Page 70 of My Revenant
Jonah’s scowl deepened, and I saw that flame roar inside him—a lit fuse, and he was ready to explode. I grabbed his jaw in my hand before he could feed her more ammo, turning him toward me to steal his lips again in a far deeper kiss. My tongue sought his, found it, claimed it, used it until he went weak in my arms. A bomb successfully defused.
twenty-eight
Jonah - Past
COYOTE VS JACKAL.
There weren’t many people I liked. Until recently there was only one—Becca. And though I never expected it, there were now two. I tolerated everyone else at best. That being said, I fucking hated this bitch.
All night she’d been standing way too close to Dex, offering him cigarettes, lighting them for him, touching his arm, leaning on him. I wasn’t stupid. I knew she was doing it specifically to piss me off. Every time I felt like I was about to explode and fucking tell her to keep her hands to herself, Dex would be on me—his hands, his lips—and I struggled to hold onto the rage.
It wasn’t like he was letting her touch him or seemed to enjoy her company. He’d shrug her off, roll his eyes when she spoke, but he still seemed fucking amused about the whole situation, and that pissed me off too.
I guess she was part of his gang or something, so yeah, maybe he couldn’t just tell her to fuck off. Still, the more she reached for him, the more I wanted to cut her fucking hands off. Maybe she thought because she was part of his group that she had more power than me, but I didn’t fucking care.
I could hardly spare a moment to take in whoever else was in the area. Archer was—I’d seen him with Henrik—and Bryce had shown up not too long ago too.
I didn’t look at any of the others long enough to work out if I knew them or not. But I could feel them looking at me, monitoringme. I was a stranger, an outsider. I wasn’t welcome here with them, that much was obvious, even if no one had the balls to come out and say it. But Dex wanted me here, and that was all that mattered. And apparently that was enough for them not to get involved. I wasn’t sure if they just trusted his judgment or if maybe they were afraid of him. I didn’t care either way.
Most people were cautious of Dex, if not downright terrified. I wasn’t one of them. I knew him better than any of them could. They called him Coyote. It didn’t suit him. Maybe to them he was a wild dog, but to me he was the devil. My devil. My beautiful twisted angel of light. Because that’s all the devil really was—an angel.Fallen,but still an angel. I’d seen the softer side to him, the side that was good, and I wondered if the devil was only ever the devil because he was unloved. Maybe if I loved him, he could be good. Maybe no one had ever given him the chance to be good before.
“JJ.” Becca’s voice sounded from behind me, and I turned to find her looking wary. She clearly didn’t want to be here, but I should have expected my best friend wouldn’t let me face the wolves on my own.
“Bee.” Dex’s head nodded in greeting. Beside him, the black-haired bitch gave her a long, assessing once-over, and my hackles rose, ready to fight her for a whole new reason until her lips pulled into a grin.
“Well, hey there, gorgeous,” she said, her voice smooth as silk rather than the sharp edge she’d used with me. “Bee, was it? I’m Raven.”
I watched as Becca looked Raven up and down, the slight tug on her lips indicating she approved of what she saw. Perfect. Becca could get this bitch away from me and my man.
“Raven was just saying she liked your boots,” I told Becca.
“I was? Oh yeah. I was. Super cute,” Raven agreed quickly, and I hated that I was basically being her wingman now, but it served my purposes.
“Well, Raven has excellent taste,” Becca responded, that faint smile on her lips pulled wider. Fuck, I really hoped I wouldn’t regret this.
“You know what else I have excellent taste in? Beer. Want one?”
Becca’s eyes flicked to me, giving me a once-over to make sure I was okay before she nodded, following Raven over to where her half-drunk six pack was dug into the sand.
“Sneaky rabbit.” Dex’s low whisper traced the curve of my ear with his lips as his arms circled me from behind.
“Don’t know what you’re referring to,” I told him.
“Mmhmm.”
Watching Dex fight was like watching a natural disaster. An earthquake. A hurricane. Something devastating and powerful. Unstoppable.
It was like everything that had built up under that scarily calm facade he always maintained was suddenly unleashed. His violence felt like passion in such a way that I almost felt jealous I wasn’t the one receiving such beautifully strong emotions from him.
He fought as if it were his purpose.
And he fucking loved it.
Like last time, his opponent was bigger than him, but the man was struggling to keep up, and though they both traded blows—fresh blood spraying the sand to be washed away by the rising tide—Dex was maintaining theupper hand.
Every new scrape and split to his skin fueled me with fire, an inferno of vengeance I longed to unleash on the fucker he was up against.
I was both relieved and annoyed it wasn’t Mason fucking Bates again. He was here, though, watching the fights as well. He’d fought someone the Strays referred to as Reaper, and he’d lost. It wasn’t enough, not if he could still stand there, glaring at Dex like they had unfinished business.
