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“Not acceptable.” Didn't she understand that?
“Lyla Dalton, do you take Gavin Pyre to be your husband?” the pastor asked.
All he needed was two words. She would give them to him. He gripped the back of her neck. “Say yes.”
“No—” she began and he lost it.
He covered her mouth with his and swept his tongue into her mouth, reclaiming her. Lyla’s nails dug into his chest, but he didn’t release her. She tasted the same—sweet with a hint of rebellion. When he pulled back, he was pleased to see that her lips were swollen and she looked stunned.
“Say yes and I won't punish Carmen for taking you from me.”
“How can you punish her?”
“No one comes between us.” Didn’t she know that? Not that fucking IT guy she met in Maine, not Carmen, not her parents. No one.
“Youlet business come between us.”
“Say yes.”
“Clearly, she doesn't want him,” Carmen said.
His temper roared to life. If he weren’t holding onto Lyla, he would have put his hands on her worthless cousin.
“Blade,” he bit out and noted Lyla’s panic. If he was a decent human being, he wouldn’t take away her free will, wouldn’t blackmail her into marrying him. He wasn’t a decent human being. “Say yes or you won't see her again.”
“What’s wrong with you?” she whispered.
He wanted her fucking agreement. If he brought her asshole father he could have filled him bullets, which would make Lyla agree faster and satisfy his bloodthirsty mood.
“Say it now, god dammit,” Gavin said through clenched teeth, dimly aware of Blade shoving Carmen towards the door with a gun to her temple.
“Yes, I do,” Lyla said.
Gavin gave her the pen to sign the marriage license and slid his father’s wedding ring onto his finger. That’s where it would stay until the day he died, just like his father. In the back of the SUV, he tried to calm himself with the knowledge that she was here and legally bound to him. The savage creature inside of him bared its teeth when Lyla ran to Carmen once they boarded the jet. He twisted his hand in the back of Lyla’s shirt and pulled her against him.
“You have some nerve,” Carmen began, hands on hips. “You have no idea what she's been through because of you!”
“I'll let you live out of respect for Vinny,” he said, hoping she would shut the fuck up so he could keep himself under control. “You must've been grief stricken and temporarily insane to remove Lyla from my protective custody to go driving around the United States with my father’s killer on the loose. Don’t mistake my leniency towards you for forgiveness. I'm sending you to your mother. Your father passed two months ago.”
He should have felt bad for revealing that her father died in such an abrupt matter, but he didn’t. His killer instinct urged him to eradicate anyone that got between him and Lyla. Every word out of Carmen’s mouth fanned the icy rage in his belly. The only thing that kept him sane was the feel of Lyla’s body pressed against his.
“You smug bastard! You have no idea what damage you did to her. Have you seen her scars? Have you heard her screaming at night? Were you there to hold her when she cried? Do you know what happened the day your father died? No, you haven’t. I wish I didn't know, but I do. You broke your promise and left her alone in a hospital bed when she needed you. You went off to chase those bastards so I took your place. She asked me to get her out, so I did. You think she would have been safe with your expensive security detail? If she was so safe your father would still be alive and she wouldn't be scarred for life.”
Gavin could still hear the echo of gunfire as he stepped into his father’s mansion that day. There were men everywhere. His eyes swept the room for his father and Lyla and landed on two bodies on the floor covered in blood. Neither moved. Even while his mind refused to believe, he knew the truth. The memory fired his blood, triggering every aggressive instinct in him. Annihilating the masked men who weren’t fast enough to escape his wrath did nothing to assuage his need for blood. Nothing would until the man who murdered his father and Vinny stopped breathing. They couldn’t exist on the same planet.
Gavin wasn’t aware that he moved until the smell of fresh blood stung the air. The feel of his fists connecting with flesh made him hungry for more. It wasn’t until he was buried beneath a mountain of sweaty men that he could think rationally. Fuck. He went for Carmen and his men had to step in. Lyla wouldn’t forgive this.
“Get the fuck off me,” he ordered.
No one moved until Blade reinforced the order. Everyone knew he was off his rocker. Fuck. He rose and searched the jet for his wife. She was covered in dirt, milk pale and staring at him as if he was the devil incarnate. Maybe he was, but she was stuck with him. He ignored his throbbing fists, hauled her into his arms and walked into the room in the back of the jet. Lyla gasped when he dumped her on the bed and splayed his revved up body over hers.
Gavin absorbed the feel of her. She was alive and trembling. It took him less than an hour to destroy the life she built for herself. He rehearsed what he would say when he found her again—apologies, threats and promises. His carefully crafted speeches didn’t pass his lips. He forgot that she made him feel like a fucking caveman. He wanted to control, devour and possess. Lyla Dalton was his.
He tried to eradicate the lethal fury pumping through him. He could have broken Carmen’s jaw or worse. He wrapped himself around Lyla, wanting to be absorbed by her. Carmen’s accusations butchered his already mangled conscience. He wasn’t completely sane. Had he ever been? Maybe not. Witnessing what those savages did to his father and Lyla, he wasn’t sure he ever would be. The need to hunt, to kill was a compulsion he couldn’t get rid of. He lay on top of Lyla, hoping her presence would calm him the fuck down. He inhaled the scent of her skin—soap, the outdoors and fear. He had things to say to her. He should cradle her on his lap and beg for forgiveness, but he couldn’t move or speak. His mind and body couldn’t accept she was here after another disappearing act. Never again. She would never get away from him again. He would make sure of it this time. He fucked up too many times to count, but he wouldn’t let her give up on him. If there was a woman in the world who could save him, it was the one he just made his wife.
Gavin’s hands moved up and down her sides, getting her accustomed to his touch. He heard the hitch in her breath and ignored her struggles to get free. He couldn’t look into her eyes, not after seeing his own reflection. He would remake himself, be the man his father and Lyla believed he could be. He would do whatever it took to make her happy, but right now, he couldn’t do anything but let his flesh imprint on hers and soak her in.
“Get off of me! You could've killed her.”
