AT THE EDGE OF SURRENDER

A.L. JACKSON

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A.L. Jackson

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Proofreading by Julia Griffis, The Romance Bibliophile

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Names, characters, places, and plots are a product of the author’s imagination. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

ALSO BY A.L. JACKSON

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Moonlit Ridge

From Here to Eternity

Under an Endless Moon

At the Edge of Surrender

Beyond the Blue Horizon

On the Brink of Bliss

Time River

Love Me Today

Don’t Forget Me Tomorrow

Claim Me Forever

Hold Me Until Morning

Redemption Hills

Give Me a Reason

Say It’s Forever

Never Look Back

Promise Me Always

Falling Stars

Kiss the Stars

Catch Me When I Fall

Falling into You

Beneath the Stars

Confessions of the Heart

More of You

All of Me

Pieces of Us

Fight for Me Series

Show Me the Way

Follow Me Back

Lead Me Home

Hold on to Hope

Bleeding Stars Series

A Stone in the Sea

Drowning to Breathe

Where Lightning Strikes

Wait

Stay

Stand

The Regret Series

Lost to You

Take This Regret

If Forever Comes

The Closer to You Series

Come to Me Quietly

Come to Me Softly

Come to Me Recklessly

Stand-Alone Novels

Pulled

When We Collide

Hollywood Chronicles

A collaboration with USA Today Bestselling Author, Rebecca Shea

One Wild Night

One Wild Ride

At the Edge of Surrender is a romantic suspense with many dark elements that may not be suitable for some readers. Please see the author’s website for a full list of content warnings.

ONE

KANE

At close to midnight, Theo and I sat at one of the high-backed wooden booths at Twisted Moon Tavern.

A country song droned from the jukebox, and the dim lights hanging overhead cast lapping shadows over the hazy, dingy space.

Place was always fuckin’ quiet, which was why I preferred it whenever I wanted to have an actual conversation with my crew outside of our normal meeting place.

A conversation that had been coming for a long damned time.

Theo glanced around, making sure no one was in earshot as he leaned forward across the table. “You think we need to step in and intervene? Shake things up?”

Dude always looked like a coiled viper waiting to strike.

Black hair and even darker eyes. Arms and hands covered in tats. Tats that rolled up from the neckline of his black tee and fully wrapped around his throat.

In his case, appearances were not deceiving. The dude was fuckin’ deadly, just like the rest of us.

Taking a sip from my scotch, I warred with what to say, then I edged forward, my hand still wrapped around my tumbler as I rested it on the worn table.

“My gut tells me this extraction is going to be messy. I know River is still all in, but he’s got a family he needs to think about. We can’t sit here and pretend like the entire dynamic of our crew hasn’t shifted.”

River getting with Charleigh, and now Otto and Raven coming together.

The whole reason the rule had been made that we couldn’t get attached in the first place was because this shit was dangerous.

Fucking peril coming at us from every direction.

It wasn’t like I resented my brothers for going against one of our creeds.

It was just time we admitted it changed things. That the pact we’d made all those years ago no longer stood.

Rocking back in the booth, Theo canted his head to the side. “So what? You think it’s time to take a step back?”

My attention darted to the tattoo on the back of my left hand. It was the one that had two Ss sitting on top of each other. A dagger ran through them, top to bottom, and an eye was stamped in the middle.

It was identical to the one every member of Sovereign Sanctum had in the same spot, though mine had a wilting rose on top.

My chest clutched at the sight of it, at the mark I’d made of my greatest failure, and I squeezed that hand into a fist as I lifted my attention back to Theo. “Not a fuckin’ chance. Just think it’s time we switched things up. Stand in where we haven’t before.”

Each of us had our roles within our secret society. River’s was the one that normally put him in the line of fire. Dragged him down into the darkest pits of depravity.

But it wasn’t like every single one of us didn’t have blood on our hands.

Tainted in it from the beginning, even though the rest of my crew didn’t have a clue about my extracurricular activities. The lengths I went. The kind of shit I would never ask them to get involved in.

Something I had full intention of enacting next week considering some info I’d picked up about some scum working out of San Diego.

Awareness of what I was suggesting dawned on the blunt edges of Theo’s face. “You want to go instead.”

He didn’t even phrase it a question.

“Haven’t gotten dirty in a while.”

Okay, that was a blatant lie, but some things were better left in the dark.

“Seems only fair that I go up to bat.” I tacked a smirk onto it.

Theo chuckled a rough sound. “Oh, brother, think you’re plenty dirty.”

He jutted his chin out toward the murky film of Twisted Moon Tavern.

My latest acquisition.

Other than this one, I owned two other bars in this small town of Moonlit Ridge, plus the club dubbed in my namesake.

All of them were nothing but a cover.

Another avenue for running Sanctum’s money through.

It wasn’t like this dive was actually going to have any sort of profitability.

I let my gaze slide out to take in the place.

A handful of old guys were at the bar, drowning their miseries, basically permanent fixtures.

A younger group of four guys were standing around at the end of it. They were barely old enough to be in this bar and were nearing the point that they needed to be cut off.

Getting rowdy and obnoxious. Starting to fumble around as their voices grew in time.

Two booths on the opposite side of Theo and I were taken, one by two women who’d been there chatting for the last hour, and another with two middle-aged couples.

But it was the one woman sitting by herself at a high-topped round table near the front who snagged my attention.

She’d been there since I’d gotten here. Her back had remained turned toward me the entire time. An elbow on the table with her head downturned and concealed as she nursed the same drink she’d been sipping all night.

A thick cascade of warm, blonde hair rolled down her slender back, and a mountain of grief weighed down her shoulders.

Found myself itching in my damned seat every time I glanced her way. Some fucking twisted thing inside me wanting to cross to her. Brush back those full locks of hair so I could get a good look at her face. Promise her that things would get better, even though I didn’t have the first clue what she was going through.

“Ah, I see the way you’re really wanting to get dirty.”

Theo’s razzing snapped my focus back to him, and I shook myself out of the stupor and pasted on a grin. “Not my type.”

He busted out a full laugh. “Bullshit. Everyone is your type.”

Okay, fine. I wasn’t one to typically deny myself pleasure.

But I was pretty sure this girl wasn’t out looking for a good time, and I wasn’t the kind of prick who preyed on that.

But apparently that basic human decency wasn’t extended by everyone because one of the assholes who’d been loitering at the bar went sauntering her way, all cocky sleaze, encouraged by the three other dickbags who were hooting vulgarities in their direction.

Rage fisted my stomach, rising up from the chaos that lived inside me. For the most part, I could contain it until the moments when I was able to set it free.

When I unleashed it on the most perverted of society.

I tried to tamp it then. Get it under lock and key because it wasn’t any of my business if this douche attempted to hit on this girl. None of my business if she packed up her things and walked out the door with him, though there was something about her that left me confident she would tell this idiot exactly where to shove it.

Still, I clutched my tumbler like it might keep me rooted as I watched him waltz right up to her and lean in close to her ear.

I saw her flinch, her back going rigid as he got in her personal space.

My teeth ground with restraint.

She shook her head and shifted farther away from him, and I almost sank back with relief until he reached out with a giant mitt and took her by the elbow.

And that was the moment it completely became my business.

Asshat trying to force her to look at him, arrogant disbelief tromping all over his pompous face, like she didn’t have the right to tell him no.

A shocked gasp ripped from her, and I could hear her rasp, “Let go of me.”

She spun on the stool and attempted to yank her elbow from his meaty grip.

“Motherfucker,” I growled, no restraint left, already on my feet and pushing from the booth when she finally ripped herself free.

Only the movement set the stool off balance, and it wobbled as the monster went to reach for her again. She flailed to get out of his reach, and it sent the stool toppling backward, taking her down with it.

Her ass hit the ground, and the stool clattered on the hardwood floor beside her.

There was no longer any keeping that rage at bay.

Because that bastard still moved her way.

Only a feral shout came from her when he reached for her, and the woman kicked and flung her arms out to fight off the bastard.

The bastard who yelped, “You bitch,” when she clawed him across the face like she was the one in the wrong.

I’d made it right up behind him by the time he was getting ready to retaliate, and I had him by the nape and was hauling him back at the same second I was driving my fist up under his ribs from behind.

He howled, bowing back as I delivered the blow, and he tried to swing around to get to me.

He was twice as wide as me, but I kept his back pressed to my chest as I dragged him backward toward the door. “You want to touch someone when they don’t want to be touched? This is what that feels like.”

I repeated the punch in the exact same spot, knowing it was going to hurt a whole hell of a lot worse that time. Doubted anyone would blame me that I was probably a little too satisfied by the fact.

He floundered and thrashed and wailed while his group of friends came running up to assist.

Fuckers stopped dead in their tracks when Theo stepped out in front of them, all that bravado wearing thin once they realized they’d picked the wrong place to get stupid.

Towing the piece of shit to the door, I yanked the front door open with one hand while I tossed him out of it with the other.

Asshole rolled across the wooden planks of the sidewalk out front.

He scrambled around onto his hands and knees, panting like mad as I stepped out and let the door drift shut behind me.

The sound of the music clipped off from where it played inside, and his eyes rounded with fear when I came to stand over him.

Fury a storm around me. Hatred so thick I could hardly breathe.

Sometimes I wondered what they saw in me when I came for them. In that moment before they met their end. Because their expressions so often looked just like this.

This dirtbag was lucky I didn’t know his past. Lucky I wasn’t privy to all the seedy shit he had undoubtedly gotten up to. Lucky I wasn’t wise to whatever played out in his mind.

Otherwise, he would not be receiving this pass.

I crouched in front of him and angled in close to his face, keeping my voice controlled. Maybe even friendly. “I’m letting you off easy because I’m a pretty decent guy like that. But if I ever catch you with those hands touching something that doesn’t want to be touched again, you’re going to end up without them. Do you understand?”

He made a garbled sound, saliva dripping out the side of his mouth.

“Good.” I patted his cheek, a little harder than necessary. “Now get the fuck off my property and take your friends with you before I change my mind.”

I pushed to standing and turned my back on the pile of scum, fighting the urge to whip back around and teach him the lesson he’d earned.

Hands tingling with wrath.

Though I could feel something stronger luring me in a different direction.

This sensation rippling from inside.

I strode back through the door and into my bar where all eyes were on me. Everyone was frozen in their exact same positions as when I’d dragged the monster out fifteen seconds ago.

Disgust billowed off Theo where he held the three pricks at bay, my oldest friend looking at me in question, silently asking for the go to tear them apart.

Not tonight.

Had something far more important that needed tending to.

“Get them the fuck out of here,” I growled, not slowing as I shifted back toward the solitary table that sat in the front corner.

My heart was a fucking battering ram in my chest as I edged that way, every muscle in my body locked as I took her in where she was on the floor.

Sitting up but curled into a ball.

Head still downturned with those long, blonde curls draped around her. Arms wrapped around her knees as she shook.

Slowly, I started to kneel, but apparently not slowly enough because she lashed out, two hands smacking into my chest to push me back.

A warrior, this one.

Could feel it radiating around her.

The fight mixed up with the pain.

“Whoa, I’m not going to hurt you.” I kept my voice quieted. “It’s okay. That prick is gone.”

A shiver rolled through her.

“You’re safe.”

She seemed to war, turning in on herself, before she warily lifted her head so I could see her face.

Fuck. Me.

A thunderbolt struck through me just looking at her.

Giant eyes the color of toffee stared back, dappled with these flecks of fiery orange.

Woman with a face that could drop a man straight to his knees.

All sharp angles and high cheeks and the poutiest lips I’d ever seen.

But it was the agony swimming in her gaze that I wasn’t sure had a whole lot to do with what had just gone down that had me whispering, “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

I had no clue why the fuck I was claiming it.

No clue what possessed me to carefully move to her side and scoop her slight body up into my arms.

Only thing I was sure of?

I couldn’t stop myself.

TWO

EMERY

What the hell did I think I was doing? Allowing this man—this complete freaking stranger—to pick me up off the floor, that was what.

Arms strong and sure where he had them under my legs and back.

Maybe I’d had too much to drink. Or maybe it was that my emotions were so frayed and raw that it’d left me numb in some hypersensitive way.

It was like I could feel too much and too little, both empty and like I was going to burst apart from the pressure, and I was desperate for anything to fill the void.

Well, anything except for that disgusting creep who’d come sauntering up to me like I’d actually play into his stupid pickup line. Slurring his words as he tried to get into my line of sight.

Panic had lit the second he got into my vicinity.

That instinct kicking in.

Fight.

Except I had so little fight left in me. So little fight after everything I’d been living for had been stolen away. The hole gaping and throbbing. And now, the last tattered piece was getting ready to be ripped away.

So, there I was, in this crappy dive bar where I thought I’d be isolated enough to drown in my sorrows, only instead, I had wound up a limp mess in the arms of a stranger with my arms around his neck and my face buried under his chin.

A stranger who’d managed to knock the air from my lungs when I’d caught a peek of him where he’d sat in a booth with his friend.

If I was thinking straight at all, I knew he should send fear clapping through my veins.

Because this man was terrifyingly gorgeous.

Strike that.

He was gorgeous and terrifying. An aura of duplicity radiated around him. Wickedness shrouded beneath an easy, affable grin.

“I’m going to make sure she’s fine.” The shallow, dark words rumbled in his chest. “Just be sure these fuckers get gone.”

“Safe to say they won’t be back around,” another voice uttered low.

“Thanks, brother.”

“Yeah.”

A nod and a gesture, and we were moving again. His heavy boots thudded against the hardwood floors. I felt him angle to the side and a door was opened before it clattered shut behind us.

Then I was being lowered onto a worn leather couch in what appeared to be an office.

He stepped back, and I struggled to get my bearings. To stop the rush of dizziness that spun through my head.

I dug around in myself to find the woman that I normally was.

One who most definitely didn’t let random men pick her up and carry her into secluded places.

He took another step back, and I lifted my gaze, my eyes roaming up the hard, intimidating planes of him as I went.

Tracking over motorcycle boots and dark jeans and a fitted button-down that hugged the visible strength packed underneath. The rippling muscles of his arms were covered in ink, the designs extending down onto the backs of his hands, so intricate I didn’t have time to make any of them out.

Not before he was rumbling, “Were you hurt?”

My attention was pulled the rest of the way up to his face.

Striking green eyes speared me to the spot, so intense I was afraid he could peer all the way through me.

His jaw was defined and his brow cut in a harshness that promised there was nothing innocent about him.

His face a carved sculpture of fierce, unnerving beauty.

Maybe that’s why I’d let him touch me. Because everything felt so ugly and bleak right then that I needed something beautiful to marvel at.

A shockwave of energy ruptured from him.

A rage I could see he was trying to keep contained all mixed up with this concern that had my stomach twisting with something I shouldn’t feel.

I swallowed around the force of it.

“No.”

He roughed a tattooed hand through his warm, brown hair, his voice a scrape of coarse gravel. “Saw you hit the ground pretty hard.”

My head barely shook, and my tongue stroked out to wet my dried lips. “My hip might be a little sore tomorrow, but that’s it.”

“You sure? Because you have this going on.”

Shock ripped through me when he reached out and dragged the knuckle of his index finger up the track of a tear that I didn’t know had fallen down my cheek.

Warmth followed in its wake.

A skimming of heat that rushed beneath the surface of my skin.

What the hell was happening to me?

How was I just sitting there?

Chin tipped toward him like I wanted him to do it all over again.

Maybe I really was losing it.

Going off the deep end.

“I…” I stalled.

Was I really going to admit this? Just let it come riding out of my mouth when that territory was always off limits? Apparently, since the words were trembling off my tongue. “I don’t really like being backed into a corner like that.”

The man’s expression morphed, running through a fresh round of fury.

Most people didn’t like to be touched when they didn’t want to be.

I got that.

But mine went deep.

Honestly, my fear of it used to be debilitating. It was something I’d been working on for years, but I still hadn’t managed to fully bring down the shield.

“Fucker is lucky he’s still standing.” There was no missing the undercurrent of ferocity.

As if he were trying to control it, he swiveled on his heel and strode over to the bar on the far side of the office.

His big body moved across the space.

Fluid and lithe.

Enthralling.

I watched as he grabbed a glass and filled it under the faucet, and he was almost wearing a smile when he turned and headed back for me.

The ground trembled below.

“Here.” He handed me the glass of water.

“Thank you,” I whispered as I brought it to my lips. “Though in a place like this, I’d think you might offer something stronger.”

A low chuckle rolled out of him.

Dark and mesmerizing, and God, I had no idea what it was about him. Why I felt compelled. Held by the energy that emanated from the danger carved on his flesh.

“Think that could be arranged.”

He moved back to the bar, and he glanced at me from over his shoulder. “What were you drinking?”

“Tequila.”

Something I was sure I was going to regret in the morning, but I was already dreading tomorrow with everything that I had, anyway. A hangover couldn’t make it any worse.

And right then, I needed to feel something different. Something different than the grief that had chained me for the last three months. Grief that I was terrified was going to get even more awful come tomorrow.

“Ah, now see, one should never drink tequila alone,” he said in that growly, mesmerizing voice.

“Is that so?” I drew out.

Was I flirting with him?

“Oh yeah,” he returned, just the hint of a cocky smile arching at the edge of his mouth. He picked up a bottle of silver tequila from a shelf that ran the backside of the small bar and filled two tumblers half full.

Then he sauntered back my way, two glittering glasses dangling from either hand.

My heart thumped wildly in my chest.

His striking features slipped between brutal, curious, and sly.

Like he held a million secrets, and he’d be all too willing to steal all of mine.

God, I really must have been drunk because I swore an aura built up around him with every step that he took. A dark light that glowed. An energy that pummeled and bashed and soothed.

I fumbled to set the glass of water onto the side table next to the couch.

“Here you go, beautiful.” He passed me the tumbler in his left hand, and my attention dropped to the tattoo he had stamped on the back of it.

It looked like some kind of symbol.

Two stacked Ss with a dagger running down the middle. An eye sat directly in the middle of it, and at the top of the dagger was a wilting black rose with its petals falling off.

I didn’t know why, but the sight of it impaled me with an arrow of sadness.

With loss.

Like maybe for one second, I could see his pain, too. That his mirrored mine.

He moved to sit in the office chair behind the desk that sat in the middle of the room. Swiveling it toward me, he stretched his long, thick legs out in front of him.

It left about three feet of space between us, but still, I felt him like a landslide. Like a shifting of tectonic plates inside me.

Or maybe my life had gotten so mangled, I couldn’t discern what was already broken and all my shattered pieces were finally falling away.

Whatever it was, it ached, throbbed, as if for one second, he might be able to assuage it.

“What’s your name?” His voice was cut low.

His words shards that coasted through the dense, dense air.

“Emery,” I whispered.

Something flashed through his expression. “Well, Emery, it doesn’t look like we’re celebrating tonight, so here’s to not drinkin’ alone.”

Leather creaked as he sat forward in the chair, and the man stretched out his glass to clink it against mine. The faintest grin danced over his lush, tempting lips.

The man a dose of wicked bliss that would likely be fatal in the end.

I softly tapped my glass to his. “To not drinking alone.”

I tipped the glass to my lips. A fire charged down my throat as I took a sip, but it was different than what I had been drinking.

Smoother.

Almost sweeter.

I let the flavor roll around on my tongue before I mumbled, “Not cheap tequila.”

He canted his head to the side. “Figured after whatever kind of night you’ve had, you deserve the best.”

I wavered before I finally forced my appreciation off my tongue. “That was kind of you. All of it.”

My voice took on a deep sincerity as I glanced at the door.

Electric green eyes sparked beneath the warm light emitted from the fixture hanging above the desk. “Not gonna sit around and watch some asshole try to take something someone doesn’t want to give them. Especially when they’re clearly having a vulnerable moment.”

“Is that what I look like? Vulnerable?” I didn’t mean for it to come out a challenge. But I couldn’t stop it. That armor I’d worn for years hardening around everything that was vulnerable.

His gaze roamed over me.

Slowly.

Meticulously.

Fire flamed in the middle of it. Tension binding the air as he dragged his attention all the way down then slowly back up to my face. “You look like a whole lot of things.”

He eased forward a fraction. “A warrior. A fighter. A fiery temptation sitting on that couch, though it appears to me someone attempted to put that flame out.”

His voice scraped across my flesh. A rough caress I was foolish enough to want to feel over every inch.

His tongue stroked out across his plush lips before he continued, “You look like the perfect kind of fantasy that I have no right dreaming.”

My stomach pulled tight. A foreign sensation that should be impossible to feel.

But it was there, flickering beneath my skin.

A slow burn that I’d never experienced before.

He kept inching forward, the wheels of the chair bringing him closer as he angled my direction.

My breaths turned jagged and shallow.

Less than a foot away, he reached out and brushed the pad of his thumb along my cheek, so soft I thought I might crumble beneath the tender touch. “But most of all…right now…you look fuckin’ sad.”

My spirit flailed. A silent cry that erupted from somewhere deep inside me. Lurching toward this stranger who saw me. One who’d noticed and recognized.

This stranger—this stranger I should be terrified of—but one who instead elicited a buzz that burned through my body. “You want to tell me what put that expression on your gorgeous face?” He kept running his thumb over the apple of my cheek.

My throat thickened. “It’s just been a really rough couple of months.”

I almost laughed at myself. It’d been more than rough. I’d lost the person closest to me. But I couldn’t bring her up. Not right then.

Sympathy flickered through his eyes, like whatever emotion he’d just experienced was a match to my own.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

Somehow, I knew he meant it. It wasn’t some platitude.

He angled back, letting his hand drop to the arm of the chair, though he remained right there.

His presence hovering around me.

I blinked, trying to process through what this man made me feel. Why I felt like I knew him. “Why do I get the sense you’ve had a couple of those bad months yourself?”

I guessed I was pushing. More comfortable with this man than I should be. But he made me feel…different.

A grin hooked at the edge of his mouth that I was having a hard time not staring at, though there was a distinct grief woven in it. “We all have, haven’t we?”

“But do we really notice it?”

We all knew pain, and we were all likely grieving in some way, yet we moved through our days without really noticing or acknowledging it.

But I could feel his.

His hand came back to my face, and this time, he rested his entire palm on my cheek. His face dipped in so close I was breathing in his aura.

“Like the way I see yours?”

My nod was shaky. “I think I feel yours, too.”

“And why do you think that is?” His voice dragged lower, sending a rash of tingles lifting across my flesh.

“I…I don’t know. I don’t know why you feel different. Familiar, maybe. Safe.” It all rushed out of me without permission.

But it was true.

I felt safe.

Truly safe for the first time since I was seventeen.

So, when he went to draw his hand away, I hurried to grab it and pressed his heated palm back to my cheek. Desperate to feel something other than the torment that slayed and ruined.

Desperate to fill the cavern that throbbed inside me, even if it was only for one minute. The piece that had been cleaved away without the chance of it ever being restored.

This man who for the first time in years didn’t make me want to run.

I knew this had to be a grief reaction. A survival instinct. Because it shouldn’t be possible, and certainly not with a man who looked like him.

What I really needed to do was drag myself back to the hotel and curl up in bed next to her and wait for the morning to come. But it was morning that I dreaded. Morning that was likely going to rip out the last piece of me that I was clinging to.

And for a little bit, I wanted to feel this. The sear of his palm as it rested on my cheek. The heat of his eyes that flamed as he stared across at me. The pound of my heart and the greed that blistered through his body.

“What are you doing?” His voice had gone gruff.

“I just want to feel.”

His thumb stroked the curve of my cheek, and his breath curled over me as he leaned in even closer.

Cedar and clove.

Hazard and the starkest sort of sincerity.

“And what is it you want to feel?” he grated.

“You. This.” I pressed his hand closer, wondering if it was possible he felt it, too.

The energy that crashed and compelled. A gravity that tugged at every cell in my body.

My body that never reacted, but somehow, right then, it was alive.

Tingling with a need that sped through my veins and lifted chills across the surface of my skin.

The grunt he released sounded like a warning. “Not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Because you don’t want me?” It was out before I could stop it.

Right then, I didn’t care. I didn’t care about shields or reservations or the insanity of what I was doing.

A dark chuckle rolled out of him, and he reached out and framed my face in both of his big, powerful hands. “Don’t want you? I’ve imagined peeling you out of those clothes no less than a hundred times since I saw you alone across the bar, but I’m not sure you’re up for what you’re asking. I’m no gentleman, Emery. Not even close to being a good man. I’m not the dragon slayer you think I am. I’m the dragon.”

Maybe part of me knew that. Could feel what underscored his being. The danger and threat that loomed.

Yet he was the one holding back. The one who made me feel like this.

I didn’t care about anything else right then.

“Please.” My eyes squeezed closed as I begged it, then I gasped and my eyes flew open when I was suddenly swept off the couch and planted on the desk in front of him.

He hadn’t even stood.

He wound my purse off my shoulder before his big hands were gripping me by the outside of my hips, up high under the skirt of my dress, and he angled in so close that I thought he was going to kiss me.

Only he raked out an inch from my lips, “You want me to touch you, Little Warrior?”

And maybe I had fully lost it.

Had gone mad with grief.

But I didn’t care.

My fingers sank into his hair, and I murmured, “Yes.”

THREE

KANE

I gripped her by the outside of the thighs, hands trembling as I peered at her stunning face. That face that kept ripping the air from my lungs every time I looked at her. There was something about her that had me drawn.

I searched for a no in her expression because I sure as hell hadn’t anticipated the night to come to this.

There wasn’t a single speck.

She wanted it.

To be touched.

Adored.

Cherished.

Fingers fisted in my hair and urging me on, that yes still echoing in the air.

Still, I knew I had to be careful with her.

This wasn’t about me.

This was about whatever the hell she was dealing with. Something I wished I had the power to chase away.

Maybe for a little while I could.

Make her forget both her troubles and her name.

“You need to come, sweet girl?” It was a rumble from my tongue as I leaned in and let my nose run the length of her throat.

Her head dropped back, granting me access as those hands pulled hard at my hair. Pinpricks of pain lit in the most delicious way.

My cock turned to stone, pushing at my jeans.

“I don’t even know what that’s like.”

Her response should be a red flag. A reason for me to stop and wrap this woman up and get her safely to wherever she was supposed to be.

But she was moaning the most delectable sound as the tips of my fingers sank deeper into her thighs. Desire coating the air as she whispered, “Show me.”

Greed spiraled through my being, and I let my mouth take the place of my nose. I kissed along the delicate flesh at the side of her neck and up behind her ear.

Imbibing her intoxicating scent.

As sweet as the roses my mother used to grow out in her garden.

“You want me to show you how good I can make you feel? Send you flyin’?” I rumbled it at her flesh.

A tremble rocked her.

Right down that tempting, perfect body.

“I know you can. Make it stop hurting.” It sounded like a prayer. Like a hope that had gone dim.

I edged back to take her in where she was propped on the edge of the desk.

Wearing a black dress, the short sleeves capped in lace, a match to the frilly skirt that was bunched high on her thighs.

The woman short and slim and toned.

Every inch quaked with need.

Sun-kissed locks mussed from her tumble, those amber eyes both alight and despairing. Face the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen.

Which was all fucked up considering the life I lived.

I knew beauty.

Tore through it like a fiend.

But there was something about her that pierced me like a knife. Hooked me in a glance. This familiarity that tugged at my consciousness.

Like she fucking mattered when there was no chance of that.

I didn’t get attached. My life was wrought with too much peril to even entertain the idea, even if I wanted to.

But there was this feeling right there, tugging at my chest.

“Hate that you’re hurting. Would give anything to take it away.”

“Please,” she begged again, and I let my mouth go wandering, up and down her trembling throat and along the defined angle of her jaw.

Dragging down to the exposed skin above the scooped neckline of her dress.

While my hands started gliding, roaming the outsides of her thighs.

Lighting her up the way she was so clearly aching for me to do. The girl giving me a haggard sigh as I slipped the skirt of her dress up higher with the next pass.

She squirmed on the desk.

“Barely touching you, and this body is already about to blow.”

“I need…” The words were wisps, and she trailed off, though she arched from the wood, silently begging me to give it to her.

“I know what you need. I won’t send you away wanting. This is just for you. Not gonna take it beyond this.”

My palms slipped all the way up, riding the curve of her hips, fingers tucking into the sides of her lacy underwear.

I edged back, watching her close as I began to peel them down her slender legs.

She trembled and shook, and she hung onto the edge of the desk like she was worried she might float away. Short gasps ripping from her lungs as she watched me wind them off the black high-heeled wedges she wore on her feet.

“Oh, God,” she choked, eyes wide in some kind of disbelief. Clearly shocked that she was sitting there like this. No question, this was completely out of bounds for her.

But I wanted to take her there. To a place she didn’t go. Remove her from reality.

I took her by the knees and spread her.

Nearly came at the sight.

Her pussy glistening and soaked.

Lust gripped me by the guts, and I had to grit my teeth to keep from pulling myself from my jeans and feeding her my cock.

Mouth watering, my tongue stroked out to wet my suddenly dry lips. “You drippin’ for me, sweet girl?”

Redness crawled up her throat and to her cheeks, though the single word cut into the dense, thick air. “Yes.”

“Good. Just the way I want you.”

Starting at her knee, I kissed a path up the inside of her legs.

Moving from one side to the other.

Showering them in slow, languid kisses.

“Why’s it feel like you are supposed to be right here? Right here at this moment?” I mumbled it at her flesh, not even sure where the inane words were coming from.

“I needed this. I needed you.” Her voice was a plea, and her hands were back in my hair, softer this time, whimpers tumbling from her lips as I moved higher.

I tucked myself up close to her, and I wound my arms under her legs and took hold of the tops of her thighs.

I paused for a fraction of a beat. Eyes going to hers for permission.

Hers burned and flamed and toiled in a way I didn’t quite understand, and I dove in, dragging my tongue through her tight slit.

She cried out, no restraint, just those fingers curling tighter in my hair.

Every inch of her throbbed with want.

I no longer hesitated. My tongue stroked out to get to that swollen bud.

I licked and lapped, driving her high, my insides a wreck because I wanted to take this so much further than she was ready to go.

Dick screaming in possession. My stomach twisted in a way it’d never been.

I smoothed my left hand around her leg, shifting so I could spread her wider, tongue still lapping at her clit.

Carefully, I pressed two fingers inside her tight, slick cunt. Her walls clamped around them.

“Needy girl,” I rumbled as I began to drive them deep, pulsing and stroking as I wound her into disorder.

In one instant, the woman came alive.

Light radiating around her.

Could feel it glowing.

A blinding storm that gathered from the depths of her being.

Didn’t take long to set her off. Her body winding into a vibrating, trembling knot of pleasure before that pleasure splintered apart.

A shout tore from her as the orgasm ripped through her body.

Streaking and shattering.

The walls of her pussy throbbed and pulsed as she gave herself over to the bliss.

Woman flying.

Soaring the way I’d promised.

She rode the wave of her orgasm forever, nearly levitating off the desk while she kept those hands firmly rooted in my hair.

Holding on as if she needed a buoy to cling to.

That’s what I wanted to be.

For tonight.

The one who showed her maybe things weren’t so bleak.

Aftershocks worked through her body, and I slowly peeled myself away so I could stare up at the way she glowed.

“Look at you. Blooming like a morning glory with the first rays of the sun. Coming out of the darkness and coming alive.”

She choked a surprised sound as she gazed down at me, toffee eyes wide and filled with shock.

Turbulence and confusion so clearly wracked her thoughts.

Old fears clawing at her consciousness and awe at what had just gone down carved into her expression.

And I wished I didn’t recognize it. Wished I didn’t see the trauma that had been scored deep inside her.

But I did.

I had seen enough in this twisted life to know.

She ran a trembling right hand through her hair, and she diverted her attention to the wall as she whispered, “Oh my God.”

It was the first time I saw the tattoo on the inside of her forearm.

Saw what was written in a dainty script near her wrist.

Find me in the darkness, bring me to the light.

I took her hand and brought her wrist to my mouth, lips caressing over the words as I murmured, “I would if I could, but I’m not worthy of that.”

What the fuck was I saying?

But my chest stretched full as I issued it, and this tenderness came across her stunning face. A puff of soft air from between those lips as she took the hand I was holding and set her palm on the side of my face. “That’s what you did. Tonight. You made me remember that I’m real. Alive. Even when it hurts.”

I stared at her for the longest time, just swimming in those eyes. In her soul. In this beauty that was rolling out of her.

Finally, I gave her a slight nod of my head then took her by the waist and balanced her on her unsteady feet. I slipped off the edge of the chair and onto a knee, grabbed her black-lace panties, and worked them back up her legs and over her hips, situating her and making sure she was covered.

Exhaling, I pressed a kiss to her belly, not sure what the fuck had come over me, but certain right then this woman held the power to bring me to my knees.

Then I forced myself to stand.

“Come on, let’s get you home before I try to keep you.”

Before I fully stripped her out of those clothes and took her the way I was dying to. Before I pushed into a space I couldn’t go.

She warred, then she shook her head, hands coming out in front of her as she backed for the door.

“No. Stay right there. Let me remember you just like that. Let me remember this.”

A swell of protectiveness ramped inside me. “It’s fuckin’ late, and that asshole⁠—”

“Please,” she cut me off. “Let me have this. Let me keep what happened in this room. I’ll never forget it.”

It went against every instinct I possessed, and as she pressed her back to the closed door, I found myself uttering, “And what if I want to see you again?”

Wistfulness rippled across her mouth. “I don’t live in Moonlit Ridge, and I think you and I both know this was a fleeting moment. A perfect one I’m going to cherish.”

