A Kitty in the Lion's Den(30)
“You can wipe that look right the fuck off your face.”
She snapped her eyes to Maverick.
“What?” Her voice was low and weak, but that was who she was, and she was so damn ashamed of it.
“The look that says you’re going to run because you think that will save other people.” He pierced her with his very dark stare. “You left for good, really good fucking, reasons. We found each other because that was what was supposed to happen.” He took her chin between his fingers, but she felt no embarrassment that Trace was witness to all of this. “You never run from me, Kettah, no matter how fucked up things get.” He leaned in and kissed her deep and hard, and when he pulled away she was stunned by the fierceness in his words, in his emotions, and the way he kissed her like he wanted to cement the fact that they would always be together. “You’re mine, Kettah, and you are exactly what I needed in my life. If that means I have to fight for you until there is no one left standing, then so fucking be it.” They stared at each other for several more seconds, but when Trace cleared his throat the spell was broken. They turned back to the polar bear.
“I don’t want you getting involved, because I sure as hell don’t want Candace or the baby hurt. All I need is if you happen to hear anything, maybe even see anything out of the ordinary, to give me a heads-up.”
“Yeah, man.” Trace nodded and looked fierce at that moment. “You know I have your back whenever. You should have come to me sooner though, right when you brought your mate to town.”
“I know, but I was trying to work out a solution on how to fix this shit. It’s going to come to a boiling point, and I’m just going to have to deal with it, because I’m not letting anything get to Kettah.” She placed her other hand on top of their entwined ones and curled her fingers into his flesh. At this moment, she could see herself falling head over heels in love with this male and never looking back.
Chapter Twelve
They ended up staying at the bar for another twenty minutes.. Although it had been six years since Maverick had dealt with Viktor or anyone from that organization, there were some things that were ingrained in a person’s head, things that he had seen, done, and would never forget. When he first moved to Sweet Water and befriended Trace, he had known right away that the male could be trusted, but that didn’t mean he could divulge the nastiness of how he had lived his life. Maverick relied on his instincts and used those to determine if the men he had been hired to kill were really as evil as they were said to be. He would never have taken a life unless he knew with certainty that the world would be better off without them. Although the people Viktor associated with couldn’t be called anything but bastards, sometimes the asshole just liked to see someone suffer. That was what had happened the night Maverick left.
“Why did you leave?” The ride thus far had been silent, and maybe he had been projecting his thoughts a little too hard since she asked him the one thing he had just been thinking of.
He also knew she wasn’t talking about the bar they had just left. There was no point in lying to her or sugarcoating anything. She needed to hear it straight up. Maverick took a deep breath and flexed his hands on the steering wheel.
“You already know what my profession was.” He hoped like hell he didn’t scare the shit out of her further. “I have killed a lot of fucking people, but you already know that. But I don’t feel any sympathy for those men’s lives I took.” He glanced over at her and saw her full attention was on him. “I may be cold and brutal, but the things they did…” He squeezed the steering wheel so hard he felt the leather dig into his palms. He wasn’t about to tell her the things he had seen those men do. “I should have killed your father, Kettah, should have shot him in the back of the head like I did so many of the men I killed in the past.”
“Why didn’t you then?” There was no sadness or accusation from her. There was that glow of worry that came from her, some for him, and some of the other innocent lives that she thought she had inadvertently put in danger.
“I was a different male six years ago, believe it or not. I enjoyed what I did, was fucking good at it. I liked killing those males, and I liked when their blood sprayed across my chest as they took their last breath.” The shift in the air grew cold, and an icy shot came from her. He glanced at her and saw the horror in her eyes. “I’m not telling you these things to frighten you, baby, but you do need to know that I loved what I did. A lot of people wanted me for my skills, and I was more than happy to oblige them. That also means that I’m going to enjoy killing your father, Kettah. I’m going to really fucking enjoy it.” They drove for another five minutes in silence. He felt like a bastard for being so coarse, but she needed to know.