Chapter 1
Addalynn
“Get back here, Addalynn! Stop running!” Seriously?! Why the hell would the man chasing you think that telling you to stop running would actually work? Does he not remember pulling that damn knife out? Does he think I don’t remember the fact that he threatened to slit my throat over a ten thousand dollar debt that’s not even mine?!
“Fuck you!” This is so not how I saw my night going! All I wanted was to go out and have a few drinks, but, thanks to my idiot brother, I have one of the thugs he hangs out with chasing me down over a debt my brother owes!
“What the hell are you doing?! Get her before she gets away!” Shit…and he apparently brought friends…great. I swear, next time I see my brother, I’m going to knee him so hard in the balls that he’ll be sneezing out testicles for a month!
I’ve been ducking and dodging through alleys for the last fifteen minutes and, I’ll admit, I’m getting tired…really tired. I whip around the corner and head down yet another alley, but that’s when I see it…a tattoo shop. I don’t even think as I run toward it, not even checking the street for cars before tearing across the street and bursting through the doors like a five foot three category five hurricane.
“Can I help you? Do you have an appointment?” The woman at the counter, the very tall and stunning woman, asks with a tone that’s equal parts irritation and curiosity.
“I…no…I’m just…I’m being…shit…” I’m panting, sweating and have no doubt I look like absolute hell right now, but it doesn’t matter…none of it does…because they’re crossing the street and Luke is looking right at me…and he is not happy!
“Were they chasing you?” Her tone now has an edge to it, something that almost makes her sound dangerous. I manage to nod my head as I stumble back until my shoulder hits the high counter she’s standing behind.
“Come with me.” She reaches over the counter, grabs my arm and guides me around the counter and through a doorway that leads to a room with four chairs set up and rollaway toolboxes covered in bottles of ink, paper towels and things I wouldn’t even be able to guess the use of.
“Damn it, Lex, the hell is this?” The sudden intrusion of the unexpected, deep, gravely voice has me whipping around so fast that I lose my balance, but the woman, Lex, steadies me with the hand still holding my arm.
“She’s being chased. I saw three men, big bastards too.” The guy is tall, absurdly so, has dark blonde hair that’s longer and braided, deep blue eyes, a sharp jaw lined in stubble, insanely muscular body and full sleeve tattoos. The guy looks like a damn modern day viking! The biggest thing I notice though is the way he goes from looking at me like an inconvenience he can’t be bothered with, to looking at me like something he needs to defend.
“Take her into the office and lock the door. I’ll deal with them.” I open my mouth, wanting to warn him about Luke’s knife, about the fact that I’m pretty sure the bulge in the back of his jeans is a gun, but nothing comes out. Lex keeps her firm hold on my arm as she leads me further into the back then through a steel door that she closes and locks the second we’re on the other side.
“But…he…he has a knife and…I think he has a gun! Luke’s a fucking psycho! He might hurt him!” At first, I’m pretty sure she thinks I was worried about her friend hurting the guys that were chasing me, but then the meaning of what I’m saying seems to register. She slips her phone out of her pocket and types something on her screen before shoving it back into her pocket.
“Well, if he doesn’t want to meet the devil tonight, he’s going to walk back out that door and disappear before our family makes him disappear permanently.” Maybe her words should worry me, but I find them oddly comforting…well…her words and the lack of gunshots.
I’ve been watching the clock on the wall since Lex dragged me into this room and fifteen minutes have passed. Lex seems unbothered and has been looking at her phone for the last ten minutes.
Just as I feel the adrenaline finally fading, I hear heavy footsteps on the concrete floor outside the door followed by three heavy knocks and two softer ones. Lex opens the door and there the man is…the one who chased the demons away.
“They’re gone, but I doubt they’ll stay gone. The hell are you doing getting caught up with people like them? He says you owe them a shit load of money?” I can’t read this guy. His voice carries a strange tone that I can’t quite figure out. Is he angry? Annoyed? Bored?
“I don’t owe that prick a damn thing. My idiot brother owes him money, but I have nothing to do with it. Hell, I haven’t seen my brother in almost five months!” Even with the bite to my tone and the irritation that’s rising at the mere suggestion that someone like me would ever be stupid enough to get involved with someone like Luke and his band of merry morons…I still find my eyes scanning the giant beast in front of me, looking for any sign that he might not have come out of his encounter completely unharmed…there’s not so much as a smudge of dirt on him.
“Do you even know who you were running from, sweetheart?” The nickname that might’ve seemed sweet from anyone else lands like a slap to the face with his cold, flat tone.
