Bitter Truths (Crimson Falls Duet 2)

My anger hasn’t abated. Darius still makes me want to kill, but the memory of the kiss lingers in my mind. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Even though the brothers aren’t exactly twins, there are so many similarities between them. I put it down to that. Just missing my husband.

But it’s a lie.

I saw Darius. I looked into his eyes and saw the human he keeps buried deep down, it’s difficult to find him. He comes to a stop outside a set of double doors and pushes them open. When we step into a meeting room complete with a long boardroom table, I can’t help but gasp at the sheer size of it.

There are twelve chairs surrounding the heavy wooden table. At the one end is a much larger chair, one with carvings in the back, which has the logo I’ve noticed on Darius’s cut. The club’s emblem—a skull with snakes slithering over it and blood dripping from both eye sockets. Under the logo is a banner with the chapter name—Devil’s Cove.

“Where is he?” I ask the moment I notice it’s only Darius’s men in the room.

Those green eyes that match his brother’s lands on me. “He’ll be here soon,” he tells me with a violent grin. “Sit.” It’s an order, which I obey quickly. I don’t want to anger him after all. Even though every inch of my body is screaming at me to tell him to fuck off. I don’t.

Settling into one of the empty seats, I take in each of the six men that surround the table. Each one of them is staring at me as if I am the main attraction in the room.

Gunshots ring off in the distance, and I fight the urge to push to my feet when Darius pins me with a warning glare.

“Sounds like my brother is here,” he chuckles. “Open the door,” he orders one of the younger men who obeys him without question. Both Shaw brothers like to be in control, perhaps that’s why they’re always at odds with each other.

Moments later, four men, including Lycan and Kahn are brought into the house. Those familiar jade eyes find mine instantly, as if they’re magnetized to my presence. The corner of his mouth tilts, and he offers me a slight nod in greeting.

“Wife.” It’s one word which holds all the weight of the world.

“Lycan,” I gasp, pushing to my feet only to have a heavy hand hold me down. Inching back into my seat, I fist my hands, my fingers tingling with the need to touch him. To feel him alive and breathing. My heart thumps in my throat, threatening to choke me as he watches me with those mesmerizing eyes.

He glances at Darius as the men in leather release their hold on him. “Brother, you should’ve invited me for dinner if you wanted me to visit your home. Taking my wife prisoner is not the way to do it.” Lycan’s voice is cold, unfeeling, and filled with threatening ice even though he’s outnumbered. But then again, he isn’t a man who would walk into a situation without a plan. “Take your hand off her,” he commands, straightening his spine as he glares at his brother.

A dark chuckle rumbles from beside me. “I don’t know if she wants me to take my hand off her. Do you, little one?” I can feel the weight of Darius’s stare on me, challenging me to refuse, to tell my husband we kissed. Or that he made my body react.

Lycan’s stare flicks to mine, the realization that something happened skitters across the soft green that bores a hole right into my soul. “Scarlett.” My name is nothing more than a plea, and my heart drops to my stomach when his face turns to solid steel. The mask he always wore when we first met is firmly in place, and I have a feeling I’ve just lost the man I’ve grown to love.

Kahn’s gaze finds mine. He looks me over from head to waist where the table hides the rest of my body, taking in every inch, and when he finds no bruises visible to the naked eye, he turns to Darius. “My men are waiting.”

“I’m sure they are. You’re welcome to join them,” Darius says right before a loud bang goes off in the distance, and we’re all cowering in fright, except for Darius and his men. “You see, your plan to overthrow my club won’t be as easy. Call them off, or more of them will be blown to bits.” Darius chuckles as if killing is a joke.

“You fucker!” Lycan grits through clenched teeth, and I stare as his jaw ticks. Rage burns in his gaze, and I’m certain he would annihilate us all with a mere glance if he could.

“Call. Them. Off.” The Shaw brother with all the power stands tall as his voice issues the command, and Kahn slowly but surely pulls out his cell phone and presses the screen a few times.