My muscles ticked, the urge to wrap her up clawing through me, and I had to basically pry the word from where it was locked in my soul. “Okay.”

Nah, nothing about her walking out that door felt okay.

She fumbled around behind her to find the knob, and she hesitated, those eyes watching me from across the space.

Energy thrummed between us.

Both soothing and inciting.

She tipped me an awed smile. “Thank you.”

Then she turned and disappeared out the door.

FOUR

EMERY

Flustered, I pushed out through the front door of the bar and stepped onto the wood-plank sidewalk that ran the trendy main street of Moonlit Ridge, California.

Cool air gusted across my overheated flesh.

My skin flushed and flaming.

My heart still erratic and the vestiges of bliss still tickling through my nerves.

Did that really just happen?

I had to wonder if I’d made it up since the second I stepped out from the sanctity of those walls, the grief rebounded, reminding me of what I’d come here to do.

Except, I could still feel the burn of his hands and the imprint of his touch.

It was as if I’d been marked in some intrinsic way.

Altered and recalibrated.

Maybe there’d been a reason for me stumbling into this dive bar looking for a reprieve, after all.

But the reprieve I had found had gone so much deeper than I ever could have imagined.

Verging on impossible.

A bare hope I’d thought would never find fruition.

Guilt threatened to cut off the beauty of it. Guilt that I’d taken even a minute for myself.

For searching for something when this couldn’t be about me.

But maybe I really had needed the affirmation that I was alive. That I could stand after everything.

I hurried down the sidewalk in the direction of the hotel where we were staying. With each step, the hollowed-out cavern inside me howled.

Sorrow rushed in as I was set firmly back in reality.

There were only a few people milling about the small town at this time of night, the sidewalk and streets next to barren.

We were staying on Culberry Street in an old hotel that had been renovated into posh suites that overlooked the upscale street that ran through the main part of the town. A town that had a gorgeous lake and was surrounded by mountains on each side.

A beautiful small town that I was afraid was going to steal the last bit of joy from my mangled, shredded heart.

Head down and heart hammering, I passed by a high-end jewelry store, a bakery, and a tattoo shop called River of Ink. A single light shone from within, and I couldn’t help but think of the man who I’d left behind at the bar.

Of the designs that covered his flesh.

God, I doubted there was a chance I’d ever forget him.

Hugging my arms over my chest, I made it to the intersection and pressed the button for the pedestrian light.

I shifted on my feet as I waited, and my shoulders went rigid when I felt it.

An awareness that washed over me.

A rash of chills erupting on the nape of my neck.

Not the kind the stranger had written on me—a stranger who I’d been so wrapped up in that I hadn’t even caught his name—but the kind that sent unease sinking to the pit of my stomach.

A sense that someone was watching me.

That someone was there.

I would have been afraid that it was that creep who’d gotten handsy with me at the bar, except it was the exact same sensation I’d been getting for the last three months.

Fighting panic, I peered over my shoulder.

Stillness echoed back.

Emptiness.

Emptiness that was manifesting as paranoia.

Except, was it?

My mind traveled to the pictures I’d found in a big box at the back of my sister’s closet. To the files on her tablet, some of them that I couldn’t figure out access to.

Unrest rolled through me again.

The intuition rejecting that it was an accident.

The light switched, and I jogged across the street to the hotel that was directly on the other side.

The hotel was tucked back a fraction from the road, and there was a valet area up front that sat at an angle.

I rushed up the walkway to the double doors.

At my approach, an attendant opened one side to allow me access into the elegant lobby. “Good evening.”

“Thank you,” I murmured under my breath.

Summer had just arrived, but there was still a fire roaring in the enormous rock fireplace that took up the entire right wall. There was a sitting area in front of it. The furniture antiques and oversized leathers. The accents done in deep purples and glittering golds.

I kept my head down as I hurried to the elevators on the far wall. I stepped inside and punched the button for the seventh floor.

Queasiness rushed me as the elevator began to ascend.

I didn’t know if it was due to the alcohol I’d consumed or if it was the surging of sadness that gave me vertigo.

Because now, I felt laden with it.

Soggy with the sorrow.

Yet, somehow, I couldn’t regret finding my way to that bar.

I lifted my fingertips and set them against where my heart still stampeded from his touch. To that spark that promised I was still alive. A seal that I could do this. That I had to do this.

A bell dinged, and the elevator opened to my floor. I moved down the hall to our room, fumbled to get the keycard out of my purse, and pressed it to the sensor.

With a buzz, the lock gave, and I stepped into the lapping darkness of the living area of our suite. I quietly latched the door behind me and tiptoed across the room to the bedroom door that was in the middle of the left wall.

It sat halfway open, and I stalled at the threshold and stood watching the shadows play across the room. Over the two queen beds situated against the wall in front of me.

Mine was empty and still made.

My chest felt as if it might cave when my attention drifted over to the far bed closest to the window.

My mother was asleep, her snore soft where she was under the covers. But it was the tiny thing she had her arm curled over in a subconscious show of protection that made me want to weep.

The locks of her warm, blonde hair messy and wild around her cherub, angel face.

Tears blurred and that vacancy throbbed, and I had to force myself to tiptoe into the attached bathroom.

I started to change out of my dress, and a flush rushed over my body when I thought of the man peeling me out of my underwear. How it’d felt to trust.

To give myself over to the pleasure rather than the fear.

Shoving it off, I dragged on a baggy sleep shirt and shorts, brushed my teeth, then eased back out to my bed and crawled under the covers.

Both exhausted and restless.

I lie staring at the ghosts that danced over the ceiling for the longest time, unable to fall into the bliss of sleep.

Then my crumpled heart sped when I felt the movement to the side and shifted to find her standing at the side of my bed.

“Can I sweep wif you, Auntie Emery?” Her tiny voice was groggy, as if she were still half asleep.

“Of course,” I whispered, and I lifted the covers so she could climb in.

She snuggled in beside me, and I curled my arms around her slight body.

She blew out a contented sigh as she draped her little arm around my neck.

“Wuv you,” she mumbled close to incoherently before she immediately drifted back to sleep.

Her sweet breaths and her steady heart whispered all around me.

While I clung to her with everything I had, my lips pressed to her forehead when I murmured, “I love you forever, Angel Face.”

FIVE

KANE

Daylight poured in through the drapes of my bedroom window, and my eyes blinked open as I was pulled from sleep.

I was face down, spread eagle, in my underwear with my head buried in a pillow. Cock still raging since there’d been no way to rid myself of the need that’d stalked me through the night.

Mind and body trapped by the memory of her. By the taste she’d left on my tongue and the chaos she’d elicited in my spirit.

Had taken my all not to go after her.

Not to chase her out that door.

Hunt her.

At least fuckin’ make sure she’d made it to wherever she was going safely.

But there was something about her last request that had left my feet rooted to the spot. Needing to give her anything and everything she was asking for.

Didn’t mean it wasn’t painful.

How the fuck could a stranger affect me this way?

Felt like a hurricane had come through, annihilating everything in its wake. Leaving me shattered, and I didn’t have a fucking clue why.

I didn’t know what it was about her that had me so spun up. Heart slanting a different direction than I ever let it because I didn’t do entanglements.

Refused to invite in those types of complexities.

But there I’d been, wanting to peel her apart. Unravel all her layers. Or maybe what I really wanted to do was get knitted up in the threads that made up her fabric.

So fucked up.

Groaning, I flopped over and rammed the heels of my hands into my eyes then forced myself out of bed. I grabbed my phone where it was charging on the nightstand and thumbed into the screen.

A grin hooked the edge of my mouth when I saw the slew of messages waiting from the group chat with my crew.

Now these…these were the people who mattered. The only ones I could ever trust. Ones who’d been there at my lowest. Ones who knew me inside and out. All the way down to the rage and the darkness and the greed.

Each of us were willing to lay it all down for the other.

Not one of them were blood, but we were family, through and through.

Our friendship forged in a fire when we’d been nothing but messed up kids running the streets of LA.

A fire that made us stone.

Unbreakable.

I scanned through the thread of the conversation that had started at the ass crack of dawn this morning. Not the one we used for Sovereign business, but the one used basically for giving each other shit.

River

Nolan wants to know when his lazy as fuck uncles are going to take him camping.

Nolan was River and Charleigh’s little boy. Kid was cute as fuck. Almost six and the ultimate fucking joy that was our crew. A symbol of our society. Of what we stood for and why we did it.

It didn’t matter how many depraved monsters we had to put in the ground. The blood that was shed or the crimes that were committed.

He represented our purpose, and we all loved him with everything we had.

Theo

Tell me those were his actual words?

Otto

His dad is River, sooooo…

River

Me? All your seedy asses are the bad influences, but no. He wouldn’t go and break his mom’s heart like that. Kid’s gold. Now when are you cockwads going to take him camping like you promised? Otherwise, it’s gonna be my kid getting his heart broken, and you know I’m not about to stand for that.

Like that was going to happen. Nolan had us all wrapped around every single one of his little fingers.

Otto

Sorry, just having a bit of a hard time working myself up to not having Raven wrapped around me, even if it’s just for one night.

He capped it off with a bunch of winky faces. I could almost hear River’s growl from across town, and a slow chuckle rolled out of me.

Otto was one brazen motherfucker. He loved to taunt River that he’d gotten with his little sister, constantly poking at that burly bear.

If you asked me, dude was lucky River hadn’t chopped off his dick and crammed it down his throat for hooking up with her, but hell, every single one of us knew Raven had been obsessed with Otto for years and Otto had basically worshipped the ground she walked on.

That shit was bound to happen.

It had taken River a minute to come to terms with it, but he finally realized there wasn’t anyone in the world who would love and protect Raven the way Otto would. He’d even gotten down on one knee and put a ring on her finger to prove it.

Didn’t mean River didn’t gag whenever he thought of the two of them getting naked.

River

Don’t make me hop on my bike and ride across town to kick your ass.

Otto

Oh, come now, brother. Know you love me, but not quite the way your sister does.

Another slew of winky faces, though this one with blowing kisses.

I laughed outright. Asshole was really asking for it.

Cash

Don’t think about showing up at my door crying when River comes for you.

I was surprised Cash even chimed in. Dude was such a recluse we rarely heard from him other than when we had society business or an actual family celebration going down.

Don’t get me wrong. He was every bit as dedicated as the rest of us. He was just…different. Locked in his past. Chained in his trauma. Refusing to trust a soul other than us.

Otto

The elusive Cash. How are you, brother?

Cash

Fine.

I could almost hear him grunt it.

Otto

You coming camping?

Cash

Since it’s unlikely any of you assholes know how to pitch a tent, then it’s probably a good idea.

Otto

Oh, I pitch plenty of tents. All thanks to Raven.

River

Otto

So stabby. Think you’d better bring your girl to keep you calm. Actually, sounds like a damned good plan. Think I’ll bring mine, too. Nolan will love it. Both his mommy, his auntie, and all his uncles on a camping trip.

Otto issued it like he was going to have to twist River’s arm, which considering both of them started sniveling whenever they were away from their women for more than five seconds, was a foregone conclusion.

River

Good call.

Exactly my point.

Otto

How about three weekends from now? You’ve got that thing weekend after next…

Could almost hear the shift of Otto’s tone as he touched on Sanctum business. That same unsettledness I’d been riddled with last night rolled through me. That nagging sense that things were going to have to change within my crew.

Guessed it had been coming for a long, long time.

I couldn’t stand aside and let River keep running these jobs. Not when it put him at even greater risk.

It wasn’t like I wasn’t constantly in those types of situations. Running my own gig. No doubt, I should have stood up and intervened a long damned time ago.

Maybe I’d worried it’d put a spotlight on me.

But now that he was with Charleigh and Otto was with Raven?

I couldn’t ignore it any longer.

The last text had been sent more than two hours ago, and I hesitated before I let my fingers fly across the screen.

Me

Works for me, but I think we need to talk about the other situation.

Immediately, the dots popped up before a text blipped through.

Otto

Ah, he lives. Was wondering when you were going to drag your lazy ass out of bed. It’s almost noon, man.

Me

I own a club and three bars, dickwad. These are my normal hours.

Theo

Doesn’t have anything to do with that stunner you went all white knight over last night?

Otto

Ohhhh a stunner. And white knight? Details please.

Theo

One look, and our boy here looked like he was going to come out of his skin. Levitate from his seat.

He had no idea.

River

When is Kane not salivating over some sweet thing?

Theo

Not like this, man. This wasn’t the hunt. Dude had fucking hearts in his eyes and venom in his blood when some prick decided he was gonna get up on his territory.

Otto

Now this I would have paid to have seen.

Theo

Don’t worry, I recorded it. It was a moment that required documentation.

That jagoff better not have.

And what the hell?

Heart eyes?

Me

None of you would have sat idle if you saw what was going down. So you fuck off. And you fuck off. And you fuck off. Cash, you and I are good, man.

I couldn’t help but grin as I sent it, knowing Theo, River, and Otto would get the message.

River

Think you’re right, Theo. Something is up. Kane is the first to brag about his endless conquests, and here he is, getting defensive.

Me

No defense here. Just don’t know why Theo is talking out his ass. Some prick got a little too friendly with a woman who didn’t want the attention at one of my fine establishments. You know that shit doesn’t fly.

After I sent it, I roamed into the en suite bathroom attached to my bedroom.

My place was cool as shit, thanks to Raven who had a knack for design. She’d helped a ton when I’d purchased the old church that I’d converted into Kane’s, the club that I owned.

This old house sat on the far back of the property, and I’d fully renovated it to call it my own.

Everything about it was masculine, including the rambling bathroom. Black wainscoting covered the bottom half of the walls, and the upper portion was a textured mesh of black and bronze. The floors were a white and black checked pattern, and the mirrors and light fixtures were the same bronze as the walls.

An oversized claw-foot bathtub sat beneath a giant picture window. It overlooked the forest at the back of the property where a stream ran through on its way to the lake that was about a mile away.

Yeah, my nights might be filled with disorder but during the day I just wanted a little peace.

I took a piss, washed my hands, then glanced down at my phone where it sat on the veined granite countertop of the vanity as I pulled a tube of toothpaste from the drawer and grabbed my toothbrush.

River

So, what’s this we need to talk about?

Me

Meeting tonight.

I didn’t need to say where or when. We all knew.

It took a second for another text to come through, and I could hear the worry in Otto’s tone.

Otto

All good, brother?

I had my toothbrush stuffed inside my mouth as I tapped out a reply.

Me

Yeah. Just have something we need to discuss.

Otto

Okay. And don’t forget Raven is hosting family get together tomorrow.

A bunch of texts blipped through, everyone saying that they’d see each other tonight and affirming that they’d be at Otto and Raven’s tomorrow for our regular Sunday gathering.

All except for Cash who made one of his lame excuses that he had to bow out on Sunday.

I set my phone down and finished brushing my teeth. As I was shutting off the faucet, the doorbell rang. With a frown, I stilled. I didn’t get a ton of visitors around here, especially on a Saturday.

Was likely Mallory or one of the morning crew at the club needing assistance, so I ambled back into my bedroom, snagged my jeans from where I’d left them on the floor last night, and tugged them on as I walked out of my room and down the second story hall.

I didn’t bother with a shirt.

Could almost feel the agitation roll through the air when the doorbell rang again, and I bounded downstairs, shouting, “Comin’!”

I hit the bottom landing, and I strode across the reclaimed, black-stained wooden floors to the door.

Without peeking out to see who it was, I whipped it open, then I froze when I saw who was standing on the other side.

My stomach bottomed out and my pulse jumped straight into a stampede of anticipation.

Fuck. Me.

Emery.

She was even more gorgeous than I remembered.

Stunning heart-shaped face that I was pretty sure would forever be emblazoned in my mind. Long locks of golden hair falling around her delicate shoulders. Pink, full lips looking like the perfect kiss, something I’d been regretting I hadn’t taken to doing while I’d had the chance.

Even wearing the same chunky heels she’d had on last night, she barely came to my chin. Slight little body that had me itching to glide my hands all over it. Explore every delicious inch.

Which was probably a really fucking idiotic reaction considering the way those mesmerizing eyes went wide with shock when she saw me. The flecks of toffee whirling in confusion and dread.

“Emery?” Her name was a breath.

At my voice, those eyes somehow widened farther, in horror or shock, I couldn’t tell. It was something I should probably ponder a little more deeply, but my brain was short-circuiting as her attention tracked over my bare shoulders and chest and down to my abs.

My dick that had barely started to settle perked right back to life and pressed full at my jeans, far too eager at the prospect that things might not be over between us.

Bottled lust had kept me tossing all night, though I’d been more than happy to contend with the raging case of blue balls if it meant I’d given her what she’d needed.

If I’d made her stop hurting, even if it was only for a second.

But now that she was here? I was the fool who wanted to explore what that might mean. Break every rule I’d ever made for myself and invite her inside and up to my room.

Peel her out of those jeans and that blouse and whatever bits of lace she had on underneath so I could show her what it’d feel like if I truly sent her flying.

“Hey, beautiful. What are you doing here?” I finally managed to ask, voice filling with a question since she seemed a whole lot less excited to see me than I was about seeing her.

A strangled sound locked in her throat, and she was suddenly shaking her head and backing across the covered porch toward the steps.

In an instant, all those fairy tales that had flashed through my mind were being replaced with the hard reality of this world, and I was spinning through the possibilities of what had actually brought her here.

What had marked her in that ghastly fear that turned her skin a pasty white.

Is that why she was here? Was she in trouble? Had she somehow found out who I was and what I did?

The tattoo on the back of my left hand burned, and I fisted it as I tried to control the swell of rage.

I wasn’t so successful considering the question was cracking off my tongue as I stepped out onto the porch. “What’s going on, Emery? Are you in trouble?”

My attention whipped across the vast lawn that fronted my yard and to the dense forest that surrounded my place. Ready to take down any motherfucker who thought to do her harm.

Right here in the light of day.

In front of a thousand people if that’s what it required.

But the only thing out there was a plain white car that was parked at an odd angle next to my motorcycle in front of my porch.

Confusion bound me when I peered at it. A middle-aged woman sat in the front-passenger seat, clearly as agitated as Emery.

Emery who mumbled, “Oh my God. This can’t be happening…”

She was shaking. Shaking and shaking before she suddenly turned and bolted down the steps and back to the car without saying anything else.

What the fuck?

“Emery!” I shouted.

She didn’t slow or turn. She tore open the driver’s door and jumped inside, and the car was in reverse and flying backward before I realized there was another passenger in the back seat.

A child in a car seat who had her face turned as close as she could get it to the window.

Hair the same golden blonde as Emery’s and eyes just as wide.

A little girl.

Protectiveness rushed me, this thing inside me coming alive.

Uncontained.

I stumbled down the porch steps and out onto the gravel on my bare feet, shouting, “Emery, wait! Tell me what the hell is going on.”

It didn’t even penetrate.

She shifted the car into drive and blew down the dirt road, leaving a trail of dust behind her.

“Fuck,” I grunted as I bent over, trying to process what the hell had just gone down.

Why she was here.

How she even knew where I lived.

A grim awareness settled over me, guts a tangle of aggression, thoughts right back to her demeanor when I’d first noticed her last night.

The grief she’d been covered in.

Her reaction to that fucker who’d gotten grabby with her.

Her begging me to make it stop hurting.

And I knew…knew she was in need.

In trouble.

Running in fear.

And I wasn’t just going to stand there and pretend I didn’t know it.

SIX

EMERY

No. No. No. No.

Sickness turned in my insides, and I was worried the alcohol I’d consumed last night might come back up. My stomach churned in a fit of nausea so severe there was a chance I might have to toss the door back open and lose it right there on the ground beside the car.

As if all of this wasn’t humiliating enough.

I did my best to keep it at bay as I threw the car in reverse. The tires peeled out on the gravel as we blazed backward, then I shifted into drive and gunned it down the long driveway.

“What’s going on? Was that not him?” My mother wheezed it in her own turmoil as she shifted to look over her shoulder through the back window.

My heart ravaged violently at my chest. My blood thick and slogging through my veins. Head spinning at finding the man who’d touched me in a way I didn’t let anyone do standing in the doorway. A man I’d already convinced myself I was going to hate.

My natural enemy.

Kane Asher.

How hadn’t I known?

“I’m just not ready.” I had to force the craggy whisper out through the rocks clogging my throat. I clutched the steering wheel, my palms so sweaty I could barely hang on as I struggled to see through the blur of moisture coating my eyes as I sped down the dirt lane.

“I really fink we should go back and talk to him, Auntie! Did you see him? He ran aww the way down the stairs to come say hi.”

I could see Maci’s tiny hands wave through the air with the embellishment, and my chest nearly burst with the force of it.

Or maybe it was caving.

Imploding.

I didn’t know.

Still, I was unable to stop myself from lifting my gaze to the rearview mirror.

Dust billowed behind us, a heavy plume that rose to the sky, but I could still see him in the midst of it.

At the base of the stairs of the gorgeous old house.

The man shirtless and barefoot and so ridiculously attractive that the lingering vestiges of pleasure that still tickled through my body flared.

What a cruel, sick joke.

I could see that his chest was heaving with his own surprise.

With his questions.

Questions that clawed their way toward the car to get to us.

My hands quivered against the steering wheel as my attention flicked to Maci.

Maci who was trying to turn around in her car seat to get a better look.

Regret billowed through.

I shouldn’t have brought her with us. It was a mistake. She didn’t understand the full scope of what was happening.

How could she?

She was four.

Four years old.

My guts tangled in a gnawing of pain, a black hole with a force so great I was sure it was going to swallow me. Suck me down into a darkened, unfathomable abyss where I’d forever drown.

Somehow, I managed to respond. “I saw him, sweetheart, but I think he was busy.”

“We better go back later when he doesn’t got to be too busy then. Besides, I think I got very starving, and we better eat. I got a belly growl. Did you hear it so loud?” She giggled with the last. This child a joy unlike anything I could comprehend.

“It sounds like we should definitely go and get lunch then,” I returned, swallowing around the landslide of horror that rolled in my throat.

“Was it him?” my mom quietly urged. She’d shifted in her seat, concern flagrant as she stared across at me.

Her hair was the same color as all of ours, though she now added color to the roots to cover the grays, and it was cut into a long bob that brushed her shoulders.

I’d always thought my mother was the most beautiful woman on the planet. She still was, though now, the grief had begun to whittle into her features. Carving paths of sorrow that I doubted could ever be repaired.

“I don’t know,” I breathed without any sound. “I think it might have been the wrong address.”

It was a lie.

A blatant lie.

I should have known the second I’d seen his eyes last night. They were exactly the same as hers.

I should have understood why I’d felt that tugging of familiarity. Why the man had somehow made me feel comfortable when it should have been impossible.

Another bout of sickness roiled through my being, and I inhaled a staggered breath. Trying to get myself together. To come up with a plan.

Running seemed like the only solution right then.

“What kinda food do they got here? Did you know I wike hamburgers the bestest, Grammy? And eggs, but we already ate our breakfast, and it was so, so good, but we gotta get some variety and some vegables.”

Her tinkling words were garbled and lisped, and a wash of heavy amusement rolled through me.

Mom shifted farther in her seat and sent Maci a warm smile that was coated in sorrow. “I know you definitely like hamburgers.”

She had to have eaten at least twenty of them since we’d lost my sister three months ago. Maci had been staying with me down the street from my mother and stepfather’s house where we all lived in Wisconsin.

I was a freelance graphic designer, so my schedule was flexible, and I’d spent as much time with her as I could.

Had believed I would raise her.

Then I’d found that letter and it’d become clear we had to come here.

Here, where I was just supposed to leave the last bits of my mangled heart.

“And don’t forget my mostest favorite! Candy!” Maci screeched.

A tender laugh rolled from my mother. “I could never forget that.”

“Because my grammy and my auntie pay really good attention to me.”

“That’s right. Because we love you so much.” Pained affection wisped from my mother’s lips, and she slanted me a glance, turmoil rippling between us that we had to do this.

The weight of that letter throbbed from where it was folded in my purse.

I wanted to take it and throw it in that massive fireplace at the hotel.

Watch it burn.

Pretend it never existed.

Ignore my sister’s wishes.

I know you don’t understand, but I need you to trust me. I could almost hear her voice from the words she’d penned, and I wanted to shun that, too, but how could I?

We made it to the end of the long drive where it passed by a massive old church that had been converted into a nightclub.

Kane’s.

Unease curled through my spirit.

Why had he been at that dive bar last night? He should have been right there, behind those imposing walls, in the strobing lights and the disorder a place like that always invoked.

This man I’d already decided had no place in the life of this little girl.

Not sitting at that booth, stealing my breath with the bare glimpses I’d caught. Not picking me up from the floor when I’d been at my most vulnerable and carrying me into an office.

His office.

At least, that’s what I’d assumed.

I pressed trembling fingertips to my temple to try to soothe the headache I’d woken with that had only grown worse.

A stabbing that pierced behind my left eye.

Apparently, Kane’s wasn’t the only bar he owned.

I’d just been so caught up with the vile image I created of him that I hadn’t allowed myself to consider that picture might extend beyond the boundaries I envisioned.

A picture I’d built in my mind, considering I hadn’t been able to find an actual picture of him online, which had also left a sour taste in my mouth.

It had seemed shady. Like this unknown man I’d learned about in the worst way was trying to keep secrets.

Not even close to being a good man. I’m not the dragon slayer you think I am. I’m the dragon.

The low growl of his voice skated through my memories.

What he’d claimed and the peril he’d radiated.

I’d known it.

Known he was dangerous, but at the time, I’d wanted it.

The risk and the hazard and the thrill of energy he’d elicited in me.

But now…?

I sucked for the oxygen that had become scarce.

This was Maci’s father.

This menacing, terrifying man who spent his nights at bars doing God knew what.

I nearly scoffed at myself.

After last night, I was pretty sure I knew exactly what that was.

More than that? My gut told me it went so much deeper.

Corruption seeded in those beautiful, magnificent hands.

Bile rushed up my throat.

I could not think of him like that. He’d…been with my sister.

I tried to blink the image away.

I had to focus on what was important.

Maci.

And that kind of lifestyle was not what she needed.

She needed stability.

Consistency.

A family.

She needed to be loved and cherished and adored.

At the T in the road, I made a left at Culberry Street and drove back into the main part of town, making a right on Broadway then a left at 9th.

“There’s a little café I saw last night that I thought you might like,” I forced out, trying to cover the tension that radiated from me. “It has some yummy treats for after lunch.”

I noticed the little sandwich shop while I was wandering last night.

When I felt as if I’d been completely lost.

Searching for something that no longer existed.

Aching in every recess of my being.

It hadn’t been long before I found the vapid sanctuary of the bar and the momentary respite of his touch.

“Yay! You know I really like the treats, Auntie Em!” Maci shouted.

“That’s right, I do,” I whispered as I found an open spot and parallel parked at the curb.

I climbed out and went to Maci’s door and unbuckled her, then Mom and I each took one of her hands and guided her down the sidewalk toward the sandwich shop.

This street had a bit of a different vibe than Culberry. Where Culberry seemed upscale and trendy, this one felt quainter. The shops and cafés cozier, exuding that traditional small-town charm.

The pace of the few people ambling around was slowed, all while my mind raced and spun.

Spun with the implications.

As hard as I tried to squelch them, memories kept coming at me from last night.

Flashes that struck and impaled with each blink of my eyes.

His hands and his mouth and the freedom that I’d found.

The way I’d wanted to fully give for the first time in so many years that I didn’t even remember what it was like to want.

And God, I had wanted.

And it was him.

Him.

I stumbled a step as I was hit with a wave of dizziness.

“Are you okay?” Mom asked from over the top of Maci’s head, a frown tugging deep in her brow.

I barely gave her a nod. “Yeah. I’m just tired.”

Just tired and anguished and disgusted at the mistake I’d made.

“Here it is,” I said with feigned excitement when we came to the cute little restaurant called Cup Café that was open for breakfast and lunch. It was fronted by large windows, and both the exterior and interior were done in rustic, whitewashed woods.

I started to pull open the door when I was distracted by a woman who stepped out from the flower shop next door with a giant bouquet in her arms.

Maci jumped between me and Mom the second she saw her. “Hey, hey! You sure got a lot of flowers! I bet you got a billion!”

The woman shifted the bouquet around, angling it to the side so she could peer around it.

She had black hair that she had twisted up in a knot with flowers in it, and her eyes were nearly as dark as her hair. Her makeup thick and done to precision. So strikingly beautiful it was hard not to stare.

But she had this huge smile that instantly wrapped around you and made you feel welcome, a reaction I didn’t typically have to strangers of any kind, but she managed it, anyway.

I would guess she was about the same age as me, maybe a little younger. Twenty-six, give or take a year or two.

She wore a white and red floral dress that hugged her curves and these super high heels that made my feet hurt just looking at them.

“Well, hello!” Her voice was warm as she turned her attention to Maci. She didn’t hesitate to move forward and kneel in front of her. “Do you like flowers?”

“Everyone likes flowers.” Maci said it like anyone would be ludicrous to think otherwise.

A trilling laugh rolled through the woman. “You and I must be of the same heart because I think the exact same thing. Who doesn’t love flowers?” She glanced up at me and my mom with a smile. “I mean, unless you have a nasty case of allergies, which I think would be really awful, pitiful luck.”

“The pitifulest,” Maci agreed, wide-eyed and completely somber.

A tiny jolt of laughter ripped from me.

The woman held the bouquet out in front of her. “Do you want to pick out your favorite?”

“Really?” Maci asked in her cute lisp as she swayed between me and Mom.

The woman lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Guess what? You were totally right, and I do have almost a billion in my store, so you can have any of them you want.”

“I knew it,” Maci whispered back, just as low.

Then my niece tipped her head back so she could look up at me, those mesmerizing green eyes swirling as she silently asked for permission.

“It’s okay. Just remember to say thank you.”

“Well, I always say fank you, so you don’t even got to worry about it. My mommy taught me I got to have really good manners, Auntie.”

I didn’t know whether to weep or laugh as Maci pulled her hands from us, and she bent forward so she could carefully inspect each bud.

Finally, she settled on a peach-colored tulip. “I fink this one is the prettiest.”

“It is beautiful, just like you.” The woman pulled it from the bouquet and handed it to Maci. My niece beamed and grinned and swayed from side to side. “Guess I gotta give you two fank yous.”

“And that is two ‘you’re welcomes’.” The woman tapped Maci on the nose twice before she stood.

Softness filled her pretty face. A genuineness rarely seen. “Hi, I’m Raven, and I own this flower shop, which is pretty much the best flower shop in all of Moonlit Ridge, if I do say so myself, but of course, there are only two of them, so…”

She did a little curtsy, and I would have giggled if it weren’t for the rocks still lodged in my throat.

I tried to clear them away before I spoke. “Hi, Raven. I’m Emery, this is my mom, Wendy, and this sweet one is my niece, Maci. That was really kind of you.”

“Very nice,” Mom added. “I think you made our Maci’s day.”

“Well, I’m a personal believer that flowers always brighten our days, no matter what the situation. A hug when we need it most and a gentle reminder that there is always beauty around us, even when it’s difficult to see it. I think it was perfect timing that I ran into you.”

Her gaze swept back to Maci. Normally, someone coming up and talking to her would set me on edge. But there was something so utterly sincere about her that I felt at ease.

No threat when it seemed like that’s the only thing this town could be.

“Perfect timing,” I whispered.

Her head tilted to the side as she looked between the three of us. “Are you new to town? I haven’t seen you around before, and not to brag or anything, but I’m excellent at remembering faces.”

“Oh, no. We’re just visiting.” I couldn’t help but plant my hands on Maci’s shoulders. As if that contact could will it into being. That I might stand the chance of keeping her with me.

Clinging to the hope that Kane Asher would be completely uninterested in what I’d come here to tell him.

Unable to imagine a man—someone like the one I’d met last night—would want to take on a child.

Right?

He wouldn’t.

And there was no way I could trust him if he did.

Disappointment flashed through Raven’s features, and she gave a little pout. “Oh, bummer. I was hoping you were staying. I have a nephew who’s almost six.” Her gaze dropped to Maci. “I bet he would have loved to meet you.”

Maci brightened, the child nothing but a beaming light. So badly she wanted to belong after she’d been ripped from everything she knew. “Is he so big? I’m only four…”

She held up four chubby fingers.

“But I really need to get a new friend because I don’t live at my old house anymore, and I don’t got a preschool, but I fink I need to find one because it’s gettin’ time I learned to read.”

Curiosity filtered into Raven’s expression as she glanced at me. I wondered what she saw because compassion followed it, the woman staring at me for a beat of sympathy before she cast a smile at Maci.

“He might be a big boy, but I think he would love to be your friend. So, if you happen to stick around for a while, you know where to find me.”

She hooked a thumb back at her shop.

“Wif a billion flowers.” Maci waved her flower overhead.

“That’s right. I’ll be right here with all the flowers, hoping to brighten your day.”

Shifting the bouquet around, she straightened and gave us a little wave. “It really was nice to meet you. If you need anything at all, please don’t hesitate to pop by. It’s what I’m here for, and I’m pretty much a great time if you need someone to show you around town. I think we would really get along.”

“You fink my auntie needs a new friend, too?”

Raven reached out and ran her fingers through a lock of Maci’s hair, though she peered over at me when she murmured, “Yeah, it looks like she might.”

My chest stretched tight, and I couldn’t even respond, so my mother did for me. “We really appreciate that.”

“Any time. And when I say any time, I mean any time,” she peeped. “Now, I have to run these flowers to the restaurant across the street because they need their day brightened, too.”

