Page 61 of Savage King

Give it time. You were tased and then hit your head on the way down.

Still, she had to be ready for what was coming next.

“I’m coming, too,” Skathi announced to the room, all heads snapping around to look at her.

Odin opened his mouth and Skathi just knew he was going to deny her, condescend to her, tell her she was safer in the clubhouse with the other women. That she was still recovering and couldn’t be counted on to back them up.

She raised her hand, stopping him. “Before you open your mouth and deny me my chance to help save my friend, remember that I have more tactical arms and hand to hand combat training than three of the men in this room. I have tits, but I also hold the state record for tactical sharpshooting. There is no one in this room better at killing.”

Odin’s jaw was working overtime, his teeth grinding hard enough that she could swear she heard his enamel squeak. The other men stared at her, their gazes a mix and match of admiration, annoyance, awe, and assessment. Those who didn’t know she was a Jaeger wouldn’t believe her, but Odin and Trouble knew.

Which was why the hard look on Odin’s face hurt.

He knew she could do it, that she could be an asset, but he was still going to—

“Alright. Skathi’s coming, but we need to make sure we’re ready for this. We’re going in quiet but fast because we can’t let the fuckers know we’re there until we can get to the girls. Otherwise, Madrigal will use them as human shields or hostages. Either way, we might lose someone. And that isn’t an option.”

Odin’s gaze on her told her he was talking about her. There wasn’t an option in his plan to lose her. And he wouldn’t, because she was better at this thanheeven knew.

“This just became a war room, brothers, because those Chavez motherfuckers declared war when they thought they could take something from us and not pay the price. And no one—I meanno one—hurts my woman without feeling the wrath of the gods.”

Warmth spread through her limbs, heading straight for her core where it grew into a conflagration. Murder, mayhem…the man sure knew how to make a girl feel special.

She grinned at him, nearly melting on the spot from the scorching fire in his eyes. With a look that said, “after this, I’m fucking you so hard”, Odin turned away, focusing his attention where it needed to be. Her hands trembling from the impact of that look, Skathi walked to the conference table and leaned against it, her legs wobbly—and not from the blow to the head, either.

Soon, the rest of the men filtered into the clubhouse, taking up station in a circle around their leader.

Skathi watched, enraptured, her breath caught in her chest.

“Raptor, grab Dragon and get the cages. We’ll need the cargo space for the guns. AFK, monitor the surveillance on the warehouse. Pull up the cams from the adjacent buildings and see if you can move them in to position. I want to make sure we can see from every angle. The cocksucker made sure to keep the cameras out of his own operation, but he didn’t take into account that the other warehouses are secured up to the nines. Make sure the cell service in the area is down, the last thing we need is some civilian calling’ the cops.” As Raptor and Dragon headed out, AFK tucked in to the laptop in front of him, his long fingers blindingly fast over the keys. “Trouble and Skathi, you’re with me. We’ll run a quick perimeter and check for a way in that’ll give us the least amount of noise and blood.” A rush of gut churning apprehension poured through her, but it wasn’t anything new. She was a warrior, a hunter, and she was going to get her friend back. “Hawk, you and Hell Hound secure the weapons. We’ll need all you can get in the next hour. Meet up with Raptor and Dragon at the storage facility out back, then text when you’re ready to roll out.”

In command. The All Father. Odin, President of the Savage Raiders…he was breathtaking. She’d never been so turned on before in her life, watching a larger than life mountain of a man give orders with such confidence, authority, and the absolute loyalty of his men.

It was heady. If they weren’t about the head into battle to rescue their friends, she’d have dragged him to the closest horizontal surface and mount him.

As the men headed out to complete their tasks leaving Trouble to confer with AFK, and Odin and Skathi alone for the first time since she’d woken up from her attack, Skathi had questions.

“What happened while I was unconscious?”

Odin closed his eyes, his forehead furrowing. “I was scared shitless, baby. I got your call…and I knew something was wrong. It was in your voice. And once the line went silent, I knew something was definitely wrong. I grabbed Trouble, mounted my Harley, and we got there as fast as we could.”

He pinched his lips into a thin line, pain and fear carving grooves where his dimple should have been.

“The front door was locked but we kicked it in. You were….” He stopped, took a deep ragged breath, then said, “You were lying, face down, on the kitchen floor. Blood on the floor beneath you.”

“Oh gods, Odin,” she murmured, placing a hand against his shuddering chest. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to walk into a scene like that. To find someone you care about lying in a pool of blood.

“I was so fucking scared, baby. I thought I was too late, that I’d lost you.”

She had no idea what to say, so instead, she threw her arms around him, wedging her face under his chin. She ignored the beard tickling her nose and just…breathed. After several long moments, Odin pressed a kiss to her temple, a silent “thank you”.

She’d take that.

“We’ll head out once I finish here,” Trouble announced, his cell in his hand, his thumbs tapping away.

“He’s got contacts in the LVPD, which will come in handy once it’s time for clean up,” Odin supplied.

“I’m glad that you decided to include me, but I have to ask…. You looked like you were going to tell me I was staying behind. What changed your mind—other than my amazing speech and the mention of my tits.”

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