Legions (Georgia Smoke #7)

Three

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The agony in her eyes felt as if she was ripping open my chest.

Thatcher

There was a silent warning in Sebastian’s eyes when I briefly glanced at him before reaching Capri. The devastation on her face was going to result in a death. I just didn’t know whose yet.

“You need to tell me something, brother?” I asked him, a lethal warning laced in my tone. He recognized it but didn’t flinch like most men would.

“This is a conversation for you and Capri,” he said gravely.

My eyes were locked on her. Studying her closely. The demon inside me slowly morphing into a legion. This wasn’t okay. Someone had hurt her, and I didn’t allow that. Who was foolish enough to make that error? Was it the new exercise trainer?

She reached up and wiped at the tear rolling down her cheek. My skin felt tight as if it couldn’t contain the rage ready to burst free.

“Who, little doll?” My voice was closer to that of a monster than a man, but it didn’t frighten her.

Those eyes that made me believe I may have a soul stared up at me. I could hear the blood swooshing in my veins as it simmered. My sanity was snapping.

“Capri, you’ve got to say something before he goes on a killing spree,” Sebastian told her.

She blinked her eyes, shifting to him and then back to me. The pink tip of her tongue darted out, wetting the lips I worshiped like many did a god. She was my higher power.

“I,” her voice soft and unsure. I was wrong. Someone wouldn’t die. There would be several.

I inhaled sharply through my nose, taking a step closer to her and reaching out to touch her face. She was afraid to tell me. I could see it there now. Who was she protecting?

“Tell me,” I urged.

She swallowed hard, and I ran my hand to her neck to feel it move.

“We need to talk about some things you’ve done. For me. Things,” she paused as pain sliced through her expression. “Things you did because of me.”

This was about me. What did she know? Better yet, who had told her?

“Who?” I bit out through clenched teeth.

“That’s not,” my brother started to say, and I swung my gaze to his, silencing him.

“You can go,” I told him.

He looked back at Capri with clear concern, but I knew it wasn’t for her. He feared my wrath for whoever had spoken to her. Told her things she should never hear.

“The who isn’t something I am going to tell you, Thatcher,” her voice sounded stronger than before. The slant toward fierce almost made me smile. If she wasn’t protecting someone, I would have. I loved it when my kitten pretended to be a tiger.

I stared down at her, my hand tightening around her neck, not to hurt her but so that I could feel her pulse under my palm. The way it quickened. It’s existence, my source of life.

“Thatcher,” she said my name as if a plea, and her small hand touched the one I had on her throat.

“I’m listening, little doll.”

“Jesus, Thatcher, you don’t want to hurt her. Stop,” Sebastian said behind me.

A dark chuckle came from deep in my chest, but I didn’t look at him. I tilted my head as I held Capri’s gaze.

“He isn’t hurting me,” Capri told him but kept her eyes on me. She knew that I wasn’t in a state of mind that I could handle her looking at anyone else. Even my brother. “It’s fine. You can go.”

The sour scent that met my nose registered in my thoughts, and I turned my head to look for the source. Vomit was inches away behind Capri. My attention snapped back to her. I needed answers now.

“You’re sick?”

She shook her head barely. “No, but the things you did.” She stopped, and her eyes turned a darker shade of gray.

“What things?” I asked this time instead of who had told her. I’d find that out on my own. I just needed to know what it was that had her so upset she was throwing up.

“Les,” she said his name on a whisper. Her gaze watched my face as if it would give her the answers. Ah, my little doll, you should know me better than that by now . My reactions were never displayed on my face.

“Touched you,” I told her. “No one is allowed to touch you.”

She closed her eyes a moment and took a deep breath. “Thatcher,” she said my name as they opened back up. “I don’t even remember him touching me. If he did, it was an accident. Or because he was helping me with a horse. I don’t know. But his finger,” she said the last word and winced. “That’s not okay. I have to live with that. Me. That is my fault.”

The agony in her eyes felt as if she was ripping open my chest.

“Nothing I do is your fault,” I told her, sliding my hand down to her collarbone and then her arm. “It was one finger. Not his hand.” It would have been if King hadn’t shown up and snapped me out of it. I’d been set on taking every finger slowly before I took his hand off at the wrist.

“That’s not okay,” she said, raising her voice. “Can’t you see how that is not okay? It is… it’s messed up.”

Perhaps, but so was I.

“Christopher,” she said his name, and her eyes glistened with tears.

