Chapter 22

TWENTY-TWO

AELLA

T he drive home was surreal. When I checked my phone—which Miles had given back—I saw I had been gone for nearly two weeks today. I was hidden away from the world in the Oregon forest, just off a long expanse of highway that seemed to go nowhere.

When I got into Twin Pines, I found a hotel to settle into, as I knew I couldn't go home.

Now, I've been glaring at my phone as if it'll give me answers on how to handle this next bit—the news drones on softly in the background of the dull room. The bedsheets look like one good stretch away from bursting. The carpet has a mustiness that says it should've been replaced long ago. This is what I could get with the cash Miles gave me, though. I didn't want to use my cards if some agency watched their activity.

I should focus on what I must do, but I'm not. Instead, my mind is whirling with thoughts of how Braxton will take my disappearance and how he will feel when he finds me gone.

I shouldn't have left the way I did. I should've trusted that he'd know how to act. After all, I'm doing this for them.

Finally, I take a deep breath and snatch my phone. I don't let myself think about it before I smack Dad's contact photo.

"Aella! Where the absolute hell have you been?" he shouts into the phone.

I tug the speaker away from my ear. "Hi, Dad, nice to speak to you, too."

"Everyone except the National Guard is looking for you, Aella Marie! You tell me where you are right now!"

I close my eyes and steel myself to deal with him. This is his way. He's two-faced and fake to his fucking core. He'll act as if he cares until I'm out of sight and mind, especially if I'm behaving. There's no need to bother me, then.

"I'm in a hotel. I've dug in if you will. I needed time to process, Dad."

"Process what exactly?" he asks, and I notice his tone has softened and grown curious.

"I'm certain he told you. That you know by now that Carter and Charlotte are fucking? They set it up for me to find them in our new home together. I was so hurt and embarrassed. I just had to get away before the story broke."

He sighs.

He knew!

"I told him to keep his affairs to himself, but the boy never listens. He says he loves her. That's neither here nor there. I need to see you."

His blatant disregard for my life blowing up in one fell swoop pisses me off, but I bite my tongue.

For them.

"Why do you need to see me, Dad? I've told you to call off the dogs. Just let me be for a while, huh?"

He clears his throat. He's trying to remain calm and collected because he wants something. I've witnessed him do it a thousand times. "Aella, I need to ensure you're not being used by someone to get to me."

I roll my eyes. "Who the fuck would want to get to you , Dad?" I ask pointedly, my voice dry.

There's a heavy pause on the other end. "I'd like to see you. Make sure you're alright. I care about you, Aella. Believe it or not. You're my daughter."

He's never cared enough to pay attention to me before, but I know it's the thing I need to get him on my side.

"Alright, Dad. When and where? I no longer have a home, so I'm in a hotel in town."

"Where is in town, Aella?" He's growing impatient. Even though I usually love to press his buttons, I dial it back to stay on task.

"Twin Pines."

Even though his factory is here—one of his primary hubs—he lives in Portland.

"Alright, how about we meet near you, then? There's a very nice cafe there on Main Street, The Brew . Ever been there?"

It almost seems he's testing my knowledge of the town as if he suspects I was kidnapped. This has me shifting in my seat.

"No. I told you I've been staying in my room. Dealing with the outside world has been too difficult."

He hums before saying, "Well, I'm sure Google can get you there. Let's say…Monday, three o'clock?"

I nod, forgetting myself. "Yes, that sounds good. See you then, Dad. And, Dad?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry about Carter. I know you wanted that to happen. That you looked at him like a son."

I cringe at my words but know they're necessary to get him onto my side. I need him to believe I want to join his company.

"You're my daughter, Aella. He's nothing but a pawn in a bigger game. Don't worry yourself about him."

His answer has me wondering if Carter knows the man my father is. If he's still a part of my father's operation.

"Alright. I'll see you Monday, Dad."

That gives me a day to get my nerves together for the meeting.

Not another word is uttered from him before the line goes dead.

I set my phone down on the desk next to the small sign that tells me the hotel's Wi-Fi password.

For the next few hours, I watch enough television to turn me near catatonic, order Chinese food, and shower for longer than I have in a long time. The never-ending hot water in the hotel isn't enough for whatever makes me jittery and on edge.

I can't shake the thought that Braxton is going out of his mind with me gone. I can't let it lie, even while tossing and turning in the hotel sheets that smell like cheap detergent.

Finally, I give up and snag up my keys and purse. I lock the room and get into my Lexus.

I turn the engine on and off about five times, remembering Miles's words about not returning and how my father could have me followed.

He could. He's a powerful man. For all I know, he'd traced our call, and he's got someone watching me.

When I finally pull out of the hotel, I'm mindful of every headlight behind me as I head back to the property. I'd saved the ping of my location before I pulled onto the highway, and I'm thankful I had.

Racing there on the open road under the nearly full moon gives me a thrill. One that screams at me to turn around, but my belly jumps with excitement when I don't heed its demands.

When I pull onto the property, I check for headlights behind me. The only ones in the rearview are so far off that they couldn't be following me. I shut off my car lights and immediately turn onto the drive. They'll think I sped off if they saw me at all.

The third bay to the end of the clubhouse is open, lights spilling across the gravel. There's no big party tonight, though. No fire is going where the chairs surround the pit. No music greets my ears when I shut off the Lexus and get out .

Only the sound of tools clanking makes my heart speed up as gravel crunches beneath my sandals. My stomach is nearly in my throat when I stop at the open bay door.

