other outlaws could come and bask in the little freedom they had left. Booze, sex, conversation. Simple joys, really, but thanks to the war that had devastated the globe forty years before, joy was hard to come by these days.

  “I’m serious,” Piper insisted, and then her lips brushed the side of his neck. “The sexual tension is killing me.”

  Lennox chuckled again. “Xander and Kade are in the lodge,” he told her. “I’m sure they’d be happy to help you relieve some tension.”

  She sighed again, her fingers absently tracing the raven tattoo on his forearm. “You’re no fun, Lennox. You never want to entertain me.”

  He reached out and tweaked a strand of her brown hair. “I’m not here to entertain you, love. I’m here to take care of you.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” Her voice softened. “And you’ve taken really good care of me, Len. I can never repay you for everything you’ve done.”

  “Seeing you happy and safe is the only repayment I’ve ever wanted,” he said gruffly.

  That got him another kiss—a loud smack on his cheek. “Ha, you’re such a softie. I don’t know why you bother acting like a badass all the time. Everyone can see right through you.”

  He could have corrected her, pointed out that he didn’t act like a badass—he was a badass. He’d killed. He’d stolen. He’d betrayed people he’d cared about. Because that was what it meant to be an outlaw—you did everything in your power to survive.

  Piper had never seen that side of him, the one that valued self-preservation above all else. He’d done his best to shield her from it, leaving her at home when he went out on supply runs, sending her away when he needed to put a bullet in someone’s head. He hoped to keep shielding her, but like with everything else in this world, he knew that was probably hoping for too much.

  “Anyway, since you insist on being mean to me, I’m going to track down Kade,” she added, hopping off the couch. “Night, Lennox.”

  “Night, love.”

  As she headed for the door, he fought the urge to go with her, reminding himself that she would be fine trekking through the camp in the dark. She was armed, and Connor and his men had secured the hell out of the wilderness resort. The huge property was hidden in the mountains, rigged with motion sensors and explosives, and monitored by security cameras, which trumped all other luxuries. If the generator was low on fuel, Connor ordered everything else to be powered down—lights, heat, anything would be sacrificed to keep the security system operational.

  Even so, it was hard for Lennox to accept that this place was truly safe. The Enforcers who policed the cities and searched the Colonies for outlaws were an ever-present threat, and one he never underestimated. Even when he was balls deep in a beautiful woman, he was still painfully aware that an Enforcer bullet could strike the back of his head at any moment. He just hoped those bastards had the decency to let him climax before they pulled the trigger.

  “Rylan,” Connor called from the door. A second later, the camp leader strode into the barn with a scowl on his face.

  Without missing a beat, Rylan untangled himself from Jamie, his scuffed boots hitting the barn floor as he rose to his full height.

  Lennox was impressed by the way Connor’s men obeyed him on instinct. Th
e man was a natural-born leader and protector, even if he was a prickly asshole a lot of the time. Lennox knew that if anything ever happened to him, Con would protect Jamie and the girls, no questions asked.

  As Jamie’s companion abandoned her for his leader, Lennox saw a slight pout form on Jamie’s lips, but she didn’t voice a complaint. Con and his woman had been away from camp since dawn, and everyone had been on edge awaiting their return. The two of them had gone to see Reese, the leader of a small town several hours east, with whom both Connor and Lennox had a reluctant alliance.

  Reese was unpredictable on good days and downright vindictive on bad ones, so Lennox never knew what to expect when he paid a visit to her self- proclaimed kingdom.

  “I need you,” Connor barked at Rylan. Then he glanced Lennox’s way. “You too, if you’ve got the time.”

  Lennox rolled his eyes. “What else do I have going on?” He’d been bored to tears since he and the women joined up with Connor’s group.

  Before, they’d been surrounded by people. Nomads who stayed at the house for a while before traveling on, strangers who needed a bed for the night, friends from other outlaw communities in West Colony.

  Here, Connor discouraged visitors. He wasn’t keen on letting anyone leave the camp either, unless it was for a meeting with one of their allies, or a supply run. But they’d stocked up on enough shit to last them through the winter, so as far as Connor was concerned, there was no reason to step foot outside camp.

  Lennox, on the other hand, was itching for action. And sex. Christ, he needed a good lay. With Piper and Jamie off-limits, Layla was the only available woman at the camp, and though he’d screwed around with her several times already, he enjoyed a little variety in his life. He’d been tempted to finagle his way into Connor and Hudson’s bed, but the couple didn’t seem inclined to include anyone but Rylan in their bedroom activities.

  Fuckin’ Rylan. The man got to screw the delectable Hudson and the woman Lennox had fantasized about for years. Some guys were just born lucky.

  As he stood up, Jamie marched in his direction. Her pale blond hair fell over one shoulder, hovering right above her cleavage. She had fantastic tits—which she never failed to remind him of, probably because he’d spent a good portion of their adolescence ragging her about her flat chest. She’d had the last laugh, of course, transforming from a scrawny girl to a curvy, sexy-as-sin woman right before his eyes.

  Truthfully he would’ve screwed her back then, flat chest and all. Jamie had been his first crush. He sure as hell hadn’t been hers, though. She’d had all the boys in their camp panting over her, and she’d known just how to keep them wrapped around her little finger.

  “I want to come to this meeting,” she announced.

  Lennox smirked. “You weren’t invited.”

  “Screw that. We’re a team. I go where you go.”

  “Things are different now, love. You and I don’t run things anymore. Connor does.”

  Her blue eyes flashed. “Screw that,” she repeated.

  “You’re just pissed because you didn’t get to sit on Rylan’s dick.” He chuckled.

  That got him a hard slap on the arm. “I don’t care about Rylan’s dick right now. I just don’t want to be kept out of the decision-making process. Blind obedience isn’t my thing, Len.”

  She was right—she’d always had a mind of her own, and that was one of Lennox’s favorite things about her. The woman was outspoken, smart, and stubborn as fuck.

  “It’s not mine either,” he admitted. “But we’re playing by a new set of rules. Connor took us in, and now we’ve gotta do what he says.” He tipped his head. “Unless you want to take off on our own? Because I’ll do it, if that’s what you think we should do.”

  She went quiet for a beat. He could see her shrewd brain working. Then she raked one delicate hand through her hair and sighed. “Not this close to winter. If we want to find a new place, we’re better off waiting till spring.”

  He nodded. “Agreed. But that means we defer to Con until then. Ergo, you need to go to your cabin while I find out what he has to say.”

  “I hate it when you ergo me.”

  A grin sprang to his lips. “Bullshit. You love everything about me.”

  She responded with a grudging smile of her own. “Yeah. I do.” Then she reached around him and smacked him on the ass. “You better hustle, babe. Don’t want to keep our mighty leader waiting.”

  Lennox was still grinning to himself as he left the barn. Darkness instantly enveloped him, the smell of pine and earth filling his nostrils. The camp was too damn rustic for his liking, but hey, at least the cabins were clean and cozy, the security was top-notch . . . and Jamie was here.

  She was really the only thing that mattered, if he was being honest. He could be living in a volcano, inhaling ash and bathing in hot lava, and he’d be perfectly content with it as long as Jamie was by his side.

  Elle Kennedy is the New York Times bestselling and RITA-nominated author of the Outlaws series, including Addicted and Claimed, and the Killer Instincts series. She grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, and holds a BA in English from York University. From an early age, she knew she wanted to be a writer and actively began pursuing that dream when she was a teenager. She loves strong heroines, alpha heroes, and just enough heat and danger to keep things interesting! Visit her online at ellekennedy.com, facebook.com/AuthorElleKennedy, and twitter.com/ElleKennedy.

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