Reign A Romance Anthology - Nina Levine Page 0,143

I want to talk about how I’m the daughter of a fucking French mobster! How about that? Let’s talk about that massive-fucking- elephant in the room, shall we?”

Dad stands taller, his chest swelling with rage as his hardened eyes shift from me to Hunter then back to me again. “You dare to yell this information for the entire street to hear! Jesus, Savanah, have some fucking sense. You want to get us all killed?”

“No, Dad. You killed this family a long time ago. I’m tired. It’s been a really long night. Hunter, walk me to my room?”

“Savanah… We. Are. Not. Done!” Dad grunts.

“Oh, we are done.” My head nods furiously. “We are so done!” I grab Hunter’s hand, then lead him past Dad.

“I’ll be having words with you about this, Hunter.”

Hunter exhales. “I have more important things to tend to right now, François. Our little chat can wait.”

A slow grin forms on my face as I drag Hunter toward my room. Every guy in my life is shit-scared of my father. Not Hunter, though. He respects my father, that much is clear, but I guess when you’re both high-level fricking mobsters in the underworld, fear doesn’t come too easily.

We walk to my room. Hunter closes the door behind us. I move over to my bed, slumping down on the edge. “What a night!”

Hunter stands back, folding his arms across his chest scoping my room like he’s checking for intruders. I smirk a little, not knowing what else to do as I kick off my shoes. “Hunter, you should stay. You’ve just driven a six-hour round trip to rescue me. The least I can do for you is let you stay and get some sleep.”

He cranes his neck to the side. “Only if you sleep, too. You need to rest.”

“Oh, I’ll be sleeping. Give me five minutes… strike that, one minute, and I’ll be out like a light.”

Hunter steps over to the bed, kicking off his shoes and starts shucking his clothes.

I move to my pajamas at the end of my bed, turn my back to him, quickly pulling off my dress and changing into the little shorts and tank top. I turn around. He’s wearing only boxer briefs, and the sight has me gasping for air.

Damn, this man is fine. Hunter’s abs go on for days, leading down to his perfect ‘V.’ On his left pec is a gorgeous black and gray tattoo, but I don’t want to study it too hard because I will look like I’m ogling, which I really want to.

Clearing my throat, I yank the covers back. “Okay, time to sleep.”

Hunter slides in, the bed is huge, but I find myself shifting in right beside him. He’s so freaking warm. His arm moves out, a clear invitation, so I slide into place, my head in the crook of his neck and shoulder. This man smells like fucking heaven.

I never thought I would feel comfort from a man again. I felt it with King when we were young. It was so different back then. I thought I knew what safety was. What security felt like. But being here, wrapped up in Hunter, I’m nothing but calm. Like maybe everything in life has led me to this one point.

I think if I didn’t originally leave San Antonio and end up at the Houston Defiance clubhouse, I wouldn’t be okay with all this mobster family stuff. But being at the club, seeing it, living it, has obviously prepared me for this life.

My father didn’t want me at the clubhouse because that was a different life, a different crime family. He wanted me here, knowing I already belonged to a crime family. If I am the princess of Le Milieu, maybe I need to embrace it.

I’ve spent the last few years running—running from my past, running from my present, running from my future.

Now, all of them are colliding.

Maybe I need to stop and see what everything is about.

I’m the heir to a throne, and beside me would be Hunter. I can’t be sure if he’s here with me tonight because he wants that power or because he’s actually interested in me.

But now I know the truth about who I am, I think I’m willing to find out.

8

King

I feel like a dick for leaving Savanah in Houston, but I was struggling. Big time struggling, and being around her, seeing her with another man, watching him fawn all over her knowing they’d had a wild night together, was making me want to