Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 155037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 517(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 517(@300wpm)
A face flickered back and forth in front of him.
Remy. Enemy. Remy. Enemy.
What the fuck was real?
“Ki-Ki, you’re not there. Please.” The pain and fear in Isa’s voice helped him come back.
Another tap. Two quick, one heavier.
Fuck.
Flashback.
He dropped to his knees. Remy crouched next to him, a steadying hand on the back of his neck as he struggled to breathe.
Fuck. Was he going straight into a panic attack?
He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.
“Breathe, Loki,” Remy said in a firm voice. “You’re safe. You’re with us. You’re not there. Just breathe.”
“In, one two. Hold. Now out, one two.” Tink kneeled in front of him. Shit. She shouldn’t be kneeling on the hard ground. Especially in one of her favorite outfits.
That helped him more than anything else, weirdly enough.
“Sorry. Sorry,” he muttered.
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Remy told him.
But what if he’d been here alone with Tink when this happened? Why had it happened, though?
Fuck, he hadn’t had a flashback in months, then two within a few days?
That just didn’t happen. Or it hadn’t in a long time.
Maybe it was all the changes.
Then he remembered what triggered him . . .
Loki jumped to his feet, fury filling him. “Who the fuck is firing a gun out here?”
Remy frowned. “I guess someone could be hunting?”
“This is private fucking land. No one asked my permission.”
Remy’s eyes widened. “How much of this land do you own?”
Enough that he knew they had to be on his land.
“Take care of Tink.” Anger had him seething as he strode off.
How dare some fucking bastard come onto his land and shoot a gun. What if they’d been closer? What if they’d hurt Isabelle?
“Loki! Stop!” Remy commanded.
“Loki! Wait!” Isabelle cried.
No, fucking way. He was finding this bastard.
Someone running toward him had him turning with a snarl. Remy held his hands up, but there was a determined look on his face.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Remy said.
“You’re not the fucking boss of me.” He pointed a finger at Remy.
Both of them glared at each other. Was this it? The end of this tentative relationship.
Then Remy’s anger changed into something else. Thoughtful. Calming. Dominant.
“Loki, she’s scared.”
He froze. “What?”
Why would his girl be scared?
“She’s worried you’re going to go off and do something reckless. And so am I. Do you really think you can find this guy? And what if you do? What then? He’s got a gun.”
So did Loki. But it was locked up in his gun safe.
But taking it with him would escalate a volatile situation.
“Listen to me for a moment, all right?” Remy continued in that low voice. “Just listen and if you still want to go I won’t stand in your way.”
Loki frowned. His anger was still thrumming just under his skin. But he was also hesitating.
Was this smart? Or was he just letting anger and emotion get the better of him?
“I get that you’re not happy, I’m not either. But if you run off like this, you could find trouble. And you won’t have backup. I’m not happy about that.”
Loki frowned. “You’re not?”
“No, I’m not.”
Wow, that tone of voice was dark.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want anything to happen to you.” There was a touch of exasperation in Remy’s voice this time.
Loki blinked. “But you’re here for Isa.”
“I am. I care about her. I’m attracted to her. But I couldn’t be in this if I didn’t care about you too.”
Loki just stared at him. Okay, he thought the other guy might tolerate him. That they were becoming friends.
But . . . really?
“You don’t know me well enough to feel that way.”
“Perhaps not, but she does. And she loves and adores you. I trust her instincts. So I’m going to tell you this and it might fuck you off and you might want to punch me. But you will not put yourself in harm’s way. Get me?”
Loki narrowed his gaze. “I didn’t agree to you Topping me.”
Remy tilted his face to one side. “I’m trying to get it through your head that you have two people who don’t want anything to happen to you. Fuck, I think you have a whole town. So I’m asking you to start thinking first and acting second.”
Did he know how to do that?
Sometimes he felt so out of control that it was almost frightening.
But he had to try. For Isa. And maybe for this big, bossy bastard.
He let out a deep breath and shrugged away the tension in his shoulders. Remy sighed, looking relieved.
“I still want to know who that fucker was shooting a gun on my land.”
Remy frowned. “You and me both.”
Loki headed back to where they’d left Isa, rushing when he saw her pacing back and forth, her cheeks awash with tears.
Fuck.
He’d been a selfish dick. What sort of man was he . . . what sort of Daddy was he if he kept doing things like this?