“Find him. Now!” he ordered his guys, voice an echoing thunder through the warehouse. He glowered at Alex, his stature towering over her. Every muscle in my body was poised to protect her from him, but I held my ground, straddling the line between furious boyfriend and loyal fighter who was on his side in this.

I lugged her to her feet by the hair, eliciting a sharp cry of pain. “I’ll deal with her,” I told Shelton. “Just find that fucking bastard, and tell me the instant you do.”

Shelton took a deep breath and nodded. I led Alex to a corner of the room that wasn’t as crowded and forced her ass into a chair. Fingers curling around the hem of my sweatshirt, I yanked it up my torso and over my head, then tossed it to her.

“Why’d you do it?”

She pushed her arms through the sleeves before tugging the material over her face. “I couldn’t watch you kill him.”

“You still have feelings for him.” I bunched my hands and barely kept myself from trying to plow through the wall of cement at her back. Probably not the best outlet for my rage.

“Not in the way you’re thinking. He’s my brother, Rafe, or at least he was…at some point.”

“He’s the fucker who raped you,” I growled.

“I know!” She jumped to her feet and met me head on. “And you’re the fucker I’m in love with. You’re the fucker who’s not gonna kill ever again.” She grabbed my face, her fingers tight around my jaw. If the wild look in her eyes hadn’t entranced me—if we weren’t surrounded by a bunch of people—I would have stripped her scant panties from her ass and fucked it.

Hard.

Until she cried from the pain then begged to come.

As it was, I stood my ground and let her have this moment.

“You promised we were getting out of this, Rafe. So do it. Keep your promise this time. Zach is gone. He’s not coming back.”

“How can you be so sure about that?”

“Because I swore on your life I’d kill him myself if he did. He’s not coming back.”

Her words fucking pummeled me. She’d do anything for me. That much was true. If she’d used my life as a device to swear on, then she was dead serious. “God, I fucking love you right now.”

She furrowed her adorable brows. “Because I let him go?”

“Because you’re willing to kill him yourself if he comes back.”

Shelton and Nate approached, and Alex and I cooled the frantic fuck-each-other vibes traveling between us.

“Did you find him?” I asked.