Page 73 of Savage Reign

She turned to him, looking confused. Maverick grabbed her hand. “There’s going to be some changes in your life. Surely you knew it was coming.”

“What kind of changes?”

“You’ll be assigned a bodyguard, and he is to follow close behind everywhere you go.”

“What?” she asked, sounding incredulous.

“Yes. There are men who hate our guts and would do anything to destroy us. We didn’t have anything important enough for them to use against us. We do now.”

And there was no mistaking what he meant by that. Surely Mila understood that, even if she wanted to bury her head in the sand.

“Me?” Her voice was quiet, and she was looking down at the table. Was she really so surprised that she was now our weakness? The thing I feared would happen from the beginning when Silas insisted we keep her had already happened. Surprisingly, I was okay with that. More than okay with it.

Some weaknesses were worth it.

“And it might sound controlling,” Maverick continued. “But we have to know where you are at all times. No matter what.”

“Oh yeah, and I am sure being controlling is going to be such a hardship for you,” Mila said dryly.

Maverick’s lips twitched. He was a controlling bastard on a good day. But over the girl we loved? Yeah, the fucker was going to be unbearable. Poor Mila.

“Are there any other rules you want to bestow upon me?” Mila grumbled, the sarcasm heavy in her voice.

“Not at the moment. But I will definitely let you know when I think of any.”

She glowered at him just as the food arrived. It looked like Maverick ordered a little bit of everything. A small grumbling sound came out as soon as the waitress left, and I turned to Mila.

She blushed. “What? I’m hungry.”

Silas threw his head back and laughed, pulling her closer to him. He whispered something else to her, and that tight feelingincreased. I looked away from him as someone set down an unopened beer bottle in front of me. I pulled out my lighter and uncapped the bottle before throwing the lighter over to Silas. He uncapped his and took a long sip. Mila stared at him, a strange look on her face.

What I wouldn’t give to be able to read her mind.

Maverick was stacking food on her plate when Silas noticed her staring. Something moved in his eyes, but it was gone before I could really think what that was.

He pointed the beer at her. “Want some, angel?”

If I didn’t know any better, I might say his voice sounded off.

She sputtered a bit, and I wondered why she was so nervous when all he did was offer her beer. Had she never had a drink before?

Come to think of it, I didn’t recall ever seeing her drink.

Finally, she shook her head, confirming what I guessed. “I don’t drink.”

“Hmm,” was all Silas said to that, as if he didn’t believe her.

I frowned at him. He shook his head subtly and turned his attention back to Mila as Maverick placed her plate down. Mila looked down at her food and licked her lips. Fuck me, but I felt that move all the way to my dick, imagining all the ways she could show just how alluring her tongue could be.

I shifted and tried to think of dead puppies to talk down the hard-on. Wasn’t happening.

“Why don’t you drink?” Maverick asked.

“Huh? Oh, I guess I just saw too much of that at the club, and I just… I don't want to be like them. I don’t want to be controlled by substances,” Mila answered, stabbing a boneless hot wing with her fork and taking a bite.

That made sense. Mila probably saw a lot of shit while living in that shitty place.

“Did you always live there?” I asked.

---