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She broke off when theby the door, leaned toward her as she walked by There was a snarl, then before she could blink, Leo had shoved her behind his back, and Malachi had the gorgeous ainst the wall of the bar, his hand around theand calling for the owner

Ava peeked from around Leo’s back, and she heard Malachi whisper, "If you want to survive to see the dawn, coasped "Holy shit!"

Leo spun and al her onto the sidewalk outside the bar

"What the hell was that?" she yelled

"Ava, let’s get going"

She shook off the hand that had reached for her shoulder "You people aretoward the hotel She could see the doorarettes he always carried She could smell the waft of tobacco reach her nose a second before a hand grabbed her shoulder Malachi spun her around, then immediately raised his hands in surrender

"Let me explain, Ava"

"Explain what? How you threatened to stab so a pass atcloser to the door a pass at irl al away "But what the hell does that have to do with lance "They’re… in a gang"

Liar She shook her head He was lying; she could hear it

"And that gang is the one responsible for this girl’s attack They specialize in… hu alone"

He was just , but his voice… His inner voice was still panicked Worried He was lying, but it was out of fear Souard, and it had to do with her safety That reason alone caused her to take a deep breath and stop backing away froic she had to ith from all the wine, told Ava that if Malachi wanted to harm her, he’d had plenty of opportunities in the week and a half they’d already known each other He’d had her aloneon