She gave a wink before she turned and stepped up to the edge of the sidewalk. She looked both ways before she flounced across the street, her high heels clicking on the pavement as she went.

A surprise whirlwind that somehow left me with a faint smile pulling at my lips.

Mom looked back at me. “Well, she was quite…friendly.”

“That’s right, because she gots a really good friend for me,” Maci peeped as she slipped her tiny hand back into mine.

Mom’s gaze turned intense. Emphatic. What she’d been telling me all along.

We had to. We had to.

But I had no idea how to see this through. Not when it would be the hardest thing I’d ever done.

SEVEN

KANE

Stunned, I stared at the trail of dust they left behind them, bare feet pressing into the sharp, jagged rocks underneath.

Mind fucking spinning.

A riot as I tried to process what the hell had just happened.

Heart manic as I toiled through what could have brought her to my door.

As I wondered how the fuck she’d found me.

At my house that very few people knew about, and the ones who did would not be freely giving up that information.

We kept that shit under lock and key.

So that tiny detail was what I really should be freaking out about, but the only thing I could consider then was the fact that she’d been here.

The absolute panic that had been rolling from that tight little body.

The only logical conclusion I could come to was that she was in trouble.

Except…

I scrubbed a palm down my face, trying to see through the disorder that still billowed through the air.

There was something that didn’t sit right about that, either. I couldn’t shake the sense that she’d been caught off guard at finding me at the door. Like she’d been expecting someone else.

That middle-aged woman in the car and the little girl in the back.

My stomach twisted.

Fuck.

Emery was a mom, and if that didn’t have me itching in all sorts of different ways. Truth that I didn’t mess with that bullshit since the weight of Sovereign Sanctum was load enough.

The burden we carried.

The oaths we made.

All while the thought of leaving them unprotected sent a wave of possession rising so high and wide there was no escaping it.

She’d left running. Fleeing the scene with no intention of ever being found.

Panicked and afraid.

That was not something I could just leave alone.

This sense that her being here had been profound. Like my entire fucking world had just been flipped.

It took until the dust finally settled for me to finally pull my act together enough to move.

Turning, I bounded back up the porch steps and into the house, bare feet thudding over the hardwood floors and up the staircase to the second level.

I didn’t slow as I darted down the hall to the bedroom at the end, and I hurried across to the bathroom so I could grab my phone where I’d left it on the vanity.

My fucking fingers would hardly cooperate as I thumbed into the screen and found the number I needed, my pulse erratic and my breaths shallow as I lifted it to my ear.

It rang three times before he finally answered. “What’s up, man?”

“Cash, need your help.” Couldn’t stop it from coming out a growl. Any lightness I normally possessed stripped away. Paring me down to this volatile desperation that made me feel like I was going to blow.

“Thought it was Otto who was going to need my help protecting him from River.” His voice was wry.

Rare as fuck that the guy was actually in a decent mood, cracking half a joke, but I didn’t have time to delve into any of that.

“Need you to do something for me,” I gritted.

He must have finally heard the urgency in my tone, the fuckin’ undercurrent of panic, because he went silent for a beat before he asked, “What’s going on?”

“Need you to find someone for me.”

Cash was Sovereign Sanctum’s hacker. Dude could dig out any information we needed, or when the situation called for it, create it as if it were fact.

“Who?” Worry cut through the word.

“A woman. Her name is Emery.”

“And…?”

And fuck…

I gripped the back of my neck as I started to pace in the confines of the bathroom.

“And that’s all I’ve got other than I think she’s staying here in Moonlit Ridge.”

Another beat of silence before disbelief filled his voice. “This the girl you hooked up with last night that Theo was talking about? Don’t tell me you’re trying to get me involved in some kind of stalker shit. Think you know we go the opposite of that.”

Was he kidding me?

And hooked up with her? My aching cock begged to differ.

“Do you know me at all, man?”

He grunted. “Know the way your ass flies through women.”

“Then you know I don’t get infatuated.” At least, I hadn’t. But I was teetering on some kind of precipice that made me feel like I didn’t know myself at all.

This gravity that burned me through.

A flashfire I couldn’t snub.

“Then what’s it for?”

“Can you just fucking trust me and get the information I need?”

He seemed to war for one second before he muttered, “Fine.”

I could hear the heavy pound of his boots as he stomped through his cabin, and I could tell he was moving into the locked room where he had a shit ton of equipment for all the stalking he did. I heard the squeak of his computer chair as he sat down, then the clacking of a keyboard.

“You got something more for me than just a first name?”

“Nope.”

“This shit is ridiculous,” he grumbled.

“Are you telling me you can’t handle it?”

“Nah, just saying I don’t know what the hell you’re up to, but you’d better be careful, whatever it is.”

My phone vibrated with an incoming message, and I pulled it away so I could read it.

Cash

Pick your poison.

Cash

Emory Ryson – Summer rental 3495 W. Oak Lane, Unit 2

Cash

Emery Voss - The Lodge at Moonlit Ridge Room 7143 Reserved through Monday

Dude was good, that was for sure.

“Don’t be a dumb fuck with how you use that information and make me regret it, yeah?”

Relief gusted through me. “Don’t worry, brother. This info is going to be used exactly as I intended it.”

I hung up without saying anything else and hurried into the closet, grabbed a fresh tee from a hanger and tossed it on, before I was back out in my bedroom and shoving my feet into my boots. I had them laced and was downstairs on the count of three, nabbing my keys from the entryway table before I went flying out the door.

Took the porch in four steps and ran to my bike.

I’d had it since all the way back when my crew and I had ridden with the Iron Owls MC, when our shady lives had taken a sharp dive into the depraved.

It was the first bike I’d ever owned, and it was my fucking pride and joy.

Matte black and accented in a dusty brown. Wide and thick, squatty where she sat low to the ground.

I swung my leg over and hooked the heel of my boot on the kick starter, driving it hard as I pulled back on the accelerator.

Took two tries before the powerful engine sputtered to life with a roar.

Then I turned it to the driveway and flew.

One destination in mind.

Because there was one name that resonated.

One thing that pulsed through me with certainty.

Emery Voss.

And somewhere inside me, I knew she had a secret that was going to change everything.

EIGHT

EMERY

I sat beneath the window in the bedroom of our hotel room.

Sunlight glinted in through the gap in the drapes, the bright rays streaming in and clashing against the duskiness that held fast to the rest of the room.

My elbows were rested on my knees, and I held the letter dangling between two fingers.

It was strange that something featherlight could feel as if it weighed a million pounds.

It’d taken me two months to build up the strength to go through her belongings. That long to bring me to do it, though I’d promised my mother it was something I would eventually tackle.

The problem was, I’d been wholly unprepared for what I found. The large keepsake box that had been hidden at the back of her closet. Inside were uncountable letters to Jana, our best friend, who we’d forever lost on that horrible night.

Tortured letters that had begged for forgiveness.

She’d also printed out a ton of pictures and news articles related to the incident, and she’d left paranoid thoughts and speculations all over the edges of them.

When I’d opened her tablet, I’d found much of the same. Tons of articles that had been saved. Letters that she’d handwritten on the writing app, most of them to Jana.

Laments from when our protected world had been ripped open to the horrors and atrocities that really existed. Things we’d been warned about but, in our youth, had been foolish enough to believe could never touch us.

We’d both been stricken by it.

I’d been scarred so badly that I’d turned in on myself.

Sure, I’d tried to move beyond it.

Going to college the way I’d planned.

Trying to act in a way I thought was normal.

Attempting to date and love and explore.

But I’d ended up this shell, a once outgoing girl who’d had dreams of opening a clothing boutique with my sister, who instead, had ended up hidden behind a computer and locked in her house.

Secluded.

Shrouded.

But I hadn’t known the way Emmalee had obviously suffered. The guilt she’d carried since she’d been the one who’d convinced us to go out that night.

It hurt that she hadn’t shared it with me, but I guessed I hadn’t shared the depths of my fears, either.

But what had really ripped the ground out from under me was the letter that had been left with the rest of these things, my name at the top of it.

I’d been shocked when I read it.

A cold dread curling through me when I saw her wishes.

It was a chill that hadn’t left me since.

As if to underscore my qualms, a bout of laughter echoed from the front room, Maci’s tinkling and my mother’s lower as they played memory with a deck of cards.

“I found it!” Maci shrieked, her laughter wild.

“What? How did you remember?” my mother sang.

“Because I got a good brain. My mommy says I’m extra smart, don’t you know?”

I could almost see Maci’s adorable nod to emphasize the point. The smile that would be on her face.

“I’m going to be an astronaut and fly aww the way up in the sky.”

“To the moon?” my mother played along.

“No way, Grammy, not the moon. We already been there. I gotta go to Mars or Venus.”

My spirit clutched because I knew she didn’t understand that her mommy would never get to tell her that she was smart again. Wouldn’t get to see her grow and become an astronaut or a doctor or whatever amazing thing that she would become.

Blowing out a strained sigh, I forced myself to unfold the letter, and for what had to have been the thousandth time, I let my eyes trace over the flowing script that I knew so well.

Dear Emery,

If you found this, then I guess I’m gone. God, I can’t even bring myself to imagine what that might be like. Not being here with you. Not being here with her.

Our childhood was so simple and so good. Do you remember how we always played? Laughing. Teasing. Sharing secrets that neither of us could ever keep since we could never keep a thing from the other. The two of us were the only thing either of us ever needed.

Except, I kept a secret from you. I told you that I didn’t know who Maci’s father was. I told you he was some random guy that I hooked up with after going out with friends for drinks one night.

But that was a lie.

I knew his name.

I shouldn’t have kept it from either of you. It was wrong, but I had my reasons.

And if I’m gone, then he needs to know about Maci. He needs to, Emery. I know you don’t understand, but I need you to trust me.

Go to him. Find him. Give him the chance to raise her. She deserves to have a father like him. I believe he’ll know what to do. He’ll protect her and take her into his sanctum. I know it.

I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt you, especially if it comes down to a situation like this. I know how much you love her and would do anything for her.

So please, do this for me.

You are my other half. Not my opposite, but the one I see when I’m looking in the mirror. My confidant. My heart. My twin.

My sweet, sweet sister.

I love you so much. Forever. No matter where this life takes us or when it ends.

Xoxo ~ Emmalee

Kane Asher

17364 Dove Trail Lane

Moonlit Ridge, California

Hot tears poured down my cheeks as I read the last of the words, and I sniffled, trying to sop them up with the back of my hand.

Why, Emmalee? Why didn’t you tell me? Why wouldn’t you trust me with this?

Because that little girl had been the other half of my heart for the last four years, and what I didn’t trust was putting her in a stranger’s hands.

Did she even know this guy? His lifestyle? His conscience? Had she been secretly dating him?

Had she not noticed what I immediately recognized last night?

The wickedness he exuded that made me certain he was dangerous?

Maybe that’s why I’d wanted him so badly. Because so often it was only fear that could chase away the numbness.

My thoughts moved to the part that had bothered me the most. I believe he’ll know what to do. He’ll protect her and take her into his sanctum. I know it.

That unsettled feeling swamped me again. The sense that something had been off about my sister’s death that had been ruled an accident. I’d felt it from the beginning.

My therapist had told me it was only part of my grieving process. The denial and unacceptance of the facts.

But I couldn’t shake the dread that kept sinking way down deep to my bones. That feeling that something was all wrong.

I swiped my face with the sleeve of my shirt before I inhaled a shaky breath, and I tucked the letter back into my bag then stepped out into the main room.

Maci was on her hands and knees on the floor, hovering over the cards that were spread out on the carpet in front of her, the child searching for the match to a queen of eights. Wearing an adorable yellow sundress that made the gold flecks in her emerald eyes glint and twinkle when she looked up at me.

Her pale features angelic and soft, cheeks chubby with the cutest dimple in the middle of her chin.

“Auntie, look it!” She sat back on her knees and grabbed her stack of matches and held them high. “I got so many cards. I really do think I’m extra smart.”

“Wow. You did get so many,” I murmured as I slowly eased their direction, voice rough as I struggled to speak. “You’re putting your poor grammy to shame.”

“No way, Auntie. Grammy’s got no shame, don’t you worry. She’s the best grammy I got.”

My gaze slanted to my mother.

“She’s pretty amazing,” I whispered.

Mom’s head tilted to the side. “And her auntie’s pretty amazing, too. So strong and wise.”

Ha.

Wise.

I wish I would have been last night.

“That’s right, she’s very pretty. Just like my mommy,” Maci rambled as she went on the hunt for another card.

Another stake to the heart.

I inhaled around it, getting myself together enough to speak. “I think I’m going to go get some fresh air.”

Worry twisted Mom’s brow. “Do you want us to come with you?”

“No, I’ll be fine.”

I needed the quiet. The solitude. Some privacy to figure out what in the world I was supposed to do.

“Okay then.” It wasn’t quite an agreement, and before she could argue any more, I moved to Maci and dipped down to press a kiss to the crown of her head then slipped out the door.

It clanged shut behind me, and the second I hit the hallway, I rushed toward the elevator. Once I got there, I smacked the button, willing it to hurry. I watched the dial as it climbed, then blew out a breath when it swept open and there was no one inside.

I stepped in and pushed the one for the lobby, and my entire body vibrated as I waited for it to descend.

Feet itching with tormented energy.

I was almost ready to run when it came to a stop at the bottom and the bell dinged as the doors swept open.

Only I startled when a crash of energy suddenly banged against me when someone stepped into the elevator before I could escape it.

A riptide of severity.

The man ridiculously tall and wide.

Muscled body hard and packed.

Rippling with that intimidating strength that radiated from him like an omen.

Covered in swirling designs that crawled down his veined arms and onto the backs of his big, big hands.

Light brown hair, short on the sides and longer on top.

As I stood there, I realized he was far more intimidating than I remembered.

His aura fierce.

Feral and untamed.

Caught in the shock at finding him there, the only thing I could do was stumble back at the power of it, gasping for breath as I leaned against the mirrored back wall of the elevator.

In one instant, his expression morphed through a thousand things.

Surprise and a charge of relief. Possession and confusion and a steely determination that knocked my knees.

The worst was the scourge of lust that scraped over my flesh as his eyes flashed over me.

I needed to dart around him. Get out of this elevator.

Run.

Freaking do something.

But I was stuck. Pinned to the wall as he pushed all the way into the elevator, blocking my path.

A rugged refuge that towered.

Or maybe he really was the dragon.

There to fly me away to his dungeon where I’d be trapped.

Everything about him muddled my senses.

Because I should have screamed and fought my way out when he reached over to the panel and pressed the button that sent the doors gliding shut behind him, but I was silent.

My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.

He pushed a second button for the top floor.

Severity ricocheted through the cramped space as the elevator began to ascend. A rush of dizziness had me canting to the side, fingers digging into the slick surface of the mirror to keep myself standing.

“What are you doing here?” I finally managed to rasp, the words thin and shaky.

He emitted a sound of disbelief.

Dark and decadent.

As dark and decadent as his voice. “Guess we must be on the same page considering I came here to ask you the exact same thing.”

He took a single step forward. The floor rumbled beneath my feet.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I defended.

The elevator kept rising, flicking through the lights on the panel. When we were near the top, he reached out and pounded the heel of his fist on the red emergency button.

The elevator skidded to a halt, and an alarm blipped for one second before everything went still and silent.

The only sound was the harsh rake of my breaths and the hemorrhaging of my heart.

It felt as if my lifeblood was pouring out and gushing onto the floor.

The presence of this man a fatal blow.

He turned back to me, his obscenely handsome face warped in a cross of incredulity and sincerity.

“Don’t you?”

Panic surged, and I pushed forward, trying to get around him to get to the dial.

Only he took me by the wrist.

Gently, though it might as well have been a shackle with the way a flashfire of heat whipped up my arm.

Those eyes held me as fiercely as his massive hand.

Eyes so vibrantly green they would spark like the clearest emerald except for the golden flecks that tempered the starkness with texture and depth. The rings that encircled the irises that always seemed to glow.

The same eyes as Maci possessed.

Though his smoldered.

Dangerously.

“Don’t.” It was the softest plea that he issued too close to my mouth.

“Don’t what?” I managed to fire back through gritted teeth, fighting the awareness in my body that didn’t seem to give a damn about the warning bells that were going off in my mind.

“Don’t run from me.” His voice was coarse.

I managed to find a frazzled huff of disbelief as I dug around for the defenses I needed to erect. “Don’t run from you? You’re the one holding me hostage in my hotel elevator. And how did you even know I was staying here? Creeper much?”

He didn’t relent. Didn’t let go. He only leaned in closer.

The scent of cedar and clove invaded my senses.

“You’re the one who showed up at my door this morning then promptly ran once I answered it. You want to tell me why you were there?”

“I got lost.” I tried to spit it, but it came out shaky.

With a tip of his head to the side, he edged forward.

The longer pieces of his warm, brown hair fell forward and brushed over the sharp lines of his forehead.

The vision rushed.

Fingers yanking at his hair, my body afire, a need so distinct coursing through me that I couldn’t see.

His hands on my hips as he spread me.

His head between my thighs as he shot me into an oblivion I hadn’t known existed.

Those eyes as he’d looked up at me.

Ensuring I was with him. That I wanted to be with him. That I felt safe. That for a moment, I was forgetting everything.

I gasped around it, trying to purge the memory from my brain, but he had to go and exhale this seductive sound that made me sure he knew exactly where my thoughts had been.

“You got lost and randomly showed up at my door?” His voice was a rough scrape whispered near my lips. “The man who had you spread out on his desk the night before? You just randomly showed up at his door the next morning?”

My knees knocked, but I managed to force out, “Yes.”

“No need to lie to me, Little Warrior.”

Little Warrior.

Tingles ran through me. Head to toe.

That’s what I had been doing for years.

Fighting.

Fighting the fears.

Fighting the grief.

Fighting the demons so I could find who I was supposed to be.

But right then?

What I was really fighting for was Maci.

“Know you’re in trouble.” He rumbled it like a threat.

Confusion narrowed my eyes, and the question slipped free before I could contemplate what I was opening myself up to. “What do you mean?”

His thumb began to stroke over the sensitive flesh at the inside of my wrist, and it took a second for me to realize what he was touching.

The words that I’d forever marked on my body.

Find me in the darkness, bring me to the light.

Fear. Gratitude. Hope. Grief.

They were all knitted in those ten little words.

“You think I can’t see the ghosts that play in your eyes?” he rumbled.

My chest clutched. God. He shouldn’t see. Shouldn’t know.

“I know you’re afraid of something. That you’re running or hiding. That you’re scared.” His thick throat bobbed as he swallowed, his voice deepening further as he murmured, “I’ll hold it if you’ll let me.”

A gush of air escaped my throat. I’d been afraid for so many years I no longer remembered what it was like not to be. But this fear had nothing to do with whatever he’d sensed in me the same way as I could sense the darkness in him.

This was about what my sister had asked me to do.

“And your little girl…” He trailed off, his tongue stroking his bottom lip in clear agitation.

My little girl.

My eyes went wide. I finally understood what he thought. The assumptions he must have made when he saw her in the car. He thought we were running from someone who was trying to hurt us, when I was pretty sure he was the only one who could hurt us right then.

I let go of a ragged exhale, reservations seeded deep when I finally gave. “We need to talk.”

Surprise seemed to bluster through his face, then he dipped his head, stepped back, and asked, “Where’s your daughter?”

Not my daughter. Your daughter.

Throat thick, I forced out, “She’s with my mother.”

“Good,” he said, then he shifted around so he could jam at the emergency button again before he pushed the button for the hotel lobby.

The elevator sped toward the bottom floor.

Every bone in my body felt brittle when the door dinged open, and I was barely able to move as he shifted to set his palm on the small of my back and he ushered me out.

A shudder ripped through.

I had to get myself together.

My reaction to him was not okay.

Unacceptable.

A security guard was standing near the elevator, on his phone and obviously calling for help.

Kane lifted a casual hand. “Sorry about that. I accidentally bumped into the emergency button. All is well.”

The lie fell out of him as if it were nothing.

He was clearly a pro.

He didn’t slow as he hurried me through the lobby and out onto the sidewalk in front.

Warm air instantly engulfed me, my skin slicked in sweat, though I doubted it had much to do with the summer heat.

It was the boiling that convulsed from within.

“Where are we going?” I finally managed.

“Someplace private.”

He snatched my hand with his that was tattooed with the Ss, and I nearly toppled at the severity that blistered through my being.

Without speaking, he guided me around the valet parking area and to the side of the hotel where there were a row of parking spots.

He hauled me in the direction of a motorcycle that was every bit as menacing as him. It was in an area that wasn’t really even a spot where white lines cut across the pavement to keep people from parking there.

Obviously, he wasn’t one for rules.

Alarm blared when I realized his intentions, and I dug my heels into the concrete. “Oh, no. That is not going to happen.”

Was he insane?

I didn’t even know him, and he wanted me to get on the back of that death trap?

“Not sure what you’re referring to,” he rumbled.

“I’m not getting on that thing.” I flailed a flustered hand at it.

It was almost completely black, the metal smoked and shadowed. The only parts that had color were the gas tank, which was a muted hue of brown, plus a couple of lines that matched it on the fenders.

It sat low to the ground, the body and tires wide and squatty.

Everything about it was fierce and foreboding.

As foreboding as the man was right then.

All ferocious steps and desperate measures.

He turned around, big body towering over me as he dipped down close to my face.

“If you want to ride me, gorgeous, then you’re also going to have to get used to riding on the back of my bike.”

The words were low.

Wicked, impure temptation.

My jaw had to have dropped to my feet.

Was he serious?

Was he seriously going to talk to me like that?

After…

Except he didn’t know why I was there. No question, those types of insinuations would be extinguished the second he found out who I was.

Who I was related to.

What this meant.

And he needed to know.

He had to know.

I owed it to Emmalee.

So, I sucked the reservations down, swallowing hard as I lifted my chin. “Fine.”

A smug grin grew on his impetuously handsome face. “That’s what I thought.”

Only he had no idea I wasn’t conceding to his suggestion.

I was conceding to my sister.

He remained facing me, walking backward as he led me the rest of the way to the motorcycle, then he turned and swung his leg over the seat and sank down onto the leather.

Tattooed arms stretched out, those big, big hands wrapping around the handlebars.

Innocently vicious and effortlessly brutal.

I thought I saw it right then.

That he could steal my heart if I let him.

And that was what terrified me most.

NINE

KANE

“Climb on,” I said, voice rough.

Emery looked around like she might be searching for a place to hide.

“You ever ride on a bike before?”

“Once,” she whispered in that sultry voice. One I doubted she had the first clue went straight to my dick.

“And you mean to tell me it wasn’t your favorite thing you’ve ever done?” I tried to instill as much lightness into it as I could find. But it was difficult when I was looking at her like this.

The way I felt all fucked up at the sight of her.

This clashing toil of wanting to glut and devour, get lost in that tight little body, all while I had the overwhelming urge to wrap her up to protect it.

Shield her from whatever haunted those gorgeous eyes.

Had never had a reaction like this to a woman before. Not once. Hadn’t even known it was possible.

Sure, the woman was stunning.

This riot of staggering, rare beauty.

I’d be a liar if I said it didn’t take everything I had not to reach out and run my fingers through that lush fall of blonde hair. Soft, wavy locks, a shimmery gold woven with streaks of bronze.

It skimmed over her bare shoulders and arms that were exposed by the dressy pink tank top she wore. The neckline V’d and ridged in scalloped lace, the straps thin and accentuating her delicate angles.

It was tucked into the fitted jeans she wore. Jeans that hugged the slight flare of her hips.

Every line of that face defined, a carving of beauty, her jaw rigid and held in her sweet volatility.

My stomach twisted with the way those pink, plump lips looked like someone had just kissed the fuck out of her.

Swollen and ripe.

I itched, overcome with a swell of possession.

The errant thought hitting me that I wanted every single one of those kisses to belong to me.

So wayward and faulty that I had no clue what the fuck had come over me.

But more than all of that?

It was the energy she emitted that had me trapped. This thing that made me feel like she was supposed to be right here, right now.

“No, not my favorite thing.” Her voice was shaky and shallow.

I let a grin hitch the edge of my mouth. “Trust me, beautiful, I’m about to change that.”

Anticipation twisted my guts in a fist of greed when Emery took three tentative steps forward as she mumbled, “You’re awfully confident.”

“Simply know what I have to offer.”

Mostly the way I wanted to make that body come alive in a thousand different ways.

Watch her glow and shine.

Wipe the fear away.

She approached my bike like it might reach out and bite her.

I stretched out a hand, trying to remind myself that getting her alone wasn’t what this was about.

This was going back to the questions she evoked when she’d shown up at my door. Questions it felt critical to get the answers to.

She’d been there for a reason, and not because she’d been lost.

Maybe it’d been simply because she was looking for me. And fuck, some flawed spot inside me wanted her to do it.

Find me.

Completely.

I almost laughed.

Some flawed spot?

Like my entire fucking life wasn’t flawed?

Treacherous and grim?

One step away, Emery paused. Those entrancing, toffee-kissed eyes swirled with uncertainty.

All the playfulness I’d been fronting drained away. “This bike is an extension of me, Emery. You don’t have to be afraid.”

Skepticism filled her huff. “That probably gives me all the more reason to be.”

I could feel her trembling as she carefully lifted her leg so she could swing it over. I helped her, shifting around the best that I could to guide her onto the seat.

She settled on it with three inches of space separating us.

I took the handlebars again, kicking the bike over and shouting over the roar, “You’re going to want to wrap those arms around me and hold on tight.”

When I pulled back on the throttle to rev it, she surged forward, doing exactly that.

Holding on with all her might, those delicate arms wrapped so snug around my waist I could hardly breathe.

Or maybe it was just the feel of her against my back that was stealing the air.

That body plastered against mine, her small tits and her ravaging heart and her quivering thighs.

My right hand clamped down on the top of her right leg, and she nearly jumped two feet in the air. “I’ve got you, Emery. Just hold on. Won’t let anything happen to you.”

She had her cheek pressed between my shoulders, and I didn’t even know how I heard it since the words barely broke the air.

Maybe I just felt them knitting into my flesh.

Their weight when she released them between my shoulder blades over my shirt.

“Why am I supposed to trust you?”

She had no reason to.

Hell, she shouldn’t at all.

And still, I settled my hand over hers that were locked on the front of my abdomen, voice low when I muttered, “Because I mean it. I’ve got you.”

I wanted to. The way I’d wanted to last night. The way I’d wanted to erase the sorrow that had her chained.

Gripping the handlebars, I backed the bike out of the spot with my boots, then I pulled back on the throttle and took us to the street.

She squeezed tight. Tighter than she should be able to.

The feel of her everywhere. Dainty arms and slim thighs and delicious scent.

Nothing but fresh orange blossoms. A morning glory under the sun.

I reveled in it the whole time I drove us the short distance to Kane’s.

It was scarcely more than a mile, and two minutes later, I slowed and pulled into the lot at my club.

I eased my bike up along the side wall that was reserved for motorcycles. Not that there was anyone else around other than a few employees prepping for tonight.

Kane’s didn’t open until seven, so we’d have plenty of privacy.

I kicked the stand and killed the engine.

Emery kept clinging to me like she’d gotten locked that way. Arms bands that wouldn’t give. Like she didn’t know how to let go.

Or maybe she worried if she did, she’d have to face whatever had brought her to my door.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” I asked.

“Speak for yourself,” she grumbled.

A low chuckle got loose before I swallowed it down and warned, “Be sure to watch the tailpipe when you hop off.”

I took one of her hands to help her, and a heavy breath left her as she disentangled herself from me.

She swung off wide.

So wide that she stumbled backward, nearly falling onto her ass.

Thankfully, I still had hold of one of her hands, and I hauled her upright in the same second that I jumped off. Grabbing onto her elbows to steady her, dragging her too close as I murmured, “Whoa. You okay?”

Tears suddenly blurred those eyes, horror in their depths, and she glumly shook her head. “No. I’m not okay.”

I wanted to demand that she tell me what that meant right there.

Pry her secrets from her so I could hold them.

But I forced some patience when I offered, “Why don’t we go inside so you can tell me what that means?”

She gave a jolting nod, and she turned to head for the front entrance. I was right at her side, settling my palm on the sweet spot at the small of her back.

At the bare contact, a ragged breath left her, and she seemed to shake herself out of whatever had tied her tongue, her voice thready when she asked, “You own this place?”

“Yeah. Kane’s. It’s a nightclub. Super clever name, I know.” I laughed at my own expense.

“Kane.” She whispered it like it was a secret.

“That’s right.”

A current of trepidation vibrated through me as my mind tossed through the memories of last night. Realizing I hadn’t given her my name and she’d still wound up at my door.

I didn’t have time to fully contemplate it before she rushed through a rasp, “Then why were you at that other bar last night?”

Unease rumbled through me as we walked along the exterior wall and around to the steps that led to the ornate double doors. I paused in front of them.

Unsure of what to tell her. Knowing the truth would send her running and knowing I couldn’t give it to her, anyway.

No one could hold that except for my family.

Which was why whatever the hell I thought I was doing right then was so reckless.

I gave her the only explanation I could offer. “Because I own that one, too, along with two others in town.”

I had no idea where the contemptuous sound came from that ripped up her throat as she looked away for a beat. Like she was angry with me about it.

“You didn’t tell me your name last night.” It sounded like an accusation.

A frown curved my brow, and I framed my response carefully. “You didn’t ask.”

Her laugh was shallow and hard, and she sniffled as she tipped that gorgeous face back up toward me. “No. You’re right. I didn’t ask.”

Confusion bound me, and I angled my head, trying to understand where she was coming from. Why disgust was suddenly radiating from her as she looked at me as if I were guilty of something.

Without a doubt, I was.

Guilty of so many fuckin’ things that if she even had a hunch of them she’d bolt so fast I’d never be able to catch up to her.

But there was no chance she had a clue of that.

Eyes still pinned to hers, I reached behind me and pushed down on the latch to open the door. “Let’s go inside so we can talk about whatever is troubling you.”

A howl of energy roared around her, and for a moment, she was rooted, unwilling to budge. My nerves flared beneath it.

Something unsettled tickled at the edge of my consciousness.

Awareness coming on that I was off base.

A different kind of dread dripping into my veins.

Inhaling a breath, she stepped around me and into the old church that I’d converted into my club.

The edges of the cavernous space were darkened, shadows playing along the obscured walls, though rays of afternoon light slanted in through the vertical stained-glass windows that sat up high on the cathedral ceiling.

It sent shimmery color glittering through the drab atmosphere, lighting up the rambling open space at the foot of the stage. Come ten o’clock tonight, that area would be packed with a ton of people out letting go of the cares of this world as they danced the night away.

A long bar ran nearly the entire length of the left wall, and secluded booths took up the rest of the wall space.

None of my employees were out front, so I assumed everyone was back in the kitchen.

“This way,” I told her.

Emery inhaled a shaky breath and followed along a foot behind me, the soles of our shoes squeaking against the worn hardwood floors as I led her to a booth on the right that was concealed in the corner.

“Here we go.” I gestured to one side, and she warily slipped into the booth. She peeked up at me with those tumultuous eyes as I stood over her.

“Would you like something to drink? I could probably come up with pretty much whatever you desire.”

My voice deepened with the last, wanting to fulfill it in every way. This thing that thrummed between us, a crackling of energy, though it was diluted by those storm clouds that hung heavy around her.

“No, I’m fine.”

Disquiet tightened my guts, and I moved to take the spot across from her.

Leaning back in the booth, I gazed at her as she fidgeted.

Apprehension fluttered across those pretty features, this distrust and suspicion that I could somehow discern was directed at me.

A frown pulled to my brow. “Need you to tell me what the hell is going on, Emery, because from where I’m sitting, it’s something big.”

I sat there and watched this war go down in her expression.

A war that was waged on the inside.

Then she set the full force of her attention on me, and she lifted her quivering chin in some kind of challenge.

“Kane Asher?”

It was both a statement and a question.

A plea and a judgment.

What the fuck was going on?

Antsy, I shifted on the plush, high-backed seat and roughed a hand through my hair.

For men like me, it wasn’t exactly safe when a stranger came sniffing around, digging into who you were.

Had never taken on a pseudonym. None of us had. Figured if we lived our lives to the closest semblance of normal, it would raise fewer questions.

But I could see the questions whooshing all over her face.

“Guilty.” I tried to frame it a tease, a haphazard shrug of my shoulder. While I sat there knowing I was being convicted.

Emery hesitated before she turned to dig into the little purse she’d had slung across her body. She pulled something out and held it in her hands.

A picture, I realized.

My heart suddenly took off at a sprint.

Sweat slicking my skin.

Not sure why, but somehow knowing with absolute certainty that whatever she was getting ready to show me was going to change everything.

For a moment, she held it hidden against her chest as she pinned those eyes on me.

Pain lancinated through her expression, a sorrow so distinct that I would have dropped to my knees if I hadn’t already been sitting.

I was slammed with it.

A rogue wave that dragged us both out to sea.

Grief.

Then she slowly set it in the middle of the table and slid it farther across to me, her words soggy and thick when she whispered, “Her name is Maci, and she’s your daughter.”

TEN

KANE

Did you ever have something hit you so hard and from out of nowhere that you felt like you’d been blown to smithereens? A bomb dropped that annihilated everything? What you knew and what you believed and what you thought your future was going to look like?

I stared down at the photo she had set in front of me.

Dumbfounded.

Shocked.

Heart a fucking battering ram against my ribs.

