Page 3 of Stryker

Stryker

I’d broken the rules.Fuck.

I had no doubt I’d pay for this one way or another. But for now, I eyed the woman I’d saved and tried to figure out how to answer her. I also tried to figure out what my dragon was thinking, pushing me to save her. He was roaring in my skull, drowning my own thoughts. He’d been looking for his fated mate for ages. He was convinced we’d found her and claiming her was paramount.

And for this, he’d pushed me to break the rules.Double fuck.

Her almond-shaped brown eyes studied me, waiting for an answer.What are you?Of every question she could have asked me, that’s the thing she chose to ask?

Your worst nightmare.

We stared each other down in silence. She didn’t seem afraid of me. There was a calm about her that might have just been remnants of the acceptance of meeting her fate. Though I’d have sworn I saw fight in her up to the last moment when men were trying to gun her down.

I respected her fighter’s spirit. I’d stared death in the face many times before and found it impossible to accept the end. But I’d known others that knew their time had come and accepted it. Hell, that calm acceptance had been a far more common reaction in my experience. Fighters in the face of certain death were a rare bunch.

Her head tilted a bit to the side as she studied me with those doe-like brown eyes. There was something so fresh-faced and appealing about her I wanted to lean in and taste her lips. Fuck, maybe one of those bullets had gotten past my hide and bounced around in my head, turning my brain to mush. Obviously, I’d gotten more stupid.

“Why did you save me?” Her soft-spoken words flowed through my atmosphere, demanding my attention. Surprise flashed like a neon sign in her eyes and she pressed her lips together. She held them like that for a moment, then let them slip free. They turned scarlet against her pale skin and I found the whole action unbelievably appealing. “Thank you for saving me. I guess I should have led with that.” She let free a nervous giggle.

“Why were they going to kill you?” I knew them well; they preferred to kidnap girls and sell them. That was the very reason I’d been tailing them in the first place. It didn’t make sense that they’d kill this girl. A quick glance told me she was a nice human specimen despite her attempt to hide behind oversized, ugly clothing. They’d turn a nice profit off her. Innate instinct told me she was a virgin; that alone would drive her value up substantially.

Something didn’t make sense. It didn’t ring true. I didn’t like that. Everything in life fits into neat boxes, so when something doesn’t, it bothers me. It threw a monkey wrench in everything I thought I knew about the thugs. Not knowing details made my job that much more dangerous.

She shifted her weight to her left hip, her dark hair shining as she lowered her head. With the toe of her worn shoes, she nudged a blade of grass like she’d find the answer in its shadow.

“Tell me.” I didn’t have time for these games. I’d been tracking the bastards in the hopes they’d lead me to someone else. Or lead me to clues that the brotherhood could use.

“They said I’m clever. Clever is dangerous. I guess it’s headache-inducing.” Her brown eyes met mine and I read the flash of truth in them. Her scent didn’t change. There was no hint of deception in her body language or in her eyes. So I found myself inclined to believe her.

So they were going to kill her because they knew she wouldn’t be easily broken. Interesting. I advanced on her, expecting her to flinch or back up. To my surprise, she held her ground and lifted her chin to look up at me.

“What is your debt?”

Her lips parted, but no sound came out.

I leaned in closer. “What do you owe them?” I wondered what her vice was. Drugs? Gambling? Something darker?

She shook her head. “I don’t—”

“Don’t lie to me.” They didn’t grab people or kill for no reason. They had something on her, or she wouldn’t be a target.

Anger lit in her brown eyes. “I’m not lying! I don’t owe anything. My father…” she trailed off and it hit me; she didn’t know. All she knew was that her father had some debt with them. No doubt they’d told her that. They had their own twisted sense of honor. They’d tell people why they were being punished even if the charges were often trumped up and made worse than they actually were.

Her eyes widened and the stench of panic rolled off her. “I need to get home! I have to go to work!”

I needed to let her go. She wasn’t a mark, she wasn’t someone I’d been paid to protect. The protection of my brotherhood doesn’t come cheap. This girl needed help, but I knew that I’d already broken the rules. If I also took her on pro-bono, then I’d be risking a lot more than a mere slap on the wrist.

Still, if I didn’t protect her, the thugs would find her. And this time, they’d finish the job. “No, you need to run.”

Her arms locked up tight across her chest and her eyes sparkled with fire and brimstone. “No, you don’t understand. I work two jobs to try to cover our bills. I take care of my mother and father. If I don’t work, we don’t eat. If I don’t work, we lose our home.”

She stepped around me and walked toward town.

I let out a growl. The bastards were right; she was a fucking headache all right. Still, I had to admire her tenacity. Maybe there was a fine line between stupid and stubborn, but like my brother, she seemed to walk it like a tightrope.

My brother…

I shoved painful thoughts aside and stalked after her. I caught up to her short stride easily. “They’ll come for you again. And they’ll kill you this time.”

---