Page 149 of Savage Reign

“It’s okay,” she said.

“No, it’s fucking not,” Silas said. He pushed off the wall and walked to the desk I was sitting down on. “We should have protected her better.”

I nodded.

“We failed.”

“No, you didn’t,” Mila said.

“Mila—”

She shook her head, cutting me off. “No. Stop doing that. Stop taking everything onto your shoulders. It’s not your fault. Sebastian knew about the club’s opening tonight and that I was going to be there. He planned for this.”

I looked at Silas. We knew that. No one knew we were taking Mila with us. We had never taken another woman to any business event, so there was no reason for anyone to suspect she was coming tonight. Not unless the few people who did know about it beforehand talked. The attack was too planned out for Sebastian not to have known about it.

And I was going to find out who tipped him off.

“I know we said this already, but security is going to be even tighter for you,” I said to her. Silas nodded along. “I don’t want to make you feel trapped here with us, but until your twenty-fifth birthday, and maybe not even then, maybe not even until we have Sebastian’s head, you’re not leaving this house. And I will be bringing in more guards tasked with one sole purpose, and that is to protect you. Understand?”

“Yes,” she said quietly.

I had been expecting her to fight me. Mila was nothing if not stubborn. And there was a fire inside of her that thirsted for life. It was one of the many things I loved about her. No matter how many times life had gotten her down, she still had the motivation to get back up again.

I closed my eyes briefly. I didn’t want to fucking extinguish her fire.

“Mila—”

“No, I understand. What happened tonight… When he had me in his arms and was trying to get me into the van…”

Her bottom lip trembled. Killian looked up at her, pressing his thumb over her lips. “Don’t cry, baby. Because my control is being held onto by a tenuous thread, and if you cry, I will go hunting tonight for any and every MC bastard.”

I shook my head. That wouldn’t work. We’d tried that already. It was how I got hurt. A fucking machete slashed through me when we were able to find one of their hideaways. But Sebastian was careful and paranoid. Even more so than how Daniel Hayes had been. He never told any of his men where he was hiding, so it didn’t fucking matter how many of his men we took.

We couldn’t torture information out of anyone when they didn’t even have that information to start with.

“I won’t cry,” she said bravely. My strong girl. She cupped his face. “I’m okay. And I’m right here. And I’ll do whatever you guys want me to do. But I don’t think this is a long-term plan.”

“I know, little monster. This is temporary while we figure out what to do.”

“And have you already thought of anything?”

Several ideas, but none of them seem feasible. I didn’t answer her.

She nodded. “I have a plan.”

We looked at her. “You have a plan?” Silas asked.

She glared at him. “I am capable of thinking up a good plan, you know.”

“Of course you are, baby,” Killian said, joining her and glaring over at Silas as well. I would have laughed over that had the situation not been so fucking unlaughable.

“And what’s your plan, little monster?”

She blushed, drawing my curiosity.

“Mila?” I asked when she looked away from us.

“You marry me.”

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