“Unfortunately, yeah, I do. Look, I’m really sorry I just barged in here the way I did. I should check if the coast is clear so I can get out of your hair.” I really don’t want to go back out there, not when this almost hostile looking beast makes me feel far safer than I’ve felt in the last five years, but I also don’t want to overstay my welcome…not that I feel I was exactly welcome here to begin with.
“Wait, he’s probably still lurking around and a few of our guys are on their way, so just hang out a bit, yeah? Oh! Do you have any ink?!” Lex is…not what I was expecting. Looking at her, I honestly expected her to be some stone-cold hard ass, but she’s strangely bubbly for a blonde haired amazonian woman.
“Yeah, two. I had another one I wanted to get a while back, but…life kind of got in the way.” I give her a strained smile while she flashes me a sympathetic one.
“Could I see what you’ve got? And you should let me see the one you were wanting to get. You can tell a lot about a person by the art they choose to permanently decorate their flesh with.” Well, I guess it’s a good thing that I have a sports bra on under this shirt!
I pull my shirt over my head and hear her gasp, though I don’t know if it’s from the full back piece of tattered angel wings with a black sword running down my spine between them, or if it’s from the scars that the design was made to cover. Sure, the shading hides them a little, but the raised flesh is pretty damn hard to miss when you stand as close as she is right now.
“Holy…wow…that piece is amazing! The shading…the line work…wow. Where’s your other one?” I know my sports bra covers all of it when the front is zipped all the way closed like it is and that’s the side facing the giant man. I turn toward Lex, giving the beast a view of my back and I don’t miss the air hissing through his teeth…not a reaction to the artwork I’m sure.
I unzip my bra and keep my breasts covered while lifting them just enough for her to see the words that run beneath my breasts…We mortals are but shadows and dust…and over my sternum is a very detailed lotus.
“I have a feeling this means more than just pretty words and a pretty flower.” She’s smart, more so than the man who inked it on me was, that’s for sure.
“Yeah, it does.” I zip up my bra then grab my shirt, but drop it back on the desk when my phone starts ringing in my pocket. I pull the offensive device out and glare at the name on the screen…Justin…my idiot brother. I answer the call, but place it on speaker since I already know he’ll end up yelling.
“What the hell did you do, Addy?!”
“Excuse the hell out of you?”
“Luke just called me and he’s fucking fuming! He threatened to hunt my ass down! What the hell did you do?!”
“You want to tell me about the money you owe Luke and his cronies? Or, better yet, want to tell me why Luke and his band of merry morons literally chased me through half the fucking town after Luke threatened to slit my fucking throat to send you a message? God, and you have the nerve to ask me what I did?! What the fuck did you do, Justin?!”
“Shit…he wasn’t supposed to threaten you, Addy, I swear he wasn’t…”
“Wait…you knew he was going to come for me? Are you fucking serious right now?!”
“Look…I fucked up and I needed to buy myself some time to come up with the money…”
“You sold me out to your fucking guy to buy yourself some time…”
“Addy…it’s not like that! He promised he wouldn’t hurt you, I swear I…”
“No, don’t you fucking dare try to excuse your actions now. You traded me for time to figure out how to fix your own fucking mess. We’re fucking done, Justin. If I ever see you again, I’ll put your ass in the ground myself and I’ll bury you with our piece of shit sperm donor. Don’t call me, don’t text me. The second I hang up, you’re already fucking dead to me.” I end the call before he can say another word then power off the damn thing before he can have a chance to try calling again.
“Who was that?” I’m a little surprised that it’s the beast asking, but that deep voice is oddly soothing right now.
“That was my last living relative…my brother.” My eyes are dry, I don’t cry…haven’t in nearly eight years…but the grief is there. He may still be breathing, but I’m mourning the loss no less.
“The guys are here. Stay with her and I’ll have them check to make sure none of those pricks are still lurking around.” I look up and see Lex staring at her phone as she makes her way to the door and slips out without waiting for a response.
“Your name’s Addy?” I look up and see his blue eyes watching me closely. I grab my shirt and slip it back on, but I catch his eyes dropping down, likely clocking the scars on my stomach, though there are less than there are on my back.
“Addalynn, but I prefer Addy or Lynn.” He pushes off the wall, taking one step forward, cutting the distance between us in half, as he extends his large hand to me. Shaking hands with a beast seems strange, but I place my much smaller hand in his anyway and watch how the whole appendage vanishes when his fingers curl around it.
“My name’s Blaze. If your brother told them where to find you, you can’t go home, not right now. You can come with us and we’ll set you up with a room at the clubhouse until we can figure out how much of a threat that thug is going to be. You can just borrow some clothes from Lex for now.” I have a feeling it’s not a question…not an offer either. Oh god…what have I gotten myself into?
