Page 6 of Crush's Fall

Bullet scoffed and stared at her like she’d lost her mind. “He’s a Hell’s Dogs member,” he blurted, as if that just made everything simple, easy-peasy.

“Barely. He was a prospect before yesterday.” She downed her beer to stop herself from saying anything else.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bullet open his mouth to say something, but he didn’t manage to do so.

She was grateful when Dragon slipped onto the stool between her and her brother. “Axle wants you down there.”

“What?” Crush set her empty beer bottle on the bar and looked over at Dragon.

“Axle said to send you down,” he replied. “I didn’t want to leave Axle down there by himself, but he Alpha-voiced me.” Dragon’s brows drew together. “He’s never Alpha-voiced me before.”

“Wh-Why does he want me down there?”

Dragon leaned a little closer and said, “Because Lucifer won’t talk to anyone but you.”

Her tiger purred inside her at the knowledge. She liked that he wanted to talk to her, but she hated it at the same time.

“Why?” Bullet stood and came to stand on Crush’s other side. “Why does this dude have such a hard-on for you?”

She gave a shrug and shifted off the stool. “Guess I’ll go down there,” she mumbled, stomping away from them and down the hall.

Crush’s tiger was prowling, eager to see their mate. She hated to admit she was eager to see him, too, and that disturbed her. Why couldn’t she just hate him the way she would hate any other Hell’s Dogs member?

She jogged down the steps and down the short hall in the basement before she stepped through the open door to the room in which they were holding Lucifer. She didn’t look at him, for fear of what her reaction would be to the sight of him. Instead, she stopped next to Axle and met his gaze. “What’s up?”

“He’ll only speak to you. If you don’t want to talk to him, let me know. I’ll take care of it.”

Crush cleared her throat and put her hands on her hips. She gave a nod. “Okay. I’ll… uh… talk to him.”

“Do you want me to stay in the room or go?”

Crush hiked a brow and smirked. “Is Axle Weber, president and alpha, really asking me if I want to be left alone in a room with a man he doesn’t know?”

Axle shrugged. “You reminded me, recently, that you are a president in your own right, and I need to respect that.”

“True enough.” Crush considered having Axle stay, but she didn’t really want anyone to see how she responded to their prisoner. He made her anxious, and he turned her on. He pissed her off, and she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to keep her head together completely. She didn’t need any witnesses to that. “I’ll be fine.”

Axle gave a nod. Before he left the room, he turned and glared at Lucifer, making it clear he wouldn’t have a problem ending the man if he didn’t act right.

After Axle shut the door behind him, Crush paced the front of the room, preparing herself. It wasn’t often she had to work so hard to keep her head on straight.

“I’m fine with you walking back and forth in front of me for as long as you want to,” Lucifer commented.

Crush gritted her teeth in annoyance. At the sound of his voice, her tiger purred again and paced with anxiety. That wasn’t helping her keep it together. She didn’t want to talk to him. She wanted to untie him,or not, and fuck him. She wanted to claim him, mark him. It wasn’t logical, but rather instinctual. It was animalistic.

If it was truly instinctual, like they were always told, then why would her instincts tell her he was the one for her? A Hell’s Dogs member? A friend of drug-runners, if not one himself? She hated drugs. She despised the people who put them in the hands of children. She would never choose to be with someone like that.

Her tiger was telling her to shut the hell up with that nonsense and take him, claim him, keep him. She felt her breasts swell as his cocky smile flashed in her mind.

“Seriously, your ass looks fucking fantastic in those jeans,” he commented, causing her to stumble a bit.

As he chuckled, she rebalanced and turned to face him. With her arms crossed, she took a breath in through her nose and slowly exhaled. “What’s your real name?”

His gaze traveled down her body and back up, lingering on her hips, then her breasts. A grin slowly spread across his face. “You tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine.”

“You’re not really in a position to make demands,” she replied.

He hiked a brow. “Apparently, I am. It’s why you’re standing in the room right now, looking sexy as hell. Do you ever wear heels? Or do you just stomp on men’s hearts in those boots?”

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