Severed Ties: A Dark Stalker Romance (Tainted Love Book 1)

This motherfucker needs to get his hands off me. Everywhere his body touches mine is so itchy I want to slice the skin from my body. The bugs crawling beneath my flesh are relentless, and the only thing holding me in place is my fawn.

The closer she steps to us, the more dread that seeps into my veins. She needs to get out of here. Why aren’t they getting her the hell out of here?

She moves forward slowly as if she’s approaching a wild animal. Which I guess she is. The only thing I could do after I realized who had my woman was research the family, and these two assholes are as close to wild animals as you can get.

The rap sheet on Damon and Ronan Lombardi is quite literally a mile long, but they’ve never had a charge stick which is hardly a surprise. The family has more money than they could ever spend and they bribe public officials left, right, and center, just like every criminal organization I’ve ever heard of.

“Let me go,” Clara hisses at Rayne when he wraps his arms around her, her small body fighting against his much larger one.

He looks down at her for long moments, assessing her, and then, as if it’s the easiest decision in the world, he’s letting her go, allowing her to step toward me and to her own demise.

“Clara, no.” I shake my head, relishing in the feel of the cool steel barrel pressing into my temple. This isn’t the first time I’ve been held at gunpoint, and the thrill of it would normally outweigh the panic, but not today, not when my fawn is in danger.

“Let her make her own decisions,” Ronan growls. “That’s what you people are about, isn’t it? Strong women, who don’t do as they’re told?”

“Reading up on my family, Lombardi?” Rayne asks, his eyes dark with barely contained rage.

“Just some light reading. You hardly have the history we do, so it didn’t take very long to get through your files.” He shrugs, and the gun lifts slightly.

Clara takes measured steps closer until she’s only a few feet from me. It’s the first time I’ve wanted to get her away from me rather than bring her closer, but it’s for her own safety and that’s always going to be my priority.

“I’m here. Let them go.”

Her eyes dart between me and Ace, who still looks like he’s seen a ghost, which I suppose he has. If I wasn’t so full of dread, perhaps I’d be right there with him.

“Behind me,” Ronan orders.

“Clara,” I warn.

If we get out of this, she’s spending a goddamn week tied to our bed without an orgasm and with an ass so red you’ll see the fucking thing from space.

Her eyes meet mine, and the dark pools take my breath away. Full of love and hope and terror. But she doesn’t stop moving. She holds my gaze for as long as she can and then she’s out of view and pure panic runs rampant in my chest. No. I can’t lose her again. We just found her, and this is our only chance. There’s no way we’ll get through their defenses again, which means if she doesn’t get out now, she’s never getting out.

“You made the right decision,” Damon says smugly and shoves Ace toward Rayne.

Ronan’s hot breath moves against my ear, and bile rises in my throat. “Don’t worry, Hart, I’ll take real good care of her.”

Red clouds my vision, but before I can think to throw the asshole over my shoulder and tear his fucking tongue out for daring to speak about my woman like that, two loud gunshots fill the quiet night.

Everyone stills, their eyes behind me, but I’m waiting for the pain to engulf me. Surely a shot to the head would kill me instantly? Wouldn’t it?

But then the hand drops away, and the body pressed to my back falls to the ground.

I turn to look at Damon to see if he was the one who fired the shots, but he’s on the ground too, his hands grasping at his leg as a hiss of pain fills the air.

And then I see her.

My fawn.

The gun raised high, her eyes blown wide with fear and relief. And I’ve never been so fucking proud. Her hands are steady around the weapon that she still has trained on Ronan, but he’s writhing around the ground in pain and paying her no mind.

“We need to get the fuck out of here,” Rayne barks.

I step over the man and pull the gun from Clara’s hands, quickly tucking it into the back of my pants. “You know you’re in a world of trouble, right?”

She nods slowly, allowing me to pull her under my arm and guide her toward the gate. “I figured.”