"You too, Kodiak," I snapped, pinning him with my gaze. "Quit stirring shit up."
His jaw dropped in protest. "I wasn't—"
"Bullshit." I cut him off before he could deny it. "Go help Arch; I need a moment with Max."
Kody grumbled, but closed the space between us and gently kissed my cheek. "You scared us, babe," he whispered in my ear. "Don't do that again, okay?"
I gave a small nod but a grim smile. "No promises."
Kody winced, then sighed. "Fair enough." He dropped a soft kiss to my lips, then headed over to help the cleanup.
Steele wouldn’t look at me. He was quite deliberately looking at his shoes, even as he rubbed his face where Archer's punch had landed. He hadn't even tried to dodge it either, which told me everything I needed to know.
"Max Steele," I scolded, moving close enough to tip his chin up with my finger. "Don't you dare."
His eyes, when they met mine, were flooded with guilt and regret, and I shook my head before he could even try to apologize.
"You did exactly what needed to be done, Max; don't start beating yourself up over it now." I held his gaze, not letting him sink into self-flagellation over what had been a necessary and damn brave move to eliminate the threat.
His brow creased in a pained grimace. "Hellcat," he breathed, "I shot you. If my aim had been even a fraction off—"
"It wasn't." I cut him off just like I'd done to Archer a moment ago. "It never is. I trusted you, and you did exactly what needed to be done. No regrets here, Max."
He studied my eyes for a long moment like he was seeking the truth behind my words—or maybe searching for some level of accusation or anger. If so, he wouldn't find it. A moment later, he let out a long breath and let his shoulders sag.
"I don't deserve you, Hellcat." He looped his arms ever so carefully around my waist and pulled me into his body.
I snorted a laugh that hurt my bruised face but hugged him back. Gently. "Pretty sure that feeling is mutual, Max Steele. Come on, you can come keep me warm while the boys clean up." I linked my fingers with his and pulled him back over to the SUV where James had set up his medical supplies. I slid into the backseat, wincing at the movement, but urged Steele to slide in beside me.
"I should probably help out." He glanced guiltily in the direction of the guys, who were using battery-operated angle grinders to slice up the dead Reapers. A handful of Zed's guys had arrived with them, and they'd gone to pick up some plastic tubs to transport the, uh, meat.
I yawned. "Nah, they're fine," I told him. "I wanna hear what happened. I missed a whole crapload while I was knocked out. How'd Arch get away from Zane? What happened when you and Kody went to find Kruger? And how the fuck did you guys find me right in time?" I squinted at the sloppy, bloody mess that was being made across the parking lot. "Also, why are they cutting the bodies up so small? We've never done that before."
Steele looked in the direction I was staring, then gave me a lopsided smile. "Ah, Benny’s stressing out that there's been too much activity lately, so he asked us to give his place a break for a couple of weeks."
I gave him a curious look. "So... how are we disposing of this mess?"
He gave me a lopsided smile. "I don't know if you'll believe me if I tell you."
"Try me."
Running his hand over his buzzed hair, he gave a wry grin. "Snapping turtles."
I blinked at him several times. "Say again?"
"Snapping turtles," he repeated. "The Japanese garden in Rainybanks has a turtle pond with about two hundred of the vicious bastards. They're just a bit slower than pigs, so we have to, uh, dice up their food a bit first. It’s closed for pathway repairs for a few weeks too, so no one will see the chunks before the little snappers are done eating."
Bile rose in my stomach, and I gagged a bit. Snapping turtles ate dead humans? Now I'd really heard it all. "Gross," I whispered, and Steele gave a short laugh.
"But effective. The guys will load up all the chunks into some tubs, drive them over, and dump them in. Then we can get this ground pressure-washed with some peroxide, and the job is done." Steele looked so damn casual about it, but his eyes tightened with tension as they flickered over my glued-together head wound again.
"What about the cars?" I changed the subject before he could start feeling guilty all over again.
"Tow trucks should be here in a couple of hours. They'll be taken to a somewhat less-than-legal chop shop and dismantled for parts. Don't worry, Hellcat; we've got this all under control." Steele took my hand in his, weaving our fingers together. My wrist was tightly bandaged, thanks to James, but it was only a dull ache compared to my various other pains.
"Okay, so catch me up on everything else," I urged, leaning my head back against the leather headrest.
Steele nodded, his thumb tracing gentle patterns over my scraped hand. "There's not too much else. When we arrived at Kruger's property, it was already empty; we'd missed him by a matter of minutes. Arch called not long after that. Zane got arrogant and wanted him captured, not killed, so he could make Arch watch while you were shot." Steele's fingers tightened around mine, and his jaw clenched with anger.
"But he got away?" I guessed, pushing forward and not dwelling on what could have been.
Steele jerked a nod. "The Reapers Zane had left to transport Arch thought better of it. Apparently, they were fine with helping kidnap and kill you, but they lost their nerve when it came to Arch."
"So, they told you where I was?"
He gave me a crooked smile. "Uh, no. Arch killed them both before thinking about questioning them. Luckily, he’d remembered to give you my gift before you left the hotel." Steele reached over and touched the musical note pendant. "It's something I worked on with Leon while he was staying with us. There's a tiny tracking device embedded in the metal that would be totally undetectable to anyone searching. Not that Zane has the technology to scan you for trackers, anyway. But I'm fucking glad Arch was thinking on his feet in the moment."
My jaw dropped slightly, and I touched a hand to the delicate necklace. Zane wouldn't have even given it a second glance, and it had led my guys straight to us. "I'm impressed," I murmured. "I did think it was a really weird time for Archer to give me jewelry, not gonna lie on that one."
Steele gave a short laugh, raised our linked fingers to his lips, and kissed my hand. "Well, it saved all of us, so feel free to keep wearing it always, Hellcat."
"Noted," I replied. "So, what do we do now?"
He gave me a long look. "Can you be persuaded to go to a hospital and get checked out properly?"
I arched a brow at him. "You and I both know they will do nothing for me. Ice and painkillers, nothing I can't get at home. And I really, really just wanna go home with you guys. Can we please do that?"
I knew he wanted to argue and insist I go to the hospital, but after a long moment, he just sighed. "Yeah, I get it. Wait here; I'll make sure we're all okay to head back. I just need to know no one else has taken the hit on you after Zane accepted it. We badly don't need more half-baked hitmen coming at us tonight."