Darling Wildfire (Red Rabbit #2)

6

THERON

“What is this?”

I came out of Kaelin’s study holding a copy of an email.

She looked up from where she was making dinner. Graham wasn’t at the house yet and it was just the two of us.

She raised her eyebrows. “Snooping again?”

“How long have you been getting death threats?”

I demanded.

She had the nerve to wave her hand in the air like it was no big deal and went back to chopping up a potato.

“I get them occasionally,”

she said vaguely.

“Did this start before or after the Warren?”

She looked up at my tone and frowned as she studied the way I was clutching the paper.

“Since before—”

“When were you going to tell me?”

I demanded angrily.

I pulled out my phone and opened my messages.

She shrugged. “I didn’t think it was a big deal. Nothing has ever happened. What are you doing?”

“I’m texting Viktor,” I said.

I’d put the Volkov Brothers—Viktor and Konstantine—on Kaelin’s security detail during the Red Rabbit job and hadn’t taken them off since. The paranoid side of me wanted her watched at all times so something like Cooper couldn’t happen to her again. Especially now that I’d put things in motion to end a decade long revenge plot, I didn’t know what dangers lay ahead—I just knew they would come and I wanted to be as prepared as possible.

“Why are Viktor and Kon still around?”

Kaelin asked. “I thought they were only staying with me while you took down Cooper?”

I walked over and slammed the paper down on the counter, pushing it towards her.

“Because of things like this,”

I growled. “Death threats might not start as a big deal, but they sure as hell can turn into one.”

“Yeah because—”

She stabbed the knife at the paper. “‘I’m going to slash your tires you dumb bitch’—is really concerning.”

She leaned her hip against the counter and casually pointed the knife tip at me, giving me a look like I was overreacting which just pissed me off more.

“I’ve traced some of the emails—they’re just from unhappy suburban housewives who don’t have anything to do but browse the internet looking for arguments.”

I ran a hand over my face and shook my head. It was harmless housewives now, but it could be Vetticus later.

“How are you so nonchalant about this after everything that’s happened?”

I saw the confidence falter briefly. I knew the shadows lingered just beneath the surface.

“I just don’t want to think about it, okay?”

Kaelin snapped. “If I think about it too hard or too often, it makes it hard to function.”

She went back to chopping, but she was glaring at the vegetables now, the knife coming down harder than necessary. Sometimes it was easy to overlook the trauma she’d gone through because she was so damn stoic and stubborn. She hid her distress almost too well. As soon as we’d come back from the Red Rabbit op, I’d pulled her from her ridiculous self-defense classes she’d been taking and put her through a rigorous, although condensed, military training. She’d hated every second, but it’d made Graham and I feel better. We were still making her take a class at the office once a week and after the initial hell week we’d forced her through; she was begrudgingly starting to enjoy the tactical practice, not to mention she excelled at the gun range. So much so, she asked to go several times a week.

“Okay, then I’ll take care of it,”

I said, running a hand over my face. “I need you protected.”

“You’ve said that,”

she interrupted. “What does that even fucking mean?”

“It means I need to know every possible place a threat can come from.”

“That’s not an answer—”

she sighed. “I don’t know what you want, Theron,”

she said. “You can’t keep me locked up in this house, under guard, like I’m one of your possessions instead of a human being.”

I walked over and trapped her against the counter bringing the knife to rest between us.

“What I want—is you.”

She shivered at the darkness in my tone, her pupils dilated, filling her vibrant green eyes with black. “I don’t want anyone to take you from me, but I can’t be prepared if you don’t communicate.”

I hadn’t factored her into the plans that were in motion because it caught me completely by surprise when I found her in the Warren. All I knew was I had to make her mine and fuck everything else. But now ‘everything else’ was here, and I hated thinking about something happening to her again. Except the truly terrifying part was I couldn’t guarantee her safety. Everyone around me had already signed up for the risk we were putting ourselves in, knowing that shit was about to hit the fan in a spectacular way.

“It goes both ways,”

she said. “I hardly know anything about your life, but something is going on—I can feel it.”

“I need you to trust me.”

“And I need you to trust me,”

she insisted.

“I can’t trust someone who ‘doesn’t want to think about it,’”

I said. “In my world, negligence gets you killed.”

I pushed closer to her so the blade sat against my neck and her breathing picked up.