Dizziness rushed me as dazed disbelief clashed with the recognition.

This little girl with blonde hair the same color as Emery’s, fucking adorable as could be with her chubby cheeks and giant grin and dimple on her chin.

But none of those things were what had me trapped.

It was her eyes.

Eyes that were the most unique shade of green.

Eyes I hadn’t been able to fully make out through the window of the car.

A sheering emerald, though the irises were rimmed in gold, the same as the glinting flecks that were smattered throughout.

The same eyes as my mother had had.

The same eyes as mine.

Still, I was shaking my head, trying to fucking process what it was that Emery was trying to tell me.

Sickness rising from the gully carved through the center of my soul.

From that wicked place where all the darkness and ugliness reigned.

That place that promised I didn’t get this.

Unable to fathom that I’d actually created something as beautiful as this.

This little girl with the angel face.

Fear locked my throat and turmoil thundered through my veins.

“Are you going to say something?” Emery’s question was woven in a quiet affront, issued so low it was a wonder that I could even hear it, let alone that it would knock me from the trance.

But somehow, I lifted my head, staring over at her, gutted all over again that I somehow couldn’t remember touching this woman before last night.

I was sure that experience would have been engraved so deep in my mind there was no chance it could have been erased.

Sure I’d remember her taste and her scent and the shape of her body.

But no, I couldn’t remember a damn thing.

I blinked through the stupor, and she released a gust of disbelief. Her brow pinched as she leaned farther across the table. “I just told you that you have a daughter, and you have nothing to say?”

“I…” I tried to fumble through the chaos to form a rational thought.

But Emery was hissing before I could formulate a single word, “Her name is Maci. She is four years old, and her mother was my sister, Emmalee.”

She choked over the last, sorrow gushing out of her, overflowing as she gripped the edge of the table like it was the only thing that would keep her from being dragged away.

Taken into the nothingness.

That was when it finally dawned on me what she was saying.

This wasn’t her kid.

It was her niece.

And she’d used sister in past tense.

Oh, fuck.

This little girl’s mother was dead, and Emery had come here to tell me.

That’s why she was at my door. That’s why she freaked out when she saw me.

Nausea curled my guts. A ferocious, twisting turbulence.

“Emmalee Voss,” she pressed. “My sister was Emmalee Voss.”

I wracked my brain for the name.

For a face.

For the trace of a memory.

For the pieces of this disaster to come together, but I couldn’t make a single thing fit.

It wasn’t like I always caught names, but there was no question Emery thought I should know exactly who her sister was.

Because a torrent of disgust heaved from her lungs, and she mumbled, “Oh my God, I knew it. I freaking knew it.”

She grabbed her purse and pushed out of the booth, and she nabbed the picture from the table before I could stop her.

A whirl of blonde whipping around her as she hurried for the door.

While I sat there locked in the shock that wouldn’t let me go.

Darts coming at me from every direction.

Impaling.

Piercing.

I was a father.

A father.

A wedge of blinding light cut into the darkness when she ripped open the door.

Panic surged in to replace the numbness.

Spirit screaming so loud it was the only thing I could hear.

Urging me to move. To fucking do something.

I finally got my shit together enough that I jumped out of the booth and ran after her.

I grabbed the handle right before the door fully settled closed, and I whipped it back open and ran out.

Quick to scan the area.

I found Emery storming across the small front lot toward the street, tromping through the gravel in her wedged heels.

Repulsion radiated from the hurricane that surrounded her.

Horror and her own sickness.

I rushed behind her, and she started jogging like there was a chance I wouldn’t catch up.

“Emery!” I shouted.

She didn’t slow, she just increased her pace like she was running from a monster.

I might have been, but I would never fucking hurt her that way.

Neither of them. Devotion boiled inside me at the thought.

A swell of protectiveness so severe it made my head spin.

I might have been twisted by the confusion and shock, but still, I knew.

I fucking knew.

“Emery,” I shouted again, basically begging it that time.

I ran up behind her, catching up to her as she hit the sidewalk. I grabbed her by the wrist and whirled her around. I was struck again by the swilling of her presence when I looked at the torment that covered her face.

“Please don’t take off like this. We need to talk.” My words were grit. Ragged with the plea.

She tugged her arm free, though she remained right there, her head tipped back as she hit me with her potency. With her own protectiveness that crashed out on an inundating wave.

“I already gave you the chance for that.”

She started to turn and walk, and the words were flying off my tongue, “Yeah, and you showed up here and told me I have a kid that is four years old that I didn’t know about. You think it wouldn’t take me a minute to wrap my head around that?”

She was facing away, shoulders sagging when she blew the strained words out like sorrow. “You don’t even remember her.”

Anxiety buzzed through me, and I shifted from foot to foot. “That doesn’t mean I don’t recognize what is in that picture you just showed me.”

My spirit clutched.

My kid.

Shouldn’t be possible. I was careful. Always. But one look, and there was no question.

Emery stayed like that for the longest time, a tumult spinning around her, her body vibrating as she worked through whatever she was thinking. Then she shifted to look back at me from over her shoulder.

She was trembling as she forced out the words. “You don’t need to worry about Maci. I have her.”

She started back up the sidewalk.

I blinked, unable to believe what she’d said. What she’d claimed.

Like I was just going to forget what I’d just learned?

She’d made it ten steps when I called, “Know you think you have me pegged, but you’re wrong. Not going to turn my back on my daughter. She’s my responsibility.”

Emery slowed before she finally shifted to face me.

Nearly blew me back when I saw the deluge of tears that covered her face.

The grief.

The sorrow.

The torment she’d endured.

“She’s your responsibility?” Her head barely shook. “She’s a four-year-old little girl who just lost her mother. A four-year-old little girl who doesn’t understand what’s happened. A four-year-old little girl who’s had her life turned upside down. One who needs care and compassion. This isn’t about responsibility, Kane. This is about family. This is about love.”

She emphasized the last by jamming her index finger toward the ground.

Little Warrior fighting for what she believed was right.

“So, if there is any kind of compassion inside you? Any goodness at all? Then you forget I came here.”

Swiping the back of her hand under her nose, she turned and left me gaping behind her.

Her words stakes that pierced through me, pinning me to the ground.

She was right.

She was right.

I led no sort of life that would benefit a child.

I was a monster. Prone to brutality. Devolving into it without guilt or a second thought.

And still, as I watched her go, it felt like she was ripping my soul out of me.

ELEVEN

KANE

Five Years Old

A cool breeze whooshed across Kane’s face, and he pumped his feet so hard.

“Higher!” he shouted, and his tummy felt fuzzy and full when he heard his mommy’s tinkling laughter from behind.

“If I push you any higher, you’re going to end up flying all the way into the sky.”

“That’s ’cause I’m an airplane!” He made a jet noise as his mommy gave him another push and sent him sailing right back for the blue, blue sky.

The sun felt warm, and his smile was really big.

“What kind of airplane?” she asked.

“The super-fast jet kind!”

“Wow, are you sure you want to go that fast and high?”

“Well, I can’t let Billy beat me. He’s always racin’ me and trying to win. And you know I gotta get a perfect ten.”

His mommy’s laughter was soft. But he thought everything about her was soft. Her face and her cheeks and the way she whispered when she read him a story at night.

“You’re already my perfect ten.”

Kane felt like his whole body glowed.

“Okay,” she said, “I need to stop being jet fuel and water these plants. We have company coming for dinner.”

“I’ll help!” He dragged the tips of his shoes into the ground as he swung back and forth, slowing himself as his mommy grabbed the chains to slow him down. He hopped off, clapping his hands in the air as he went racing for the hose.

He turned the faucet on high then dragged it to where he knew his mommy loved to work.

The big row of rose bushes that grew up tall along the side wall of their backyard.

The same as his mommy’s name, which was why they were her favorite.

They were so many different colors.

Red and white. Yellow and pink.

“Here you go, Mommy!”

She ran a tender hand through his hair. “You are a big help, aren’t you?”

He puffed out his chest. “I gotta be the man of the house.”

Least, that’s what his grampa told him because he didn’t have a dad.

Warm laughter floated out of her. “I think you should just focus on being my favorite little boy.”

His puffed up chest expanded farther, pressing full and wide.

“You’re definitely my favorite mommy. No doubt about it.”

Her pretty eyes sparkled and danced.

Bright green with a lot of gold, the same color as his. He was pretty sure it meant they were rich.

He tugged the end of the hose so the water was gushing out under the bushes to get them wet. “And your other favorite is your roses, right, Mommy?” he asked as he stood, his mouth a real big grin.

She touched his chin with her knuckle. “My second favorite because nothing compares to you, but I do love them. Tending to them. Growing them. It reminds me of being a mommy. Because you have to take good care of the things you love most.”

“Then that means I gotta take the best care of you.” He took her hand to prove it.

They finished watering the roses and cuttin’ off the dead buds and then his mommy said they had to make dinner. She brought a whole bouquet of them and set them up in the middle of the table for their special guest.

Because his mommy had a new friend.

TWELVE

KANE

Dance music drummed in Kane’s, the heavy bass beat vibrating the floors and trembling the walls. Pulsing so deep I could almost see the strains distort the air.

I was in my office in the far back of the old building, sitting at my enormous mahogany desk and staring down at the tumbler full of scotch. Unable to stomach actually drinking it, but somehow, having my hand wrapped around the glass provided some sort of placebo effect.

Numbness coming on all while I could feel myself fraying apart at the edges.

Unable to stop seeing the image of that little girl that had been imprinted in my mind. A brand-new tattoo that had been marked on my soul.

All while I toiled with the parting words Emery had given.

A clear-cut statement that she wanted me to stay out of the little girl’s life.

Maci.

Maci, Maci, Maci.

Her name spun around me like a dream.

A daze that dragged me into confusion.

Which of course, then led to another.

Emmalee Voss.

No matter how much I wracked my brain, I still came up with nothing.

No recollection of who Maci’s mother might be.

A rapping sounded at the door, and my head snapped up. I hadn’t even realized it was close to midnight. The distinguished time for Sovereign Sanctum’s meetings.

I didn’t have time to call come in before Otto came striding through like he owned the place. Dude a fucking brute and wearing that giant-ass grin he hadn’t been able to wipe from his face since he’d finally given into this thing between him and Raven.

Wearing jeans and a plain white tee and his old motorcycle boots.

Covered in tats, the same as the rest of us.

“Hey, brother,” he said as he stepped through.

I fought for one of the smiles that normally came easily for me, but tonight felt impossible to find. “What’s up?”

His brow arched as he came deeper into the room. “You tell me.”

“Just have something I want to discuss.”

“That why your expression is glum as fuck?” From ten feet away, he made a circle around my face with his index finger.

I managed a smirk and stretched my arms out to the sides. “You mean handsome as fuck?”

He laughed like the action put him at ease, and he came and sat on the opposite edge of my desk. “No one would notice since you’re sitting a little too close to me.”

Dude wagged his brows, and I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Keep dreamin’, asshole,” I told him.

“Oh, I am absolutely dreaming. Living the dream. No question about it.”

There was a quick tap at the door before it was pushed open again, and Theo and River came waltzing through. Cash lumbered in on their tail, and he shut and locked the door behind them.

Second he did, I stood and moved to the huge bookshelves that took up an entire wall of my office. Pulling out two old, tattered books from the middle shelf, I revealed the keypad that was hidden behind them, and I punched in the code to release the latch.

It gave with a thunk, and I pulled open the section of bookcase that hid the passageway that led to the basement below.

“Ready?” I asked, turning back to my crew.

“Yup,” River said.

Speculation brewed in his expression, no question wondering what this was about.

River was a beast, midnight hair and eyes, dressed head to toe in black. He had tats rolling up his thick throat, five stars dotting his hairline, so menacing people tended to cross to the other side of the street when they saw him coming.

I took to the narrow stairway that led down into the pit below my office. This area was musty as fuck, dingy and dank, the walls brick and the floor a raw, exposed concrete.

A single light hung over the round table that sat in the middle of the enclosed space.

I took my spot, the same as each of my brothers did, chair legs screeching against the floor as we settled.

River glanced around at us before he pushed his left fist tattooed with the stacked Ss with the dagger running through into the middle of the table.

The rest of us did the same, touching our knuckles together in the middle, and he rumbled, “I call to order this meeting of Sovereign Sanctum.”

Immediately, his attention traveled to Cash, voice rough with the severity, diving right into business because down here, we didn’t fuck around. “What intel do we have?”

With a sigh, Cash scrubbed a massive mitt over his face and down his trimmed beard as he sat forward in his chair. Cash had a country flare about him, his brown hair cut short. Wearing a cap, a flannel, jeans, and work boots, though he never hesitated to climb onto his bike like the rest of us.

“Surveillance is showing that fucker pretty much doesn’t let her out of his sight. Only time she’s been seen out on her own is when she’s dropping the little boy off at school and picking him up in the afternoon. Means this is gonna have to be done in broad daylight, and we all know that makes it risky as shit. Plus, her best friend has barely been able to get in contact with her.”

Her best friend was the one who facilitated the extraction. Had reached out to one of the local shelters seeking help. Information had gotten passed along through one of the counselors who we’d screened and brought into our trust for when she came across the direst of situations.

That’s exactly what this was.

Dire.

Because the woman we were getting out didn’t even know we had plans to do it.

The only verification we had that she wanted help was her best friend had managed to get her alone long enough to ask if there was a way to get her and her son out of their situation, would she do it.

Her answer had been yes.

And this whole thing was riding on that yes.

“Means she’s gonna flip when I grab them to get them the hell out of there because I’m not going to have time to explain.” River gave a grave nod. “Goin’ to think someone’s out to hurt her. That is if her piece of shit husband isn’t already watching from the sidelines.”

Bile rolled in my throat, and the rose on the back of my hand burned. Same reaction I always got when I heard about some piece of shit harming the ones they were supposed to love most.

Protect and care for the most.

Rage rolled out of River as he rocked back in his chair. Guessed we all pretty much suffered the exact same reaction.

I forced myself to take a sip from my drink, a bolster as I relished in the fire gliding down my throat, before I set the tumbler onto the table and looked at one of my oldest friends point blank. “You aren’t going to be the one to do it.”

Some contortion of confusion and ire twisted through River’s features. “The fuck are you talking about?”

“Yeah?” Otto added as he sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.

I glanced at Theo who was sitting over there chewing at the inside of his cheek. He gave me an I told you so shrug of his shoulder.

I let my attention ride over my entire crew. Rolling from Theo to Cash, then to Otto and on to River before I finally spoke. “We might have been ignoring it, but every single one of us knows things have changed.”

“How so?” River’s head cocked to the side.

I scraped out a harsh laugh as I sat forward. “Whole reason we had the rule that we didn’t get involved with women is because this shit is dangerous. Not knowing when we are going to come to our end.”

All of us had always been willing to make that sacrifice.

But there was a whole ton more riding on this now.

River stirred, irritation riding through his nerves as he was hit with what I was saying.

Wondered what he’d think if he knew that I devolved into far darker things than this all the time.

I held my hand up to stop the rebuttal I knew was coming.

“It’s not a criticism, River. It’s just the truth. Two of you have families now.” I pointed between him and Otto. “We are long since past holding to the creed that we have to go it alone. It no longer stands. But that also means other things are going to have to shift.”

I let my attention slide to Otto. Otto who’d let it slip to me the other night that he and Raven were trying to get pregnant. Information I doubted River was privy to yet, and I wasn’t going to just toss it out there like a careless prick.

But Otto knew exactly what I was implying.

Both of them did.

A vision of that little girl flashed through my mind. Those chubby cheeks and dimpled chin and megawatt grin.

Those unmistakable eyes.

In a split, it felt like my chest got rent wide open, rib cage cracking at the force.

Heart pumping wild and fierce.

I fought it, sucking the reaction down and focusing on what had to be done right here.

Right now.

“Nolan has been with me for years,” River argued, though there was no spite behind it.

“Know it. And don’t tell me that hasn’t nagged at you this whole time. And now you’ve got Charleigh, too.”

“Charleigh who supports everything we do. One hundred percent.”

“Same as Raven,” Otto said with a dip of his chin.

I blew out some of the strain. “That doesn’t mean either of you should be putting yourselves in the line of fire. Not when you don’t have to. Not when there is someone else who can stand in your place.”

Otto sighed in frustration. “We each have our roles.”

“Yet we all started out the same,” I said.

Murderers. Thieves. Our days spent riding with the Iron Owls MC ensuring that. Our list of sins long and debased. Corruption seeded into our beings.

Only we’d taken it and used our brutality for this.

Jaw clenched, River rocked back farther. “You think you’re less important than the rest of us?”

Shrugging, I went for a nonchalant smile that likely came out a grimace. “Pretty sure to your little family, I am far less important than you.”

He was Nolan and Charleigh’s lives.

“That’s bullshit thinkin’, man,” Otto gruffed as he slanted his fingers through the longer pieces of his light brown hair. “Skewed as fuck.”

“And also the truth.”

Another flashfire of that little girl’s face blistered through my mind, this time accompanied by the memory of the woman I couldn’t extinguish. The way she’d felt against me. The warmth of those hands and the sanctuary of those eyes.

Like in that momentary sliver of time, we’d found respite in each other.

Fuck, how I’d wanted to be that for her.

Her peace.

This crazy thing inside me that wanted to make her mine.

That flagrant stupidity pierced me on a fiery arrow, and I gritted my teeth and forced the inane thought down.

She didn’t want a fucking thing to do with me, same as she didn’t want me anywhere near that kid.

My kid.

Fuck.

Nearly choked on it, the bolt of awareness that was making me contemplate reckless things.

River shifted his gaze to Theo and Cash who sat next to each other. “Either of you have thoughts on this?”

It wasn’t just what River and I wanted. Sovereign Sanctum was majority rule.

Everything put to a vote.

Of course, both he and Otto had gone around that with Charleigh and Raven, but some things were just going to come to be, no matter what any of us had to say about them.

“Think Kane is right. Things have changed,” Theo rumbled, jutting his chin at me.

Cash nodded. “Yeah, no sense in stacking risk when there is an alternative. That is if Kane really wants to take it on?”

I was the money guy.

The launderer.

Taking whatever Cash swindled with his hacking and spinning it so we could use it to support what we did. Using it to set up families that we’d gotten out of these horrible situations.

Using it to support ourselves so we could do it, though every business we’d opened here in Moonlit Ridge had begun to flourish—except for those couple of dives that served as the perfect cover.

And this time, I was going to be the enforcer. The one who got them out under any means necessary.

“Think we do it together.” Theo’s claim cut through the tense air.

I frowned. “That wasn’t what I⁠—”

“This one’s gonna be messy,” he growled, cutting me off. “Think we all know it, and I think we need to plan for the likelihood of you needing backup. Besides, I haven’t seen any action in a long time. Your boy is getting bored.”

He grinned.

All teeth.

A coarse chuckle rumbled out of me, and I wondered if any of us would ever fully be rid of it. The perverted thrill that came with taking out the sleaze.

“Sounds like it’s settled then,” I said, sitting back and glancing around at each of my crew.

My family.

The only ones in this world I’d ever trusted. Ones who’d had my back in every way. From the moment I’d had my world destroyed and had been left without anything.

A sigh of surrender pilfered out of River, and he stuck his fist back in the middle of the table. “All right then. We put this to a vote.” He hesitated before he mumbled, “Aye.”

Each of us did the same, and a roll of “Ayes” went around. A consensus.

Theo and I were going, not that I wouldn’t already be involved in something far seedier next week. Because they could never know my true failure.

What I’d done.

What I’d caused.

And I’d spend the rest of my life trying to make amends for it.

River began to close the meeting, the same way as we always did, his voice a low slash as he intoned, “Our oath to the afflicted. Our oath to the forsaken. Our oath to Sovereign Sanctum.”

We all repeated it before we stood. The second the meeting was adjourned, the mood immediately shifted. Casual conversations struck up as my brothers began to climb upstairs.

Otto, Theo, then River.

I held back, eyeing Cash who obviously knew I had something to say since he did the same.

I was unable to stop myself. The urge to take action.

This need I couldn’t turn away from, even though I had no fuckin’ idea what to do with it.

When they were out of earshot, I leaned in close to Cash and muttered, “I need a number.”

THIRTEEN

EMERY

Darkness reigned in the room.

Thick, soggy, and disorienting.

I stared blankly at the nothingness of the ceiling, barely able to make out its form in the night. Exhaustion weighed me down, my back pinned to the mattress, but it didn’t matter how tired I was, how hard I squeezed my eyes closed and begged for sleep, it wouldn’t come.

My mother’s soft snores echoed in the room, and Maci’s sweet breaths were panting into my arm where she lay at my side, snuggled up with her blanket and doll.

Locks of her hair tickled my skin where it was splayed wildly around her.

She’d decided she wanted to sleep with me tonight.

Every night, she’d said with her adorable, gut-wrenching grin.

Now, I lay there listening to the rhythm of their sleep.

I willed myself to follow it, but I couldn’t find the respite I was aching for.

Blowing out a hushed sigh, I carefully slipped out from beneath the covers, unplugged my phone from the charger where it sat on the nightstand, then crept out into the living area of our suite.

The window that overlooked Culberry Street was wide open, the drapes pushed all the way back to the sleeping town below.

I went to the mini-fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, undid the cap, and guzzled half of it down, hoping it might stand to cool this raging inferno inside me.

No such luck.

We were scheduled to be in Moonlit Ridge until Monday, day after tomorrow. I’d had the urge to pack our things and run the second I’d gotten back from the altercation with Kane earlier this afternoon, but somehow, I’d managed to keep my cool and spend the afternoon playing with Maci as if nothing had happened.

But I’d been wrought with anxiety the entire day.

The same way as I was then.

I paced in it, wandering the room, as if it could assuage the turbulence.

Seeking a distraction, I thumbed into my phone.

I frowned when I noticed I had a text notification. One that hadn’t been there when I’d attempted to go to sleep at eleven.

I swiped into my messages, and the twines of that complexity only tightened further when I saw it.

Winding.

Constricting.

Confounding and terrifying.

It was from two hours ago. At about twelve-thirty.

Unknown

I want to meet her.

Dread sank to the pit of my stomach, and a cold sweat broke out on my skin. My head began to whir, spinning through the muddle that instantly dragged me into a pit of despair.

I replied with the first thing that rose to the surface.

Me

How the hell did you get my number?

It was almost three in the morning, so I really shouldn’t have expected a reply, but somehow, I wasn’t surprised when dots popped up that he was typing.

Unknown

I have my ways.

Another one of those warnings. Warnings I’d ignored or maybe had been attracted to. One that Kane Asher likely issued with one of those mind-altering grins.

Another text blipped through.

Unknown

It’s not that hard to find someone’s number, Emery. Don’t spin out on me over it.

Was he serious? Don’t spin out on him? When he had figured out who I was and come to my hotel? When he took the effort to find my phone number, which I wasn’t so convinced was readily available, anyway?

But I didn’t have time to contemplate it. What really mattered was my response. How I was going to protect Maci from him.

Me

I already told you I have her. You don’t need to worry or feel guilty. Like you said, she’s four. You shouldn’t be expected to suddenly be a part of her life. It’s not fair to either of you.

His response was almost instant.

Unknown

She’s my daughter.

My spirit flailed. I could almost hear the crack in his voice. A whip that blistered through the atmosphere.

Another text came through before I had the chance to respond.

Unknown

I want to see her. I have the right to.

Me

You didn’t even know she existed before today.

Unknown

But I do now, and that changes everything.

A beat passed before another text popped up.

Unknown

You came to me, Emery. You showed me what I should have been shown a long time ago.

Unknown

I just want to see her. Meet her. Then you can leave like I know you’re planning to do.

I pressed my trembling fingertips to my temple, trying to squelch the shearing pain that suddenly cut through. Piercing and sharp. The fear that lancinated.

But this was what we’d come here to do.

Honor my sister’s wishes.

I could barely type out the response, one I prayed I wouldn’t regret making.

Me

Okay. We’re taking her to the little downtown park by the lake at noon tomorrow. She doesn’t know who you are, so please don’t confuse her any more than she already is.

Unknown

I’ll be there.

I wavered, trying to come to terms. The only thing I could come up with was trying to dissuade him.

Me

You don’t have to do this.

Unknown

Yeah, I do.

I stared at the phone for the longest time before I sighed out in surrender.

Me

Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.

I hesitated, tongue stroking out across my dried lips before I clicked on his number and added him to my contacts. Deadly Dragon.

Because I was afraid this man might be the end of me.

FOURTEEN

KANE

From where I stood hidden in the shadows across the street, I stared up at the seventh floor to the darkened window. The faintest glow glimmered from within.

I could see her there. A few feet back from the glass.

Her silhouette.

Her shape.

This woman who had the power to do me in.

One who’d touched me two nights ago in a way that no one before her had had the ability to do.

A woman I could never keep.

One I shouldn’t want to keep.

Not her nor the little girl I could somehow feel beating through my veins.

I knew better.

Knew this life.

Knew what I’d done.

The horrible ways that I’d failed.

I needed to get over this shit. This insane idea that had crept over me throughout the day, growing stronger with each second that had passed.

Like building blocks that threatened to become set in stone.

I’d be nothing but a monster dragging an innocent into this life.

Selfish to the extreme.

I would meet my daughter. Hear her voice and tuck it down where it belonged—with the rest of the ones that I’d lost.

I’d be sure she was set for life.

That she’d never want.

That she’d have everything she needed and more because I knew firsthand what it was like to go without. To scrounge and suffer and wonder where your next meal was coming from.

Then I’d keep an eye from a distance. Ensure she was always safe. That anyone who ever threatened to harm her would come to their end.

Because that’s what I was good for.

The ending.

And I’d be a fool trying to ignite something I had no business starting.

FIFTEEN

KANE

Ten Years Old

The voice that Kane had come to hate boomed. A vicious snarl that made his stomach ache. “You think I don’t know what you’ve been doing? You think I don’t know you’ve been sneakin’ around?”

In his tiny bed, Kane curled in on himself, trying to hide in the shadows that crawled through his room.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Paul. When in the world would I be sneaking around? I’m here every single night.”

“Told you I didn’t want you working at that office. Know that asshole Gene is trying to get up on what’s mine.”

His mom huffed, but Kane could hear the fear in it. The way it trembled whenever Paul came home like this. Smelling like beer and really mad.

“Gene is harmless,” she told him.

“Harmless?” Paul’s voice dropped low, like a monster had taken him over.

Something so mean in it that Kane felt like it stole all the air. His blood felt sticky in his veins, and his heart couldn’t remember how to beat right.

“Yes, harmless.” His mom’s words shook, and Kane could feel the tension shift.

“I’ll show you harmless, you stupid bitch.”

Glass suddenly shattered, and his mother yelped before there was a clatter of footsteps, then she cried out in pain.

Fear spun all around him, but he knew he had no choice. He was still supposed to be the man of the house, even though his mom told him she was the one who was supposed to take care of him.

But you took care of the ones you loved most, and he loved her more than anything else in the world.

His knees wobbled when he slipped out of bed.

Voices shouted and cabinets banged and his mom cried, “Don’t, Paul. You’re wrong. I would never step out on you.”

He heard when a fist met flesh, and there was no more hesitation.

Kane grabbed his baseball bat from where he had it leaned on the wall and went running out, his bare feet slapping against the cold tile of the kitchen. He saw Paul was getting ready to hit his mom again.

Kane barely registered the pain slicing into the bottom of his foot as he ran across the floor. Could barely register anything except for the truth that he had to protect his mom.

His mom who was bent back on the counter with Paul looming over the top of her.

Kane didn’t care that Paul was a giant.

He cracked the bat across his lower spine.

The man roared and whirled around.

Dread spread through Kane as Paul stepped toward him, towering like a raging beast.

“You worthless little shit. You’re gonna pay for that.”

Kane shivered as he tried to steady the bat, ready to take another strike.

Only his mom was suddenly a blur of movement, and a second later, she was standing in front of Kane with a giant knife held in both hands.

“You touch him, you die.” Her words shuddered and shook as she shifted a fraction to make sure she was fully standing in front of Kane, her voice going thready as she croaked, “Now get out of my house and don’t come back.”

That meanness flashed across Paul’s face, but he still raised both hands. “Rose, don’t go and do something stupid that I’m gonna have to make you regret.”

“I mean it. Get out.”

Paul hesitated, the apple in his big throat jumping up and down before he released a heavy huff, and he took two steps forward and leaned in close to his mom. “Telling you right now…you’re going to regret this, Rose. You’re gonna regret it good.”

Kane’s mom didn’t say anything, she just lifted her chin, the knife held firm in her quivering hands. She didn’t move until the front door banged shut behind Paul.

Then a big breath whooshed out of her, and she turned, gasping in horror when she looked down and found the puddle of blood that had gathered around Kane’s foot.

It didn’t even hurt as bad as his chest did when he saw his mom’s pretty face. Her eye was beginning to swell and a droplet of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

“Oh, God, Kane.”

The knife clattered to the table beside them, and he was way too big for her to be picking him up, but she did it anyway, hoisting him up and onto the counter so she could inspect the cut on the bottom of his foot.

It wasn’t until then that Kane let his attention travel the kitchen. To the shards of glass from the vase he had made his mom for her last birthday scattered all over the floor, along with a bunch of roses from out back that had been inside it.

“I’m so sorry, my sweet boy. I’m so sorry.” She mumbled it as she lifted his foot.

“I shoulda got there faster,” he wheezed, trying to hold back the moisture that burned in his eyes.

He didn’t want her to see him scared. He was supposed to be the man.

Her head shook and tears streamed down her cheeks. “No, Kane. You aren’t supposed to be taking care of me. Especially like that. I can’t believe I got you involved in something so ugly. I…”

She choked over the last, and he took her hand and squeezed it hard, reminding her of the same promise she always made to him. “You take care of the ones you love most.”

“Oh, baby,” she whispered, and she set her hand on his cheek. “I’m the one who’s supposed to be taking care of you. Protecting you from all of this. You have to promise me that you’ll never intervene like that again.”

“Why do you let him do that? Talk to you like that?”

Sadness took over her features, and the sparks that normally shined in her emerald eyes went dim. “Because sometimes roses wilt.”

There was something about the way she said it that made his stomach go sick again. What made the fear rise back up.

And he’d never been more sure than right then that it was his job to protect her.

Because she’d always told him that sometimes roses did wilt…but they always bloomed again.

SIXTEEN

KANE

Warmth saturated the air, tempered by the cool breeze that cut across the peaked mountains that surrounded Moonlit Ridge and flowed over the glistening blue waters of the lake.

Soaring trees grew all around, hugging the waters, except for the rambling lawn that took up a major section of the park and the open area of the beach down on the shore.

Near downtown, this area was popular with tourists, though it was also often used for local events.

Today, there were a ton of families about, children barefoot as they trotted through the sand and frolicked in the water, which at this time of year would still be cold as fuck, but not one of them really seemed to notice.

I sat on top of a picnic table that was tucked under a tree away from the crowd, my boots planted on the bench and sweating like a motherfucker while I waited.

Had finally pried my ass away from that hotel at dawn and dragged myself home, though I hadn’t slept a wink.

Tossing and turning, riding that flimsy verge of sleep where you were almost dreaming, though the images you were envisioning were really just your fears running rampant in your mind.

Had finally given up at nine, taken a shower, then come here.

Waiting.

Waiting, and knowing that the only thing I was doing was torturing myself with what I couldn’t keep, but there was also no way I could fully turn my back, either.

Cars came and went in the parking lot located at the top of the sloped incline, and with each one, my attention would dart that way, searching for a stranger I somehow already knew.

Nearly came apart when a plain white sedan finally pulled into the lot.

A riot that somehow felt like fucking butterflies or some shit, heart pounding so hard I could actually feel the thud of it in my veins.

They eased into an open spot on the far-right side of the lot, and for a moment, they just sat there.

Through the windshield, I could see Emery’s silhouette again. Well, maybe I couldn’t really see it.

I could just feel it.

The turmoil that emanated from her spirit and oozed from her body.

No doubt, she was thinking she was making a mistake by bringing the child here.

She wouldn’t be wrong.

Finally, both front doors cracked open, and a middle-aged woman stepped out from the passenger side at the same time as Emery stepped from the driver’s side.

Blonde waves struck below the rays of sunlight, a river of gold glinting like a beacon in the distance.

My stupid fucking heart leaped.

Then it was screaming when she opened the rear passenger door. A minute later, she was closing it to reveal this little thing standing at her side and holding her hand.

In the distance, I couldn’t make out her features other than she had the same blonde hair as Emery, but I could see she was wearing this little yellow sundress.

What was unmistakable was the feeling.

The way I could sense the joy coming off her.

A landslide of it.

The two of them emitting this contradictory energy that pummeled through the air and slammed into me.

Wondered if Emery could somehow feel me, too, because when she turned to scan the lot, those eyes almost instantly found me.

Scorching.

Penetrating.

All that fear and worry she’d been feeling came at me full force.

Bashing against my being.

I couldn’t do anything but slide off the top of the picnic table.

Guts a tangle of uncertainty and knees weak when the three of them started in my direction. Both women held onto one of the little girl’s hands, this child who was skipping and jumping and giggling between them.

Swore, with every step they took, an earthquake rolled beneath my feet. My entire world shaken the closer they got.

It was Emery who brought them to a stop when they got within ten feet.

A wall of volatile energy separated us.

The woman at war as she stood there staring at me.

“Kane.” My name was nothing but a plea and a warning.

But for once, since the first time I’d seen her, she wasn’t who I was staring at.

Because I was fucking stuck.

Glued.

