Page 27 of The Vigilant

“He was lucky that was all I did.”

“No,” he said, his voice lowering, and then I felt his fingers clasp my chin.His hold was firm, but it was only fingers. I could’ve pulled back. Moved away. But to be touched by someone—even just the pads of his fingertips—it was like a thousand tiny lightning bolts to my skin. “He was lucky that none of this blood is yours.”

I hated to admit how long it took for my brain to register what he said, what he meant.

“I don’t mind bleeding.” I slid my tongue along my bottom lip, watching his eyes follow the movement.

His lip twitched, something feral flashing in his eyes. “I fucking mind,” he said hoarsely, his look like an animal about to bite. And then his steel-gleamed gaze snapped to mine. “I would’ve fucking killed him if he touched you.”

I let out a sad excuse for a laugh and answered, “So would I.”

The worst part was he didn’t think I was serious. Even after all I’d done, he doubted I could’ve gone that far. Jack would’ve doubted, too. And that was the problem with the both of them.

I jerked out of his hold and put some space between us.

“Take a shower and go to bed,” Tynan rasped, the roughness of his voice a soft caress on my adrenaline-soaked skin. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

I cocked my head. “That’s it?”

He grunted and stepped around me, shrugging out of his jacket and hanging it on the back of the chair. “I think that’s plenty for tonight.”

“What are you doing?”

He didn’t even bother to look over his shoulder as he headed to the living room and answered, “Staying here.”

“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes so hard I was surprised he didn’t hear them spin through the back of my head.

“You’re not the girl with the dragon tattoo, Sutton.”

I paused, fury burning through me, but I managed to swallow it down. For Mara.

Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

It would be a battle to get out from underneath Tynan’s thumb now, but battling him for my freedom wasn’t the answer. Letting him see what he wanted to see was.

“You’re right,” I conceded and turned my head but not fully over my shoulder as I added, “Mine’s a scorpion.”

Chapter Seven

Tynan

The sight of Sutton covered in blood and carving up a man’s chest was almost as striking as the fucking scorpion tattooed across the expanse of her back. I couldn’t see all of it—the artwork obscured by the high waist of the spandex black shorts she was wearing and her black sports bra. But I could see enough.

The body of the poisonous creature started on her lower back, its pinchers completely hidden. But the massive tail traveled up the length of her spine, the needled tip curled at her nape.

It was a fucking statement.

Who was I kidding?All of Sutton Brant was a statement.From her pierced tits—the outline of the metal visible through the fabric of her sports bra—to her septum ring to her scorpion…her whole statement was, well, fuck around and find out.

And that piece of shit in the alleyway had found out.

Jack Kang. A nobody in the grand scheme of things, but a somebody to her. And this morning, I was going to find out why.

“What are we doing here?” she demanded, her hips defiantly perched to one side as she scanned the gym at the garage. The room was on the smaller side, but it had all the essentials. Rack of weights against the large mirror on the wall. Bench. Punching bag. Treadmill. And there was a small area in the center of the matted floor that was just big enough and empty enough for a brawl.

Still, I grabbed hold of the bench and moved it out of the way against the wall just in case.

Turning back to her, I met those charged, ice-blue eyes and told her, “We’re here to fight.”

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