“And I’m in your world now? Is that it?”

She breathed.

I hadn’t expected to have someone I cared about in my life during this time. Nyx and Atlas were different—they’d gone through hell with me and suffered at Vetticus’ hand just as much as I had—so while I cared for them, they wanted this as badly as I did and were willing to see it all come down around us. I knew Nyx and Atlas wanted me to tell her everything, but there were so many moving pieces—and part of me didn’t want to show her the man I really was because I didn’t know what would be left after this was over. But none of that could tame the possessive beast inside me—maybe I should let her go, or give her the choice, but when it came to the people who belonged to me, I’d never been rational.

“You’re mine, baby girl,”

I growled. I skimmed my knuckles across her jaw. “Or did you forget?”

“You won’t let me,”

she said, her eyes fluttering at my touch.

“That’s right,”

I murmured.

Her eyes dropped to my lips, and this time I couldn’t hide the smirk as I watched her defiance bleed into desire. I pressed even closer, bringing my lips down near hers. I felt the sting as the knife bit into my skin.

“Would you be able to kill a man like this?”

I asked softly.

A small trickle of blood ran down my neck. I watched her eyes drop and her lips part in a gasp when she noticed she’d cut me. She went to pull her hand away, but I placed my hand over hers on the hilt and held the blade where it was.

“It’s different from shooting someone,”

I murmured.

I lifted my chin and made her push it further into my skin.

“Theron,”

she hissed, her eyes going from the blood to my eyes and back again. I could see the conflict happening—she didn’t know if she should be afraid or turned on.

I liked it when she was both.

“It’s more intimate this way,”

I continued. “You feel everything—the resistance at the first contact with the skin before it breaks. The scrape across every muscle—the jarring sensation of hitting a bone—It takes more force than you’d think.”

I dipped my head and brushed my lips against hers—not quite a kiss.

“You have to mean it,”

I whispered. “You have to really want to kill someone.”

I kissed her then, softly at first and then my other hand went to the back of her neck and pulled her closer, my tongue caressing hers. I groaned into her mouth as the knife slid down my neck, cutting me more and she hissed against my lips in protest.

I let her move the knife then, following her hand and helping her guide it behind us to the counter where we let it drop. Then her hands were around my neck and the kiss grew heated. I lifted her up and set her on the counter, stepping between her legs. I ran my hands up her thighs, taking the shirt with me until it bunched around her hips.

We came apart breathless and then a dark look settled over Kaelin’s features that sent a thrill racing through me. She ran her thumb through the blood, smearing it, then leaned forward and slowly licked the entire length of the cut she’d made. My breath caught, and I groaned—almost instantly getting hard.

“Kaelin,”

I growled, but it was a breathless sound—half warning, half prayer.

My fingers dug into her thighs as her tongue skated across my skin. I yanked her back by her hair and she looked up at me with the most devilish smirk I’d ever seen on her lips smeared red with my blood. It was one of the hottest things I’d ever seen in my life.

I pulled her mouth to mine, and the kiss was hungry as our hands grabbed at clothing. I tore her shirt off, tossing it down before she pulled mine off and ran her fingers down my chest, humming in pleasure as her eyes took me in.

I let her eyes travel up my body and when they settled on mine, her breath caught at whatever she saw there. My hand caressed her breast, teasing her nipple and she arched towards me. I dipped my head and took her other nipple in my mouth, sucking on it before dragging it through my teeth. The moan she made went straight to my cock. I straightened and met her eyes again as I traced my fingertips up her chest and then closed my hand around her neck. Her eyes flashed and her breath caught as I stepped closer to her, bringing my lips right over hers. I tightened my grip and the way she looked up at me—with a lustful darkness mixed with pure trust, made those feelings surface again. The ones I wanted to put words to but couldn’t.

I pushed her back to lie on the counter and dragged her legs over my shoulders before I trailed kisses down her inner thigh, watching her face while I did. I kissed everywhere but her clit until she was writhing under me and looked down with a frustrated pout on her pretty blood stained lips. I chuckled against her pussy and ran my thumbs up her center before parting her and licking her clit in slow teasing strokes. She threw her head back and her legs fell open giving me more access.

“You taste amazing, darlin’,”

I murmured before picking up the pace. I could eat her pussy forever—she’d tap out before I ever would.

