The Rise (The Kings and Gods #3)

Chapter 20

Lana

My insides feel like they’ve been ripped out of me but in a good way. I saw his piercings were changed before I did what I did last night, but I took the chance anyway.

I roll over and slam into Hunter. I pry my eyes open and look over at him sleeping peacefully, and I smile to myself. I’m glad he finally fell asleep last night. I start to sit up when his arm wraps around me and drags me back against him.

“Don’t leave yet,” he murmurs in a husky tone. I lay back down and let him pull me against him, snuggling closer. “Don’t keep pressing your ass against my cock like that either.” I laugh a little as I get comfortable.

“How do you feel?”

“Like I was drugged,” he mumbles. “About last night-” he begins, but I cut him off.

“No. You warned me. Hoax warned me.”

“Doesn’t mean I should have done it,” he argues.

“I’m still here, Hunter.”

“Yeah, you are, and it makes me wonder why.”

“Because I want to be here with you. I want all of you, Hunter. Even the bad,” I tell him. His face nuzzles into the back of my hair as he inhales.

“I didn’t want you to see that part, but there’s no way around it.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me the truth?”

“I didn’t want you to worry. I said no one could touch you here, and I meant it. They may have figured out where we are, but that doesn’t mean they’re getting in,” he tells me. A shiver runs down my spine, even thinking about them being that close, and Hunter feels it. He pulls me in closer and holds me tighter.

“Do you have a plan?” I ask him.

“Yeah, we do. I’m going to have to leave for a few days, but I’m going to have someone here at all times,” he says.

“Why can’t they go and you stay?” He chuckles behind me.

“You’d like that, huh? Having me all to yourself,” he says.

“You can protect me, Hunter.”

“So can they. They have their orders,” he adds.

“It’s not the same, and you know it.”

“The only thing you need to worry about is how I’m going to punish you for last night.” Shit. I was hoping the drugs would have made him forget what I did to him last night, but I guess that was just wishful thinking.

“I think I should get a free pass on that one.”

“Why is that?”

“You came, didn’t you?” Now he laughs, and I smile.

“You’re right, I did. Do you know how fucking hard that was, though? Wanting to touch you and not being able to.”

“I can’t even imagine. Is this what you do when you lose control?”

“Not to women, no. You were here and I couldn’t focus on anything but you. Usually, I will rip this place apart, and the guys end up drugging me and stuffing me in a cell until I calm down.” My heart breaks for him. Knowing that’s the way he copes with things.

“I’m glad I was here,” I whisper.

“I’m not proud of what I did to you, Lana.”

“I know, and we’re done talking about it, Hunter. It’s over with now.” He sighs before pulling away and getting up. I watch him walk into the bathroom before coming out a few minutes later, fully dressed.

“I need to make some phone calls and get things in order. I want to move on them as soon as I can.”

“And what happens when you find them?” I ask. That evil, sinister grin I’ve seen cross his face before is there again.

“I’m bringing them back here for some fun,” he tells me. My heart leaps into my throat. Having them here, under this roof, doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t like the idea of them being so close.

Hunter walks closer to the bed, leaning down and pressing his lips to mine.

“They won’t touch you, little rebel,” he whispers against my lips. I nod my head, but that isn’t all that’s bothering me. I know Hunter won’t let them touch me, but they’ll still be here, in the same building as me, and that unnerves me a little.

Hunter pulls away from me and walks out the bedroom door as I throw my legs over the edge of the bed and get up. I stretch and feel all the aches from the night before as I walk over and grab some clothes to get dressed.

Not long after that I hear a knock on the door. I walk over and pull it open to see Hoax standing there.

“Hey,” I greet him softly.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he says, eyeing me up and down.

“I’m fine. Thanks for checking on me.”

“He can get out of hand. I probably should have stopped it sooner than I did.”

“No. It wasn’t your fault, Hoax. But thank you for doing what you did.”

“We’re family now, right? We have to look out for each other.” He turns and walks away before I even get a chance to say anything. I’ve not thought much about what it meant to be the wife of a God before.

Shaking the thoughts away, I head out of the room and down the hall to see Hunter in the main room, hands on his hips as he talks to Rylan. The conversation looks a little heated, so I steer clear of them.

“Heard you had a fun night last night,” Angel says as I walk over to the table where they sit.

“It was something.”

“You okay?” Tamsyn asks.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Told you she could handle it.” Tamsyn grins, looking at Angel.

“I didn’t doubt her,” Angel snaps back.

“You two were betting on me?” I ask them. They both laugh and nod their heads.

“We were trying to see how long you’d last. It takes someone special to be able to handle these men,” Tamsyn tells me. She’s not wrong. An average girl wouldn’t last ten minutes with one of them.

“How are you feeling?” I turn my attention to Becky. She doesn’t come around much, so I’m surprised she’s here now. I’ve heard the stories of what happened with all of them and mostly about Levi. It broke my heart for her.

“I’m good. Everything’s going well,” she replies, looking down at her plate.

“Do you know what you’re having yet?” I ask her. She smiles this time and looks up at me.

“A boy.”

“Really? Aww, congratulations!”

“Thank you. It’s been weird, you know? Levi wanted a boy, and now it’s a boy,” she says, looking a little sad.

