Wolf (The Henchmen MC 3)

I took the key, rolling my eyes. "If you think he could hurt a woman then you don't know a fucking thing about him, do you?" I asked, seeing his eyes flash with something I didn't know him well enough to interpret before I turned to Wolf.

He was still pacing and I had to throw myself in front of him to get his manic body to stop. He made the growling noise, like he was trying to warn me off. "Don't you growl at me," I said, raising a brow. "I was worried sick about you. How dare you make me think that 'dead in a ditch' thing. How freaking cliche is that shit?" I asked as I reached out toward him, but he went back a step, yanking his arms back. "You want to wear the cuffs? 'Cause they're soo comfortable," I said, grabbing the chain between the bracelets and yanking it. He yanked back again, dragging me with him. My feet stumbled over the discarded shovel he had thrown earlier and my heart flew into my throat as I went flying through the air. I could make out the sound of Reign cursing and Repo exhaling.

But just as I was sure I was going to have a nice face plant on the hard floor, Wolf charged forward and I collided with his chest instead. His hands were low, the bracelets colliding rather intimately with me. I yelped, planting my hands on his chest and pushing myself back. His eyes were watching me, but they weren't Wolf's eyes, not really. They were detached, cold, untamed. I reached between us a slipped the key into the lock, sliding until they clicked before he could even register what I was doing.

He moved back from me and the cuffs clanged to the ground. His wrists were red like he had been pulling against the bracelets.

"Where was he?" I asked, looking at Wolf but talking to Reign.

"Babe..."

"Don't 'babe' me in that tone. You do realize I'm the one that called Cash in on this, right? This blood he's covered in... it's Lex Keith's, isn't it?" At their silence, my head swiveled in their direction to see them sharing a look. "Well?"

"Most of it," Repo supplied on a shrug.

"And the rest?"

"Anyone who got in between him and Lex."

I turned back to Wolf, advancing, reaching out and moving to place my hand on his blood-splattered forearm. His entire right hand was stained crimson. The second my fingers landed, he flew away from me on another growl.

"Janie babe... you need to give him time to calm down," Reign said in a calm way that suggested he had been through this before.

"How long usually?"

Reign shrugged. "Two, three days..."

"Oh fuck that," I exploded, eyes wide. "I am not leaving him locked in a god damn shed for three fucking days so he can calm down."

"It's not safe to..."

"Are you big, bad biker guys really being bigger pussies than I am right now? Seriously? I need to get him back to the house and clean him up. And maybe get some food in him. And he probably needs sleep too."

"Babe, no."

"You know what I really, really like about not being in your little boys club?" I asked and went on when all he gave me was a brow raise. "I don't have to take orders from you. So get in with the plan or get out. I don't care. You have a woman at home. And apparently Repo has a car to make love to. Go. I can handle this."

They shared another look, making me instantly jealous that men could apparently hold entire freaking conversations with just a couple looks. What was that about? Repo winked at me and headed out the door and Reign made his way toward me. He stopped when our toes touched, his hand raising and moving to rest on my arm. "You've got some..."

I wrenched away from his touch, cringing internally at being so damn transparent about my touch issues at times. Wolf made another growl, this time lower, more menacing.

"Guess that means I should keep my hands off, huh?" Reign mused, rolling back on his heels. "You have a piece of what looks like intestines on your shoulder," Reign informed me, turned, and made his way to the door. "If you need help, call Cash. We can have someone here in half an hour."

With that, we were alone.

I took a deep breath, trying to figure out what was the best course of action, before turning and walking toward him. He kept backing away until the wall blocked further retreat. "Alright so I know nothing about how like... cognizant you are right now, but I am choosing to believe that the Wolf I know is listening so... we need to get you back to the house and get you in the shower and get rid of these clothes. I dunno how you handled this shit and what kind of evidence trail you left so we need to handle this shit right now."

With that, I reached out and grabbed his hand, linking our fingers. Seeing it, I flashed back to the first night be brought me to his place, submerging my burned arm in the sink water, his hand holding mine to keep me in place.

I looked up and his eyes were focused on our hands too in a way that I thought maybe he was remembering what I was. But when his head lifted, his eyes were still empty.

"So let's go," I said, moving forward, pulling him with me. He followed and I could feel his eyes on me the whole walk back to the house.

But I was too distracted with a reality I had been waiting almost nine years for: Lex Keith was no longer part of this world. He wasn't breathing my air anymore. He couldn't ever hurt me again; he couldn't hurt any woman again.

Wolf gave me that.

Wolf gave me safety.

Again.

I owed him in kind. I owed him a lifted chin in the face of his kinda creepy, definitely scary, altogether too bizarre rage-out. I imagined this was what it was like to meet a new personality to someone with schizophrenia because it was a person you know and care about, but at the same time, it really wasn't. It was freaky.