Page 84 of Shattered King

Tomas looked to the body builder, who’d climbed to his feet. His eyes darted to Hunter then back to Tomas.

Hunter was on him in a split second, shoving him against the wall, got in his face. “How?”

The guy scowled. “I got eyes and ears all over this city.”

Hunter shoved him. “Who was it?”

“One of Raul’s dancers, Cassie, called and told me where to find your woman. Overheard something at the club, was happy to give up the info.”

Hunter growled.

The stripper he’d been seeing. That bitch!

“I’ll talk to Raul,” Van said, voice vibrating with anger.

Hunter turned to his brother. “I better not see that bitch there again.” He pulled back, taking the body builder with him, and shoved him away. The guy limped off. Hunter’s eyes never left him, burning into him like he wanted to cause a lot more damage than he already had.

“Um . . .” I piped up. And all eyes slid back to me. “I’d like to go home now.”

Hunter strode over, jaw tight. “You’ve got some fucking explaining to do.” he growled under his breath. “What the fuck were you thinking, running off like that?”

“I had no . . .”

“You’re lucky it was one of Tomas’s boys and not one of Pierce’s.” His expression was hard, terrifying. “If it was Pierce? I wouldn’t be taking you home, I’d be tracking down what was left of you.”

My entire body lurched back.

Hunter turned to Tomas. “I’ll be back. This isn’t finished.”

When I stood, I stumbled a little, my legs feeling shaky from first fear then relief.

Van’s arm shot out, snaking around my waist. “I’ve got you, sweetheart.”

That got Hunter’s attention, and he shoved forward, dragging me from his brother’s arms—and without another word, strode from the room.

Hunter

I led her out of Tomas’s holding room and through his compound, Lulu almost jogging to keep up.

Jesus.

When I thought about what could have happened? Fuck. Pierce was still in town. The guy was unstable, desperate. The only reason to stick around was Lulu. If he’d gotten to her first . . .

I’d never wanted to do bodily harm to a woman in my life. I wanted to strangle Cassie, wring that bitch’s throat.

I led Lulu to my SUV and opened the door. She climbed in and I secured the seatbelt around her. She stared at me, eyes wide.

I wanted to pull her back out, shake the fuck out of her, make her promise to never pull shit like that ever again. I’d never been so terrified in my life. Instead, I shut the door, walked around to the driver’s side, and climbed in.

Shadows cut across her precious face, and she had her eyes closed. Did she think I’d let her shut me out?

Fuck that. I wasn’t letting her do that, not now, not after the breakthrough we’d had. Not when she’d begun to let me back in.

“You fucked up tonight,” I said into the silence. “What were you thinking, Lulu?”

She clenched her fists in her lap. “He threatened to hurt Sara. What else could I do?”

I bit out another curse. “What about Josh? You think about him when you ran off?”