Two weeks.
For two weeks now, we’d been stuck in the mountains. We’d survived a snowstorm so far, and thankfully, with me splitting wood every morning, we did fine for heat. Jaxon was kind enough to brave the weather and bring us a skinned rabbit to eat so I wouldn’t have to leave Juliana during it.
The snowstorm had passed now, though the snow outside on the ground now came up to my knees. It was cold as fuck, but I dealt. We needed firewood and food.
I’d brave anything if it meant taking care of Juliana.
The sound of a twig snapping and a man’s muttered curse reached my ears as I was splitting wood to rebuild our stock. I quietly set down the wood I’d been picking up, leaving only one in my grasp, and moved around the front of the cabin, keeping my back to the small house. I’d left my gun inside the house with Juliana, ultimately leaving me mostly defenseless.
But if someone was here, I didn’t want to kill them – not yet. I wanted them to suffer first.
I peeked around the corner, watching as Andres emerged from the woods in front of the cabin. Jaxon nodded once at me from the edge of the woods. I made a motion for him to stand down.
Andres was mine.
I ducked low into the snow, keeping myself hidden by the porch as I crept closer. Once he got close enough to me, I darted up and smacked the split piece of wood in my hand against his skull, sending him toppling into the snow.
Judging by the fact that no other men came to Andres’s rescue, I was hoping James’s men had taken care of any other people Andres had brought with him. Juliana rushed outside at that moment, and a panicked scream ripped from her throat at the sight of Andres’s unconscious form on the ground.
I quickly dropped the piece of wood from my hands and darted up the porch as Jaxon and three other men rushed out of the woods, going to Andres. I quickly wrapped my arms around Juliana and walked her backward into the house, hiding her sick, demented father from her view.
“It’s alright. Breathe, baby girl,” I ordered, kicking the front door shut behind me.
“He – he was here,” she choked out. “He’s here,” she sobbed, her shoulders shaking, her knees giving out beneath her.
I sank to the floor with her, holding her tight in my arms. “He won’t ever fucking touch you again, baby, you hear me?” I grabbed her face in my hands, gently shaking her. “Look at me,” I roughly commanded. Her teary, dark eyes snapped up to mine. “He’ll never fucking touch you. I’m here. I will always fucking protect you.”
“My baby – he’ll hurt my baby,” she cried, fear clouding her beautiful eyes.
I clutched her tight to me, my heart shattering for her all while my soul roared for vengeance. It was the first time she’d really acknowledged our child, and it rocked my fucking soul.
“No; he won’t,” I promised her. “He’ll never touch our baby, you hear me? I’ll never let him harm our little one.”
She sobbed, her hands fisting in my shirt, her little body trembling in my arms. I gently rocked her back and forth, running my hand over her hair. “I’m here, baby. You’re mine – no one else’s. Certainly not his.” I tipped her chin up. “Say it with me, baby.”
“I’m yours,” she whimpered.
I pressed my lips to the tip of her nose. “That’s right, baby girl. Mine. I’ll fucking kill him before he’s even within arm’s reach of you,” I swore.
Once her shaking and crying ceased, Jaxon stepped into the house, looking down at us. “James said the call is yours to make,” he told me. “We can take care of this for you, or you can take care of it yourself.”
I looked down at Juliana. I wanted to take care of this myself, but not if she didn’t want me to leave her.
Juliana sniffled and nodded her head in consent for me to go take care of this for her. I stood with her in my arms and gently set her on her feet before cupping her face in my hands, leaning down to press my lips to hers. “Mine, baby girl. Always remember who you belong to.”
She nodded at me. Jaxon moved closer, his eyes questioning me – asking if I wanted him to stay with her. I nodded once. I kissed Juliana one more time before I stepped out of the cabin.
Andres was coming to, his eyes slowly taking in everything around him. One of James’s men handed me a pair of leather gloves. I slowly tugged them on, a cruel, sadistic smirk twisting my lips.
“Remember me?” I asked him.
He gritted his teeth. “I should have fucking killed you,” he snarled.
I shrugged. “Probably,” I admitted. “Would have saved you a hell of a lot of trouble,” I mused. “But then again, my brother would have slaughtered you and everyone around you. The only reason you’ve lived this long is because I needed time to recover.”
“My men will fucking kill you for this,” he sneered.
I laughed. “Will they? Because if you’re here, that means your team has been left without a true leader – left defenseless. I can probably place my fucking trust fund on James destroying everything you own and slaughtering your men.”
“Burn in Hell,” he spit.
I laughed and grabbed the front of his jacket, effortlessly lifting him and tossing him into the snow. I marched down the steps and knelt over him, my knees getting soaked from the snow as it melted beneath my heated body. I bashed my fists into his face, bloodying both me and him until he was nearly unrecognizable.
All the while, I grinned – sometimes laughing when he tried to spit some bullshit back at me but was unsuccessful due to the blood flowing from his mouth. It just came out as a bunch of garbled nonsense.
Then, I wrapped my hands around his throat and slowly applied pressure, watching as he began to struggle, trying to fight me off of him.
I didn’t stop squeezing until I felt his neck snap under my hands after the life had already faded from his eyes.
I stood up and pulled the gloves off my hands, walking up to the house as James’s men went down to go do clean-up of the body.
Juliana was sitting on the mattress in front of the fire, a book in her hands when I walked inside. She looked up at my entrance, a relieved look flashing across her face. Without a word, Jaxon slipped out of the cabin, quietly shutting the door behind him. I tossed the gloves into the fire before wrapping Juliana up in my arms and crawling on top of her, taking her lips in a soft, soothing kiss.
I fully intended to spend the rest of the day making sweet love to this woman I got to call mine.