Page 55 of Prey

“Because she’s so in love with you?”

I couldn’t say anything about that because Micah didn’t believe in love.

Sure, he loved me, and he loved the club—in his own psychotic way—and he loved Dominic and Kai like they were family, but he didn’t believe infallingin love.

He would have laughed in my fucking face had I said it.

“And what about you?” he asked. Though he didn’t raise his voice, I knew my brother well enough to know he was fucking angry.

“What about me?”

“You gonna tell me you love her?”

I didn’t have a reply to that. What the fuck did I know about love.

And that fucking word felt too tame to ever describe how I felt about Ryleigh.

I said nothing, my fists clenched on my side, something I was sure Micah didn’t miss.

“She’s going to be your fucking downfall. What the fuck am I supposed to do to protect you from that when you don’t let me?”

I turned to him sharply. “I don’t need you to protect me. Got it? I’m my own man, and I know what the fuck I’m doing.”

“Yeah? Is that why you look like shit?” He cupped the back of my neck and pulled me closer to him, his eyes looking over the injuries that he could see on my face, which were plenty. Those fuckers made good on their promise when they said they would ruin my ‘pretty’ face.

Those fuckers were just jealous.

“Who did this?” he asked quietly. I didn’t miss the anger simmering in his voice. A part of me almost didn’t want to tell him because I knew the minute I did, he would go after them.

Not that I didn’t think they deserved it, but him going after them would rob me of the chance myself. If I didn’t have Ryleigh with me, I would have driven to their fucking headquarters and blown the entire shit-place to pieces.

“They’re mine. I don’t need you to fight my battles for me. You seem to forget that I am more than capable of taking care of myself and those under my protection.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Is this your way of telling me to leave the girl alone?”

“Yes. Ryleigh’s mine. You need to understand that, and you need to leave her alone.”

He shook his head and pulled away from me, his shoulders taut from the tension. He stood up, and I watched him pace back and forth on the porch.

“Fucking hell,” he said quietly under his breath. “Why this girl? Why this fucking girl? Why does it have to be the judge’s daughter?”

I shrugged. Fuck if I knew. He acted like I had control over this obsession. I fucking didn’t.

“Fine,” he snarled out. “Keep your little fucking toy. But I want to know who the fuck hurt you, ’cause I know there ain’t no way that tiny little thing in there can do this much damage to you.”

I grinned. “How would you know?”

He rolled his eyes, crossed his arms over his chest, and stared me down.

I might be fucking stubborn on a good day, but Micah was something else entirely, and I knew he wouldn’t fucking leave if I didn’t tell him.

The last thing I needed was for Ryleigh to wake up and find him eating breakfast in the kitchen.

“The Devil Sinners. I didn’t even know they were in this area.”

His eyes glinted, and I knew what that meant. He was fucking bloodthirsty.

“They’re migrating to Texas. California seemed to have gotten too… dangerous for them.”

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