12. Holy

CHAPTER 12

Holy

F irelight plays through our vision as Della sits silently in my lap after having just devoured four burnt-to-a-crisp marshmallows. The stars in the sky are bright, not a cloud in sight.

Never in my life have I felt as at peace as I do right now. Which brings me to a problem I never foresaw coming.

"Several months ago, I killed my mother." She shifts to focus her eyes on me, but I can't look down at her. "As a newly-turned teenager, she used to sell me to her female friends. She'd have these big, lavish parties on my father's dime, and some of her friends used to comment how handsome I was and that if I were just a little older, they'd fuck me."

"Holy." Her hand on my face, attempting to draw me down to make eye contact, is soothing, and I know she's using some of that woo-woo shit to calm me down. I practically feel the tension and agony leaving my body.

Capturing her wrist in my hand, I kiss her palm and shake my head. "Don't do that, Del. You don't need this darkness living inside you."

"Neither do you." I do glance down at her then before leaning my head back and staring up at the sky.

"It went on until I was sixteen. I used to fuck these women because my mother would threaten to expose Jermaine and Carmine to the authorities, and I knew if she did that, Malice and I would be stuck living with the bitch, and we had no idea what would happen to the Cavanaugh girls." Blowing out a breath, I dig deep for the end of my story. "When I killed her, watched the life drain from her soulless body, I'd never felt happier."

"I can't say I blame you for that." Her tone is tinged with anger, and I love her for it.

"I've not been with a woman since I was a teenager, Della. You're it for me." Dropping my head to hers, I meet her watery stare with an intense one of my own, hoping she'll understand what this means for me. "When I say you and me, Del, I fucking mean it because without you there is no me."

Wrapping her arms around my neck, she sits up taller. "I feel the same, Holy. I haven't acknowledged it until now, but I love you. I have for years."

Brushing the hair off her face, I knot my hand around a chunk at the back of her head, tugging so she's forced to give me her lips. Kissing Della is an experience I'll never tire of. She's sunshine and perfection, and I can't get enough of her taste and the way she lights me up from the inside out.

"I don't fucking deserve you, Del, but I'll be damned if I can ever let you go. Love isn't a big enough word for what I feel, but I sure as hell hope you can feel it"—gripping her hand, I place it over my heart—"here, where it counts."

Nodding her head, a tear ultimately slips free as a smile bursts across her lips. Pulling her close, I take another kiss before picking her up and carrying her inside to bed.

We strip off our clothes in between sweet caresses and deep kisses until I fall between her open thighs and slide into her wet heat with a gentle thrust.

We make love this time. Hands touching each other, drawing out deep moans, and stealing each other's breath with the pleasure we experience inside of each other. I can't get enough of this woman, and no amount of time will ever give it to me.

By the time we've passed out from exhaustion in a tangle of sweaty sheets, it's too late to stop what neither of us foresaw while being too wrapped up in each other.

"Holy!" Della screams, and I dart up in bed in time to see a man in all black yanking her out of the room.

"Don't," a voice says from the corner, gun pointed at my head. "She's coming with us."

"The fuck she is." There's no accent to the guy's voice, so I know this isn't Smith or his men. He's not once contracted out work because he doesn't trust anyone. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Stop it! Let me go! Holy!"

Shoving to my feet, the man's gun presses to my forehead, and as every instinct shrieks to take him down, I know I'm not faster than the bullet in the chamber, and I'll be useless to Della if I'm dead.

"I suggest you sit."

I don't move. Standing naked as the day I was born, I remain motionless.

"What the fuck do you want with her?" Spotting several other men struggling to force Della into clothes, she fights them the entire time, not giving an inch.

"That's for my boss to know. I'm just the delivery man," he smarts off.

"If you were supposed to kill me, I'd be dead already. So you let your boss know that when I find him, I'm going to rip him limb from limb. And when I get ahold of you, death won't be kind enough." Malice will love playing with this asshole.

Backing away out the door, the bastard grins from ear to ear as I follow guardedly. They'll have to put me down in order to stop me from following after them. Which I know he plans to do.

"Della!" I snap her name to get her attention. "Put your clothes on. Be a good girl." Her eyes narrow as she glares at me. The connection we share, thankfully, lets her know what I'm feeling now and that I'm fucking coming for her. "If she's hurt in any way, I won't stop with killing just you and your men; I'll gut your families and leave them in the fucking streets. We clear?"

The man smirks, and as Della is dragged out the door, he finally takes his shot, somewhat blindly, because even though he clips my shoulder, side, and leg, it's not enough to keep me down, only to piss me off.

Hearing my girl screech my name as truck doors slam shut and tires peel out of the lot, I quickly get dressed, grab my phone, and head to my Wrangler.

Spotting the flat, I'm even more pissed because I don't have a fucking tracker on her. I knew I should have. After quickly changing to a spare, I call Malice as soon as I'm in the Jeep.

"I thought you were at the cabin with Della?" he answers.

"I am. We were. Some assholes just busted in and fucking took her. I'm thinking government, but I need to fucking find out soon so I can stop this bleeding before I crash." Blood is soaking through my clothes.

"What the fuck. You're shot?" I hear him yelling at someone in the background as I stop and reach around behind me for the first-aid kit under the passenger seat. "I'm on it. Was Della hurt?"

"No." Hissing as I put a bandage on my side and tie off my leg, my shoulder will have to wait. "They were just fucking handsy. I'm going to fucking kill a whole bunch of people over this, Mal, you better be with me."

"When have I ever not been?" He laughs, but not humorously. "Pops has called in some favors. Johnny and Nico are en route, and once Carter is done with his bitch fit, he'll be here too."

"I need to know who these guys are. They were ordered not to kill me, and given my reputation, I don't think they realize who the fuck I am." If they did, I'd be dead. "Get Sean Smith, too. Find out if that weasel sold Della out to some shadow agency."

"I'll have information for when you get here." He hangs up, and I'm left with my own thoughts. My own…inadequacies.

I fucking failed her after promising to protect her against everything.

"Della." I whisper her name and hope to hell she can hang on for me because I'm fucking coming for her. Nothing but death would stop me from bringing her home.

The drive whips by as I take turns recklessly and break more speeding laws than the state has in place. The more I think about it, the angrier I become. I know I need to calm down so I can think clearly and rationally. My woman's depending on me, and if I'm emotional, I won't do her any good.

City traffic nearly breaks me as the congestion is at peak hour. When my phone rings, I'm irritated. "What?"

"Someone took my little girl, Holy." Carter.

"I'm killing them all."

"I know you will. What I want to know is how the fuck did it happen? And who the fuck are they?"

"I have no fucking idea, though I suspect it might be the government in some capacity or another. Anyone else would have left me for dead." The more I repeat it, the more convinced I am that Uncle Sam has somehow found out about Della, meaning they would have needed insider information because nobody, not even Sean Smith, could confirm her abilities. "You have a mole in your house, Carter."

I hear him suck in a sharp breath. "How can you be sure?"

"Because there's no one else who could have suspected what she's capable of. Sure, Sean had an inkling of an idea, but nothing was ever confirmed. Who in your house knows what she can do?"

"I'll figure it out." I'm hung up on again and left to my own misery as I finally pull in front of the house I grew up in.

No , I'm about to plan a war I can't lose.