Chained to this little thing who was just beaming up at me.

Nothing but chubby cheeks and cherub face and those eyes that were forever going to haunt me in my dreams.

Piercing emerald rimmed in gold.

She had a dimple on her chin and her hair was done in two braids on either side of her head.

This child nothing but perfection.

The most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

“Is this your friend who you really wanted me to meet, Auntie Em?” Her little voice was tinkling. No chance of keeping the delight out of it.

My chest tightened at the sound.

“Yes. This is my friend, Kane.” Emery lifted her chin and inhaled a tremulous breath. “Kane, this is Maci.”

The little girl let go of a giggle that battered against the tension that held the rest of us.

“Hi, Mr. Kane! It’s very nice to meet you! Did you want to play at the park with us? I really like the lake, and I got a baving suit and everyfing. And guess what?!”

Fuck me.

It was the most adorable ramble I’d ever heard. The little stuttered lisp that rolled out with each of her words.

Emotion clamped down so tight on my spirit I didn’t know how I wasn’t bawling like a baby. The burn of it in my heart and the sear of it in my soul.

This force that rearranged everything.

Who I thought I was and who I was supposed to be.

We take care of who we love most.

“What?” I finally managed to ask around the clog of emotion in my throat.

Maci lowered her voice like it was supposed to be a big secret. “We brought a picnic.”

“No way.” The words were rough.

Widening those green eyes, she nodded emphatically. “Yes way.”

Could barely swallow around the chaos that spun around me as I took a couple of steps forward. Might as well have been tiptoeing around landmines as I traversed my way toward the greatest treasure on the other side.

No way to reach it without putting your entire being on the line, all while knowing you’d risk it all to get there.

For the mere chance of staring at its beauty, even if it was only for a second.

At my approach, a shockwave rolled through Emery.

The connection that roiled between us up against her clear devotion she had to the child.

But I didn’t really have time to process any of that.

Not when I was kneeling on one knee in front of the little girl.

My little girl.

“Wow, that sounds like the best way to spend the day,” I rasped around the clot of emotion.

“Which part is your very favorite? The lake or the picnic?” she asked.

“Think all of it since I get to spend it with you.”

The words were shards.

Riddled with an affection so sharp I thought it would cut me in two.

A mournful sound squeezed out of Emery, while Maci swayed between the two women with her cheeks turning pink.

“Really?! Does that mean you want to be my friend? Because I don’t live at my old house anymore because my mommy had to go to heaven, and now I live wif my auntie, and I gotta make a lotta new friends.”

She said it just as natural as could be, while Emery and her mother might as well have been cut down at the knees.

A stabbing of pain so distinct, I thought I could feel them bleeding out.

This inundating wave of sorrow.

Slogging through and drenching everything.

And fuck me, the urge to straighten so I could slip my arms around Emery was close to overbearing. This need to wrap her up. Hold her through the midst of it. Tell her I knew exactly what it felt like to have someone you loved most ripped away.

The only thing I could do was peek up at her.

Eyes slanting between her and her mother, both of them fighting it with everything they had, but clearly losing the battle.

Grief so thick they were choking on it.

I turned back to Maci. “Yeah, Maci, I think I’d like to be your friend.”

Emery cleared her throat. “Kane, this is my mother, Wendy. Wendy Voss.”

I tore my attention from the child and forced myself to standing.

The older woman on the other side of Maci stirred, no doubt in discomfort, because there was something about this that was highly fucking uncomfortable.

You know, considering I’d had a kid with her dead daughter, and I had no clue who she was.

I roughed a flustered hand through my hair, a thousand words locked in my throat.

Apologies and sympathies that I hadn’t earned the right to offer.

“Good to meet you,” I finally managed.

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Kane.” Her smile was small but genuine.

Maci stole my attention when she pulled her hands free of their hold and bounced her way over to me, little arms flying in the air in excitement.

“Well, I fink it’s a very good choice that you want to be my friend, Mr. Kane, because havin’ fun is my specialty.” She stretched a tiny hand out in front of her, clearly wanting me to shake it. “So, what d’ya say? Best friends?”

Amusement wound with the heavy emotion.

This kid was adorable.

Beautiful and sweet and filled with this eagerness and light that chased off the shadows that lurked around me.

My hand shook out of control as I slowly reached out to shake hers, her tiny hand disappearing in my tattooed grasp, though there was no question she was the one who had her clutch on me.

Warmth streaking far and wide as she cast me the brightest smile as she pumped her little arm up and down.

“Deal! That’s a best friend pact, and you’re not allowed to break it,” she gushed, not stopping for a breath when she flipped right into another subject. “You wanna go swimmin’ now?”

A soft chuckle rolled out.

Tiny tot was a whirlwind.

“Well, I didn’t quite come prepared.”

I gestured to my jeans and motorcycle boots.

Appalled, her green eyes bugged out. “What? You don’t got a bavin’ suit? Well, you better hurry it up and go to the store.”

Emery’s hand was suddenly on the child’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Maci. Maybe he can go swimming with you another time.”

Except I wasn’t supposed to have that.

Another time.

Every damned cell in my body revolted at the notion.

Pure fucking mutiny.

“But that’s not even fun.” Maci gave a little pout.

Last thing I was about to do was disappoint her, so I pushed to standing and held up a finger. “Give me one second. I just might have an idea.”

I backed the couple of steps to the picnic table and sat down on the bench facing them, and I leaned over and untied my boots, shucking them and my socks from my feet. Then I rolled my jeans up the best that I could.

It only brought them to about midway up my calves, but it was going to have to do.

Standing, I lifted my arms out to the sides. “How’s that?”

Maci cracked up like it was the funniest thing she’d ever seen, head tossed back and face tipped toward the sky. “Are you gonna go swimmin’ in your jeans, Mr. Kane?”

“Guess I am.”

My attention drifted to Emery. To Emery who was toiling. Not sure if she should give or reject this idea.

Maybe what she was really contemplating was gathering Maci back up and running.

Shield her from the threat I brought.

Except, I didn’t want to be that.

Didn’t want to be a threat or a detriment.

This thing deep inside me that was flaring hot.

The only threat right then was the fact that I was getting ready to burst from the seams.

Wendy broke the tension that stretched between us. “Why don’t you all go swimming for a bit, and I’ll set up our picnic?”

A frown pinched Emery’s brow. “Are you sure, Mom?”

Wendy’s gaze landed on me, studying for a moment, her reservations palpable though hedged in hope. “Yeah, you three go on. I’ll handle this.”

Maci hopped into the air with her hands thrown above, hands clapping in time with the bounce of her feet. “I already got sunscreen on so the sun can’t bite me, and my bavin’ suit is on under my dress, so I’m all ready! Watch!”

She tore out of her dress to a pink one-piece bathing suit she had on underneath. A dolphin splashing out of the ocean was printed on the front.

“See, Mr. Kane! I got a dolphin because dolphins are so smart, just like me.”

Affection roiled.

Brimming and building.

“I bet you are very smart.”

“Well, yeah, no way are they gonna win me at cards.”

She turned to Emery. “You got your bavin’ suit on, too, Auntie Em? We gotta get in right now!”

It was the first time I allowed myself to fully look at Emery today.

Probably shouldn’t have.

Probably should have kept my unruly eyes on the child in front of me.

On what was important.

But there I was, taking her in where she stood itching ten feet away.

Woman wearing short jean shorts and a fitted beige tank, flip-flops on her feet, toes painted this dusty pink.

The ties of a black bathing suit peeked out from under the tank, coming up to wrap around her delicate neck.

That heavy fall of thick blonde hair rained around her, caressing her bare, slender shoulders.

Face void of makeup. Her style simple and unpretentious.

Though there wasn’t a single thing about her that was plain.

This stunning vision that stole the breath from my lungs, something about her so compelling it somehow felt like I was looking at a piece of myself.

Like I was supposed to know her in every way that mattered.

Like she could so easily possess all the places I couldn’t let her.

She shifted like she could feel the intensity of my gaze devouring her, like she could sense the outright hunger that lit inside me, even though I’d already berated myself a thousand times that my thoughts couldn’t go there.

It was jacked, wanting her the way I did after finding out our connection.

It appeared telling myself that didn’t sway a damned thing.

Because my cock kicked, need slicking like an oil spill through my bloodstream.

For a second, we were frozen, stares locked and fiery.

There was no doubt in my mind that her thoughts were right back to the same place as mine. On what’d gone down between us on Friday night.

The lust that neither of us had come close to sating.

Emery blinked a bunch of times, then moved forward to take Maci’s hand. Her eyes were still pinned on me when she whispered, “We won’t be going in too deep, so I can go like this.”

“What? We gotta go really deep if we’re gonna swim all the way to Australia.”

My focus dipped to Maci, and a low laugh rippled out. “Australia?”

“They got really pretty fishes there, and I fink dolphins, too.”

“Well, I don’t think we’re going to make it all the way to Australia today, but I’m betting we can still have a little fun,” I told her.

“That’s right ’cause that’s my specialty.”

Exaggerating a gasp, I touched my chest. “Well, it seems we are a perfect match because it’s kind of my specialty, too.”

Maci giggled like mad while Emery mumbled, “Yeah, I bet it’s your specialty.”

It was nothing but a sarcastic indictment.

And I didn’t know what came over me. Why I couldn’t help myself. But I eased toward her, getting slammed by her aura, that morning glory scent.

Her body nothing but buzzing electricity as I leaned down close to mutter near her ear. “Oh, the fun I could show you, gorgeous.”

Fuck.

Talk about crossing a line.

But there was nothing I wanted more than to bust through it right then.

Obliterate it.

Emery startled, no time to respond or reprimand before I turned and took Maci’s hand.

Second I did, it felt like a beam of light suddenly speared through the middle of my chest. The amount of warmth that pierced me.

I had never believed in love at first sight.

Thought it total and utter bullshit.

But one look at my daughter, and she’d proven me wrong.

Because right then, holding her hand as I led her down to the shore?

It was the second time when I truly understood what love meant.

Once for my mother, though that belief had been crushed. I thought it would be impossible to ever feel it again.

Had never wanted to feel it again.

But there it was.

Instant and whole.

I glanced back at where Emery remained on the beach.

Little Warrior fighting through her reservations. Expression fierce and posture harsh.

And I wondered if maybe she had the power to change everything inside me, too.

SEVENTEEN

EMERY

“Here we go!” Kane suddenly swept Maci off her feet and into his arms before he went barreling into the water.

I nearly shouted at him to stop. To be careful. Give him some reason that we suddenly had to go.

Only Maci squealed. Squealed this uninhibited laugh that shattered through the air as he ran with her into the shallow edge of the lake.

So free and full of joy.

Her arms stretched overhead as if she were on a rollercoaster ride.

That’s what this felt like.

This constant up and down. The flips of my spirit as I battled with the correct path to take.

“Mr. Kane!” she screeched when water splashed up with the pounding of his feet, and she scrambled around, wrapping her arms around his neck like he was some kind of safety net.

“I’ve got you,” he hollered back. A deep toll of laughter rolled out of him as he spun them around about three feet out from the shore.

The water up to his knees and soaking his jeans.

He turned around so they were looking back at me.

My breath caught.

He was so obscenely handsome it was unfair. Dangerous to my stability.

The way my belly twisted whenever he looked my way. The way my thighs trembled with want.

Every carved, hewn angle of his face was written in severity, and that severity was only multiplied by the muscled strength of his body.

What messed me up most was the way he looked with that little girl in his arms. That little girl I didn’t want him to have anything to do with.

The sight of them together ripped and tugged at my conscience.

Because I wanted to think it looked all wrong.

But God, it didn’t.

Those magic eyes they both shared.

Maci laughed without reservation or fear as he spun her around again, the two pleats she’d insisted I braid this morning because she thought it made her look extra pretty flying around her.

There was no missing what was etched in his expression.

Adoration.

Sheer, unmitigated adoration.

“Auntie! You gotta get your booty in the water right now!” Maci shouted.

Kane turned, hitting me with a sexy smirk that took up the entirety of his face. “Yeah, you’d better get your booty in here right now.”

He said it without shame.

As if he were immune to the turmoil that lashed inside me. This horrible complication that made me feel like a terrible person for ever once thinking of him that way.

Once.

What a joke. Because I couldn’t derail the attraction that smoldered in my blood.

“Did you even hear us?” Maci called, cupping her hands around her mouth.

I realized I was just standing there, staring.

Clearing my throat, I forced myself to move, toeing off my flip-flops as I headed down the beach toward the gorgeous water.

The mountains rising all around, the forest thick, the beauty of this place distinct.

The soles of my feet pressed to the warm grains of soft sand as I crossed to the shoreline, then I was gasping out in shock when my big toe touched the frigid water.

“Oh my gosh.” I choked it.

A howl of laughter reached my ears. Warm, deep laughter that wrapped around me like an embrace. “Oh, come on, Emery. It’s not that bad.”

“Don’t be a baby because I’m not even a baby anymore,” Maci seemed to agree.

“It’s freezing,” I countered.

“What that’s called is invigorating.” Kane grinned.

And there was something about him that didn’t appear so menacing right then, which I thought might be the most dangerous thing of all.

The way it caused hairline fractures in the brittle planes lined inside me. A softness trying to sprout. The same ridiculous comfort that I’d felt that night.

Then I was screeching when Kane suddenly rushed forward and leaned down low enough so he could skim his palm over the surface of the water, sending a small wave sailing for me.

Another gasp tore out of me when it splashed onto my stomach.

My mouth dropped open wide.

I wasn’t sure if I was more in shock from the temperature of the water or the fact that Kane was playing with me like we were old friends. Like he was actually someone I’d wanted Maci to meet because he was important to me, when the only significance he should hold was the fact that he had fathered my niece.

He definitely shouldn’t be coaxing me into the water or making attraction flare in my belly. Attraction that left a puddle of nausea in its aftermath.

Because I couldn’t.

I couldn’t.

“What in the world do you think you’re doing?” I rasped.

A smug smile played all over his face.

Dangerous.

Distracting.

“Showing you that you don’t want to miss out on all the fun.”

“That’s right, Auntie! Don’t miss out on the fun because fun’s our bestest specialty! Get her, Mr. Kane!”

“Don’t you dare.” I pushed my hands out in front of me like it would deter him.

Only that grin grew.

Wicked and wild.

Then he was charging for me. Maci giggled out of control as they came my way.

I turned and ran, splashing along the edge of the water as they chased after me.

I wasn’t prepared for a stream of water to hit me from behind, the bulk of it hitting my upper left thigh.

Without rational thought, I swiveled around and scooped up as much water as I could cup in both hands and tossed it toward them.

Kane was fast.

Dodging it as he spun them out of the way.

“Too slow, Auntie! I bet you can’t even catch us!” Glee filled Maci’s adorable face, the sweet sight of it filling me full.

And for a minute, I decided to let go of the reservations that weighed me down because this might be the only memory she had of her father, and maybe when she came to me when she was older and asked me about him, I’d be able to remind her of this.

The day we played in the freezing cold water beneath the warm rays of the new summer sun in this tiny town in Northern California.

Remind her of the way Kane had treated her. The way he’d held her in his arms as we ran and chased and splashed.

The way he’d laughed and teased. The way he was tender, his care so at odds with the viciousness that was scrawled across his flesh.

The way he’d looked at her.

I only wished that one day I might be able to forget the way he’d looked at me.

“Watermelon is my most very favorite,” Maci garbled from around the giant piece of it that she had stuffed in her mouth.

We were eating lunch at the same picnic table Kane had been sitting on when we’d arrived, the rays of sun streaming through the leaves warming our chilled flesh.

Maci was on her knees between me and Mom, and Kane was sitting directly across from her.

It might have been awkward if it weren’t for the fact that he and Maci had pretty much been talking incessantly. Undoubtedly, he was soaking up every detail and fact he could about her.

“What? I thought you told me that ham sandwich you just ate was your very favorite?” he teased, chewing around a grape he’d popped into his mouth.

I absolutely didn’t notice the way his full lips curled around it. Absolutely didn’t notice the flex of his jaw or the bob of his throat when he swallowed.

Maci giggled that wild, free sound, slurping around the juice of the watermelon. “Don’t you know if we got a ton of very favorites then we get to be happy all the time?”

“Is that how that works?” he asked, that gaze darting from Maci to me then back to her.

Every time he did it, my stupid heart would hitch.

“Yep. That’s how you get the happiness. That’s what my mommy told me.”

A beat of agonizing silence echoed through, though it was my mother who cleared her throat and murmured, “Like hamburgers are your very favorite, too?”

“That’s right, Grammy. And don’t forget the candy because candy is really my most veriest favorite.”

Kane chuckled. Low and deep. “Good to know, Angel Face.”

Maci’s eyes widened in surprise. “That’s what my auntie said…that I got an angel face. That probably means I get to see my mommy soon.”

I had to grab onto the edge of the table to keep from completely bowing forward. From crumbling.

The exhalation I let go was a heaving mess of torment.

My poor niece who was so confused.

I wanted to wrap her up and protect her. Shield her from the pain. Somehow make it okay when it felt like nothing would ever be okay again.

Kane hesitated, caution in his eyes as he let his attention flick between me and my mother, as if he were asking for permission to speak.

When he did, it was a careful murmur. “Maybe that just means she’s able to see you and is watching over you.”

“That’s a good idea,” Maci peeped with a little hoist of her shoulders, completely unaware of the turmoil the rest of us were suffering.

That’s the way we wanted it. The problem was that I worried about the day when the reality of this would come crashing down on her.

Mom grabbed a napkin. “Here, sweetheart. Let Grammy clean your face.”

“My angel face?” Maci sent her a gap-toothed smile as she turned toward her and tipped her head back.

Mom’s laugh was ragged. “Of course. Your adorable little angel face.” She dotted her nose with the napkin. “And then I think maybe you and I should go explore the park a little better. Check out that slide. What do you say?”

Mom gave me a telling look.

Talk to him. Get to know him. Give him a chance.

She still didn’t know I’d run into him before we’d gone to his house yesterday.

Had no idea what had happened behind closed doors in his office.

That I’d let him touch me when I hadn’t enjoyed a man touching me since I was seventeen. When I had all but given up on enjoying it ever again.

She didn’t know I’d gone to his club or the argument we’d had there. Didn’t know he’d texted me in the middle of the night and coerced me into this.

She assumed I’d set this whole thing up.

Maci scrambled off the bench before Mom had the chance to finish cleaning her face. “I love explorations!”

Mom climbed out and took her hand, and Maci chattered away to her as she led her across the grass toward the playground that was on the opposite side of the park.

Kane and I watched them go.

I had my head turned fully to look over my shoulder.

Staring and staring because I wasn’t sure I had the strength to look back at him.

Not when there wasn’t a buffer between us.

“She’s incredible.” Kane’s gravelly voice cut through the tension that pulsed in the bare space between us.

“She’s the most incredible person I’ve ever met,” I whispered, still turned away. “The only light I’ve been able to find in the middle of this darkness.”

I shored up all the power I possessed, fortifying my walls, before I finally shifted around to look at him.

It didn’t matter I’d prepared myself. It still knocked the breath from my lungs.

The awe that was written on his fierce, distinct features. A pain I didn’t quite understand because the man didn’t know her.

But there it was.

Inscribed in the lines of his face and flooding from his being.

“Thank you for giving me this.” It was raw.

My throat nearly closed off. “It’s why we came here. To find you.”

“And how did you know how to find me?” His brow curled, his voice this gruff, abrasive thing that unfortunately sounded far too nice.

I wavered, then pushed out a sigh. “My sister had left me a letter in the event of her passing. For years, I believed that she hadn’t known who Maci’s father was, but in the letter, she named you and said she wanted me to find you and tell you about Maci. Your address was listed.”

Those brows slashed down farther.

Surprised.

Confused.

Maybe…disturbed.

I attempted not to feel ruffled by it. Attempted to quell my hackles that rose. My defenses rising, sure he’d hurt my sister in some way.

My teeth ground in restraint.

Waiting.

He roughed his hand through the longer pieces of his hair. Antsy as he contemplated, gaze flitting away for a beat before it was pinned on me.

“What happened to her?”

The familiar sting of tears burned at the backs of my eyes, and my throat clogged with the horror of it.

“She fell off her roof.” I could barely force it out because there was that unsettled piece of me that believed it was a lie.

No way to accept it.

Especially after the things I’d found.

But the authorities had said it was cut and dry.

Obvious.

She’d had a couple of glasses of wine and had misstepped.

And that was it.

She was gone.

“It was always our thing…climbing onto our roof from our window in the middle of the night so we could talk when we were growing up. And even though we were adults and lived in the same town, once in a while we would still do it. She’d crawl out onto her roof, I’d climb out to mine, and we’d reminisce. She’d called me that night and we’d talked for two hours.”

And then she’d slipped, and my sister had been stolen from me.

Sympathy dimmed Kane’s bright eyes. “Fuck. I’m sorry, Emery. That’s awful.”

“Absolutely awful.” The words were hoarse. Close to a cry. “Her neighbor found her the next morning, thankfully before Maci woke up.”

He inhaled a shaky breath, and he rubbed one of those big, tatted hands over his face, blinking hard when he dropped it, voice dipping even farther.

“I’m sorry I didn’t recognize her name.” He hesitated before he muttered the question, “You have a picture of her?”

God, this was brutal.

My nod was bumbling, and I grabbed my phone from the table and swiped into my gallery, heart fisting in a wrench of pain as I searched to find a good one of Emmalee.

I settled on one of my favorites, a slow smile twitching at the edge of my mouth as I looked at it.

It was a picture from last Christmas Eve. I was hosting the family at my house, and she and Maci had spent the night. It was late, and she was in my kitchen, walking my direction and shaking a can of whipped cream, sticking her tongue out at me as I held up the camera.

We both had been laughing.

A flicker of those defenses flared as I passed him the phone, but it was different than it had been earlier.

As if I’d been soothed in some way by this interaction.

“We’re twins, but not identical,” I told him.

Kane accepted my phone and looked down at it.

My attention was probably too focused on his expression.

On the way he searched it before he flinched. The way that for one beat, his golden flesh turned ashen.

“Do you recognize her?” I couldn’t help but demand it, my voice cracking with the plea. Unable to stomach the idea of her being forgotten.

I watched him stall and work up the single gruff word that rose from his thick throat. “Yeah.”

“And?” Anger surged out with it.

I couldn’t help it.

His head dropped low as if he didn’t want me to see whatever was written on his face.

“And I didn’t really know her. She was vacationing here in Moonlit Ridge one winter. Skiing with a group of friends. They came into Kane’s a couple of times. We hooked up once, and that was the last I ever saw of her.”

His jaw ground as he said it.

Disquiet tied a knot in my stomach. A feeling that something was off. That there was something he wasn’t telling me.

“That’s it?” I pressed, almost frantic.

He lifted his face back to mine. “Yeah. That’s it.”

His tone was wholly convincing.

But those eyes…

They churned and roiled.

Magic eyes.

That’s what I’d always called Maci’s.

Enchanting.

Mesmerizing.

But I was sure his could glamour and mask.

Cast a curse.

Because I felt some sickness come on when he suddenly stood, itching and antsy, those hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans that were still completely drenched. “I need to go. I have somewhere I need to be at four.”

Disbelief burst out of me on a scoff, and I shook my head. I didn’t even know why I was upset.

It was the plan. The way I wanted it. The way it needed to be.

But the thought of him walking away like this, after I’d just shared one of the most traumatic parts of my life, sent a razor raking across the raw, abraded parts of my spirit.

He started around the far side of the table, and I thought he was going to walk straight to the parking lot where I’d seen his motorcycle when we pulled in.

Only he stopped, facing that way, his being vibrating with intensity.

I jumped when he suddenly whirled in my direction.

A storm that came within an inch of me.

Towering.

Intimidating.

His breath hot and intoxicating. That distinct cedar and clove scent making my head spin.

He leaned in close, and I prepared for his goodbye.

I could already feel the regret pouring from his body.

“Know you’re going to hate me for this, Emery.” His voice scraped low. “And the last thing I want to do is hurt you more than you’re already hurting. But that’s my daughter, and I can’t turn my back on that.”

Cold slicked down my spine, and I jerked back. “What does that mean?”

“It means I’m her father. It means she stole my heart the second I saw her. It means I have every intention of raising her. Meet me at Twisted Moon at nine, and we can discuss the details.”

Horror pinned my feet to the ground, the shouts and rejections and denials trapped in my hemorrhaging throat as I watched him turn without saying anything else and stride through the park and over to the playground.

I was unable to move as I watched him lean down in front of Maci.

She giggled and laughed at whatever he said, then he touched her chin and ruffled his fingers through her hair as he stood.

I couldn’t look away as he strode the rest of the way to the parking lot and climbed onto his bike.

The roar of the engine echoed through the air like a thunderclap.

That menacing, vicious man I’d thought I’d recognized that first night in full force.

I’d thought somehow in it he was a moment’s comfort.

But no.

He’d come to completely obliterate my heart.

EIGHTEEN

KANE

My guts were a tangle of knots as I sat at the dining table at Otto and Raven’s house. It was situated near the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the forest and the south end of the lake low in the distance since their place was set high on the mountain.

The view was nothing but stunning.

Guessed that’s what I was.

Stunned.

Fucking shocked at what I’d felt when I’d met that little girl.

Every molecule in my being altered at first sight.

The pulsing of love and devotion that had completely taken me over. A crash of complete surrender when she’d smiled up at me with eyes the exact same color as mine.

The same color as my mother’s.

Most shocking was the action I’d taken when I’d realized there was no chance I was going to be able to walk out of her life. I squeezed my left hand into a fist, the tattoo on the back of my hand burning anew. The petals dripping off the wilted rose almost feeling like they were coming back to life.

You take care of who you love most.

Didn’t quite get the fullness of that statement until I’d seen my little girl’s precious face.

Then there was the shock at what I’d felt when I’d seen the picture of Emmalee and recognition had finally taken me over.

That was an entirely different story.

Hell, I likely would have recognized her from the beginning if it hadn’t been for the fact that she’d called herself Lee.

So, now I sat with a tumbler of scotch while I stared blankly out into Otto and Raven’s living room at the mayhem that normally would have had me cackling and jumping right in.

Our Sunday family gathering was typically my favorite day of the week, but right then, I wasn’t entirely sure how to take part in the festivities.

Taylor Swift blared from the speakers as Raven, Charleigh, and Nolan danced around in the open area on the other side of the couch.

Laughter booming in the house.

“Watch this one, Auntie!” My nephew Nolan shouted it as he dropped to the ground and spun on his butt. “You think you can top it? Because I bet my Daddy-O is gonna give it a perfect ten!”

Nah, the kid wasn’t my actual nephew. River and Charleigh’s son unrelated by blood.

But that’s what he was to me.

Every single one of these people within these walls were.

That same devotion I’d felt earlier forever clanging in my heart whenever I was around them.

But it had never quite been what I was feeling today.

The way my pulse was chugging extra hard at the thought of the way my life was getting ready to change. A gong resounding in my head, pain splitting it in two, my mind all fucked up at the possibility of Maci being out there in the mix.

What that might be like.

The perfection of it, while I knew it was entirely wrong.

Knowing it was insane that I had let that claim roll off my tongue when my life was what it was. When I was who I was.

Knowing the things I did and what I was involved in.

What I planned on doing four days from now, plus the Sovereign business we had coming up in two weeks.

But it’d already been delivered as fact.

“A ten? No way am I good enough for that!” Raven, River’s baby sister and Otto’s fiancée, was teasing him as she helped him jump back onto his feet.

Charleigh was there beside them with one of her unending smiles on her pretty face.

The two women were pure, striking beauties. Inside and out. River and Otto were lucky fucking bastards, somehow managing to gain the love of those two.

“You gotta believe in yourself, Auntie.” Nolan shouted it. “That’s what my uncle Otto always tells me, at least.”

Raven cast a glance at Otto who was leaning against the counter next to River, two of them nursing beers. Dude had nothing but hearts in his eyes, smitten as hell.

He tipped his bottle her direction and called, “Come now, Moonflower, show our little dude what you’ve got.”

Raven cracked up and dropped to the floor and started spinning herself around the way Nolan had been doing.

“What about you, Momma Dog?” Nolan cast his beaming grin up at Charleigh.

She giggled, and I would have laughed too if the title Momma hadn’t struck me this way.

Grief for a little girl who was going to have a hole carved out in the middle of herself forever.

The same kind of hole that throbbed inside of me.

No goddamn way for me to fill it when I wanted to be the one who could shield her from every sadness and sorrow. Hold her up high the way I’d done in the lake.

Protect her always.

Both her physical safety and her sweet, innocent heart.

“I think I’m fine on my feet,” Charleigh said as she did some horrible dance move that threatened a smile at the edge of my mouth. “See?”

As hard as I was trying to play this shit off, could feel the way my crew kept peeking my way.

Otto and River peeping at me like I was some riddle they were trying to solve.

In discomfort, I shifted in my seat because I didn’t need to be the target of their questions today.

Not when everything felt too heavy.

The magnitude of the shift.

What had I done? Demanding that I bring that kid into my life?

My chest ached. Even though I knew it, there was no chance of a different outcome.

Knew there was no letting go. The instinct I had. This promise that had to be made.

Battle going down inside me, I took a sip from my tumbler as I let my attention drift out the window toward the lake.

Every time that little girl’s face passed through my mind, I was stunned all over again.

Couldn’t shake the expression that had been written on Emery’s face, either.

The agony that had cut through her middle when I’d told her that I wanted to raise Maci. The way she couldn’t form a response even though it was clear in her eyes she had plenty to say.

My Little Warrior was going to give me a fight, but it wasn’t like I was just going to rip the child from everything she knew, either.

Blowing out the strain, I tried to force my focus back to my family. To play this thing the way I always did. But apparently, I wasn’t fooling anyone considering a minute later Otto came sauntering my way with a smirk written all over his face. Didn’t mean it wasn’t obvious he was on a mission.

I couldn’t even bring myself to acknowledge him, knowing I was likely to bust apart if I even opened my mouth.

I winced when the toe of his boot pushed into my calf, his voice held in a whisper as he demanded, “What the hell is up with you, man?”

“Nothin’.” Could barely force it out, and I took another swig to try to wet the drought I couldn’t quench in my throat.

“Nothin’? You’ve been sitting over here acting like a broody fucker for the whole day when you’re normally over there instigating the shenanigans.”

Otto pointed a finger at Charleigh, Raven, and Nolan who were currently skipping around in a circle, holding each other’s hands.

Anxiety billowed through.

Didn’t know how to lie to my best friend point blank. My brother who knew me better than anyone.

I skimmed a shaking hand over my hair and cocked my head to the side, trying to swallow as I fully looked Otto in the face.

True concern had taken hold of his features. No question, he had caught up to the fact that whatever was going down with me was big.

And I couldn’t hold it.

Couldn’t contain it.

The blunt confession came spilling out.

“Seems I have a kid. And her mother is dead.”

Dude’s eyes doubled in size, rounding as he rocked back in his chair like he was the one who’d been delivered the blow. “What the fuck?”

He probably said it a little too loud since it caused Theo to dart us a questioning glance from where he was relaxed back on the couch.

Otto shifted forward again, lowering his voice and repeating the same damned thing like I hadn’t heard him the first time. “What the fuck, man?”

Agitated, I took another sip.

“Got a kid. A little girl.”

“How old?”

“Four.”

“Are you sure she’s yours?” Speculation filled his tone.

“She looks just like me.” I hesitated before I admitted, “And I remember her mom.”

“Who was she?”

My head shook as the memories swarmed. Memories that weren’t necessarily good. Way I’d caught her snooping around in my office at the back of Kane’s after we’d hooked up.

“Just this random chick I met at Kane’s.” I grunted out what was only partially a lie.

Disbelief deepened the lines on Otto’s forehead. “Some random chick? Can’t imagine siftin’ through a stack that high. And you remember this one from what…close to five years ago?”

I hiked an indifferent shoulder. “What can I say…I have a good memory.”

Which was why I was sure Emery had felt so familiar. No, they weren’t indistinguishable or some shit like that. But there was a likeness. And you could say there was something sketchy about Emmalee that had left a mark.

“Fuck, Kane.” He paused, eyes hunting around his living room like in it he was gonna find a clue. His voice dredged in the direction of disturbed when he continued, “How’d you find out?”

“Her sister came looking for me.”

“And what did⁠—?”

“I met her earlier today.” I cut him off before his question was fully out. Needing him to understand. Sure the tone of my voice would tell him everything he needed to know.

It did because he blew out a strained sigh, and he barely nodded his head. “I can only imagine what that might be like.”

“Changes your life in an instant.” It rolled out of me as a claim.

“That what this is? A complete change?” he hedged.

“Yup.” My insides rattled when I said it.

He chuckled out a low sound. “Daddy Kane. Can’t fuckin’ believe it.”

“Not a joke, man.” I blinked through the disorder. “Don’t know how the fuck to bring a little girl into this world. My life is…” I trailed off, unable to say it.

Otto leaned in close, any of the teasing he’d possessed evaporating as he curled a hand around my shoulder. “Don’t, Kane. Don’t question who you are or whether you’ve got the right. You’re a good man, and you’re going to be a good father.”

The sharp blade of a scoff ripped out. “A good man? You forget the things we get up to?”

And there was no way in hell I could go back on either of the jobs I had planned. Not the one my crew knew about or the one I kept in secret.

This was getting messy.

Really fucking messy.

Maci’s little laugh threaded through my mind, meeting with Nolan’s as he came skipping around the island and into the kitchen.

