Page 17 of Allegiance

An addiction.

He’d sworn his allegiance to The Hunters, and to fight for justice, but he was two people. He was the man who wanted nothing more than to let that broken part of him take over, but he knew he had to fight. He’d taken on a challenge, and it ended up being the most painful thing that he ever did.

“Touch me, Dakota,” she said, as she stood in front of him.

“I can’t. If I touch you, I’ll crave you, and if I crave you, then I’ll be destroyed. Eve, run. I let you go so you’d be safe. I can’t pull you back in. You were free.”

She moved even closer.

“You already pulled me in,” she whispered. “We’re tied together forever.”

She put her hands on his body, and that heat exploded through him.

That desire rose up, making him shake from what he craved more than anything.

Her.

It was the worst addiction too.

He’d had her body twice, and that had been his biggest mistake.

Dakota knew that he’d made a connection with her.

After the sex, he set her free, so he didn’t become dependent on this woman.

With Sarah, he’d been in control until Bunny appeared, but with Eve…

There was no controlling the storm.

You just let yourself go and prayed when it passed that you were still standing.

Dakota knew he wouldn’t be.

“Don’t,” he said, as her hand slid down his chest to the buckle on his belt.

It was a star.

It was his old badge, and he’d stopped wearing it when he started killing.

You couldn’t be a lawman when you didn’t follow the law.

The Hunters were a whole different entity unto themselves.

With her fingers, she flicked it open, and his body shook.

“God. Please. Don’t.”

Oh, he knew what was coming.

They’d done this dance at least ninety times over the last three months in his dreams.

It always ended the same way.

SEX.

And it had felt too good to be true.

Only, at his words, she didn’t stop, and she didn’t heed his whispered pleas. In fact, it only emboldened her.