I heard the alarm deactivate as I slid two fingers inside her. She was soaking wet and gasped my name as I rubbed the spot that drove her crazy. Her legs shook and then she was coming, crying out and arching her back as she let herself go. She pushed her hips against my mouth and I didn’t let up until I felt her slowly come back down.

“Looks like I got home just in time,”

Graham smirked. “Early dinner?”

I looked up to see him leaning against the entrance to the kitchen.

“More like dessert,” I said.

I kissed Kaelin’s inner thigh as she caught her breath. She craned her head to see Graham, and a sated smile appeared on her face. She held out her hand to him.

“Fuck—I don’t know how you guys expect me to stay clothed when you show up to the house in tactical gear.”

Graham chuckled and walked over to where her head rested near the edge of the counter. He was still in all black, with his leather shoulder gun holsters on. He planted both hands on either side of her head and leaned over her.

“Well, that’s just it baby girl—we don’t.”

He dipped his head and kissed her. When he pulled away, he raised his eyebrows.

“Why do you taste like blood?” He asked.

“Oh, T was teaching me how to hold a knife,”

she said dryly.

He looked over at me, and I saw his eyes dip to my neck, and everything clicked.

He chuckled. “I see.”

He kissed her again, his hand sliding down to tease her nipple. She arched into his hand. He straightened and ran his thumb over her lips.

“Are you going to join?”

Kaelin asked.

“I have to shower first, beautiful,” he said.

He kissed her on the forehead and disappeared into the bedroom.

Kaelin sat up and I lifted her into my arms, carrying her over to the couch. I set her down and spun her, bending her over the back. I did quick work on my jeans and soon my cock was pressed against her pussy. I didn’t hesitate but slammed inside her making us both groan in pleasure. I grabbed the couch and set a relentless pace that left us both panting. I slid my hand around to her clit and slowed down just enough to bring her to the edge then backed off. I did that a few times until she was whimpering and begging.

“Fuck—please, please—oh god—”

She tightened around my cock and I picked up the pace again, rubbing her clit in quick strokes until she came loudly, pushing back against me as she let the pleasure sweep her away. I pulled out of her.

“Kneel,”

I demanded gruffly.

She sank to her knees before me and looked up through her lashes before taking my cock deep into her mouth. I grabbed her hair and pushed her further, making her eyes water. I set the pace, fucking her mouth until she had tears streaming down her cheeks. I pushed her down and held her on my cock, making her gag. When I pulled her back, drool ran from her lips and I ran my thumb through her tears.

“Beautiful and mine,”

I murmured darkly. “Say it.”

“I-I’m yours,”

she gasped, looking at me with an intensity that had me sinking into her throat again. I groaned when she swallowed around my cock. I pumped into her throat a few more times before my release blazed through me and I held her head down so I came deep in her throat. I released her and she swallowed around her gasps of air.

“Such a good girl,”

I growled.

She was still catching her breath, but she smiled a soft smile at me, a pleased look on her face. I pulled her up into my arms and sealed my lips over hers, kissing her gently. I brushed my knuckles over her cheek.

“I mean it,”

I said. “You’re mine.”

“And you are mine,”

she said, putting her hand on my cheek.

Her eyes searched mine for the feeling I saw reflected in hers.

Sometimes I wished I could know what she saw when she looked at me like that.

The touch sent heat rushing through my body, settling in the vicinity of my heart. The fierce urge to protect her bubbled up, hot and violent, but there was something else too—something that went beyond just the physical attraction and possessive hold I had on her. It was a feeling that made words I hadn’t spoken in decades linger on my tongue.

I couldn’t go there though. Not when everything I was about to do was going to cast my world into chaos. Everything was coming to a head in a way that made a rush of adrenaline take my breath away.

I was so close—to revenge, to getting back what I lost—to finally having peace through the retribution I, and everyone involved, deserved.

I pulled Kaelin to me in a fierce kiss that said all the words I couldn’t voice, hoping in some way she’d understand, while knowing she deserved more.

The blaring of the kitchen timer broke us apart.

“Go take care of Graham,”

I said, giving her ass one more squeeze for good measure before moving towards the kitchen to finish dinner. I watched her head towards the bedroom, then down at the bloody knife in front of me on the counter.

I’d bleed for her, that was for certain.

But the one thing I couldn’t do felt much more dangerous than sliding a knife across my skin.