Page 10 of Bandit's Bounty

"What you did was fucked up. Knowing the type of shit you get into, how you treat women, I'd kill you for it if it weren't for the fact I know you won't be doing that shit again to my mate."

"I guess it's a good thing the clubs have an alliance now isn’t it," Dane retorts. "You're lucky I won't go against my prez and just sock you right here."

"That's enough, Dane," Karsyn snaps.

"Just was trying to apologize, little sister," Dane says to her before looking at me once again. He’s ignoring the growls coming from Bandit, which I think is somewhat daring and possibly dangerous. "Just wanted to say congratulations onfinding a mate. You deserve happiness, and I'd like to be able to put the past behind us. Move on and not worry about anything."

I slide out of my seat, my mate pulling me into his arms. "I do deserve happiness, Dane, and I found it with Bandit. For your sake though, I hope when the time comes that you remember how you treated me and not do the same to her."

"Right," he replies, nodding. "I'll remember that."

"Then it's done. I'll accept your apology," I murmur.

"Good," he says. "I'm heading out. I'll see y'all later."

I watch him walk away, secure in my place with Bandit. Dane was the past and while he scorned me, Bandit has shown me what it means to be wholly desired.

“I hate how he treated you,” Bandit says as we walk through the property. The party rages on, as most seem to do whenever the two clubs get together, but Bandit felt as though I needed some time away to process my interaction with Dane.

“I won’t lie to you, Bandit, it was the worst time of my life,” I admit. “My self-worth and self-esteem were crushed, and it honestly wasn’t until one of my instructors reached out to me that I realized just how far I had spiraled to a very dark place. In my head, I was worthless, and even worse than that, he made me feel as though I was less than because I wasn’t a member of his club.”

“He simply wasn’t the one for you,” Bandit growls, tightening his hold on my hand. I grin up at him and nudge my shoulder against his in a playful manner to calm him down. He’s told me in the past that a simple touch from me mollifies both the man and the beast residing inside of him.

“While that’s true, it gave me the impetus I needed to get help so my head was on straight again,” I say. “I knew there was always a possibility I’d run into him again, and yes, I was dreading it. However, with you standing by my side, it was a lot easier for me to face him head on than I anticipated it would be whenever I thought about it.”

“I’d have ripped his throat out if he had hurt you again,” Bandit declares, his tone throaty. “Don’t fucking care that the clubs are now getting along, and it would probably cause a fucking war. You’remymate and no one willeverhurt you again. You are and always will be my number one priority.”

“You can’t promise that, Bandit,” I softly tell him. “Because shit happens every single day and you’re not always with me to prevent the bad things from happening.”

“As long as I have breath in my body to prevent it from happening, you’re going to stay safe,” he reiterates, his pupils all but glowing as his wolf rises to the surface.

I stop and wait until he looks down at me before I reach up and cup his jaw with my hand. “You have no idea what it means for you to say this, Bandit. I’ve never really been anyone’s top priority.” He nuzzles his cheek into my palm, breathing in and out to gain control over his animalistic side. I know he can see how glassy my eyes are because I’m doing everything to hold back my tears. Plus, because his senses are so heightened, he’s more in tune with me emotionally than I want sometimes,especially when his thumbs swipe beneath my eyes to catch a few stray tears that have snuck out.

They’re not from sadness, but an overwhelming sense of joy and fulfillment that I finally have what I always longed for; someone who wants me forme, not what I can do for them or who I am in the world.

“You and any pups we have down the road will always come first with me, baby. Yes, the club is up there as well, but I’m not any kind of male if I don’t take care of the ones I love as far as I’m concerned. My mated brothers are the same way with their women.”

Did… did he just saylove? My mind stutters at that explicative word because it was such a far-fetched notion as far as where my love life was concerned, I didn’t expect it at all. Granted, he’s a shifter and now that he’s mate claimed me, I’ll turn as well eventually, so I guess it’s to be expected, but still, hearing it fall from his lips, the ones that can gently caress me one minute then torment me until I’m writhing in pleasure-filled agony the next, has opened up my thoughts to that possibility that we’ll actually fall in love. It won’t just be a fate thing, an obligation he has to endure since he’s a shifter who found his mate.

“Kiss me, Bandit,” I breathily whisper, suddenly needing that intimate connection with him.

I know there are women out there who feel sex is an intimate act, and while I don’t disagree with them, to me, kissing brings a level of closeness between a couple beyond a quick romp between the sheets. While I wait for Bandit’s lips to descend onto mine, it dawns on me that Dane always eschewed kissing, as if he was unwilling to open himself up to the natural closeness that typically develops from such a close act, which should’ve been anindicator that things weren’t what they seemed between the two of us.

However, thoughts of Dane evaporate the second Bandit’s lips hit mine and I’m soon lost in a haze of sensation and longing that has me practically wrapped around him, my core pressed against his rigid erection. I find myself wishing we were in our space so we could get naked, which I must somehow telepathically communicate because I feel Bandit chuckling.

“Babe, keep that up and we’re gonna be finding the nearest tree for me to fuck you against,” he rumbles out, his wolf peering at me.

“Would that be a bad thing?” I tease, suddenly onboard with his plan.

“You know, now that I think about it, I like it,” he replies, pulling me into his arms before he strides over to a grove of trees. “Since I don’t want your skin to be ripped to shreds, I’ll lean against the tree and let you ride me.”

Best. Idea. Ever.

Chapter Six

Bandit

Her eyes light up at my impromptu suggestion and I suddenly find her tucked in my arms, the thong she’s wearing underneath her sundress pulled to the side as she reaches down to undo the buttons on my jeans.

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