Free Yours: A Forever After Novella by Natasha Thomas

this to Boss so it can go up for a vote before I can make those sort of promises.”
     
    “You won’t be saying that if Lyric gives you a minute alone with your girl, brother,” Talon says, spitting out the last word.
     
    Throwing his hands up in a placating gesture, Fury shakes his head.
    “Look, all I know is that Faye called and told me to get my ass over here, A-SAP. I get here, and I walk in on Lyric naked, beating the shit out of his best friend and a brother, my little girl naked wrapped in a blanket, and a room full of nosy fucks not doing fuck all to break up a potential homicide.”
     
    Interrupting, I grit out,
    “Potential nothing.”
     
    Exerting pressure on Spike’s throat again, my smile resurfaces as he struggles to suck in a breath. His lungs have to be burning from the oxygen deprivation, but to his credit, he’s stopped fighting it. Maybe he’s given up, accepted that this is what he deserves for what he did. Or maybe he’s smart enough to know when he’s beaten. Whatever the reason, Spike’s body is still beneath me.
     
    Suddenly, there are two sets of hands latching onto my arms and dragging me backward. Harleigh is yelling at them not to hurt me, and I can hear Faye sniffling from somewhere off in the distance. Fury shouts at Dante to check Spike, while Talon stands beside me doing his best impersonation of a statue. He doesn’t move except for the occasional twitch of the muscle beneath his left eye.
     
    “He’s breathing, which is more than he deserves, but he’s alive,” Dante confirms, pushing himself up off the floor so that he can make his way to his wife.
     
    Speaking of wives…
     
    Pulling Harleigh into my arms, I tuck her close to my chest and rest my cheek on the top of her head. She smells like sex, me, and the lingering scent of the cocoa body butter she uses to moisturize in the morning. Her arms tighten around my neck as I drag her even closer and drop my head so that I can bury my nose in the crook of her neck.
     
    All too quickly, Fury breaks the silence that’s descended on the room, though.
    “Someone better start talking.” When none of us speak up, he bellows, “Now.”
     
    It’s Faye’s turn to attempt to soothe the savage beast. Nodding for him to follow her, Faye leads Fury out into the hall. Mumbled curses, a cleared throat, and the hiss of a harshly exhaled breath later, we all hear the moment what’s happened to his daughter sinks in.
     
    Fury’s bellow of rage, followed by his fist connecting with the drywall was probably heard by at least half a dozen neighbors, but that doesn’t stop him from walking back into Harleigh’s bedroom, pulling the Glock 9mm out of the back of his pants, and drilling three rounds into Spike’s skull.
     
    I manage to turn Harleigh’s head away before she could see what was left of Spike’s face, but Dante isn’t so lucky. Faye runs back in just as Fury’s fires his last shot, right around the same time brain matter explodes from the exit wound behind his ear. Her horrified screech is muffled within seconds, Dante picking her up, carrying her out of the room and away from the carnage.
     
    “Just breathe, Angel,” I mutter in Harleigh’s ear as her breathing escalates, putting her on the verge of hyperventilating. “Deep breaths in and out, baby.”
     
    Her bright green eyes are hazy with tears clinging to her lashes as Harleigh peers up at me. But even like this, her hair disheveled, cheeks splotchy and red, with her sniffling in my arms, Harleigh is still the most amazing woman I’ve ever seen. Beautiful, strong, a survivor. She may have suffered at Spike’s hands and then every day afterward with no one to confide in, no one she could share her pain with, but Harleigh didn’t let it destroy her.
     
    Wanting to reassure her that Spike will never, can never hurt her again, my voice is a hoarse rasp when I say,
    “It’s over, Angel. He’s gone, and we’re not. You’re here in my arms where