Defiant Queen

Someone lifts my head, and I force my lids open once more, just for a second. It’s long enough to see the pain, fury, and devastation in his dark gaze.

“Lachlan?”

“Stay with me. I’m not going to fucking lose you now!”

“Can’t. Breathe.” My eyes slide shut again as sirens wail in the distance, and Lachlan Mount yells my name before everything goes completely silent.

Keira!”

Mount’s yell sounds faint as the world fades around me.

I blink twice, my lids heavier each time. My head sags forward and I blink again.

When did my shirt turn red?

“Look at me! Keira!”

I try to lift my head, but it’s heavy.

He struggles with the seat belt, ripping it off before he leans toward me. More red drips off his hand as he reaches for my face.

Is that . . . blood? My thoughts go fuzzier.

“Stay with me, Keira. Please. Fucking. Stay. With. Me.”

I hear his orders, but they grow fainter with each word. My eyes slip closed.

“No!” It’s like a lion whispering in the jungle

But what the hell am I going to do with her now? Last night was an anomaly. When we get back to New Orleans, things have to return to the way they were. There are no other options.

Are you fucking kidding me? the voice in my head challenges. You’re Lachlan Mount. You have the gold. You make the rules. That means you can have whatever the fuck you want.

And what I want, more than anything, is to hear Keira call me by my first name again.

But this time . . . sober

Shocked, I struggle to draw in a breath, but I can’t.

“Keira!”

Mount’s yell sounds faint as the world fades around me.

I blink twice, my lids heavier each time. My head sags forward and I blink again.

When did my shirt turn red?

“Look at me! Keira!”

push the disturbing thought away as Mount frees his cock and shoves my panties to the side, finding me already wet. He never breaks my stare as he pushes inside, slowly this time, burying himself inch by inch. When he’s fully seated, he growls a single word in my ear.

“Mine.”

It’s the scariest thing I’ve ever heard him say, because I’m starting to believe him

Dance with me, Lachlan.”

Her request was ludicrous. I don’t dance, but in that pub, with the Irishman and his guitar encouraging everyone to join in, I gave her what she wanted.

For one night, I’ve gotten the chance to be someone else. Anyone but me. And that man was able to sweep this woman off her feet, literally and figuratively.

Keira sighs, curling into my body.

It’s too bad she probably won’t remember any of it.

Or maybe it’s better that way. Unlike me, she won’t spend the rest of her life wishing for another night like this.

In less than ten minutes, I could be in my bedroom, preferably with Keira pinned beneath me, her red hair spread across my pillow again. Except this time, her green eyes would be snapping at me in rebellion until I buried myself inside her. Then they’d go soft, wanting, needing, begging for what only I can give her.

but there’s a hint of something else in her expression as she waits for me to speak. Dread.

I hate that look on her face. I no longer want her to fear me like everyone else. It doesn’t bring me any satisfaction.

“I’m gonna fuck your face, and you’re going to take it like the dirty girl we both know you are. If you say one word to argue with me, I’ll flip you over on this desk, take that plug out, and finish in your tight little ass.”

For the two years I lived on the streets after ending that miserable fuck Jerry’s life, I didn’t have a name. No one could have cared less about another runaway. The rare nights I slept in shelters, I used a different fake name every time. I lied. I cheated. I stole.

I still do all those things, and what’s more, I do them without remorse.

I am not a good man. My soul is black. My heart is stone. My reputation isn’t legend or myth, but a collection of facts