“Time out! I gotta get some water because I’m super thirsty, and it’s really smart to stay hydrated,” he hollered.

“Look at him, Kane.” Otto lowered his voice further. “That kid is happy as fuck, just like my kids are gonna be when I get lucky enough to have them, just like your daughter is going to be. We take care of them. Protect them. Love the hell out of them. You can count on that. Don’t try to convince yourself you don’t deserve this when there’s obviously a child here, needing you.”

Nolan went skating back out, slipping and sliding on his socks, holding an overflowing glass of water in two hands and trying to balance it as he shouted, “Dance party unpaused!”

The chairs on the opposite side of the table suddenly screeched, and Theo and River each plopped onto a seat.

“What’s goin’ on over here?” River asked, concern in that dark, knowing gaze.

“Seems our boy Kane here has some news,” Otto supplied.

Interest piqued in Theo right as River asked, “Yeah, what’s that?”

Found no point in keeping it secret. This was it. My reality.

So, I grunted, “I have a little girl, and I’m going to raise her.”

NINETEEN

EMERY

I slammed my purse onto the booth tabletop where Kane was sitting, and I let the words that had been stewing in my mouth the entire afternoon fire.

“It’s not going to happen.”

Kane’s attention snapped up at the rage that blistered off my tongue. A rage that had only grown with every hour that had passed leading up to this meeting he’d demanded.

It had become an inferno when I’d helped Maci have her bath, then even more so when she’d crawled into bed beside me and I’d read her a story, the child falling asleep snuggled against my side.

A vehemence that sank all the way down to the marrow.

A liquid steel that ran through me, solidifying into a thousand blades.

Blades I wouldn’t hesitate to protect her with.

“She’s going home with me tomorrow. Where she belongs.” I kept my chin high as I declared it.

There was no surprise on Kane’s face at my assertion. The faint lines at the edges of his entrancing eyes only deepened a fraction.

“Why don’t you sit down?” He gestured at the opposite side of the booth. The exact spot where he’d been sitting two nights ago when I’d noticed him.

Before I’d tried to drown my sorrows in him.

How had only two days passed since then? It’d felt like a lifetime. A harrowing, agonizing lifetime.

“That’s not necessary. I came here to tell you the one thing I needed to say, and now I’m going to go.” I dug into my purse and pulled out the picture I’d shown him yesterday and tossed it onto the table in front of him. “I’ll send more through the years if that’s what you want.”

The one I brought would have to be enough for now.

And that was all I was going to give him because I couldn’t sit here and face him. Not with the memories of the way he’d interacted with her earlier today. Not with his concern or care. Not with the way he’d made me feel alive for the first time in my life on Friday night.

So I fled.

Wedged heels thudding on the worn wooden floors as I rushed back through the bar.

I refused to give him the chance to try to sway me.

My hands shoved against the heavy door, and it swung open, allowing me to stumble out onto the sidewalk.

Night rained down, the mountain air faintly chilled, streetlamps glowing a hazy yellow where they lined the street.

It was only nine, so there were quite a few people out and about. Ending their lazy summer Sunday with a meal on the town.

I wanted to escape into it. Into the shadows that loomed.

Only the door burst open behind me.

My ravaged heart boomed with a bolt of dread.

Did I really think he was actually going to sit there and let me walk away? I knew this would be a fight.

But I had to do it.

I had to protect Maci.

I couldn’t hand her over to a stranger. To someone she didn’t even know. To someone who might have some fleeting feelings of love but didn’t come close to understanding what the fullness of it meant.

Because if he did, then he would understand the sacrifice he needed to make.

He would understand she needed to be where she was most comfortable.

With the people she knew and loved.

“Emery.” He didn’t even shout it as I hurried away from him down the wood-plank sidewalk.

It was this low, hoarse command that somehow held the power to make me stumble in my tracks.

Facing away, I gritted my teeth and fisted my hands.

Trying to prepare myself. To fortify and withstand.

Fat freaking chance since chills lifted on my flesh when I felt the thud of his boots reverberating the wood as he took a slow step toward me.

Another then another until he was looming over me from behind.

A beast that had risen to consume.

Severity blistered, crackling across the dead space. In it, it felt as if all the numb, paralyzed places inside me had come alive.

I attempted to control the ragged breaths that scraped from my lungs. To ignore his scent and the energy he emitted.

To completely disregard the awakening of my body.

God, I was so messed up. I was going to need to re-up my sessions with my therapist over him. Because he made me react in every way that I couldn’t.

Conjured something in me I’d only hoped one day would exist.

What a cruel joke that he was the last person on earth who I would choose to invoke it.

Yet there it was, wisping around me like a vapor that could swallow me whole.

“Please don’t make me fight you on this, Little Warrior.” Kane’s words were low and controlled, brushing against the shell of my ear.

Did he really think it was that simple? That at his whim, I would concede?

Aghast, I whirled around, unable to fathom his audacity.

At the sight of him, the places that had come alive inside me ignited into flames.

“Don’t make you fight me on this?” Disbelief curdled the words, and I slammed my palm against the bleeding, mangled organ in the center of my chest. “That’s my niece.”

Ferocity deepened the lines of his harsh brow. “And she’s my daughter.”

“You don’t even know her.”

His own fury boiled in those magic eyes. Emerald sparks that struck in the night. “Because the chance to know her was taken away from me. That’s not going to happen this time.”

Agitation ticked through my limbs.

I hated that he was absolutely right and completely wrong.

“She’s just a child, Kane. Little more than a baby. She just lost her mother, and now you want her to lose the two people she knows best? The ones who love her most? Do you understand how terrified and confused she would be?”

I begged it, praying he would see reason.

Emotion pulled through his expression, and my spirit leaped, clinging to the hope that the sincerity I’d felt in him Friday had been real. There was goodness under the clear hazard he emitted.

“That’s not my intention, Emery. Not for a second.”

What?

Relief pounded through me, and I rushed, “Then why would you suggest⁠—?”

“I want you to stay here.”

Surprise blasted me back, my body slammed by a rogue wave.

Had he lost his mind?

“What are you talking about?”

He reached out and snagged my wrist, pulling me closer as he urged the words up close to my lips. “I want you to stay here. Both you and your mom if you’d like. I have plenty of room. Want you here while she gets settled. While she gets used to me. For as long as you want.”

Shock dropped my jaw.

No.

That wasn’t my intention.

I wanted to take her home.

With us.

And besides, I was supposed to go back and take over Ivy Threads, Emmalee’s clothing boutique. The one she’d begged me to open with her three years ago, but I’d been too afraid to step out my door most days to even consider it.

I’d let her down, and I wouldn’t let her down this time.

In my stupor, he managed to tug me even closer. “Give us four weeks. It will give Maci the time to get to know me and the rest of my family, and it’ll give you time to see this is where she belongs. Time for you to be sure you can trust me. Then we can go from there.”

“Are you insane?” I tried to fumble back, but he held me close.

His proximity sent a rush of lightheadedness through my brain.

Or maybe it was just his outrageous demand that had me feeling like I was tumbling through space.

Sucked into a black hole with no way out.

Severity erupted in his features. “Alternate is for me to take you to court. Is that what you want?”

It was a plea all mixed with a threat.

Dread nearly choked me out.

I was pretty sure there wasn’t a chance I’d win. The man had money, and well…he had the right.

There was no question she was his. Maci had borne little resemblance to Emmalee other than the color of her hair.

But to this man? I knew exactly what a paternity test would show.

It didn’t mean it didn’t stoke a flame of hate so hot in the middle of me that I couldn’t see.

Would he really wield that kind of power against us?

Wield the power to rip her from our arms?

It was so unfair.

Why, Emmalee? Why did you bring us here? Why would you want this terrifying man to raise your daughter? One who barely even remembers you? One who I am certain is keeping secrets?

Why didn’t you trust me?

Maybe the last was what hurt the most. She knew I would have done anything for that little girl.

Moisture burned and blurred, and I only grew angrier when Kane reached out a tattooed hand and swiped a tear that had gotten free with the pad of his thumb.

Softly.

Tenderly.

Like he actually had a conscience.

“You asshole.” I croaked it.

“Maybe,” he rumbled.

Tension pulled and bound as he stared down at me for the longest time before he spoke again, “But I’m of the mindset that what would really make me an asshole is turning my back on my own kid. I won’t do that. Won’t have her growing up without a father when there is one right here. One who is going to love her with everything he has. I won’t hurt her that way. You take care of the ones you love most.”

He choked over the last words, as if they caused him physical pain to release them.

I couldn’t contemplate what that meant before he edged in even closer, inhaling my shattered breaths. “Stay and let me prove it to you.”

“Am I just supposed to uproot my life to accommodate you? I’m supposed to be taking over my sister’s store when I get back. One of her friends has been running it and can’t do it any longer.”

I was going to do it this time. I was going to keep Emmalee’s dream alive, our dream that I’d let die.

“Four weeks, Emery. I’ll pay your sister’s friend whatever they need to cover it for you. I would come to you, but you know she needs to get used to my house, to this town, and she’s going to be a whole lot more comfortable doing it if you’re there with her while she adjusts. You know this is the right thing to do.”

A battle went down inside me. A war that I didn’t have the weapons to win.

The man a blade. A dagger. A missile in the tattered sanctity of our lives.

But it was Emmalee who had dropped this bomb.

So I forced myself to say what she would have wanted me to. “Okay. Four weeks.”

Then I peeled myself out of the magnet of him. Needing to remove myself from the way he completely muddled my mind and made it impossible to think straight whenever he was near.

“Good,” he rumbled. “Bring your things in the morning, and we’ll get you settled.”

I took a step back, then another, my chin quivering as I whispered, “If you hurt her…”

Tears blurred. I couldn’t help it.

Kane’s thick throat bobbed. “Never, Emery. I would never hurt her, just like I’d never hurt you.”

I felt my heart crack in two because he already did.

TWENTY

EMERY

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you?” Mom kept her voice low enough that Maci wouldn’t hear as we sat idling in front of Kane’s house. She was in the driver’s seat since I didn’t think I could be trusted behind the wheel.

Not when I couldn’t stop shaking.

Rocked by my nerves and the sorrow of what this meant.

This was Maci’s new home. Her new life. And there was a timeline for when I would be kicked out of it.

Four weeks.

“No,” I muttered beneath my breath. “Ted needs you.”

My stepfather was a great guy and normally wouldn’t be so needy, but he’d had neck surgery a couple of months ago, and he still hadn’t completely recovered. I knew it’d been hard enough for Mom to be here the last few days, worrying about him, but she also wanted to be here for her only grandchild.

She emitted a sound so stricken with sadness that it crushed me anew. “I know. I just…don’t know how to take this step.”

I didn’t either.

I had no idea how to force myself out of this car.

My insides felt like they were going to rupture out of me when the front door suddenly cracked.

It slowly…slowly opened as if the man knew he was a harbinger of destruction as he eased out onto the covered porch.

A whir of darkness and light surrounded him, spinning so fast it was disorienting.

“Hey, look it, Auntie! It’s our favorite friend, Mr. Kane!” Maci shouted from the back seat. She kicked her feet in excitement. “I fink he must be really very nice if he wants us to come and stay with him. And he’s got an extra super big house! You fink he’s got stairs in there?”

I hadn’t been able to bring myself to give her the full details of the situation. Couldn’t tell her that he was her father. That this was her new home.

My spirit moaned with the reality of it.

“Yeah, I see him.”

“Well, we better hurry it up since he’s waitin’ for us!” She yanked at the straps of her car seat.

I inhaled a fragmented breath, and Mom reached over and squeezed my hand. “It’s going to be alright,” she whispered.

I squeezed back so tight it was likely constricting the flow of blood in her fingers.

I could only nod.

Pray.

Hope.

Then I cleared the sogginess from my consciousness and forced myself to toss open the door, only side-eyeing the man who stood at the top porch step looking like a freaking poster child for bad decisions.

Seriously, what had my sister been thinking?

Guilt clamped down on my spirit.

What had I been thinking?

Except I had my answer as I peeked up with a furtive, covert glance.

The man was dressed in jeans and a loose, blue button-down with the sleeves rolled up his inked arms. Warm locks of golden-brown hair fluttered in the slight breeze.

Energy rolled from him.

Intense and deep.

Sex and sin.

Shadows and mysteries that crawled across the surface of his skin.

I could feel the weight of those hypnotizing eyes.

The way they flicked between me and the back door of the car.

Anticipation burned through his being.

I didn’t want to concede to the honesty of it.

The way I could feel his own spirit dragging through the space, desperate for the same thing as me.

Maci’s joy.

Guarding myself from the potency, I forced myself to move, and I rounded the backside of the car so I could unbuckle Maci from her seat just as Mom pushed the button to pop the trunk.

“It’s about time, Auntie. I fought you forgot all about me,” she said with her adorable lisp and one of those unending grins.

With quivering hands, I fumbled to release her buckles. “I would never forget about you, Maci. Never.”

“That’s really good because I would never forget about you because you are the best auntie I ever got.”

“You’d better not,” I told her with a tap of her nose, trying to keep it light and not devolve into hysteria.

Still, when I pulled her out into my arms, there was nothing I could do but hold her close as I inhaled a staggered breath.

Then I froze when I felt the presence encroach from behind.

Obliterating.

Decimating.

A shockwave of intensity that slicked across my skin.

A wave of disorder.

A tremble of that thing that had pulled between us since the moment I’d met him. That thing that I had to eradicate.

There was no chance in hell I would survive staying under his roof for four weeks while he made me feel this way.

Toiling in contradiction.

Stewing in a conflict that boiled in the darkest corners of my being.

The disgust up against the attraction that had sunk the sharpest claws deep into my psyche.

“Mornin’,” Kane rumbled.

The rough scrape of his voice skated over me like the skimming of his hands.

God.

This was a nightmare.

Maci squirmed, urging me to set her onto her feet. “Good mornin’, Mr. Kane! I didn’t even know that I got to come stay at your house, but when I woke up, my auntie said that we get to, and I fink you had a super good idea because I don’t got my old house anymore.”

My hands darted out to the roof of the car to support myself, and Maci wiggled around my legs to get to him.

I felt him stall, a stir of potency as he processed what she said, before I could feel the shift, sense that he was kneeling in front of her. “I think it’s a good idea, too. I think you’re going to like it here a whole lot.”

“I definitely like your house a whole lot! I fink it’s a princess castle.”

A low chuckle rolled out of him. “Well, I guess it is now since you’ll be staying here.”

I finally forced myself to turn around, eyes catching on the way his index finger that was tatted with a skull gently touched her chin as he peered at her before that powerful gaze slanted up to clash with mine.

A thousand unsaid words in his eyes.

I refused them, gulping hard as I set my hand on Maci’s shoulder. “We should probably get our things so Grammy doesn’t miss her flight.”

A flight all three of us were supposed to be taking.

Kane pushed to standing, and Maci grabbed his hand and started to haul him toward the rear of the car where my mom was already waiting. “Did you know I got really special fings in my special bag, Mr. Kane?”

He followed her without reserve. “I didn’t know that, but I can’t wait to see what you brought.”

“Well, I gotta have my bwankie because it’s the softest and my mommy gave it to me when I was only a tiny baby.” Maci chattered it as she hopped along at his side.

“You definitely need that,” he agreed, casting me a sympathetic glance.

My chest nearly caved.

Why did he have to look at me like that?

Like he freaking cared?

I didn’t want to receive it. But it swelled around me like a caress.

“Well, I gotta keep it forever.”

“That sounds like a plan, Angel Face. We’ll definitely make sure we do that.”

We.

Forever.

The two of them.

I bit down on my bottom lip to stop the flailing of my emotions, and I moved around to the trunk and ducked in so I could grab my suitcase.

Kane nudged me out of the way, his big body too close to mine. “I’ve got it.”

“I can carry my own bag.” I couldn’t keep the spite from my voice.

“I’m sure you can,” he grunted as he pulled it out. “But why would you want to go and do that when you have me to do it for you?”

He said it like he was the one at my feet.

Like I had a modicum of control when he’d crushed it with a single strike of his heel.

He set my suitcase on the ground beside him then leaned in to grab Maci’s duffel with the cartoon print. “And I’m assuming this belongs to you?”

Maci jumped, clapping her hands overhead. “How did you even know?”

Soft laughter drifted out of him as he tossed the strap over his shoulder. “Just had a hunch.”

“Well, you got a good hunch because you’re right.”

Breaths choppy, I leaned in and grabbed my laptop case and overnight bag before I straightened, fisting the straps of both in either hand, trying to breathe deep enough that I could get myself together.

Four weeks.

I had four weeks.

And then what?

She and I would come to our end?

Panic threatened to drop me to my knees.

Mom was suddenly there, shifting me around and pulling me two steps away from where Kane and Maci stood, her arms wrapped fiercely around me as she whispered, “You can do this, Emery. I know it’s difficult…painfully difficult…because I’m having the hardest time forcing myself to leave right now. But give him a chance. He might be exactly what she needs.”

“Or the absolute worst thing that could happen to her.” I gasped it as I clutched her to me.

She edged back a fraction so she could see my face, and she reached out and brushed back a lock of hair that whipped in the slight breeze.

Compassion and faith filled her expression, her head canting softly to the side as she tried to reach me. “I’ve always been a believer that things work out the way they’re supposed to. That the right path will be found, even when it feels like we’re lost when we’re wandering around trying to find it.”

She squeezed the outside of my arms in emphasis. “But you have this opportunity to make sure. To watch and listen. Trust your gut and your heart…they both count, but in order to do that, you’re going to have to peel away the anger you have toward him. It’s not his fault he didn’t know her.”

But how did we know that? None of us had any idea what had happened when Emmalee had found out she was pregnant. Maybe she’d come to him, and he’d turned her away.

Except, I’d seen the shock on his face when I’d told him, and I’d only be lying to myself if I tried to maintain that he’d known.

Blowing out some of the heaviness, I inhaled a shaky breath. “I’ll try.”

Mom lifted her hand and set it on my cheek.

Warmth spread.

Her love for me intense.

So real.

There was no love like a mother’s.

Pain clamped down when I thought of Maci having to live without that.

“If you need me at all, you say, and I’ll be on the next flight.” It was a promise I knew she wouldn’t hesitate to keep.

“I know.”

Then she hugged me again. Hard. Her own sorrow gushed out. “I love you so much, Emery Voss. You can do this.”

Emotion thickened my throat, and I wheezed, “I love you, too.”

My mom stepped back, swiping beneath her eyes before she inhaled a steeling breath and turned around, feigning brightness in her voice when she moved for Maci. “Okay, Grammy has to go now to check on Grampa Ted, but I will talk to you soon!”

“You better go make sure he’s drinkin’ his milk. All he ever wants is coffee, coffee, coffee.” Maci hooked her hands on her waist and stamped her foot.

Mom choked over a soggy laugh. “I will absolutely tell him.”

Then she scooped Maci up and hugged her close as she swayed her from side to side.

Breathing her in, swimming in the same turmoil that I was, only she had already come up to that end.

She was leaving her granddaughter here with a man that none of us knew.

Maci squeezed her arms around her neck and wiggled in her hold. “Bye, Grammy! I love you so much like all the stars in the whole sky.”

“Every single one of them,” Mom whispered before she finally set Maci onto her feet.

Her face was so full of tears that she didn’t say anything else before she rushed around to the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut.

Grief clotted the air.

Bound it.

Held it.

Kane was the one who broke it, angling his head as he murmured, “We’d better get inside.”

My nod was wary, and I trudged along behind him and Maci as they headed for the house. Maci’s steps were light and eager as she raced up the stairs. The child nothing but a buzz of excitement. “I like your house a whole lot, Mr. Kane. You got any kids for me to play with?”

If I wasn’t watching so closely, I wouldn’t have noticed the way he nearly tripped. The stumble in his stride before he regained his footing.

But of course, I was.

So messed up that I couldn’t look away.

“No. You’re the first kid who’s going to be staying here with me,” he said, words thick, “but I do have a nephew who I think is going to be super excited to meet you.”

“Yay! Another best friend!” Her little sandals thudded against the porch as she raced across it, and she yanked at the door handle.

While I heard the crunch of tires on the gravel behind me.

I paused to turn to look back at my mother through the windshield. My mother lifted her hand and pressed her fingertips to her lips before she barely waved them at me.

A fluttering of hope and a staunch show of support.

I lifted mine in a silent goodbye, then I stepped into Kane Asher’s house.

TWENTY-ONE

EMERY

Was it wrong that I was shocked that a man like Kane had a house that looked like this?

It was gorgeous.

An old rambling home that had been meticulously renovated.

The hardwood floors were likely original, though they’d been sanded and stained to a glossy black.

To the left was a formal living room, and off to the right was a wide hall as large as a room, and openings jutted off on the left side of it before it let into the kitchen at the end.

The opposite wall was a line of windows that overlooked the front yard.

Ahead was a staircase with a carved, ornate railing.

“Do I got a room, Mr. Kane?” Maci peeped, holding onto the skirt of her dress and swishing it around as she turned to look at him.

“You sure do,” he said. “Right this way.”

Kane angled around her and headed for the staircase.

Then he paused to look back at me, a startled worry suddenly coloring his face. “Is she good with the stairs?”

“Don’t even worry,” Maci cut in before I had the chance to answer. “I had stairs at my mommy’s house, and I never even fell down once because I got good balance because I’m a ballerina.”

Maci was already clomping her way up, passing him as she glided her hand along the railing as she went.

Reservations rolled from the man, but he seemed to accept it, and he turned and followed closely behind her, carrying my suitcase and her bag.

While I held back, not sure what the hell I was supposed to do with myself.

What had I been thinking? Just…accepting his terms?

But in the moment, it’d felt like the only option I had.

My spirit flailed.

It was the only option I had. There was nothing else I could do but agree to this because I sure as hell wasn’t just giving Maci up.

Getting through it was an entirely different story. Staying under the same roof with this man who made it feel like he was stealing the last whole part of me.

With the man who made it feel as if I was on a countdown to destruction.

All while my chest stretched tight at his care.

I shook myself out of it and hurried up the steps behind them. At the top, there was a landing that opened to hallways that ran down either side.

Kane moved down the hall to the left. Coming to a stop, he pointed at the first door on the right. “This is you, Emery.”

I swallowed around the rocks in my throat and inched toward it, faltering a bit when I stepped in.

I was not expecting what I found.

The room was lush and feminine.

Decorated in a deep plum and a whimsical peach.

It smelled faintly of paint, though a bunch of candles were burning from a shelf up high on the wall.

A huge antique bed with a black metal headboard sat on the far-left wall, and there was a giant window with a seat that overlooked the rambling lawn out back and the stream that snaked through at the edge of the forest in the distance.

“Hope you like it.” I startled when the rugged voice rolled over me from behind.

Chills skated along the nape of my neck and down my spine.

Fine hairs lifting in antsy anticipation.

I attempted not to show him I was affected as I turned to face him and set my bags onto the floor.

“It’s fine,” I told him.

Something akin to a smirk hitched the edge of his mouth. “Fine, huh?”

He definitely knew it was gorgeous.

“Hey, where’s my room?” Maci shouted from out in the hall, the hardwood planks clattering from her jumping in place.

Kane hesitated, as if he wanted to say more, before he gave and ducked back into the hall.

“The room right next door to your auntie’s,” he said, his grumbly voice echoing as they moved.

Little feet pounded, then Maci screeched, “What? This is the best room in the whole wide world! How did you even get this princess bed?”

Her joy vibrated through the wall.

My head spun. How had he done all of this? For her? For me?

A low tolling of laughter joined it. “Well, the second I found out you were coming to stay, I knew I had to get it ready.”

“Guess it’s a good fing I got here.”

“Yeah, Maci, I think it’s a really good thing you got here.”

I pressed my hand over my mouth to stop the cry that threatened to rip out, to force the chaos down into the pit where I needed to keep it. To calm the storm that raged inside.

To just be okay.

But I didn’t know how to make it okay when all of this just seemed…wrong. Questions constantly spun through me. The million whys I would never be able to ask my sister.

Inhaling a breath, I shuffled over to the picture window and stared out at the scenery.

Trying to draw in its peace.

I doubted I was going to find any of that here since another shiver rolled when I felt his presence emerge from behind again.

A swell of intensity that blistered across the room.

I didn’t want to look, but there was nothing I could do.

The man a snare.

Apparently, I had trouble looking away from beautiful things.

Beautiful, vicious, dangerous things.

The ground trembled as he took two steps forward, a clash of chills and fire igniting on my flesh as he leaned in close to my ear.

Ridiculously full lips right there, his aura all around.

Cedar and clove and temptation.

“Want you to consider this your home, Emery, for as long as you’re here. Whatever you need, just say it, and I’ll give it to you.”

Suggestion spilled out with his gruff words, and my belly tightened in want while my spirit screamed in rejection. I glared up at his stupidly handsome face.

Did he think I’d forgotten the threat he’d made to take me to court?

“Yet the one thing I asked of you, you refused to give me.”

Fingertips were suddenly trailing my jaw—my jaw that dropped open at his flagrant touch. Without permission, my head tipped back, my breaths ragged as he leaned in so close his mouth was only an inch away.

Those green eyes sparked, and the edges creased in harsh severity. Almost as severe as the cut of his voice.

“There’s something you’re going to learn about me, Emery. I fight for my family. Whatever the cost. Whatever the price. There might be very few people I trust in this world, my circle small because I rarely let anyone in…”

He dipped in closer.

“But when I love? I love with everything I’ve got. And that little girl? She’s going to get all of that.”

TWENTY-TWO

KANE

“How many rooms do you even got in here?”

Maci’s little voice coming at us from behind had me stumbling back, ripping myself from the magnet of this woman that threatened to do me in.

Had never once in my life had someone affect me the way she did. Way I wanted to crawl right inside her. Get lost in those warm toffee eyes. Sink into the sanctuary of that body. Understand the fear and reservations she so clearly carried.

But we had more important things we needed to be dealing with right then than the insane reaction she created in me.

I cleared the clog of lust from my throat and turned toward my daughter.

My daughter who was standing in the doorway, grinning from ear to ear, wearing another one of those sundresses, her blonde hair done in these little messy pigtails on each side of her head.

My daughter didn’t even know who I was. But if she needed to think of me as her best friend for a while, that was just fine.

“Five bedrooms.”

Four on this side of the hall and the primary that was on the opposite side.

“Five?” Her little eyebrows lifted for the sky, then she was peering around me at Emery who was trying to control the hammering of her heart.

I could feel it. The erratic thrum that pounded through the air and bashed against the walls.

A fuckin’ match to mine.

“Told you it was a princess house, Auntie Em. Did you even see my room? It’s got magic!” She whipped her hand overhead and twirled a circle like she was casting a wish with a wand. “You gotta come see it.”

With a shaky nod, Emery seemed to suck all her reservations down and stepped forward, woman peeking over at me for a beat as she wound around me.

So damned obvious as she took that extra wide berth.

She seemed to straighten out once she accepted Maci’s extended hand and followed her out.

There was nothing I could do but tag along.

Keeping back and leaning a shoulder on the doorjamb as Maci turned around to face Emery and dragged her into her room with both hands.

“Look it, Auntie! I got a very special room just like my very special bag.”

Emery released a shallow wheeze as she took it in.

The walls were painted blush pink and accented in sage green, the molding done in a glittering gold. A white, wood-framed bed was on the far wall and a circular canopy with sheer blush curtains draped from the ceiling and down to the floor around it.

The canopy was decorated with twinkling star lights and little sprigs of green branches.

Bedding and rug to match.

“How?” Emery muttered from where she stood gaping.

“Had a little help from my family.” Wasn’t even sure if she was asking me, but I was giving her the answer, anyway.

When I’d sent out a text last night telling everyone that my little girl was coming to live with me, along with her aunt who’d be staying here for four weeks, Raven had immediately responded, asking what she could do.

She, Charleigh, and Otto had shown to help. River had stayed back at their place since Nolan was asleep, and Theo had business at The Sanctuary, the motel that we used as a temporary holding spot for the families we were trying to get to safety.

And Cash…well, I hadn’t exactly expected him to show.

The four of us had spent the better part of the night painting.

We’d lucked out that Raven had a connection with the owner of this upscale interior design shop downtown. She was able to get in there early this morning before opening and picked up bedding for both rooms, and she’d used her mad decorating skills to bring it all together, fashioning that canopy herself.

Plus, she and Charleigh had just come back and left right before Emery and Maci had gotten here to drop off a bunch of new clothes and different things she thought they may need, working their magic together to make sure both Maci and Emery were comfortable at my place.

Truly, it had blown me away.

The care this family had.

Emery turned back to look at me with disbelief written all over her stunning face. “When?”

“Spent last night and this morning getting both rooms ready for you two.”

“Because you really wanted your best friends to come stay at your house with you?” Maci peeped.

“That’s right, Angel Face, I really wanted my best friends to come stay with me.”

My gaze drifted from the adorable little thing to her aunt who itched in the middle of the room.

Toffee eyes swimming in distrust and that potent thing that strummed between us.

A low, delicious beat that thudded and enticed.

We both jumped when Maci suddenly went flying for her bed. She hopped onto it on her knees, giggling as she bounced around to face me, grabbing a fluffy pillow and hugging it to her chest. “I fink you got my style.”

A chuckle rolled out, and I roughed my fingers through my hair. “Can’t take credit for all of it. Had a bunch of help.”

“Tell ’em I said fank you very much because I love it all the way to the stars and to infinity.”

“How about you tell them when you meet them?”

Excitement widened those eyes that slayed me every time the child looked at me. Swore to God, the little girl was like looking at my mother’s face. My chest clutched at the thought, but I shoved it off, refusing the grief that was always right there below the surface, ready to devour.

“I get to meet them?” Maci shrieked.

“Absolutely.”

She fell backward onto the mattress like she was fainting.

“I got the best day of my whole life,” she dramatically sighed toward the ceiling.

Worry gushed out of Emery, a full physical reaction as she cast me a desperate glance. One that begged me to be careful. To take heed.

It was going to take her a minute to get that I would never harm this child.

“I think I’ll unpack. I’ll be right next door if you need me,” she murmured to Maci.

“You don’t got to have any worries about me.” Maci scrambled back onto her knees and her voice dropped to a whisper. “I got new clothes and new toys in here, Auntie.”

Maci slipped off her bed and went to the white wooden box that had her name painted on the front in the same gold lettering as the molding.

Charleigh had taken that project on herself, thinking Maci having her name on something would give her that extra sense of belonging.

She tossed the lid open and started digging through the toys inside, and instantly, the child was swept into her own little world, mumbling to herself as she gave over to her imagination.

Emery hesitated for a beat before she finally moved for the door.

My heart rate kicked as she came my direction.

Reservations filled her as she angled to the side to slip by, only her chest brushed across my side as she went.

With the bare contact, a fire ignited.

An inferno that streaked beneath my flesh and twisted my guts in a want that I was pretty sure was never going to let me go.

Emery froze for a beat, held in those flames.

Her perfect tits nothing but hard, pebbled peaks. Chest heaving with her harsh, ragged breaths. Her eyes wild.

Yeah.

She was just as affected as me.

What I wouldn’t give to haul her out into the hall and push her up against the wall. Lift that thin cotton tee that hugged her delicious frame to get to the sweetness underneath.

Get her behind a locked door so I could explore every inch of that body.

The lid of the toybox clanged shut.

I jolted back, instantly knocked out of the trance.

“Excuse me,” Emery wheezed, jarred from it, too. She dashed out, her footsteps echoing on the floor as she hurried into the next room.

“Mr. Kane, you wanna come play with me? I got so many toys, and I fink you’re really gonna like ’em.”

I shifted to find Maci on her knees and waving two dolls in front of her. This child that needed to be my only focus. The one I needed to get to know. The one I was meant to cherish.

I had to let that attraction go.

Whatever that insane connection was that blistered between me and her aunt.

So I muttered, “Yeah, Maci, I definitely want to play with you.”

TWENTY-THREE

EMERY

I crept downstairs, keeping my footsteps light, like I was on some covert mission.

I guessed that I was.

Wanting to witness Kane interacting with Maci when he didn’t know I was there.

They’d spent the entire afternoon playing together, basically any game that Maci could come up with.

Hide and seek and cards and every toy that had been in that toybox and stuffed into the built-in shelves on the wall opposite her bed.

I’d hidden in my room.

About thirty minutes ago, they’d gone downstairs, and the only thing I’d heard from them since were the faint bumps of movement that echoed through the floor.

I hit the bottom landing, and my pulse turned thready as I turned toward the sounds that were coming from the direction of the kitchen. Laughter and the strains of what sounded like opera music that curled and twisted down the hall.

I tiptoed, keeping my breaths quieted as I inched along the corridor.

I crept by the rooms that lined the left side, passing a library, a den, then a formal dining room before I edged up to the entryway that opened to the kitchen and a casual living space.

Glittering rays of early evening sunlight poured in through the large windows that lined the room.

I pressed myself close to the wall as a peal of laughter suddenly ripped through, and I peeked in to find Maci had changed into the ballerina outfit she’d insisted on packing when we’d come.

“Look it how many spins I can do, Mr. Kane! One, two, fee, four!” Maci twirled and twirled before she stumbled to the side when a rush of dizziness hit her.

I started to rush inside, only Kane already had her swept up and into his arms before I had the chance. The man laughed casually as he intoned, “Whoa there, that might be one too many spins.”

“There can never be too many spins if you’re a really good ballerina,” she told him.

Another low chuckle rippled through the air and skated over me.

A riptide of confliction.

He set her onto the island countertop where he was chopping something, and it was then I noticed the scent infiltrating the air.

