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He shifted gears to reverse, and she had to make a fast decision.
“Don’t leave me here,” she said quickly as she shoved the door open. She nearly fell as she hit the moving ground, and beside her, the truck jerked to a stop.
“Hallie, what the hell?” Gunner asked, his eyes blazing lighter.
Steeling herself, she forced her shaking legs to move. She jogged because she could hear Gunner’s truck thrown into park. She went straight to the man standing off to the side, but he looked terrifying and filled the clearing with such a heaviness, it was hard to hold his gaze.
She looked at the ground, dragging air into her lungs, and held out her hand. “I’m Hallie,” she rushed out before the words got clogged in her throat.
“You’re human,” a blonde woman said from where they all stood at the firepit.
She swallowed hard and offered her hand closer to the man. “Hallie Carter. It’s nice to meet you.”
The man’s hard eyes drifted from her face to her hand, then to something behind her. From the sound of the steadily approaching growl, she would guess Gunner was at her back.
“Lucas,” the man said in a deep, gruff voice. He shook her hand and released it fast, twitched his head toward Gunner. “You’ll save a fight if you go stand closer to him.”
She didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”
“Hallie,” Gunner rumbled.
When she turned around, Gunner’s face looked so strange in the flickering firelight. Every angle was too sharp.
The other two men slowly drifted over toward Lucas, eyes on Gunner.
Hallie blew out a shaking breath as she padded carefully over to Gunner. He stood rigid as a board. “Lucia—”
“I’ll take care of her,” a dark-haired beauty said from right beside Hallie. She startled hard, but the woman didn’t seem to mind.
“Lucia,” Lucas said, warning drenching his tone.
“What are you doing?” a blond-haired man with glowing silver eyes asked the raven-haired beauty.
“I’m protecting a human from your pissing contest,” she said, her voice cracking with power. “If you dumbasses start fighting, you don’t pay enough attention to the collateral damage.”
God, the air was hard to breathe.
“What are you doing here?” Lucas asked. “Back to burn the rest of it down? We just got the place rebuilt.” He gestured to the four matching trailers behind him. “Life is going well, so what…you’re here to fuck everything up again?”
“You can’t come back here,” the blonde-haired woman said. “You aren’t a Warlander anymore.” She twitched her head toward the woman still standing beside Hallie. “Lucia is the only one who feels anything kind for you, Gunner.”
Movement beside her drew Hallie’s attention down to Gunner’s hand. He had balled it into a tight fist, but other than that, he didn’t move a muscle.
“Please leave,” the dark-haired man near Lucas growled. “Don’t come back here anymore.”
Gunner dropped his chin to his chest. He closed his eyes tightly and winced as if he was in pain. “I want to fight all of you,” he growled.
“And that’s why we need you to leave,” Lucas said.
Gunner looked up at him. “I want to fight all of you, but it isn’t personal. My animal just…Fuck.” He inhaled deeply and let the breath out slowly. “I didn’t know if I could do a Crew, and it was stupid to try. I’m not good at it. Not now. I know I fucked everything up. I know.” Gunner’s eyes were filled with emotion as he nodded at Lucas. “It’s what I do. Not just now, but since we were kids. Since…” He gestured to the blonde woman. “Ever since Cadence. I don’t remember everything—”
Lucas huffed a humorless sound and turned around, shaking his head.
“It’s not an excuse, and I’m not here to make excuses,” Gunner said. “I’m not asking to come back. I don’t want to, even if you let me. I would just fuck it all up again. I just need closure.”
“For your benefit. Closure not granted, you fuckin’ asshole,” Lucas growled.
Gunner glanced at Hallie, and then back at the Warlanders. “I don’t need you to say you forgive me, but believe me, you can’t punish me more than I punish me. I have these stupid flashbacks. It’s the worst moments of the things I’ve done. The times I’ve fought you all. The blood I’ve drawn, the sounds of pain. The fire.” He dropped his gaze to the ground again. “I wish you would’ve put me down,” he whispered.
