Nina Levine - Fierce

Looking at Blade, I suggested, “You hold him up while I punch the shit out of him?”

Blade nodded and then moved to drag him up off the floor.  He held him and then invited me to go for it.  I didn’t need to be asked twice.  All the anger I had in me for what he’d done to Harlow came pouring out through my fists as I connected with his body time after time.  I loved working with a punching bag but a human punching bag was even better.  Eventually he sagged, almost unconscious, and Blade signaled for me to stop.  We dragged him back to the table and laid him down.

His head lolled to the side and he groaned in pain.

“Open your eyes, asshole,” Blade commanded.

Bullet opened his eyes a slit but then snapped them shut again. Blade picked up his knife and with a quick flick of the wrist, he sliced into Bullet’s dick.  Bullet’s eyes snapped open and he screamed out in pain.  Best fucking sound I’d heard all day.

“That was for Harlow,” Blade said, “And this is for Ashley.”  He ran the knife slowly down Bullet’s body again, before suddenly lifting it up and violently stabbing it into his gut.  Then he pulled it out and stabbed again, this time in the chest.  His eyes were cold and hard as he continued to stab Bullet. There was blood everywhere.  I lost count of how many times he stabbed but it had to be over twenty times.  Finally, he stabbed into Bullet’s neck and twisted the knife as it went in.  He left the knife in there and then sunk to the ground.  I had no idea what he was doing until I saw his body was wracked with sobs; his back heaving.

“Leave,” he grit out, still not looking at me.

I knew when a man was broken and when they needed to be alone so I left him to it.  I exited through the door to the shower where I stripped and dumped my clothes in the rubbish he had set up in there.  Then I showered and washed all the blood off me.  I was coated in it.  Once I was completely clean of it, I changed back into my clothes and left through another door that I guessed would take me back into the warehouse.  I was correct and quickly found the building exit.  Once I was out, I took a moment to catch my breath.  That had been an intense experience; not so much because we’d killed Bullet, but more because we’d put our differences aside and come together to do it.  Blade had revealed himself to me today, in more ways than one, and I knew it was going to take me some time to work through it in my mind.

* * *

Later that night, I watched Harlow get ready for bed.  I was sitting on the bed, leaning against the headboard.  She was at the end of the bed changing out of her clothes into my t-shirt that she’d started wearing sometimes.  After her ordeal with Bullet, I wasn’t sure where her head was at with regards to sex.  I had no desire to push her but I wanted to talk to her about it; to make sure she was okay.

She finished changing and then climbed into bed next to me.  Her eyes found mine and she smiled.  “I’m exhausted.  Do you mind if I go to sleep?” she asked.

I slid down the bed so that I was lying next to her, on my side.  “We should talk about Bullet.”

“What about him?” she asked.  There was tenseness in her voice that hadn’t been there before.

“Sweetheart, he almost raped you.  I need to know how that’s affecting you.”

She took a moment to answer me but then said, “I fucking hate him for it and it’s not something that I’ll move past straight away.  But I’m not going to let him win.  He did this to both of us, Scott.  Sure, I was the one he physically attacked but he did it to fuck with you and it did.  So, we’ll work through it together.  I won’t shut you out so long as you don’t shut me out.”

“I don’t know what the fuck I did to deserve a woman as good as you,” I said as I lightly brushed a kiss against her forehead.

“I think we both lucked out,” she replied, wrapping herself around my heart a little more.

Harlow

I grabbed the container with the cake in it and got out of my car.  Surveying the building, I took in the Storm logo above the front door.  It was a huge logo with wings, a skull and flames coming out of the skull.  There was a chain threaded through the image.  In my mind the chain symbolised the bonds that held the club together.  Family.  It was so evident when you sat back and watched the way the club members interacted.  I’d now been to two get togethers with the club and I visited the clubhouse nearly every day.  And the best thing?  They’d welcomed me with open arms.

I pushed through the front doors and made my way to the kitchen.  When I got there, I was excited to see that Madison was already there waiting for me.

“Can I see?” she asked, excitement bubbling out of her.

I smiled.  “Of course.”  I opened the container and revealed the cake to her.

“Oh my God, it’s amazing!” she exclaimed.

“You think he’ll like it?” I asked.  I’d designed a cake of the Storm MC logo for Scott.

Her warm eyes found mine, and what I saw there gave me goosebumps.  Family.  She reached out and squeezed my hand.  “There’s nothing that you could do or make that Scott wouldn’t love.  My brother is completely in love with you.”

Happiness flooded my body, but I was hesitant to accept it.  “I don’t think he’s in love with me, Madison.  It’s only been a month.”

She cocked her head.  “Are you in love with him?”

I didn’t even hesitate.  “Yes.”

Smiling again, she said, “So, if you can fall in love with him that quickly, it’s highly possible that he can fall in love with you in that time too.”

She made a good point.

“What’s in the container?” J asked, coming into the kitchen.

Madison shushed him.  “Harlow made Scott a birthday cake.”

“Shit, what time’s the party?” J asked.

“Why?” Madison asked, giving him that look that couples give each other when one of them believes the other has forgotten something or screwed something up.

“I have to pick up the steaks,” he said.

