Page 73 of Tick Tock, Boom!

The name hit like a bullet. "You sure he ain’t his son?"

Her palm cracked across my face before I saw it coming. Sharp, clean, and well-deserved.

"How dare you," she hissed.

I grabbed her wrist before she could strike again and pulled her close. "You left me wondering for ten goddamn years. What the fuck do you expect?"

We struggled, her palms shoving at my chest, breath ragged as mine grew heavy with restraint, heat coiling through my veins like wildfire. Her nails bit into my shoulders and I gritted my teeth from the pain as I gripped her hips, dragging her close enough to feel the full weight of my need pressed against her softness. Her mouth was parted, her lips trembling, but not with fear, but with fire. She cursed me, fought me, and I loved every second of her body squirming against me.

I dipped my head, lips grazing her jaw as her fingers twisted into my shirt. “You gonna keep fighting me, kitten?” I growled, my voice rough as gravel. “Or are you gonna admit you still want me?”

She hissed something sharp, but before she could get the words out, I claimed her mouth with mine. Hard. Fierce. A kiss that tasted like possession and too many years of silence. Her lips parted in shock, and I didn’t waste the opportunity. My tongue slid over hers, stroking slow and filthy, savoring the taste of the woman who’d haunted my every goddamn dream.

She moaned, hips jerking against mine, but I wasn’t letting up. Not until she melted. Not until she clung to me like the only man who’d ever made her feel this fucking alive.

But it was short lived as she kneed me in the groin and slapped me again for good measure.

"You have no right to touch me, or to claim what’s not yours! And don’t you dare question my son’s upbringing. Who else was going to take care of him?" she snapped. "His father sure as hell wasn’t around."

"Don’t fucking do that,” I grunted.

"What? Hold you accountable?"

"You didn’t tell me, Kitten. You vanished."

"Because of your actions that night. Because you killed my father! Because I thought I’d lost everything!"

We were shouting now. Pain curling between our words, inflicting it on one another, when I was the only one to blame and I knew it.

"Your father," I said, breathing hard. "He made his choices. And I made mine."

"You put a bullet in his head. You didn’t even think twice about me. About what would happen to me!” She slammed her hand against her chest, seething and wild with anger. And yet so goddamn beautiful.

"He was a traitor, Natalia. You know what this life entails. It gives, then it takes. And it’s bloody and fucked up and ugly. I won’t apologize for surviving."

"Eye for an eye," she whispered.

I stared at her. "I guess Wolf taught you well."

"He didn’t have to," she said. "I’ve survived it on my own."

I took a moment to collect myself and then looked around the room. "Where’s Gabe?"

"At school."

I nodded. "What’s he like?"

She softened as she spoke of him, the subject change calming her demeanor. "Stubborn. Set in his ways. But he has a kind heart.”

“Like yours,” I whispered. "I’d like to meet him."

"No!" The word hit like a whip, and she crossed the room fast, pacing now.

"Nothing’s going to happen between us," she said. "There’s no reason for you to be around. No reason for you to get near him."

"What?"

I stalked her. Her steps quickened. She darted behind the couch, trying to put space between us.

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