Chapter 9

Chapter 9

ENZO

I stuffthe rage inside of me down into the box at the back of my mind. She’s safe now, I’ve got her. No one is going to fucking touch her again. Riley trembles as she sobs in my arms, and all I can do is hold on.

The rest of the guys exit the building, and I nod my head at Cree, tilting it towards the dead asshole at the other end of the alley. Axel runs back inside the bar, appearing a minute later with a blanket in tow. He tries to drape it around her slender shoulders, but the instant it touches her, fight-or-flight instincts kick into high gear, and she fights my hold.

With gentle strokes on the back of her head and quiet murmurs in her ear, I sooth the frantic animal inside her. “Shh, it’s all right, I’ve still got you. It’s only Axel with a blanket to cover you. You’re safe, Riley, I promise no one is going to hurt you.” My hand comes away covered in sticky, crimson liquid—blood—her blood. Which only pours more fuel on the rage inside me. Breathing deep, I rein in my anger so I don’t scare her more.

Tiny fists clutch at my shirt, and I tighten my arms around Riley’s shaking body. Her breathing is shallow between her racking sobs, causing me to worry she’s not getting enough oxygen. I continue the quiet, soothing murmurs while carefully stroking from her head down to her spine.

Tiny bits of gravel and glass embedded in her back dig into my arm. My teeth grind together with the rage from my wolf. He wants to bring that fucking asshole back to life just to tear him apart again.

Time slows as the guys deal with the body, and I sit holding Riley while she breaks in my arms. Every movement, no matter how minute, causes her panic to ratchet. So, I stay, just holding her and offering every comfort I can, waiting for her to either pass out or come back to us. Her sobbing slows into a broken cry, and her breathing evens out. Soon enough, with iron fists twisted in my shirt, and her tiny body curled into a tight ball, she falls into a restless sleep.

Sliding an arm under her boney knees, I gently lift her higher up my chest, mindful of the million scrapes and cuts littering her body, and stand. Axel adjusts the blanket around her body, ensuring she is completely covered and offering a sense of modesty. We walk out of the alley towards the back parking lot to Axel’s waiting SUV. I sit in the passenger’s seat with Riley still in my lap, clinging to me as though her life depends on it, even in her sleep. I look down at her face, so angelic, like a pixie in my arms.

What the hell am I doing?I am not the safety line type, the white knight, or even the one to give a damn about another human being. I’m the tattooed bad boy your mama warned you to stay away from.

She was right to run when she felt me approaching the bar. My wolf hated the distance she put between us, so when Switch got up to check on her, it was his insistence that compelled me to volunteer to go instead. What I found outside that back door; I wasn’t at all prepared for.

I didn’t have time to think or even rein in my wolf before all hell broke loose and my wolf lost control.

No. For her, we kill. For her, we protect. Protect mine. Protect mate,my wolf chimes in, extremely content with his actions.

I wouldn’t have fucking let him rape her, but we didn’t have to kill him,I chide, fucking pissed as hell.

Mine. Mate,he growls.

Damnit, my head is so confused. I don’t know this girl, but my wolf has claimed her as his. I can’t lie, something about having her here in my arms feels … right. Like my arms were made to hold and protect her. But my hands are that of a fighter—a killer—not a lover. Not anymore.

How could she ever want someone like me? I’m tainted … ruined.

Sitting across the table from Wilder earlier, we eyed Cree, Reed, and Axel, wondering how they could be so smitten with this girl they hardly know. Sure Cree is her boss, but how well does he even really know her? Their eyes hardly leave her, cataloguing every move while they recounted the incident from the previous week. How she overdosed on pills and drank herself to the point of blacking out. How all of their animals feel the mate bond, but how she’s not showing any sign of feeling it.

But as I watched her, I could see the attraction she feels towards them clear as day. In the flush of her cheeks every time she caught them looking at her. In the sway of her hips as she glided from table to table. In the heat shining in her eyes as she stood beside Cree, looking down at him. Sure, there was irritation, and rightfully so, but there was lust there as well.

When she walked away, headed back to the bar, and I felt that tug in the center of my chest and heard the growl of my wolf, I knew I was fucked. This girl is going to be trouble. And that is one thing I do not need right now. I’ve got enough trouble in my life.

So, it’s settled, I will fight this pull, I will deny the mate bond I know is trying to develop and walk away. Besides, she has enough going on in her life, and at least three mates vying for her attention. She doesn’t need my brand of trouble, too.

Mine,my wolf growls. Clawing at my center, he lets me know he disagrees with the decision I’ve just made.