“You forgot!” Madison accused of him, playfully smacking him on the back.

He laughed.  “Shit, you’re a hard woman to please, Madison Cole.  I just remembered, so technically I haven’t forgotten because I’ll have them in time for the party.”

She laughed and pointed at the door.  “Go!  Hurry.”

He leant in for a kiss and then he left, throwing a wink over his shoulder.  I loved watching them together; there was so much love there and they had a lot of fun together.

“Oh crap, I forgot to tell J something.  I’ll be back in a minute,” she promised as she ran out to find him.

I busied myself with getting plates and cups ready for the party.  Scott was celebrating his thirty-fifth birthday and I’d been surprised when he agreed to this party.  It had only been about two weeks since Bullet had tried to rape and kill me; two weeks since Scott and Blade had killed him.  He’d been open with me about the fact that they’d taken care of him; he just hadn’t told me how it had gone down.  I didn’t want to know, so I was glad he hadn’t shared that much.  Something told me that he never would; that it had actually been out of character for him to tell me as much as he had.

We’d invited some non club members to the party and I was excited.  Mum and Cassie were coming and Lisa was too.

“Hey, babe,” he murmured in my ear as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

I jumped; I’d been engrossed in my thoughts and hadn’t heard him come in.  “Hey, you.”

He turned me around so I was facing him, his hands now resting on my ass.  “I have a confession to tell you.”

“What?”

“I overheard your conversation with Madison just now.”  He had a cheeky smile on his face.

“Did you?  And what do you have to say about it?”

“Well, it reminded me of a conversation we started a couple of weeks ago, one where you asked me where I thought we were headed.”  He dipped his head and kissed me.  When he broke the kiss, he asked, “You want to hear the answer to that?”

My heart expanded and I smiled; I loved it when Scott was happy like this.  “Yes,” I said, softly.

His eyes crinkled.  I was done for, even without hearing his answer.  Those crinkled eyes got to me every time.  “This is headed to forever; forever on the back of my bike and forever in my bed.”

My breathing slowed for a moment and then I whispered, “Forever.”

He continued to smile.  “Yeah, forever baby.”

I reached up and touched his cheek, tracing the skin just under his eyes.  “Crinkles,” I said.

“What?”  Confusion crossed his face.

“Crinkles.  I love it when your eyes crinkle like that.”

“I love you, sweetheart,” he murmured, leaning in close for another kiss.

I love you, too.”

I’d never seen him coming; he’d worked his way into my life and my heart, and I knew that we would be forever.  Scott didn’t give his love easily, and I sensed that once you had it, you had it forever.  And it was a fierce love; one that would hold strong through anything that life threw at us.  Like I said, I’d never seen him coming and I sure as hell wasn’t letting him go.

So many people have helped me get this book finished and released.  As I continue on my publishing journey, I am blown away daily by the kindness of so many people.

Firstly, my family & friends.  Without your understanding and encouragement, none of this would be possible.  Especially my daughter - love you, baby.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to my beta readers.  You especially came through for me at the eleventh hour and threw out some great ideas - love you!

To Louisa from LM Creations - words can’t express my deep gratitude for everything you’ve done for me, Louisa.  You have helped me so very much - my books & swag would not look as good without your help.  I’m looking forward to seeing my future covers made entirely by you!  xxx

To Levine’s Ladies!  OMG, you girls ROCK!  Seriously.  I love the shit out of you all and love dropping in daily to chat with you.  Apart from helping me spread the word about my books, you provide amazing support and encouragement to me every bloody day.

And that #DAILYFIX ???  LOVE IT!

To my readers.  WOW!!  Some days I am speechless when I get a beautiful message of support or encouragement or just a thanks for writing your book.  You may never know how much a message means to me.  And those reviews you have taken the time to write?  From the bottom of my heart - THANK YOU!

To the authors and bloggers who support, encourage and help promote me - thank you so much!  I’m not going to name names except for one - mainly because there are so many and I don’t want to accidentally forget anyone and offend you.  But if you have ever shared my links or even just chatted with me, please know that my gratitude is endless.

Jani Kay.  You are amazing, sexy lady.  I love chatting with you - we are so alike in many ways and you just get me.  Your support has blown me away!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Nina Levine is an Aussie writer who writes stories about hot, alpha men and the tough, independent women they love.

When she isn’t creating with words, she loves to create with paint and paper.  Often though, she can be found curled up with a good book and some chocolate.

Message from Nina:

Thank you so much for reading Fierce.  I have some news for you!

Scott and Harlow will be getting one more book in this series.  A major plot point in this series calls for it, and their second book will most likely be the last book.  Fierce introduced you to Harlow and showed you how they came together.  As the series progresses, you will see a lot more from these two and then in their final book, you will see their relationship and just how far they’ve come together.

I personally love to read series where you get more from previous couples and that’s how I am endeavouring to write this series.  I won’t be publicly announcing them, but I have decided to include some free shorter stories along the way.  These stories will develop each character a little more for you and set up the major plot points that the novels work through.  So, as I said, no dates for these will be set, I’ll just write them and publish them as they are ready.  Readers can find out this news either through Facebook or by joining my newsletter (link below).