Page 39 of Unmasked Prophecy

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Talon lays beside me, one arm holding me close as I nestle into his shoulder. He smells incredible, and his sweat slicked body is something I could spend hours tangled in. The fire has burned down to embers, casting a faint glow over us. I trace a finger over the ink on his chest, the hard lines of muscle, the scars that tell stories I don’t know yet.

I want to know them all.

“How did you get these?” I ask softly, carefully.

“You sure you want that story.”

My finger trails down a jagged scar just below his chest. “I do. I want to know you. All of you. You know my ugly parts, let me know yours.”

He shifts his weight, turning so I’m still tucked in his arms, but he’s facing me now. “I’m not a good man. Did a lot of things I’m not proud of.”

I meet his gaze. “Haven’t we all? I won’t judge you for who you were, because I can see who you are now.”

He exhales. “Worked as an enforcer for the cartel, doing their dirty work.”

I’m shocked by his revelation, but not entirely surprised that his past was dark. Talon carries his emotions on his face, and I have always seen a darkness behind his expression. Something that tells me he hasn’t always had it good.

“That would have been rough,” I say, pressing my lips together.

“You ain’t wrong. The stories of the things I did, most of them are as ugly as those scars.” He pauses, taking a breath, then continues, his voice low. “You sure you’re ready for this?”

I nod. “I want to know.”

His eyes hold mine, and I see the hesitation there, the war he’s fighting with himself. “My old man was part of the cartel. Killed in a deal gone wrong. I was just a kid, but I watched him die. I watched them all die. By the time I was sixteen, I was running guns, moving product, making sure the leaders knew every single fuckin’ thing that was goin’ on.”

His words are brief, and I know it’s because he doesn’t want to go into detail. “They called me Steel because I was hard. Because I didn’t break. I did things, Nia. Dark things. I was good at it. Worst part, sometimes I liked it.”

A shiver runs through me, but I keep my eyes on his. I can understand being drawn to darkness. “What kind of things?”

He hesitates, then his jaw tightens. “I smuggled girls, drugs, weapons. I put bullets through people’s skulls without thinking twice. Didn’t matter who they were. Didn’t matter who they left behind. I got a reputation for being ruthless.”

I swallow hard, but I don’t believe Talon is bad, just a little bent. I know the kind of world he lives in, and even now, it isn’t without plenty of illegal activities. I lived with people who used their power for bad, and I don’t see that in this club. Maybe his past was different, but that isn’t the man with me now.

“What changed?”

“Caught a shipment in a small town. Thought it’d be easy. Fucking simple. One of the locals decided to be a hero, called the cops. We had to make an example. They took him and his family, made me watch as they burned them alive.”

I gasp, my hand flying to my mouth. My entire body feels goes stiff and my heart feels as though it stops beating.

Talon’s voice is hoarse, like the memory is choking him. “That’s when I knew I had to get out. Can’t live with that. Not families. Not innocent lives.”

“How did you escape?”

“I cut a deal with the Feds. Turned on the cartel, gave them everything I had. Names. Routes. Locations. Enough to take them down or at least hit them hard. Got me a death sentence, but the leader is dead now and bein’ with the club has taken the heat off.”

It scares me knowing that someone could come for Talon. A harsh reality of the world he lives in. My heart aches at the thought, a very real fear.

“Do you regret it?”

“Every fucking day. But I’m tryin’ to do right. Tryin’ to make up for it.” He hesitates, his eyes dark. “I’m still not a good man. I’m not the man you think I am.”

“I’ll be the decider of that,” I say, lightly, offering him a small smile. “You can accept my past, I’m sure I can accept yours.”

He goes quiet.

I know he’s still hesitant, and I know that he could turn and leave at any moment, and there would be nothing I could do about it.

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