Bear the Burn(32)

“She’ll kill you. I can’t let her go.”

“I know.” Quinn lifted the handgun she’d picked up off the floor and aimed it at Shayna’s face. “But I can’t let you bear the consequences of a kill that is mine to take.”

The gun rattled and shook in her trembling grip. His mate was brave, but she wasn’t a killer. Not like he was. Pressing his forearm against Shayna’s throat, Dade reached back and put his hand over top of the gun. “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.”

Tears streamed down Quinn’s face as she glared at Shayna’s blazing silver eyes. “I can see the bear in you. You don’t deserve her. You have no honor. All you’ve done is take without any thought to how your actions affect other people—other shifters. You tried to kill me, and you don’t even know me.”

“Quinn, you don’t want to do this,” Dade pleaded. “She’ll haunt you.”

“Like all of your marks do? Like the innocent targets she helped press you into? More pain because of her.”

Dade shook his head slowly and pushed the gun down toward the ground. A sob tore from Quinn as her shoulders sagged. She released the weapon into his grasp and sank to her knees.

A soft, humorless laugh came from Shayna. She spat blood onto the floor and brought her churning mercury eyes to his. “She’s already turned you soft.”

Dade gave her an empty smile. “You’re going to wish I’d killed you quickly, Shayna.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

Dade snatched his cell phone from the dresser beside them and dialed out.

“It means, trust me when I say you would’ve rather me exacted a swift vengeance than thrown you to the wolves.”

“Hello?” a sleep-filled voice asked into the phone after the first ring.

“Mason?”

“What’s happened?”

“Shayna’s at my house. Can you send Damon’s trackers?”

A beat of silence, then, “Give me ten minutes.”

The line went dead, and for the first time ever, Dade saw fear slash through Shayna’s eyes.

“Change, Change, Change,” Shayna chanted, closing her eyes.

“It’s the fear. Do you smell it?” Dade asked, cocking his head as he glared. “You paid someone to put a submissive bear inside of you. Bad buy, Shayna. My animal is meaner and more dominant, thanks to everything you and Krueger put me and my crew through. You won’t be able to Change around me. Not unless I allow it.”

“Please, Dade. Just let me go.” Shayna’s voice trembled like a leaf in the wind.

“Too late now,” Quinn said from behind him, her voice ringing with hollowness. “The wolves are coming for you.”





Chapter Ten




Dade stood with his back to her on the front porch as the black SUV drove away. Jeans hung low around his hips as the early morning light glinted off the shiny pink scars on his bare shoulders. His arms were crossed, muscles tensed. He looked like a statue against the coming sunrise.

Quinn’s heart ached for him.

Shayna had screamed all kinds of vitriol as he handed her over to a trio of rangy men whose eyes were too bright to be entirely human. She’d taunted him with how IESA had murdered his “worthless father” and how Dade would think of her every time he looked at his “hideous scars” in the mirror. She’d cursed, spat, and told him the only regret she had was not pulling the trigger on Quinn faster so that his soul would be mutilated forever.

Quinn had taken vengeance away from him, and after hearing how much pain that woman had put him through, she honestly didn’t know if she’d done the right thing. A man like Dade needed the closure.

A soft apology slipped past her lips. “I didn’t want another ghost for you.”

His shoulders lifted slightly in a sigh, and he turned his face so she could see his profile. From here, the gold in his eyes was unmistakable. “I know.”

Heartbreak filled her chest cavity as she padded across the cold wooden porch planks and slid her hands around his stomach. His abs flexed with every breath under her touch. She rested her cheek against his spine and closed her eyes.

“That gunshot scared me bad, Dade. I thought you were hurt. It’s awful to wake up after a night like we had and think everything is over. Think the man you love is gone.” She’d already been through that once before, and it had nearly destroyed her. “I know what I can and can’t handle, and I can’t lose you.”

Dade stroked his fingers across her arm and sighed. “You won’t.” He turned and wrapped her up in a hug that said he’d been shaken up, too. “I promise everything will be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”