The Kingdom (Preacher Brothers 1)

Everything in me stilled when I saw Amelia pressed against the wall, her eyes wide as she stared at Cullen.

My brother was only a few feet away from her, and although I couldn’t see his expression, I saw the way his head was cocked. He was examining her, his thought process obvious as he no doubt considered what to do next.

And when I saw the gun in his hand, time stood still. I couldn’t react quick enough.

And then he slowly turned his head in my direction, a slow smile spreading across his face as if he knew what I was thinking, as if he had no fucking issues with being caught with my woman, a gun in his hand, the air cold and menacing around him.

I didn’t think. I just reacted.

I was on him the next second, ripping him away from Amelia, slamming his body against the opposite wall. I heard her gasp, but I had to focus on Cullen, on stopping this. After that was done, I’d go to her, comfort her, make sure Cullen hadn’t touched a hair on her head.

Cullen was a big fucker, tall and muscular… the biggest out of the four of us. The sound of his body hitting the wall seemed to fill the entire room. And still, the asshole grinned.

I felt my anger arise, my rage growing because he’d been here, the threat of what he was going to do a reality.

“I warned you,” I growled harshly, my voice nothing more than a serrated tone from me. “I fucking warned you, Cullen. I told you to stay away from her. She’s mine.” I charged forward, slamming my fist into his jaw, his head cracking to the side from the impact.

He didn’t fight me back, although I knew if he did this would’ve been one bloody fucking match. Instead, he stood there, his dark eyes hard, his gaze intent.

“We don’t fucking kill people, Cullen.” I said those words again, repeating them like when I’d spit them out in the garage just the night before. “We don’t fucking go after a brother’s female.” I stared at him right in the eyes, my emotions turbulent in that moment. I was letting him know with my body language and with my words, expression, and actions that she was mine.

She was my woman.

“I told you to stay away.” My voice was pained as I stared at my big brother. “Why couldn’t you just leave it be? Why couldn’t you trust me to make the right call?” I shook my head, my forearm still at his throat. “I told you not to touch her or there would be repercussions.” I curled my other hand into a fist, and before I knew it was happening, I slammed my knuckles into his temple.

And still, he didn’t fight back.

He grunted in pain, his body shifting across the wall from the impact. I split his cheek, the gash running across his cheekbone, a trail of blood sliding down. My knuckles throbbed, bled. They’d be bruised and swollen in the morning. But it wouldn’t matter. This was going to be painful for both of us in more ways than one.

“I’m protecting you, all of us,” he finally said.

“You couldn’t stay away, could you?” I phrased it like a question, although I didn’t expect an answer. I didn’t want one from him. “You couldn’t give me this, huh? Couldn’t let things be.”

Cullen looked at me again, and I saw that coldness directed right at me. He snarled and spit out a mouthful of blood and saliva. “We don’t fucking fall for a female on the job. We’re professional fucking thieves, Dom. We don’t kidnap women and keep them as damn pets.”

She wasn’t a pet. She was mine.

But I didn’t say that, not again. I couldn’t say anything in response, because Cullen was right to an extent. But when I’d seen Amelia, something in me had snapped. All I’d felt was possessiveness, this territorial need to make her mine. It was insane, fucking ludicrous. But damn, it felt real, and so all I’d done was react.

“This is it, Cullen. This is the only chance I’m giving you, your last saving grace. You’re my brother, which is the only reason I’m not fucking killing you right now. But brother or not, Amelia is mine. If you touch her again, I will walk away. From you. From the family. From everything.”

I saw a flash of something filter across Cullen’s face, but it was gone before I could really gauge what it meant.

Regret?

Surprise?

Disappointment?

I’d never know, because Cullen was a fortress when it came to what he felt and thought.

The fact that I had to tell Cullen this was painful. It took a little piece of me, stole a part of my life. He was my big brother, had always had my back. And walking away from him, away from everything, scared the hell out of me. It was foreign, like someone was reaching in and taking a piece of my identity. But this was my life, what I wanted. Amelia was mine, and if Cullen couldn’t see that, couldn’t respect it, then there was no place for me here.