It felt as if ants covered every inch of my body. “Don’t cry over another man,” the growl tore from me, and my grip on her arm was too tight. But I couldn’t make myself release her.

“I’m not,” she whispered. “I’m crying because of what you did to him. Again, because of me. I have to live with that, Thatcher. The weight of it makes it hard for me to take a deep breath.”

With my hold on her arm, I shook her. Not too hard. Just enough to get it through to her that my sins weren’t hers. “NO,” I snarled the word. “My actions are not yours to carry.”

She let out a small sob, and I released her arm, afraid I was hurting her. Panic at the thought I’d held her too tightly edged into my current rage, and I took her wrist to hold her arm out for my inspection.

“You didn’t hurt me,” her tone was a mix of frustration and sorrow.

There was a red mark where my hand had been. The roaring in my head made it hard for me to focus on anything else.

“What did you do to JB?” she asked me.

My eyes snapped back to her face. Hearing her say his name pushed me over an edge I had been teetering on. The lips I worshiped were too holy to speak a name so unworthy. I turned and began to stalk away toward the stables. I’d find my answers that she wouldn’t give. They would all talk until I knew whose tongue would be removed with my blade.

“Thatcher!” she called my name, but I didn’t stop. My little doll had been damaged by my deeds—things she should have never known. I wasn’t sure how to fix her, but I would be able to think clearly once the guilty had paid.

“Thatcher! Where are you going?” she cried out behind me.

“To seek my vengeance,” I said in a low voice that she couldn’t hear. One she wouldn’t recognize.

“KING! HELP!” Her shout caused me to pause. My little doll asking another man for help wasn’t what I needed right now, not if I was going to keep from burning down the stables and everyone in them.

I turned my head to see King walking toward me. His brows were drawn together, and his eyes were locked on me. Storm was behind him, flanking his left, and Wells was on his right, which made me grin. I ran a thumb over my bottom lip and chuckled. Was this the Calvary ?

“Thatcher,” King said my name as if he were talking to an enraged pit bull he needed to calm down. Another chuckle vibrated from my chest.

“Go inside, Capri,” my brother’s voice was behind me.

I wanted to tell them it would take more than the three of them—Wells didn’t count—but I held my tongue.

“No, I can handle it. I just needed someone to stop him. I have it, y’all go,” Capri’s firm command only tugged the corners of my lips higher. My sweet angel barking out orders to a bunch of trained killers.

“I just need a name, baby. Just a name,” I told her as I turned back around to see her gaining on me with her short legs making long, purposeful strides. Damn, that was cute.

“So that you can do what, Thatcher? Slice out their tongue,” she snapped. “How I know is not important.”

Impressed by her ability to guess my next action, admiration for the tiny woman I worshipped hummed through me, calming me momentarily.

“What does she know?” King asked behind me.

“Les, Christopher, and that something happened with JB,” Sebastian told him.

That reminder ignited whatever Capri’s actions had soothed.

“Fuck,” King swore.

“Let’s go to the house,” Capri told me, trying to keep my attention.

I shook my head once. “You can tell me who, or I can go inside and force the answer out of everyone I come in contact with until I know.”

She stopped in front of me, placing her hands on her hips. “NO. You won’t. I can’t handle anymore,” Her words sounded like a cry, even though her eyes were dry.

Whoever had told her had broken her in a way that I couldn’t forgive. They had to die. It was the only way to calm the demon inside me. Just like Beauden Redd’s life had been over the moment he touched her.

I saw her arm move and knew she was reaching for me. I couldn’t have her touch me right now. Not when I was no longer in complete control. Jerking away, I started for the stable doors. Sebastian wasn’t going to stop me, and he and I both knew he couldn’t.

My ears tuned to every move, I pulled the gun from my holster and spun around, pointing it at King’s head before he was close enough to grab me.

I heard Capri’s horrified gasp, but I didn’t take my eyes off King.

King’s body stilled as he watched me. We stood there like that as I waited for another one to make a move. The slide of a pistol as it left its holster made me want to curse. The fucker needed to let this go. With a quick movement giving nothing away, I swung my gun around to shoot inches away from the gun my brother had pointed at me. He flinched, but that was it. I’d wanted him to drop the damn thing.

Capri’s scream didn’t help matters. It made my blood roar too loud in my ears. Maybe that was the reason I was too slow, off my focus, so that King could grab my arm and pull my gun down as Storm wrapped his arms around my chest. Sebastian moved then, putting away his gun and coming for me.

A feral roar tore from my chest as I watched Capri running away from me.