“I think it’s great. I can’t wait to see him,” Tamsyn declares, making Becky smile bigger.

Tamsyn passes me a plate of food, and I start to eat when I feel someone behind me. I turn and look over my shoulder to see Hunter standing there, staring down at me.

“What?”

“Nothing. Eat your food,” he encourages, smiling at me. I turn back to my food as Becky excuses herself. She walks to the bathroom, but before she can enter, Hoax stops her.

“What’s that about?” I ask, nodding toward them. Everyone at the table turns to look at the two of them talking.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen Hoax talk to her,” Angel says.

“Me either,” Rylan adds. “But he isn’t getting near her. That’s Levi’s baby.”

“It doesn’t look like he’s trying to do anything,” Silas adds now. We all sit and watch until she nods her head and walks into the bathroom. Hoax turns to see us all and flips us off before walking into another room.

“Well, that’s weird,” Hunter says, grabbing himself a plate and sitting next to me. We eat in silence before the guys start talking about what they’re going to do. Hunter is still a little pissed the Kings are involved in this, but Rylan makes it a point to remind him we’re all family here, and that’s how shit’s going to be run from now on.

“When are we doing this?” Silas asks.

“I want to leave tonight,” Hunter tells them. My head jerks to the side to look at him.

“That soon?”

“Yeah. They know where we are, and this place isn’t easy to find, Lana. We’re off the map for a reason. I wish we had found the chip in your arm sooner,” he says. As much as I hate it, I get it. I nod my head, go back to my food, and finish eating while the guys talk.

I zone out for a while. Wondering what it’s going to be like to see them again. What they’re going to say? What they’re going to think when they see I’m with Hunter? I’m lost in my head when I hear him snapping at me.

“Get up, Lana!” The roar vibrates through my body as I’m pulled out of my head and back to reality.

“What?” I ask, looking up at him.

“I said, get up.” I shove away from the table and stand to my feet, where Hunter quickly shoves me to my knees. I glare up at him, wondering what the hell his problem is now, but he just smiles at me.

“You look so fucking beautiful on your knees at my feet.” I almost want to stand back up but I don’t. “You wanted to be a part of this, Lana, but then you don’t listen.”

“I was … I’m sorry.” He’s right. I wasn’t listening to a word they said.

“Where were you?”

“Just thinking.”

“About?”

“Nothing.” He grips my chin in his hand roughly, causing me to wince at the pain.

“We don’t lie to each other, little rebel. Now start talking.”

“I was just thinking about what it’s going to be like to see them again. It’s been months,” I confess.

“You’re worried?” I shake my head. I’m not worried about them getting close to me because Hunter is here.

“No.”

“It’s because of him,” he says, nodding to himself. “You’re worried about seeing him again.”

“I …” Hunter raises his hand to stop me from talking.

“You had feelings for him, Lana. Are those feelings still there?” My stomach tumbles inside me. I don’t want to say yes because I don’t really feel anything for Gabe anymore, but at the same time, he was always there when shit got bad and I needed him. When I don’t say anything, Hunter turns on his heel and walks toward the hall.

I climb to my feet and chase behind him, needing him to understand.

“Hunter, wait!”

“No.”

“Hunter?” I call out to him once more, but he’s storming down the hall. I catch up to him and grab his upper arm before he spins around and slams me against the wall.

“You still fucking care about him? After everything they’ve done to you?”

“It’s not like that. Gabe was there when I needed him. He might not have stood up for me, but he was there. I don’t know how to shut that off,” I tell him.

“He let them kill your unborn child, Lana! There shouldn’t be anything left to shut off! That shit should have been long gone from your system,” he yells at me.

“I’m trying here, Hunter! Don’t you fucking get that?” he runs his hand through his hair as he stares at me.

“No. I guess I don’t. There wouldn’t be anything for me to think about if someone took my child away from me.”

“But it wasn’t him.”

“It was him! He put that baby inside of you, Lana, and he knew what the outcome would be,” he yells in my face. Tears slowly fall down my cheeks as his hand comes up and wipes them away. Something about this moment hits me in the chest. He’s mad, but he’s still taking care of me. My chest fills with something I thought I felt for Gabe but I didn’t. I feel it for Hunter.

“I love you.” The words come out before I can rethink them, and my chest constricts as his hand grips my face.

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” he asks so calmly it gives me chills.

“I said, I love you, Hunter.” His hand stays tightened around my face as he looks me in the eye. I can’t place the look on his face, and I almost don’t want to.

Hunter leans down and rests his forehead against mine, his breathing heavier than it was.

“You can’t just say those words to a man like me, Lana.”

“Why?”

“Because when we hear them, we want them to mean something.”

“They do mean something, Hunter. They mean everything. Everything I’ve been feeling, the way my chest tightens when I think about you leaving or being hurt. Seeing you the way you were when you lost control almost killed a piece of me. I can’t imagine not having you with me, Hunter, because when I do, it feels like I can’t breathe.”

“Tell me again,” he demands.

“I love you.”

“Again.”

“I love you, Hunter.” His mouth slams against mine in a searing kiss that causes my knees to weaken. It’s a kiss unlike any other I’ve ever felt. It all feels right. My heart feels full. It’s like every fucking wrong that has happened to me in the past has been set right with Hunter in my arms.