Braxton is in work pants, no shirt, and boots. He wipes sweat from his brow with his greasy forearm before he mutters something under his breath and throws down a wrench.

When he looks up, he meets my eyes and stands.

"Bambi," he growls, his eyes growing darker than I've ever seen them.

"I know you're probably angry with me, and I couldn't rest with the thought in my head that you are. I'm sorry, Brax. I shouldn't have left how I did…"

He rushes me, and I go back into the night, afraid of what he'll do. For a split second, I remember the brute of a man who'd taken me and stuffed me into my trunk. I pocket my key as my ass hits the chilled hood of the Lexus behind me.

His hands grab both sides of my face. "You left me."

I nod. "I didn't think I could stand to say goodbye, but it ate at me all fucking day long."

"You weren't supposed to come back."

That's another correct statement. Miles will kick my ass once he knows I went against a direct order. Now that I am a Cobra, I don't know the punishment. I nod again.

"You came back," his breathy statement makes a tingle leave my heart and jolt through my body.

"I did. I always will."

His eyes assess me before his mouth crashes against mine. It's different from before. It's more indulgent than either of them has kissed me before. Hungry, almost. It is as if the nearly full moon makes him feral, and he needs flesh to transform from man to beast.

It only takes a second before he's tearing at my clothes, and I'm letting him. I unbutton his pants, and this time, he doesn't hesitate to let me.

He's sweaty and smells of man and machine, but it only makes me want him more. I never saw my first time being on the hood of a car, but there was something so right about fucking on the very car he'd used to steal me.

To liberate me from a world I didn't fit in.

"Brax, don't stop. Give me everything," I breathe as his lips skim my neck and his fingers find my entrance.

He doesn't stop. His fingers sink inside me, using my wetness as a lubricant. There's a slight discomfort at the intrusion, but I know it needs to happen.

It feels so good. I've had an itch for so long that I'd grown numb to it, but now it's back and scratched at. It's being obliterated.

"So fucking tight, Bambi. I'm going to ruin this cunt," he snarls, biting my bottom lip between his teeth.

"It's yours to ruin," I moan.

"You sure you don't want me to get my brother? We can finish this together."

His mouth steals my breath away again, making it impossible to breathe. I shake my head and pull free from his lips. "No. This is ours. Only ours."

He pulls his fingers back, and I nearly whimper at the loss. "Please," I beg, and it's a tone I've never heard before. I surprise myself.

"So needy for me, aren't you?" he teases, letting his hand sink to his cock and stroke a few times.

I nod, leaning back and scooting my ass to the edge of the hood. "You have no idea."

He smirks, leaning over me and letting himself go. His hands slam down on either side of me on the hood, and I'm not sure there won't be dents in the morning.

"Take it, then. Put my cock inside you, Bambi, so I can fuck you raw and make you a woman. Make you my woman."

Something about his words has my head spinning. I reach between us and grip him firmly. He hisses.

I sit the head of his dick at my entrance and scoot closer, his dick nearly slipping inside. If it wasn't so large, and I wasn't so tight, it would have slid home easily.

"This is going to hurt. Please tell me if I hurt you. Be transparent. This is the only way it's going to work."

I can't help but think his words have veiled meaning, but I nod.

I need him so badly that I'd agree to almost anything.

I lay back and let my hands grip his forearms.

He inches inside me, pinching and pain melding with a fullness I've never felt before.

A breath leaves me, and he settles inside me.

"Are you alright?" he asks.

I nod before I've even assessed what I feel internally. I want him to move. I need him to fucking move .

"Please," I mewl.

He smirks. "Aww, is my good girl begging to be fucked now?"

I whimper as he slides almost out and back in slowly. It's mind-numbing and world-altering as my body gets used to the feel of him inside me, the stretch of my pussy around him, and I feel as though everything I've gone through was because this moment was coming. He was coming.

"God, you're so fucking tight," he strains out through gritted teeth before he leans down and kisses me slowly, deeply.

I wrap my legs behind his butt, digging my heels in to get him to fuck me harder, and he groans, but he also obliges.

"You feel so good," I tell him, trying my hand at something foreign—dirty talk.

"Do I? If I feel good, you feel like fucking heaven, Bambi. Surely I'm dead."

Before I can say a word, he picks his pace up. Everything feels amazing all at once. My nipples bead under the cool breeze, my body lights on fire, and my belly burns with the need to come already. He laces his fingers atop my head, and as the car rocks with his movements, he slams me down onto him.

It's invasive and deep, but I needed it after all these years of waiting.

It's everything.

"Come for me, baby. Then I'm going to paint your Cobra, mark you as mine," he begs, not even sounding like my Braxton .

His filthy words and even strokes take me over the edge, and I come, screaming through the still night like a woman possessed.

"Fuck, good girl. Fuck!" he shouts before he stands and pulls out of me, jacking himself a few times before leaning forward and doing just what he promised.

His hot cum covers my fresh cobra tattoo in thick ropes, and I can't take my eyes off the spectacle, even long after he's come and his cock is softening.

"No going back now, Bambi. You're caught, and your hunter has tagged you as his."

I giggle. "I was his long before he knew it," I admit, and he kisses me slowly.

I'll be sore tomorrow and remember him each time I move, but tonight was worth breaking Miles's rules.

It's worth every second of the heart-pounding drive.

"Come, let's get you cleaned up and sent back before Miles finds out you're here."

I smile. "Let's."