Onions and garlic and spice.

My stomach growled.

God, I hadn’t been able to eat in days, and now my stomach was going to pipe up?

“Well, that might be true, but sometimes we have to work up to things. We just want to make sure you don’t go bonkin’ your head.” He poked her belly when he said it.

She giggled like it was hysterical, grabbing at his finger to guard herself as she sang, “I’m not going to bonk my head, Mr. Kane. I’m a professional. I took a lesson and everyfing.”

“What? A lesson?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, it sounds like we’re going to have to get you some more of those lessons.”

“They got dance here?”

“Oh yeah,” he said, back to chopping. “There’s this really cool place in town called Tiny Toes. They have dancing and tumbling. My nephew goes to the tumbling ones, and now he’s a tumbling machine.”

“You think he’s gonna get a gold medal?”

The slow slide of his rumbling amusement billowed and bashed, and my stupid heart flailed at the sweetness.

“He just might.”

“I better go with him then if he’s gonna be my other best friend. I been needin’ to learn some big fwips.”

“That sounds like a plan. I’ll make the call tomorrow.”

Inhaling a steadying breath, I peeled myself from the wall and stepped into the rambling, open room.

A casual living space was on the right, an oversized couch facing the television that hung on the wall above the fireplace mantel.

Off to the left was the kitchen. An L-shaped countertop ran just below the big windows that had the same view as the bedrooms upstairs, and a giant island was in the middle with six stools tucked into this side.

Kane and Maci were on the other side of it, Maci facing away from me.

But the man…his attention lifted. Those shocking, magic eyes gulping down the sight of me.

An electric shock streaked through the air and pierced through my defenses.

Weakening my knees and speeding my heart.

“Hey, there,” Kane said in that low, mesmerizing voice.

I swore, the man was made for seduction.

Possessing the power to strip you of every reservation.

“Hey.”

Brilliant response, I knew.

But how the hell was I supposed to form a coherent thought when twilight hugged him from behind, his brown hair glinting like he was surrounded by a halo, his teeth tugging at his plump, bottom lip?

Impossible.

“Hope you’re hungry.”

It was a grumble.

An offering.

Maci shifted around so she could send me a grin. “You better be, Auntie Em, because we’re makin’ dinner, and it’s gonna be deeeelicious.”

She rubbed her belly.

Kane chuckled. “Hopefully Maci here isn’t getting your hopes up too high, but fajitas are my specialty when I do cook.”

Frown carving into my forehead, I eased deeper into the room. “Don’t you need to go to work?”

“Nah,” he said, though there was something that darkened across his brow. “Figured I’d take a couple of days off until you two get settled.”

“You don’t need to do that.” I guessed I’d been set on the reprieve I’d thought I’d get while he’d be gone at night.

Sincerity bled into his hoarse, deep voice. “Yeah, Emery, I do. It’s important to me that you’re comfortable here.”

“I’m very comfortable,” Maci peeped, completely unaware of the tension that strained between us. “I got the softest bed I ever felt.”

Kane slanted me a searching glance before he hoisted Maci up from under the arms. “Off you go. I need to finish up at the stove.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I can’t be by the stove ’cause it’s really hot,” she grumbled like he was putting her out.

“Why don’t you go change back into your sundress so you don’t get your ballerina costume dirty?” I suggested.

“Good idea, Auntie Em!”

She came flying my way, hand held above her head for a high-five.

She jumped to reach mine, never slowing as she raced through the threshold, leaving me alone with Kane.

He’d shifted around, his back to me as he tossed the meat he’d sliced into strips into the skillet that sizzled on the stove.

Cautiously, I edged up to this side of the island, needing to keep a solid object between us. “Is there anything I can help with?”

He glanced back at me, and a longer piece of his hair flopped into his eye. It made him appear almost boyish, but there was no type of innocence that lived beyond the shadows of those eyes.

“Nothing other than grabbing what you want to drink.” He angled his chin toward the refrigerator on the left wall. “Not sure what you like…unless you feel like drinking tequila tonight?”

He didn’t even try to hide the innuendo.

My stomach tumbled in a fit of greed, but I managed to scowl as I headed for the refrigerator. “You know that is not going to happen.”

I pulled the door open and searched through the ridiculous amount of drink choices he had inside, including a slew of typical children’s drinks.

How the hell had he managed all of this overnight?

Our rooms and the clothing in our closets, which mine had somehow been my exact same size, mind you, plus the refrigerator was stocked.

I reached in to grab the gallon of milk for Maci and pulled out a cherry-flavored seltzer for myself. I started to step back so I could close the door, only I froze when I realized he was right there.

Towering behind me.

His presence overpowering.

An overwhelming force that sent unfound need skittering through my veins.

He darted a tattooed arm around me, the corded muscles rippling and flexing as he reached in to grab a package of cheese.

His mouth dropped to the shell of my ear, the words a breath. “Another time, then.”

Then he was gone.

I sagged forward.

I didn’t know if it was in disappointment or relief.

I slammed the door shut with my hip and strode back to the island, grumbling, “And that time will be exactly never.”

He only chuckled one of those tempting sounds, and he hiked a shoulder to the left of him. “Glasses are in that cabinet.”

I opened it, grabbed a plastic cup for Maci, and filled it half full, before I popped the cap to my seltzer and poured it into a glass.

I carried them over to the round table on the far side of the island.

Maci came bounding back in just as Kane moved to a different cabinet and pulled down three plates.

“All done!” she shouted as she flew in, the pigtails I’d put her hair into this morning now a disaster and falling out on one side.

“Perfect time, Angel Face. Dinner is ready.”

“I fought I could smell it.”

She ran straight to the table and climbed into the spot where I’d placed her milk.

No anxiety or feeling like she was out of place or didn’t belong.

While I ran my hands up my arms, having no clue what to do with myself.

“Utensils are in that drawer right there if you want to grab them,” Kane said, as if he’d read my thoughts and knew I needed something to do with my hands.

I grabbed three sets of silverware, plus a few of the napkins that sat to the side of it, then took them back to the table. By the time I got there, Kane was maneuvering three plates in his hands, setting one in front of Maci, one in my spot, and another for him.

“Voilà,” he said with a flourish of his hand.

Maci clapped from where she sat on her knees, also waving her hand and mimicking, “Voilà!”

Kane laughed and ran a palm over the top of her head and down the back.

I nearly wept.

Never so torn.

My emotions never so at odds.

He plopped down into his seat. “Let’s eat.”

“Because you’re a starvin’ marvin like me?”

“That’s right. From all the playin’ you had me doing today. Think I could eat a horse.”

“Eww,” she giggled with an adorable scrunch of her nose. “Doncha know the lady died when she swallowed the horse?”

“Ah dang, I totally forgot about that. Guess I’m just gonna have to eat these fajitas, then.”

He sent me a crooked grin.

Damn him. There was no stopping the fluttering that flitted in my stomach.

That spiral of energy that looped and weaved.

Tying me in knots of discord.

Maci took a big bite of her fajita, chewing as she garbled, “Whelp, tastes like we did a good job, Mr. Kane.”

“We sure did, thanks to you,” he said as he took a bite.

Warily, I turned my attention to the plate. Picking up the fajita mixture that was already wrapped in a tortilla, I brought it to my mouth.

Flavor exploded on my tongue.

All those scents I’d smelled amplified.

Onion and garlic and the perfect blend of spice against the melted cheese.

Dang, they really did do a good job.

“You like?” Kane asked.

I looked up to find him with some kind of arrogant tilt to his head. Like maybe he wasn’t referring to the food at all.

Rolling my eyes, I didn’t answer, I just took another bite, sure I didn’t do anything to hide the little moan that worked its way free at the taste. You know, considering the rough scrape of a laugh that lumbered out of him.

Then he picked up his phone that he’d set on the table next to his plate and waved it around a little as he turned his attention to Maci.

“So, my family has been blowing me up all day, asking when they get to meet you.”

“Who me?” Maci chirped around her food.

Protectiveness swelled, and I sent Kane a warning glance. He sent me one that promised he knew what he was doing.

“That’s right. Took everything I had to keep them from busting down the front door today, but they thought maybe you might like to go to a barbecue at one of my brothers’ houses this coming Sunday. The one who has the little boy.”

“You mean my new best friend?”

Something that sounded far too close to affection rippled out of him. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Do I even gotta give an answer? Duh.”

“Okay, sassy pants,” I reprimanded quietly, trying not to laugh.

Kane didn’t seem to see reason for restraint.

His bellowed.

Bouncing off the windows and walls.

Trembling over me in a warmth I shouldn’t feel.

“I thought you might like to, but figured I’d better check first.” Kane looked at me then. As if he were asking for my permission.

As if it mattered.

As if I mattered.

“Pretty sure they’re going to want to meet you, too.”

My brow curled. “Why?”

A bolt of potency rocketed out of him as he sat back in his chair, that torrid gaze demolishing me. “Because they make it their business to know anyone who’s important to me.”

TWENTY-FOUR

EMERY

Darkness reigned.

Confounding.

Confusing.

Terrifying.

Her breaths were harsh and shallow.

Her blood iced over from the fear, though her skin was drenched in a sticky sweat.

She tore at the ropes that bound her wrists and ankles, pain biting into her flesh as she struggled to break free.

But there was nothing she could do.

Nothing she could do for any of them.

Suddenly tires squealed and the van they were in careened, their bodies rolling and bashing against the back wall when it came to a jarring stop. No way to stop themselves from the violent crash. Fear thundered through her veins when gunshots rang out, and it felt like razors dragging up her throat as she begged for help.

Begged for it because she felt the fight slipping away.

The terror took hold and seeped all the way down to take her spirit captive.

Metal clanked and moaned, and there was a shifting of air.

Then her sister was screaming.

Screaming and screaming.

“She’s gone. She’s gone.”

With a cleaving of pain, my eyes bolted open, a rasp raking from my lungs as I was jerked awake.

Disoriented, my legs flailed as I scrambled upright, and my hands flew out to grip onto anything that would keep me from disappearing into the nothingness. To keep me from falling away with those who had been lost.

Then my hands clamped onto plumes of softness, and I gasped out again as I brought the plush blanket to my chest when I realized where I was.

The room I’d been given to stay in at Kane Asher’s house.

Darkness hung heavy within its walls, the only light the gentle glow from the moon that seeped in through the drapes.

The house was so quiet, I could almost hear its old bones moan.

Trying to draw a cleansing breath into my aching lungs, I pressed my palm against the hemorrhaging behind my ribs as if it might stand the chance of holding my heart inside.

Like it might keep the tattered, shorn pieces from completely sundering apart.

For years, I hadn’t suffered the dreams, but now that Emmalee was gone, they had returned in full force. It was as if the absence of her presence had ripped off the flimsy bandage that had covered the mangled, butchered wound from the trauma we’d sustained.

I’d believed I’d healed.

But no.

There it was. The hole gaping and amplified by the loss of my sister.

A quiet hitch of caustic laughter climbed my thickened throat as I tossed my legs over the side of the bed and scrubbed both hands over my face.

Healed?

As if the way I reacted to men wasn’t a direct consequence of that night?

The anger that I’d worn as a shield to protect myself from the things I couldn’t control?

It had always felt so much easier than being vulnerable.

So much easier than putting myself in a position where I could be hurt.

It was easier to be alone.

To hole up in my little house and hide myself away.

It was something I’d been working on for a long, long time. First accepting it rather than pretending as if it hadn’t happened, then slowly trying to find myself on the other side of it.

Who I wanted to be and how I wanted to handle my life. To discover my needs and joys. Chase after experiences that had dwindled into the faint pictures of fantasies in the back of my mind.

My chest squeezed and my stomach tightened.

Nerves scattering with the thought of the way I’d let go with Kane. The way it had felt. I almost wanted to wish it’d only been a dream, almost as desperately as a part inside wanted to cling to it as proof that one day I would stand in that light.

Find me in the darkness, bring me to the light.

The small words that I’d had tattooed to remind me of the hope that remained burned on the inner part of my wrist.

How could he be the one with the power to do it? How could he be the one to touch me and I could actually feel it rather than giving into the numbness I normally felt? How could he be the one to elicit goosebumps on my flesh? The one who’d sent the charge of ecstasy spinning through my body?

A swell of anger swooped in right behind it, and I exhaled a shattered breath.

How badly I wanted to blame him for all of this.

But what would I do if I were in his position?

God, Emmalee. If I could only talk to you one more time. If you could just make me understand.

Yearning for insight, for a connection to my sister, for a way to calm the storm that raged inside me, I slipped off the high bed and tiptoed over to the desk on the opposite side of the room. I pulled out the chair, sat, then switched on the small lamp.

A swath of muted light filtered into the room, and I leaned over and dug into my laptop case. I brought my laptop so I’d be able to do some of my freelance work while I was away, but what I was after were the few things that I’d brought of Emmalee’s.

Her tablet and one of the memory books that I’d found with all the things she’d hidden at the back of her closet.

I pulled out the memory book and opened it on the desk.

Anxiety pulsed through my being as I flipped through the pages.

I should have known looking at it wouldn’t calm anything. It only stoked the confusion that bound as I looked at the chaos she’d kept inside.

We’d both been devastated.

Traumatized.

Reshapen.

Honestly, I wouldn’t have been all that surprised to find a book full of a lifetime of pictures that we’d shared with our best friend, Jana. I had a million of them, too.

But it was the jumble of news articles that she had clipped that had left me unsettled. Some printed from online, others cut from actual newspapers and magazines. Every mention of her disappearance from when she’d been stolen away from us. All the speculations and hypotheses.

Maybe the hardest part was knowing we’d been intended on being stolen away, too.

We’d made it out.

We were safe.

But Jana…she was gone.

The thing I hadn’t known was that Emmalee had clearly become obsessed. The unintelligible notes she had scrawled in a frantic hand. As if she’d thought she could sift through the debris and bring her back to us.

My chest squeezed in a fit of pain.

Except that was impossible.

We’d all known it.

I kept flipping through the disorder, the pictures of predators that she’d printed and glued into the book, the notes she’d written around them.

I flipped the book shut, then hesitated as I glanced down at my bag, not sure if I even wanted to delve into whatever Emmalee had been involved in. But I pulled out her tablet, anyway, sliding my thumb across the screen and bringing it to life.

I inputted the passcode that we had always used for everything and easily gained access.

Her files mostly contained things for her boutique, Ivy Threads. Vendor receipts and financial information.

But it was the one file that was buried and locked that had left me itching. What had given me that strange sense that Emmalee might have been hiding something. That she might have been in trouble.

It was only labeled with a date.

The date we’d been saved. The same date as we’d lost Jana.

And no matter how many hundreds of different passwords I’d tried, I couldn’t get inside.

“What were you doing, Emmalee?” I whispered into the nothingness.

Pain gripped me when I had to accept that she would never answer back.

Blowing out the strain, I slammed the lid shut and stuffed it back into the bag. When I did, my fingertips brushed over the velvet bag that I’d also stuffed at the bottom. The velvet bag that I’d found in her things. The velvet bag that had been stolen from my drawer in my bedroom.

Why had she taken it? Maybe in her obsession she’d needed the single, tangible thing that remained of that night. I just wished she would have told me rather than me thinking I’d been going crazy when I found it missing. I would have happily given it to her, but I guessed she thought she needed to sneak it since I’d never admitted to her that I had it.

Fighting off the anxiety, I stood from the chair.

There was no chance I’d be able to go back to sleep any time soon, so I crept across the room and slipped through the door I’d left open a crack in case Maci needed me, then I tiptoed to hers that rested halfway open.

I stopped at the threshold and peered inside.

A nightlight that cast a million stars onto the ceiling and walls gently lit it, and my sweet niece was tucked beneath the covers, her face turned toward me where she was lost to the abyss of sleep.

Her facial features lax, her lips parted with her soft, steady breaths.

Completely at peace.

Love sped through my being. A tidal wave that nearly knocked me from my feet.

Devotion pumped and pushed. My arms aching because the only thing I wanted to do was to wrap her up and keep her safe forever.

Is that what she would be here?

Safe?

Spirit clutching, I forced myself back toward my room. Only I stalled when I noticed one side of the double doors that led to the primary suite on the opposite end of the hall was wide open, a large wedge of light pouring out into the hall.

I stilled, my ear tuned and my pulse speeding.

I was ninety-nine percent sure Kane wasn’t in there.

I knew it with the way I was drawn. A fool unable to stop myself from seeking him out. A hook he’d somehow managed to impale in my soul dragging me downstairs.

It was dark on the first floor. The long corridor was only lit by the moon that seeped through the windows since the drapes were open wide.

I began to inch down the passageway, feet silently moving across the floor.

I didn’t know why, but I stilled at the first big window that overlooked the front.

A chill crawled across my flesh as I stood beneath the silvery rays.

Unease slithered through my senses. That sticky awareness that kept clawing at my perceptions.

The weight of evil eyes penetrating my skin.

Ugh. I was freaking myself out for no reason. I was so far outside my normal comfort zone that my imagination had gotten out of control. Letting every fear I’d ever harbored sink into my being.

Didn’t I have enough to worry about without conjuring ghosts?

And Kane…he was right there.

I could feel the force of his presence radiating from down the hall.

He wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me.

I nearly scoffed out loud at the errant thought.

As if I could trust the man.

I mean, come on, the last thing I should be doing was creeping in to get a glimpse of him.

But there was no stopping it.

The tether that bound from somewhere deep within.

Tugging.

Tugging.

Tugging.

No will in my feet except to get to him.

By the time I made it to the end of the hall, my breaths had turned short and shallow.

Dim lights burned from within the kitchen.

I peeked inside.

He was there, facing away at the window over the kitchen sink. His hands planted on the counter as he stared into the lapping shadows of the backyard.

His back bare and only wearing jeans.

His aura had diffused from the easiness he’d worn through the entire evening.

As if once the house had gone quiet, he’d been carried away by his own ghosts.

This...this was the man I’d met Friday night.

Every muscle in his body tightened when he realized I was there, the silence between us growing thick and heavy.

A weighted awareness that dragged between us, vying for a victory there was no chance we could find together.

Yet, there I stood.

Chained to the spot.

My stomach in knots as my eyes traced the intricate art that crawled over his shoulders and down his back. A forest scene with skulls hanging from the limbs of the trees.

Morbid and grim.

I’m not the dragon slayer you think I am. I’m the dragon.

“What are you doing awake at this time of night?” His voice was gruff. Held in the tumult that howled through the rambling room.

I edged forward. “I could ask the same of you.”

He stifled a rough chuckle as he glanced back. “Not used to going to bed until three or four. Am usually still at Kane’s closing up at this time of night.”

Questions stirred. Those reservations I couldn’t shake. I inched forward, trying to gather myself. To focus on what was important.

The little girl upstairs.

Only my breath locked at the base of my throat when he fully turned around. Wide chest fully on display. Rippling with fettered strength. Designs played over the hard, packed lines of his pecs and abdomen.

The man a painting of awestriking, terrifying perfection.

I attempted to clear the roughness away as I eased forward. I had to keep on track. There was a real reason I was here, and it wasn’t to ogle this man.

The first man who sent me sailing right past those barriers I’d hedged. Beyond the anger that had held me back.

“And how is that supposed to work when you’ve insisted on raising a little girl?”

I remained on the opposite side of the island.

Again needing the physical barrier between us.

He roughed a tattooed hand through his hair. “Gotta work some stuff out.” He stalled, obviously reticent to say whatever was on his mind.

He looked to the floor as he mumbled, “And I have a work trip I need to take in two days. Something that was planned long before I knew about Maci. Don’t want to leave, but I have to. I can have her stay with my family, but I think she’d be more comfortable if you stayed here with her.”

Disbelief blustered through, and I shook my head. “You’re leaving? In two days?”

More hesitation, his thick throat bobbing in something I couldn’t quite read.

Guilt, I thought.

“I’m sorry. But I have to do this.”

My brows lifted in challenge.

Sighing, Kane planted those big hands on the glittering veins of the quartz countertop. “Listen… Won’t pretend I have everything figured out right now, but I can promise that I’m going to make this work.”

Rejection puffed from between my lips. “Make this work? She can’t be some extraneous piece that you try to stuff wherever you can make her fit, Kane.”

Those magic eyes pinched at the sides. “Is that what it looks like I’m doing right now? Because what I’m trying to do is give my all. Every good part of me.”

Not even close to being a good man.

My insides flip-flopped.

“And what are the bad parts?” It raked out on a disordered gush. “You told me that you aren’t a good man. You told me you’re the dragon.”

I wouldn’t tiptoe around it.

The air shivered when he straightened, the man rising to his full, imposing height. He began to slowly weave around the island, eyes never leaving me.

His head cocked when he came around the side, and the ground trembled beneath my feet as I stood there without anything separating us.

No barrier for the energy that pounded through the atmosphere.

“You want to know what my bad parts are, Emery?” His voice had dropped to a jagged blade. “They’re the parts of my life that have shaped me. The ones that made me who I am. Some of them were mistakes. And others I would never fucking change.”

My pulse thrummed into turbulence, both alarmed at the foreboding he emitted and wanting to rest in the safety of it at the same time.

He took another step forward on bare feet.

A shockwave rolled the ground.

He came so close that I could smell him. That warm cedar and clove scent that covered me in a jumbled, disorganized comfort.

His voice dropped even lower as he inclined his head my direction. Words raw, unbridled temptation that he whispered far too close to my lips, “You didn’t seem to mind a whole lot about that on Friday night.”

Shivers raced.

“That was obviously a mistake of my own,” I managed to say.

“That so?” he rumbled, inching even closer.

I released a shaky breath, one he seemed to inhale, and a big palm came to rest on the side of my neck.

Heat blistered at the contact.

A roar that burned through my veins.

“Yes,” I forced out through the desire that flickered through my nerves.

A dangerous smirk ticked at the edge of his mouth.

“I think you’re a liar, Little Warrior. I think you want this every bit as badly as I do. Do you think I can’t feel what’s coming off you? Way your body lights up the second I come near you?”

His hand slid up from my neck to tangle in my hair.

He tilted my head back. Mayhem ripped through me like a tornado. How out of control I felt. The man holding all the power.

And I was nothing but a fool. The way I wanted it. The way I wanted him to take that power and rule me.

Just for one minute more.

I wanted to forget. I wanted to be elevated. I wanted to fly.

He dipped down, so close the words breezed across my lips. “The things I would do to you, Emery Voss. The way I would make this perfect little body glow. Make you light up like the sun. Know you’re aching for it.”

Air heaved from my lungs, a clash of horror and lust that whipped around the two of us, my gaze trapped by his.

The bare flesh of his chest pressed to the thin fabric of my tank, and our hearts ravaged in a clattering of greed.

“That can never happen.” Somehow, I managed to wheeze it.

The pad of his thumb stroked the sensitive hollow at the side of my neck, from behind my ear and over the pulse point that drummed in desperation.

“Never?” The gold of his eyes flashed with the challenge. “Already know the way you taste. Know the sounds you make when you come. How hard your thighs shake when pleasure is tearing through you. How these greedy little hands rip at my hair as you beg for more.”

“That was before I knew who you were.” The words barely made it off my tongue.

Surprise rocked him back half an inch. “And that changes things?”

I choked in incredulity.

Was he serious?

“You had a child with my sister. My twin sister.”

My sister who was dead and gone.

A rush of shame came barreling through at the thought. How could I be standing in here with this man like this?

Kane seemed to war, thoughts cutting and grinding through the sharp edges of his face. His expression finally settled into a frown. “I didn’t even know her real name, Emery.”

I could feel my own expression contort with guilt. With the grief and the torment and the contention that ransacked my conscience. “Do you think that changes it? Do you think it doesn’t kill me to think about you with her? Do you think I don’t hate that you make me feel this way? That you make me want something that no one else has? And you’re the last person I should want it with.”

For a beat, he lessened his hold, and I thought he was going to release me, only his fist suddenly tightened as he bent me over farther, the man hovering over me as he murmured, “And you’re the first person who’s ever made me want like this, too. First person who’s ever chased me into my dreams. One who hits my mind the second I wake up in the morning.”

His tone deepened. “Only you’ve got it all wrong, Emery. I’m pretty sure you’re the exact person I should want.”

“You’re my enemy.” I could barely croak it around the desire that coursed through me.

His entire brow pinched. “Your enemy?”

All that bottled pain rose and lifted, churning from the depths of where I’d tried to keep it concealed. Bubbling up and spilling over.

I ripped myself out of his hold, and the fury gushed free.

“Yes, you’re the enemy. The enemy who is trying to steal the last part of my sister from me. The one who is trying to steal the last bit of light in my life. You.”

I gasped it as my fingers clutched the fabric of my tank right over my heart. My heart that was bleeding out all over his floor.

“You are the one who’s going to destroy me. Destroy us. Rip the last joy from our lives. Take a little girl from her home and keep her from the ones who love her.”

A sob tore out with it, and I bent in two as I was slammed with the misery. With everything I’d tried to keep contained and shored away.

It rended and rived, cutting me apart.

I struggled to remain standing.

To keep from being swallowed by the ground that had suddenly opened up beneath me.

A dark hole that would take me all the way under.

Hell.

Hades.

Purgatory.

Whatever torture you wanted to call it.

I was there. Drowning in it.

Massive arms suddenly shackled around me, pulling me up one second before my knees hit the floor.

Kane.

His scent and his presence and the turmoil he wreaked.

I thrashed against it as I wailed. As the pain burst free.

No walls or armor remaining to stop it.

The numbness I’d floated in had been stripped away, and it forced me to feel the brunt force of everything I’d tried to keep myself from for the last three months.

“Hey, hey, hey, I’ve got you, Little Warrior. Let it out.” He mumbled it low.

“You,” I cried again, his name condemnation.

Kane tightened his hold, tugging me fully against the heat of his bare chest.

Wrapping me so fiercely I couldn’t move.

No weight on my feet as he pressed his mouth to the top of my head. “That’s not going to happen, Emery. I promise you, that’s not going to happen.”

“You—”

“Fucking sorry that I gave you that threat, but I had to fight for her, too. But it’s not my goal or what I want. I have no intention of you not being a part of her life. Last thing I want to do is keep you or your mother from her. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to step aside and not become her father, either.”

I wanted to beat on his chest and call him a liar. Fight him. Hurt him the way it felt like his existence hurt me.

But I couldn’t get the sobs to stop raking from my spirit. Couldn’t do anything but give in to the crushing severity of them.

Cries came ceaselessly as he continued to mutter, “Let it out. Just let it out. Know you think you’re alone. That you’ve gotta be against me. But you don’t. Just let it out. I’m right here to stand for you while you can’t.”

I wanted to refuse it.

But I sagged against him.

“Why would you stand for me? You don’t even know me.”

The question lacked any anger. It was simply a plea.

“Because you’re my daughter’s family. Because you love her, and she loves you. Because she’s always going to need you, and that’s never going to change.”

His arms somehow wound tighter. “And even if we didn’t have Maci in common, I’d still want you right here, in my arms. Because it was you who sparked something inside me that’s been missing my entire life. You who made me care in a heartbeat. And I want to hold it for you, Emery. This horrible thing I can feel that has you chained.”

Tears blurred my eyes, and I squeezed them tight as he clung to me. My blunt nails barely scratched into the heated flesh of his chest. “No one has ever gotten that part of me, Kane.”

The fact that he’d gotten as much out of me as he had was a miracle. Or maybe a tragedy. Because there I was, being swayed in his arms, spirit urging me to give it to him.

But I knew there was no chance of that. We could never be.

“Maybe you just hadn’t met the right person yet.” There was almost a tease to it.

Lightness infiltrating his tone as he continued to rock me.

“Are you always so sure of yourself?”

Letting go of a smooth chuckle, he massaged his fingers into the back of my neck and up into my hair, once again, tipping my head back a fraction.

His mouth was still right there, his striking face hovering an inch away. The words went raw as he whispered them near my lips. “There are some things I’m very sure about, Emery. I can’t wait to show you what they are.”

A buzz of need tumbled through my belly, my inside throbbing with perverse, defiant want.

I didn’t know how I managed it, but I gathered myself, regaining steadiness on my feet as I carefully unwound myself from his hold.

From his hold and those eyes and that body that I couldn’t allow myself to get lost in.

I attempted to clear the roughness from my voice, and I fiddled with the hem of my tank that I was pretty sure would forever be saturated with his scent.

“We can’t go there,” I told him. “Not again.”

He edged back, and I swore that chain he had attached inside me tugged. The man a magnet my body wanted to follow. His mouth barely hitched at the side. “Well, guess you’ll just have to remain my very best friend, then.”

Yeah.

That’s not what this was.

We both knew it.

But I couldn’t.

I couldn’t.

I finally pried myself away, and I headed back for the hall so I could escape to the safety of my room.

Only I paused at the threshold, hand reaching out to hold onto the jamb as I peeked back his way.

The man stood there in the lapping shadows.

A dichotomy of nonchalance and vehemence.

A clash of calm and violence.

So striking I was afraid he’d already seared a piece of himself inside me.

“Maybe you’re not my enemy, Kane,” I whispered. “Maybe you are exactly what she needs.”

Maybe there was a reason for this. Maybe Maci really did need him in her life, and I just didn’t understand it yet.

Emotion crested in those unforgettable features. “I will give everything in my power to make sure I am exactly that…what she needs. Will protect her with my life. With everything I’ve got. I promise she will always be safe with me.”

My nod was juddering, and I had to force myself to turn from him and jog down the hall and up the stairs.

A total battle of wills since the only thing I wanted to do was run straight back for him.

TWENTY-FIVE

KANE

I didn’t release the breath I was holding until I heard the faint click of her door echo from upstairs. If I got another whiff of that morning glory scent I’d be done for.

I’d reach out and see if she’d let me take. Take us to that place we both were aching to go.

Press my nose to those lush locks and inhale.

Imbibe everything that she was.

Taste and touch and glut.

Sate this insane desire she created in me and send her soaring again the way her body was begging me to do.

It took every ounce of strength I possessed not to go after her. Everything I had not to chase her up those stairs and into her room. Feast on the beauty that she was. On all that courage and voracity. On all that sweetness and vulnerability.

Assuage the anger that boiled inside her, or maybe just hold her while she raged.

She had the right to it.

To shout and wail and curse the world for stealing her sister from her.

Plus, I recognized enough to know her pain went deeper than that.

Trauma was so clearly written in the depths of those toffee eyes.

The blaze of wrath that burned inside her over whatever she’d suffered so clear, all trapped by the fear that continued to keep her chained.

Fuck, how I wanted to stand in those flames for her. Hunt down whatever or whoever had inflicted the wounds that she so impetuously tried to keep buried.

Scrubbing both palms over my face, I shook myself out of the lust, over the wayward protectiveness that had me itching to possess what I could never have, and moved back through the house, heading for the stairs. I stalled a bit when I thought I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. A fluttering of movement out the window and into the distance beneath the night.

Chest tightening, I edged toward the glass and peered into the darkness that shrouded the house.

A tacky stillness resonated back. The trees gently swaying in the breeze that whispered through, the bare gusts rustling the bushes that lined the lawn and delineated the front yard from the forest that surrounded the house.

My attention swept, searching through the turbulence that I could suddenly taste. That murky intuition that warned something wasn’t right.

Insides lined with steel, I edged up to the door, worked through the locks, and stepped out onto the porch. My chest squeezed tight as I peered out through the nothingness that echoed back.

Just the faint strains of music thudding from Kane’s from a mile away and the calm call of the night.

Nothing that should incite the alarm that resounded inside me.

It had probably just been my reflection in the glass.

Paranoia brought on by the weight of knowing that I was bringing that little girl into this life.

Knowing I had to find a way to protect her against it.

Shield her from the sins and corruption.

Sure of all the ways I’d unleash my barbarity to see it through.

And I would.

I’d meant every word that I’d told Emery.

I would protect that little girl with everything I had.

I refused to fail again.

TWENTY-SIX

KANE

Fifteen Years Old

Roses wilted and then bloomed again.

He’d always believed it, but he’d come to hate the vicious cycle of it. The way his mother would grow strong and emboldened, standing up for herself and for him, and then she’d be sucked into the warped world of another man.

They were all the same.

Every time.

Coming off as good guys in the beginning, but it never took long for their depravity to be uncovered.

Kane had developed an instinct to it. Could feel it the first time they met.

There was something filthy lining their underbelly. A trap that she forever fell into.

Kane ached to stop it. To silence the shouts and the banging of doors and the gutting cries that inevitably fell from his mother’s mouth.

To stop the pain. To stop the torment.

To help her. Stand for her the way he’d always wanted to.

To be the kind of man none of these assholes she brought home ever amounted to.

He tried. He tried and he tried.

But she always ended up in the exact same place, the same kind of bastard, only with a different face and different name.

So, he begged her when he found her crumpled on the floor, “Please, Mom. You have to stop this. You have to stop letting these men do this to you. You deserve so much better.”

He choked over the plea, then his heart felt like it was going to split in half when she lifted her head. Her left eye was swollen shut and blood was smeared across her face from a gash near her temple.

Horror and anger vied for dominance, his chest feeling as if it were a cavern.

He’d kill him.

He’d kill him.

“Maybe it’s just always gonna be winter.”

“No,” he gritted. “No. You’re going to shine. It’s time. I can’t sit aside and watch this any longer. I won’t. You have to make a change. And if you won’t do it for yourself, then do it for me.”

He didn’t care that he was laying guilt on her shoulders. He knew she believed he was her only good thing. It was the only way he could twist it.

Grief blanketed her emerald eyes, the gold dimmed with atrocities she’d suffered. “Okay, baby. Okay.”

