"No one underestimates Savannah Daniels," she sniped.
"Savannah O'Donnelly."
I had no idea why that was what made me snap, but it did.
I grabbed her by the back of the neck and dragged her into me. Every fucking bone in my body jolted in response, but that didn't matter worth shit.
My mouth collided with hers as I speared my tongue between her lips.
When she gave me back as much as she got, something settled inside me.
Something that felt like relief and happiness.
She wasn't afraid. In shock, maybe. But not afraid.
Anger I could have dealt with, but her fear would have broken me.
Once the adrenaline dropped, true reaction would kick in, but that was okay—she'd be safe when that happened. She wouldn't be in danger, and she could cry without anyone seeing her. I knew my wife too well to know that tears and her weren't friends.
As I fucked her mouth, I didn’t even draw back when Brennan sniffed. "Now ain't the time."
"You're saying that a lot tonight," Declan pointed out.
"Shut up, Dec," Brennan groused, the pair of them starting to bicker as they maneuvered Finn over to Declan's ride.
I ignored them all.
I carried on kissing her, letting her know she was my fucking oxygen as I imprinted my fear for her and rage at the world on her.
I only stopped when Conor murmured, "You two go any deeper, I think she'll be able to drag out your heart with her tongue. She got a fishhook on there or something?"
Jerking in response to his words, I slowly pulled back and pressed a final, gentle kiss to her pretty pink lips.
That was when I saw the state of her, and I got mad at myself for fucking her mouth like we were in our bedroom when she’d been goddamn injured.
Blood and all kinds of shit covered her face, never mind her clothes, but on her cheeks, and at her upper throat, beneath the grime and dirt, the baby soft skin was grazed with chemical burns.
She had bruises on her temple, too.
I reached up and carefully ran my thumb over one of the bruises.
"I’ll make them pay for these, little one."
Her hand snapped around my wrist like the best cuff in the world. "I want you to stay safe, and I want you to kill whoever did this to us. Do you understand?"
Staring into her eyes, I rasped, "I understand you, Savannah O’Donnelly."
My filthy fucking queen.
Her nostrils flared as she leaned up on tiptoe and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips.
"You go home," I rumbled. "I'll be back soon and I'll tell you what you want to know."
"You'd better. And I'm not going home. I'm going to Conor’s."
Despite myself, I had to grin. "You hear that, Con? You got company coming."
"Great," he griped.