Page 11 of Tangled Souls
Barely.
He holds his hands up in surrender. It does nothing to quench the fire burning in my gut.
“Now we have a weakness, one which has been made very public.” My voice turns ice cold and deadly, “The wedding being made public on social media and in the papers was necessary, but it doesn’t sit right with me.”
“We needed something to draw him out. He won’t be able to deal with the pressure. You know it was the right call,” Hendrix points out.
“I don’t have to like it.”
“No,” he concedes, “you don’t. With Chambers and Lev being put down, you marrying Oaklynn is going to feel like another hit to his ego.”
“That is assuming he knew that he was the one who was supposed to marry our woman in the first place,” I’m barely able to get the words out of my mouth.
I hate them so fucking much. The thought of our woman, our Oaklynn, being married to an animal like Mikhail makes the edges of my vision blur a little as anger threatens to take me under the surface. It would be so easy to drown in the feeling, the rage, but I fight against the undertow.
It won’t do me any good to have my emotions overrun. Not right now.
I’ve always prided myself on being levelheaded and being able to anticipate what is coming my way, but with Oaklynn in the mix I feel out of my depth.
“You didn’t have to marry her so quickly,” Hendrix points out.
I tilt my head to the side and assess the man, wondering what the fuck he’s thinking. “Are you trying to get Kirby pissed at me?”
He grins, but it’s not nice by any stretch of the imagination. “Why would she be pissed at you?”
Like he doesn’t fucking know.
“You know,” I make a dismissive motion with my hand as if my words are casual when they are anything but, “if I were to send you home to her in a body bag.”
Hendrix barks out a laugh, but there’s no trace of amusement in the sound. I’m very aware that the man in front of me, theone who has never backed down from a fight or a dangerous situation, is more than willing to walk through fire. That was how he was forged in the first fucking place.
Then there’s the fact that he’s highly trained. He might be an asset, but that doesn’t mean he’s not being an asshole right now.
Might as well be one back.
“But, then again, she does have two other men. Maybe you’re expendable to her,” I muse.
Hendrix doesn’t rise to the occasion, his face remaining a neutral mask. His eyes don’t even flare in anger.
I know it’s not because he doesn’t care. I’ve watched him, along with Dominic and Wolfe, with Kirby.
He’s just not letting me push his buttons. It’s pissing me off.
“I get it, you don’t want a target on Oaklynn’s back.” Hendrix’s voice is measured and steady. “But the reality is that the moment she came here to see you and tell you what her father as up to, she was put in danger. Don’t pretend like you didn’t know the risks.”
“Fuck off, Hendrix,” I growl, my voice filled with a threat I know he won’t heed.
“I’m not going to blow sunshine up your ass, Volkov,” Hendrix barks. “I’m also not saying anything you don’t already know.”
Baker grunts under his breath, “Fucking hell.”
When I look at him, he’s running a hand over the back of his head, clearly agitated with my behavior. I can’t say I blame him. I’m acting like a fucking asshole, but I can’t help it.
“This shit needs to end. And soon,” I bark the words.
“I’m not disagreeing,” Hendrix tries to placate me.
“No, but you aren’t doing a fucking thing to smoke Mikhail out,” I challenge him.
