Bury the Hatchet

Chapter Twenty-Five - Bury the Hatchet

HUNTER

I almost had my hands on the son of a bitch when someone grabbed me from behind and nearly tackled me to the ground to keep me from killing him.

I thrashed against their grip and I might have roared. I definitely shouted something unintelligible. That caught Lance's attention. He'd had his head on a swivel before then, searching the crowd as if he was looking for Tallie, and he whipped his head around, eyes wide like headlights. When his gaze zeroed in on me, he yelped like a fucking dog before he took off at a run-walk in the opposite direction.

A couple of mall security guys and one of the Thunderbirds' security team followed him, at least, but I didn't want to leave it to them. I wanted to strangle the son of a bitch. I wanted to do to him all the things he'd done to Tallie and so much worse, but I couldn't do a fucking thing in my current circumstances.

"Let me go, you fucking asswipe." Not that I had a clue who had hold of me. Didn't care.

"Calm the fuck down," Razor grunted in my ear.

I jerked, trying to free myself, but the guy had a death-grip on me and didn't seem inclined to loosen it. "I swear to God, Razor, if you don't fucking—"

"Don't make promises you can't keep. I'm doing you a favor, whether you like it or not."

"He's right, Hunter," Zee said, coming up alongside us.

The Ice Breaker crowd was starting to disperse throughout the mall, and Lance had completely disappeared into them. I couldn't even see his head anymore. There wasn't a chance I'd be able to catch him now. He was gone.

But so was Tallie.

"Let me go," I repeated, calmer now but only by a few degrees. "I need to find my wife." And get her home, where I knew she'd be safe. Now, more than before, I wished she'd pressed charges against the bastard. If she had, he might be in jail right now, and I wouldn't have to worry about what he might have done to her. Or might still do to her if he found her first. I shuddered at the thought before reminding myself that Lance was a coward, and now he was in flight mode, not fight. He was trying to save his own ass from a vengeful Neanderthal, so she should be in the clear.

For now.

Zee narrowed his eyes, studying me, but then he nodded to Razor. "Let him go. He's not going to do anything stupid."

"He can't help doing stupid things," Razor said entirely too cheerfully, given the circumstances, but he released me. "Think he was born that way."

I stretched my arms, making sure everything worked the way it should. "Fuck you," I said to him. I reached for my pocket to take out my phone and call Tallie, but then I saw her come around a corner. Instead, I took off to meet her, my long strides almost keeping pace with the pounding of my pulse. John was beside her, but in my frantic state, that didn't register as being important. All that mattered was that Tallie was there and, by all appearances, fine.

"Where were you?" I demanded the second I was close enough for her to hear without yelling. I wanted to take her by the arms and shake her almost as much as I wanted to kiss the ever-loving shit out of her, but thought better of doing either. I damned well wasn't going to do anything to hurt her, and kissing her could wait until we were home and I could do a hell of a lot more than just kiss her. If she'd let me.

"Good gravy. Overprotective much? I just went to the bathroom." She rolled her eyes. "John went with me. He can verify my alibi if you need that."

The last couple of days had been miserable. She was still furious with me for trying to keep her safe, and I wasn't about to budge on any of the things I'd insisted on. We'd been back to sleeping in separate quarters and only touching when there were cameras on us.