She climbed onto her hands and knees, and Kane carefully helped her to stand, silently promising her that’s where he’d always be.

Standing for her at her side.

Silently promising that he’d be enough.

This time it was going to be different.

Kane – Sixteen Years Old

“You fuckin’ whore. What did I tell you?”

It was never different. Never, ever different.

Shouts and clatters echoed from down the hall.

“I came right home. I promise.”

“Such a liar.”

“No.”

A heavy thud then the cry of his mother.

And Kane was tossing off his covers and jumping from his bed, fury pumping through his veins and tightening every muscle in his body.

Rage burning a hole through his being.

He wouldn’t stand for it.

Not any longer. He’d remained a coward, locked in his room ever since his mother had made him promise never to intervene again after he’d hit Paul.

But you took care of the ones you loved most.

In the dark of the night, he hurtled down the hall, hastening with the slap he heard smack across her cheek, and he barreled into the living room where Justin had his mother backed against the wall.

He didn’t hesitate.

Years of pent-up anger busted out of where he’d kept it trapped.

He rushed forward and slammed into Justin from the side, ramming his shoulder into his ribs and sending the bastard stumbling.

“Stay the fuck away from my mom!” It raked out of him, the words trembling, but not out of fear. It was purely out of hate.

Justin fumbled three steps, nearly falling onto the ground, but he managed to steady himself. Rebounding. Rising high and wide, the man a fucking giant.

Kane didn’t care.

He wouldn’t cower.

Wouldn’t back down.

“Oh my God, Kane, go back to your room,” his mother begged from behind.

“I’m not standing aside anymore.” He’d said it before, had wanted to mean it, but he’d been too young and small and naïve to actually make it fact.

But now he could feel the shift inside himself.

The crack that had been carved inside him the first time he’d witnessed someone hurt his mother fracturing wide.

Justin laughed a menacing sound. “Think you’d better listen to your mother before you regret that statement.”

Regret.

They were always threatening regret.

But Kane would never regret standing up for his mother.

“Get the fuck out of our house,” Kane spat through clenched teeth, trying to keep his cool when he felt himself splintering apart.

His mother gasped and Justin laughed again, and his voice took on the same condescending tone he always used with Kane. “Or what are you gonna do about it?”

Kane didn’t bother with a rebuttal. He launched himself at the latest beast who’d been beating on his mom, figuring he’d show him.

Only Kane didn’t make it all the way to him before a meaty fist came up and struck him in the stomach.

Pain exploded, and the breath was knocked from his body.

He bent in two, trying to stay upright, to find his footing and go back for the monster.

But Kane had no time before another fist smashed into the side of his head.

A roar of agony burst out of him, and he stumbled to the opposite side. A dark bleakness throbbed at the edges of his sight.

Pulling him toward surrender.

But he wouldn’t.

He had to fight.

“No, Justin, no,” he heard his mother whimpering, and he forced himself to straighten when he sensed Justin going back for her. He threw himself onto the asshole’s back and locked his arms around his neck, trying to choke him out.

Holding on so tight.

With all his might.

For his mother.

For his mother.

His mother who was currently on the floor, weeping with her mouth gushing where it was split. Through it, she met his gaze and gave Kane a silent shake of her head.

Telling him no.

That she wasn’t worth it.

But she was.

She was worth everything.

She was the one he loved most.

Kane tightened his hold, not even caring if he actually strangled the motherfucker to death.

Maybe hoping that he would.

Justin spun around in a circle, his disgusting, giant hands pawing at Kane’s arms as he tried to break free. “You little fucker. You think you’re gonna get away with this? Disrespectin’ me?”

Justin threw himself back and smashed Kane’s back into the far wall.

Kane grunted, and he tried to maintain his hold and not let the fresh round of pain battering through his body make him falter.

Kane might not have been a scrawny kid anymore, but Justin had at least eighty pounds on him, and he was losing ground.

Justin grabbed him by one wrist, twisting it back and spinning out of Kane’s hold all while keeping him nailed to the wall.

With the other hand, Justin struck him in the stomach again.

Hard.

Again and again.

Blow after blow.

With each, Kane gasped and choked and tried to keep on his feet, while his mother wailed and begged, “Leave him alone! Leave him alone! This isn’t about him.”

Didn’t she get it?

He was a part of her.

How could she count him out of her life? As if it didn’t affect him? As if he wouldn’t care?

“I’m gonna teach this little punk a lesson. It’s time he learned his place,” Justin growled, never ceasing with the blows.

One after another.

Kane tried to fight back, though his arms had gone weak, his spirit faltering as quickly as his bruised and crushed body.

A brutal fist landed on his right cheek.

Blackness vibrated, and he was so, so close to being sucked into it.

“No, Kane,” his mother cried. So quiet. But he could feel it. Could feel her turmoil.

The rush of her energy.

Her love.

He didn’t even realize she’d run out of the room before she was back, the glint of metal flashing in the bare moonlight that flowed in through the open window.

A knife.

“Leave him alone!”

She didn’t even break into Justin’s wrath.

He just kept punching, hammering fist after fist into Kane’s broken body.

Then Justin howled. Howled as he released Kane and whirled around.

Kane slumped to the floor, nearly unconscious.

But the fury in Justin’s voice kept him pinned to the horrors of this reality.

“You motherfuckin’ bitch. Did you just cut me?”

Through tears and blood, Kane watched his mother hold the knife between two shaking hands.

A vision so similar to the one that had been embedded in his darkest memories from years before. When his mother had begun to succumb to that darkness. When somewhere through the years she’d begun to believe that she wasn’t worthy of the love that she deserved.

When she’d been manipulated and brainwashed and led astray.

Or maybe she’d just been stuck.

Imprisoned by what she didn’t believe she had a choice in breaking free of.

“Leave him alone. Leave me alone.” Her words were brittle, broken pieces that fell off her tongue.

Justin took a step toward her, and she took one back.

“I mean it, get out.”

Justin laughed, that horrifying, disgusting sound.

Right before he jumped on her and took her to the ground.

“Get up. Get up. Get up,” Kane begged himself from somewhere inside the swimming of his mind. He had to get up and help her.

But he couldn’t do anything.

He could only listen to the grunts and kicks then a piercing scream.

One second later, Justin climbed to his feet.

The silhouette of a beast in the night.

Staring down at Kane’s mother who writhed on the ground, before the man dropped the knife that hung from his hand to the ground.

It clattered on the hardwood floor before he turned and ran for the front door. It banged against the interior wall as he threw it open and fled.

The sound of his truck roared as it was turned over before it sped into the night.

While Kane struggled to crawl to his mother.

Terror gripped him when he saw the front of her shirt was completely soaked with blood.

“No. Mom. No.” It poured out of him on a prayer.

No, no, no, no.

She blinked up at him, the emerald of her eyes too bright and glassy in the night.

“You’re such a good boy, Kane. Such a good, good boy. My favorite boy.” His mother garbled the words, and a smile flickered at the edges of her bloodied mouth. “Don’t ever change. Don’t ever let that beautiful light fade. Fight for love and what’s right. I know you will…because it’s who you are. And always, always take care of the ones you love most.”

A moan pulled from the depths. “No, Mom, no.”

He pressed his hands to the hot wound on her abdomen. Pressing hard. Tears burned and bled, and he begged, “No. You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be okay.”

Her fingertips fluttered to his face, brushing soft and slow. “Take care of the ones you love most. I’m sorry I didn’t return it.”

“Mom…” He gulped, then he shouted at the open door, “Help! Someone help! Please!”

On his knees, he gathered her up in his arms, grief clogging his throat as he begged, “Please,” as the last petal wilted and fell from the rose.

TWENTY-SEVEN

EMERY

Dragon

Is she asleep?

I was propped up in bed with the lamp on the nightstand glowing, the candles on the shelves flickering and dancing to the quiet sounds of the night.

Kane had left this afternoon on his work trip.

I didn’t know what it was that unsettled me about it. What set me so off kilter when he’d packed his duffel and promised he’d be back in two days.

When he’d told me again and again how thankful he was that I was here to be with Maci, all while he’d posted his friend Theo out front.

A terrifying, menacing security guard.

One who refused to come inside but had insisted that he was going to sleep out under the stars.

Seriously, what the hell?

I couldn’t make any sense of him. Not of Theo or Kane or the strange interaction they’d shared before Kane had ridden off on his motorcycle while I’d been standing on the front porch watching.

It’d seemed…tense.

An argument.

Theo’s own speculation rolling off him.

Kane had texted not twenty minutes later, saying I miss her already. Won’t deny that I miss you, too.

How was I supposed to respond to that? So, I hadn’t, though I had changed Deadly Dragon to Dragon on my phone. I guessed I was having a difficult time continuing to view him that way. Now, hours later, another text had come through. One asking if Maci was asleep seemed a whole lot safer, so I quickly responded.

Me

Yeah, she’s been asleep for about half an hour. She insisted on making dinner and taking it out to Theo.

Two seconds later, another text came through.

Dragon

She’s a little caretaker.

I wavered before I let my fingers fly across the screen.

Me

I think she might be a protector, like you.

Dragon

You see her in me?

My tongue stroked out to wet my dried lips.

Me

Every time I look at her face.

Dragon

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Me

I think it’s always going to hurt a little when I look at her, because I’ll always see my sister, too.

I sat with my phone on my lap, not sure why I was so eager for a response. To see his words light up the screen. This foolish reaction the man elicited in me.

A concoction of distrust and grief and greed.

Wanting something I knew I shouldn’t have.

Dragon

Wish I could take that pain away from you, but I can’t. Only thing I can say is I get that pain. Being robbed of the one you love most.

My stomach twisted at his vulnerability. At the way he could read mine.

That chain that shackled us cinching tight, tugging between us on a keening bow. I had no idea where it’d gotten its power. How it was possible that he affected me this way.

I shouldn’t delve any deeper, but there was no stopping the question, and I wasn’t entirely sure if it was some kind of jealousy driving the question. Wondering if he’d ever had someone who’d gripped him by the soul.

Wondering if that’s exactly what he’d done to mine.

Me

Who?

It took forever before he finally responded.

Dragon

My mother.

Sorrow flooded out with the response, and I felt swamped with it, as if my mattress had become a pool of his grief.

Me

I’m so sorry.

Dragon

It was a long time ago.

Me

But it doesn’t change the pain, does it?

Maybe it got distorted. The edges worn out and frayed. But it would always be there.

Dragon

No.

The single word came through, and I watched as the bubbles jumped then paused then jumped again.

Dragon

I wasn’t strong enough to protect her from the ones who hurt her. I failed her. Something that won’t ever happen again.

I thought he was all wrong, and he might not be the dragon after all. Because even if he was battle-worn, I could see him in his armor.

A white knight standing for what was right.

Was I crazy for thinking it?

For trusting him the way he’d asked me to?

When I could feel the shroud of secrets hovering around him? Storm clouds that darkened and concealed?

Me

I trust you with her.

My stomach tightened. I wanted to trust him with myself, too.

I still didn’t understand how I’d arrived at this place.

Believing in him.

Dragon

I promise I won’t betray that trust.

Another text came in right behind it.

Dragon

It’s something that’s hard for you. Trusting.

I could almost feel his spirit dancing in the room. Shadows that played across the walls as he watched over me from afar.

Me

Sometimes the only thing it takes is one incident…one horrible moment…to destroy trust forever.

His response popped up almost immediately.

Dragon

I want to know who hurt you. Who put those ghosts in those gorgeous eyes. Want to end them so you never have to be afraid again.

I should be terrified of what he was saying because nothing about his statement felt off-handed or blasé.

Me

It was a long time ago, and it’s not your burden to carry.

Dragon

That’s where you’re wrong, Little Warrior. You became that when you let me touch you. When you let me taste you. When you put your trust and your body in my hands. I’m the only one who’s done that, aren’t I? The only one who’s made you feel safe to bare yourself that way?

God, how did he know? How could he see right through me? And why was I giving him an open door? But there I was, letting my fingers betray the promises I had made to myself.

Me

I tried. Twice. Both times, I just went numb.

My spirit taking flight. Removing me from the horrors I was instantly transported back to.

Dragon

And were you numb with me?

I glanced around the room as if I was worried I was going to be caught doing something salacious, my heart racing and that achy spot he conjured throbbing.

Me

I think you know the answer to that.

Dragon

How did it make you feel?

I could feel his caution. Wanting to make sure I was fine and also wanting to tread into the attraction that so clearly burned around us.

And I knew answering it honestly would change everything. That I was allowing myself to go dip my toes into the waters that I’d promised myself I wouldn’t. I knew what direction the conversation would go. Could almost taste it in the air. But I couldn’t resist that lure in his voice.

Me

I felt free for the first time in my life.

Dragon

Is that what you want, for me to set you free? You want me to send you soaring the way I did before? Know the pleasure I brought you. And I can’t help but sit here thinking of all the ways I want to do it again.

Desire flamed, and I gulped around the knot in my throat.

Me

You know we can’t go there.

Dragon

Think your pussy says otherwise. Tell me, Emery, are you dripping right now? Thinking about all the dirty things I could do to you?

Brazen.

There were no other words for this man.

I squeezed my thighs together as if it might be enough to sate the ache.

Me

No.

Dragon

Sweet little lies.

I could almost hear that low chuckle rumbled out with the words.

Me

Even if I was, we can’t act on them.

Dragon

Maybe you just need me to become your fantasy.

He already was. My every fantasy. One of my greatest regrets and my dirtiest secret.

Dragon

Do you touch yourself, thinking about me right down the hall from you? Because I promise you that I do. Knowing you’re twenty feet away, tucked behind that door, that sweet little body in that bed. My cock has been stone since the second I met you.

Heat rushed across my skin, tremors rolling with the flames.

What was he doing to me? I knew better. Knew I was treading a thin line, but there I was, toeing it, anyway.

My trembling fingers tapped out the confession.

Me

I never have. Not until you.

I nearly hit the ceiling when my phone rang in my hand. I should reject his call. Or better yet, shut down my phone. I couldn’t do this with him. It was wrong. Wrong on so many levels.

Apparently, I didn’t have the capacity to heed it.

I accepted it, every inch of me shaking as I lifted the phone to my ear. I didn’t have time to say anything before his voice was cutting over the line.

Deep and dark and mesmerizing.

“How many times? How many times did you fuck yourself with those sweet little hands thinking about me?”

“Every night since I came to this house.”

He plucked it out of me as if he wielded the power to my every secret.

I’d attempted it before but had fumbled with the awkwardness. With the scars that had built up around it and made it less than appealing.

I’d finally given up.

Given up until I’d met him.

“Do it now.” He grunted it. “Slip those fingers into your pussy and know whatever you’re feeling is only a fraction of what I’d really make you feel.”

And I swore, the man had me entranced. Entrenched. Captured and hypnotized.

Because I did.

I let my palm slide down my belly and under the covers, beneath my sleep pants and underwear.

A tiny moan got free when my fingertips glanced over my clit.

“Don’t fight it, Little Warrior. Just tonight. Let go.”

I thought we both knew it was a lie. That it would never be enough. That the mere fantasy of him was only going to drive me insane. That I was diving into a dangerous place.

Because I couldn’t stay, and I didn’t believe that he would keep me. I was sure of the life that he lived.

But none of that mattered right then.

Not when I heard him shifting in bed. Not when he released a long groan, and I became sure of what he was doing.

Visions flashed.

Of what it might really be like.

The man standing over me.

Fully bare.

Pure menace and intimidation and those gentle, caring hands.

Sensation rushed as I rubbed my fingers over my swollen nub.

“Are you touching yourself, Emery?”

“Yes,” I rasped.

“Good girl.” His voice was grit, his breaths choppy and shallow.

And still, I whispered, “Are you?”

“Yeah. I’m fucking my hand, hard and slow, and it’s never going to be enough.”

“It has to be.”

This had to be enough.

It was already a tragic mistake. Taking this farther than we already had. But I couldn’t stop the onslaught of need that barreled through my senses.

“Wish I was there so I could kiss the fuck out of you.”

I didn’t know what it was about the way he said it that set me off.

Why those words sent a bolt of pleasure blistering through my body.

The orgasm sudden and sharp.

A beautiful explosion that burst behind my sight.

His face right there in my mind.

The fierce, harsh lines and those magic eyes.

“Kane.” His name was a juddering plea. A question. Pleasure and shame.

“Fuck, Emery.” He moaned it, and I could feel his own pleasure rip through the line.

As if for a moment, I was with him.

But I couldn’t be.

I couldn’t.

For a while, I sat there in the silence, gasping, trying to wrap my head around what I’d just allowed to happen.

Then his panted words filled my ear. “Have made a million mistakes in my life, Emery. Have failed more times than I could count. But I’m not going to fail her, and I’m not going to fail you. I promise you that.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

KANE

Night possessed the sky. Sagging and heavy. A dark mist that clung to the heavens and draped over the blackened waters of the sea.

I slinked through its shadows, my back pressed to the wall of the industrial building, blood careening through my veins and my spirit a ravage of disorder.

On nights like these, my two greatest failures always rose to the surface. Pushing up beneath my skin. Reminders of the way I’d allowed my grief and hate over my mother to dictate my actions. What sent me on a spiral of destruction that had eventually led me here.

When I’d come to understand what I was supposed to be fighting for.

Voices echoed from within the giant building. Their haughty laughter reverberating against the metal walls.

Disgusting.

Vile.

Oblivious.

Oblivious to what was coming for them.

A door gaped open to the crash of the ocean below the dock, and I pushed myself up tight against the edge of it and shifted to peer inside.

Three.

Three of the most perverted.

They sat on two worn couches that faced each other with a coffee table in the middle, passing a bottle of vodka between themselves, a single bright bulb glowing from overhead. The farthest recesses and corners of the cavernous building were concealed in the dark.

Slipping inside, I crept through the gloom.

My chest stretched tight, and short, panted breaths scraped from my lungs. Breaths I did my best to cloak as I edged closer to the monsters that sat unaware.

Believing they would get away with the foulest of deeds.

I edged forward, keeping my boots silent on the cement floor, the knife both heavy and light in my gloved hand.

The fiends were completely ignorant as I emerged from the shadows, coming up behind one bastard with his back to me.

Then I rushed, fisting my hand in his hair and dragging the blade across his throat before any of them knew I was there.

Blood gushed and he slumped forward.

A roar of shocked fear ripped out of the other two when they realized they were about to meet their end, and the bastard next to the guy I’d just dropped scrambled to get away.

I whirled the blade his direction, driving it deep into his chest before he had the chance to move.

Adrenaline coursed with the fury. My thirst for retribution and justice so thick I was nearly choking on it. This one thing I could do seemed insignificant up against this pervading calamity.

But it mattered for someone.

The fucker on the opposite couch was on his feet and pulling a gun from his waistband when I pried the blade from the second guy’s chest, and I shifted and threw the knife across the table.

It met its target.

Finding its home right above his sternum.

It dropped him straight to his knees.

Blood gushed through his fingers as he gripped at the spot like he could stop the flow that was going to filch his pathetic life.

Dark eyes wide as he stared up at me as I rounded the couch and came to stand in front of him.

“You disgusting piece of shit. You deserve so much more than the mercy I just gave you.”

But I didn’t have time to enact the vengeance he had earned.

I ripped the knife from his throat, motherfucker choking and spluttering blood as he flopped face first onto the cement floor. Then I took his hand and pressed his finger to his phone that was on the table, dialed 9-1-1, then I was gone.

Once again camouflaged where I waited in the distance. Listening for the sirens to come. For the shouts and upheaval.

For the shocked cries of relief.

Only then did I move, knowing my job was done.

TWENTY-NINE

KANE

Sunlight scattered through the breaks in the leaves as I traveled down the gravel lane toward my house. My bike vibrated below me, its power thrumming through my veins.

It was nearing four, the late afternoon settling in.

I had known that I had to make that trip. There was no other choice. I couldn’t know the horrible shit that was happening and ignore it, and there was only one way to permanently take care of the problem.

So I’d taken care of it.

But as I neared my house, there was a brand-new call tugging at my spirit. An anticipation that ignited in all the sacred places that I’d never believed would come alive again.

But there it was, burning bright behind my eyes as the old house came into view. But it wasn’t the walls and roof that made the impact. It was what was waiting inside.

Of course, I was going to have to go through Theo to get to them.

Theo who casually leaned against his bike with an ankle crossed over the other, hands stuffed in his jeans pockets as he warily watched me coming up the drive.

Speculation carved in every ferocious line of his face.

My bike rumbled and chugged as I came to a stop beside him, and I stretched out my boots to balance myself as I killed the engine then kicked the stand.

“Brother,” I said as I swung off the bike. “How’d it go?”

“Pretty sure I should be asking you the same thing.” Suggestion lined his statement. Fact that he didn’t buy that I’d had a work trip for a second.

But this wasn’t something I involved them in. Not that they wouldn’t tackle it. It was just a burden I’d taken. A debt I had to pay after what I’d unknowingly done.

I shrugged a shoulder. “Went off without a hitch.”

I hated deceiving him. For years, I’d slinked under the radar undetected. Gone and back before any of my crew had any idea I was gone.

No guilt in what I did because I made a promise to make a change whenever I could, no matter the cost. But there’d been no chance I’d leave Maci and Emery unprotected, so I’d had to involve Theo.

“And exactly what was that?” he pressed.

“Met with a new brewer down in San Diego. Did some taste testing and negotiations. Going to feature them in all four bars.”

That wasn’t a lie.

The cover I’d used, which had turned out to be a two birds one stone sort of situation. It was always good to bring in new brands to my bars. The travel and expenses legitimate.

I just happened to make a very important pit stop after.

“That so?”

“Yup.”

Worry that presented as disbelief pulled tight on his sharp brow. “Don’t know why you think you need to front with me, man. You think I don’t know you’ve got something going on? You think I don’t know you always have? Have known it since you jumped ship from the MC.”

Unease churned in my guts.

My entire crew and I had ridden for the Iron Owls MC back in LA. Had lived a life of wickedness and corruption.

Guessed I was the first one for things to go sour, but it happened to be right around the time when things were also going south for Trent, our vice prez, and his father, Cutter, the crazy motherfucker who stood at the helm of our club.

I probably would have wound up dead if the club hadn’t splintered, my disloyalty and betrayal lost in the cracks of the club imploding.

I’d been the first to tell River and the rest of the guys that I was finished, and right after, River had found his own purpose that had become all of ours.

Sovereign Sanctum born.

I’d just always wielded an extra arm of it that the rest of my crew didn’t know about.

Except I wasn’t so sure about that right then with the way Theo was looking at me.

Decided to level with him the best that I could. “That’s not something you need to worry about, brother.”

A frown creased the edges of his eyes. “You think I don’t care? If you’re in something, you don’t need to hesitate to ask me to go in with you.”

“Know that.”

He reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “Then take it to fuckin’ heart, man. We’re in this shit together. We’ve always been. There’s no reason for secrets.”

Emotion clotted in my chest. The shame I’d carried. The mess I’d unwittingly gotten into. The mess I’d tried to stop but had failed.

The rose tattooed on the back of my hand burned.

The same way as it’d done when I’d so clearly heard my mother’s words all those years ago.

“Fight for love and what’s right. I know you will…because it’s who you are. And always, always take care of the ones you love most.”

I’d known I couldn’t go on the way that I had been, and in that moment, the sole purpose of my life had been changed.

One direction.

One reason.

Until now.

Because my head whipped to the side when the front door suddenly clattered open and that adorable little tot came bounding out onto the front porch, hands clapping over her head as she jumped toward the steps.

Wearing a white sundress with strawberries all over it, her blonde hair loose and bouncing around her shoulders.

“My Mr. Kane, my Mr. Kane! Did you get back from work? I been missin’ you as many as the stars.”

My soul clutched. Grabbing on to the type of light I hadn’t known existed.

This love that came pouring out.

I stretched my arms out to the sides as I turned toward her. “Sure am.”

“That’s really good because we gotta be with our very best friends.” She said it as she clambered down the steps and came racing to jump into my arms.

I picked her up and hugged her close as I inhaled her precious scent.

Drawing her goodness in, a thousand brand-new oaths made in a heartbeat as I held her.

It only magnified and lifted when I felt the presence slowly emerge from the house.

Both tentative and eager.

That thing that thrummed between us sparking to life. A vibrating glow in the afternoon light.

“Hey,” I said when Emery came to stand at the top of the porch steps, her stunning face and that tempting body basically obliterating my mind.

Words lacking because there just weren’t enough of them to describe what she did to me.

“Hey,” she whispered back.

“Better get on my way. Have things to catch up on at The Sanctuary.”

With Maci still in my arms, I turned to look back at Theo. “Thank you, brother, for being here.”

Sincerity deepened his expression. “I’m always here, Kane. For whatever you need and whatever that looks like.”

I gave him a tight nod. “I know.”

The jut of his chin felt like a pact.

“Thank you, Theo.” There was a speck of confusion in Emery’s words, not sure why I’d insisted that he be here.

“My pleasure,” he told her.

“I hope your dinner was your pleasure because it was so, so good!” Maci peeped.

Theo laughed a warm sound. “Dinner was definitely my pleasure. Bye, sweet thing.”

He ruffled tatted fingers through her hair.

“Bye, Uncle Theo!”

My heart skipped a beat, unsure where the sentiment had come from, but fuck, it sounded right.

My daughter becoming a part of this family even when she didn’t know it.

We watched as Theo climbed onto his bike, the powerful engine rumbling when he kicked it over then took it to the driveway.

When he disappeared around the bend, I turned, my footsteps slow as I eased up the steps. I stopped at one lower than Emery, bringing us face to face.

Toffee eyes swam with uncertainty. With all the questions that blazed between us.

“Missed you,” I said.

Didn’t fucking care that it was inappropriate.

Against all the rules that she was setting for us.

The fire between us made it clear what we were supposed to be.

Giggling, Maci grabbed my face in both her little hands. “I fink you missed bof of us.”

“Yeah, Angel Face, I definitely did.”

THIRTY

KANE

Me

Dinner was delicious. You didn’t have to do that, but I have to admit, I’m glad you did.

Little Warrior

It was nothing. I wanted to take care of you since you always seem to be taking care of us.

Me

Just imagine all the ways I’m really going to take care of you.

I sent it from where I lay in my bed, not ashamed for a second to launch the innuendo with it.

When it came to Emery Voss, mine had been ringing in my head on repeat. Mine when I had no right to make the claim, but it felt like it’d been purposed for me to do it, anyway.

Not because she was Maci’s aunt.

I was going to love that little girl with every beat of my heart for all my days, no matter the circumstances.

It was because of who Emery was.

Whatever I’d recognized in her in that beat of awareness the first time I’d seen her.

Her presence spearing through me, flaying me down to that sacred spot where I’d kept all the pain and loss shored. Where I’d convinced myself that I was so much better going it alone.

Living life without any attachments other than the ones that had been made to my family. Thinking I’d been given one purpose and that was the extent of what I deserved. Thinking I couldn’t shoulder the burden of loving because when that love was ripped away, it hurt too fucking bad.

But maybe I’d known it in that second.

In that hammering of one single moment.

One thing I knew for sure? It was the way my pulse went erratic when my phone finally blipped with a response.

I’d been tiptoeing since I’d gotten back yesterday.

Giving Emery a moment to wrap her head around what had happened between us on the phone while I’d been away.

Little Warrior

Are you trying to sweet talk me right now?

The night seeped in through the windows though I was wide fucking awake.

Very aware that she was only twenty feet down the hall. Every ounce of restraint I possessed kept me locked behind closed doors.

But we needed this.

For her to get me.

To know me.

To trust me.

I was the last fucking guy on the planet she should since I was telling so many lies, but I didn’t know how to let her in on who I really was.

It was dangerous pulling her into it.

Both for her and my crew.

Our secrets deep and profound.

If she had an inkling of what we did, of how dark my quest for justice went, she’d run and take my daughter with her when she did, and likely that running would take her straight to the police.

How the hell did you reveal those parts of yourself when they were so twisted?

And still, I wanted this woman to know everything about me.

Me

Of course, I’m trying to sweet talk you. How else am I supposed to get you to give me one of those smiles?

It seemed to take forever before she finally responded.

Little Warrior

For a long, long time, I didn’t have any of those. Not until I met you.

This was the thing. We kept swinging between light and the heavy weight of her grief. Grief that seemed compounded by the scars she desperately tried to keep hidden.

Wondered if I was the only one who could see them, as clear as if she had long, puckered blade marks covering every inch of exposed skin.

I didn’t have time to respond before another text blipped through.

Little Warrior

How is that possible? When I thought you were supposed to be my enemy?

My stomach fisted. Hated that it caused her pain. Her belief that by me raising my daughter, it somehow meant she was supposed to become less important in Maci’s life. I had zero fucking intention of that.

Me

Was never supposed to be your enemy. Was meant to make you glow.

I could almost feel the heat flame down the hall, radiating from her room and crashing into me.

I stabbed the heel of my hand into my eye.

Fuck, this was painful.

Taking my time.

Taking my time when I normally glutted and devoured without thought. When I normally used up whatever random women had to offer, never close to an attachment made.

And there I was, attached.

Little Warrior

It’s what I do. Glow when I think of you.

Hesitation billowed out with it. Like maybe she thought she was giving up some power by admitting it when she was the one with all the power over me.

Me

Can I see it? That glow?

Me

Told you I was angling at seeing one of those smiles. How about it?

Me

FaceTime me?

Faint, tinkling laughter filtered from the other room. A swarm of her joy that curled beneath the door and crawled up to me.

So, it was raw joy I was feeling when I put through the call without waiting for her answer.

I could hear her phone ringing, and one second later, her stunning face filled my screen.

A dull halo of light surrounded her from the lamp on her bedside table.

Her voice hushed and whispered when she spoke.

“Are you seriously calling me from across the hall?”

“What else am I supposed to do when I can’t see you?”

“I am ten steps away.” Playfulness ridged that sexpot mouth that was tweaking up in a smile.

And fuck me, I thought it might be me who glowed at the sight of it.

“Think we both know what would happen if I came to your door, Emery, and I’m still not sure you’re ready for that.”

A blush rushed to her cheeks. That lush fall of blonde rolling down her shoulders, the thin straps of what appeared to be a satiny tank barely visible under them.

Her attention dipped away for a beat before she peered back at me.

“I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready for you. I think we both know letting anything happen between us would be a terrible idea.”

“Sorry to break it to you, Little Warrior, but I’m pretty sure it’s already happened.”

Emery stared at me through the screen, sincerity woven in her words. “And I’m pretty sure whatever that is will destroy me in the end.”

“If I wreck you, I promise you, it’s going to be in the best way possible.”

Couldn’t stop my voice from going raspy with greed.

Toffee eyes widened, all those warm, autumn colors swirling with need and uncertainty.

“I’m not someone who goes for the temporary.” Her admission came out choppy.

“And what is it you go for?” So what if I was pushing her. Trying to get under all those hard, brittle layers where she kept herself protected.

She shifted on her bed, skin so pretty against the rich plum color of her comforter.

“I think you already know I don’t go for anything.” She bit it out, though it sounded a whole lot sadder than mad.

“You want to tell me about that?” I kept it soft and encouraging while my insides roiled with a fury so hot it was amazing I didn’t storm in there and ask for a name.

Hunt down the motherfucker and show him what it was really like to fear.

Heartache suddenly gushed out of her.

Tragedy.

Something so deep and ugly that I was nearly suffocating on it. Instinct screamed at me to get up and go.

Do what I did best.

Maim and fucking kill.

But there was something entirely different than retribution and reprisal staring back at me right then. Something more than the vengeance I sought for random names.

This was Emery.

Emery.

This woman who’d come into my life and changed everything.

Even in the muted light, I could see the moisture blear her eyes. Torment fermented in the depths.

“I was so ignorant,” she suddenly admitted. She reached up and swiped a tear that got free. “Believed myself indestructible, I guess. Like everything was perfect in my safe little bubble, and no one could touch it. I mean, you always hear the horror stories, right? But until it happens to you, it’s never truly real.”

Her eyes squeezed closed like she was trying to shield herself from the memory.

From whatever affliction had struck her down.

While I itched. Going fucking mad with rage and this impossible bond that made me desperate to take it away.

“I should have stopped them from going,” she suddenly choked over a sob. Anger followed in its wake. “I knew it was a bad idea. I just…knew. But instead of begging them to stay, I went with them.”

Dread pinched my brow. “Who?”

“My sister and my best friend. We…” Agony clipped off her confession, and her breaths came short.

These wrenching, stumbling heaves right before she curled in on herself.

Her phone went toppling, flashes of white fabric and purple bedding flickering across the screen before everything went completely black.

In one flat second, I was out of my bed and on my feet. Heart bleeding so fucking bad I might as well have been stabbed.

That violence a simmer in the well of my being, though right that second, there was something else a thousand times more prevalent.

This ache that had struck up in my chest. Arms fucking burning and guts a mess.

I stole to her door, hand shaking in agitation as I reached for the knob and pushed it open.

Faint light illuminated the room, and I nearly came apart when I found her huddled in a ball in the middle of her bed, on her side and silently weeping.

Rocking as she held her knees to her chest.

And there was nothing I could do. Nothing else I wanted to do. Nothing but move to the enormous bed and climb onto it, voice hushed as I murmured, “I’m right here. I’m right here.”

I didn’t give her some bullshit that it was okay because it obviously was not. I just needed her to know she didn’t have to hold it alone, anymore.

So, I pried her apart and pulled her against me, and I laid down with this woman whose muffled sobs wracked her body.

This woman who was afraid I was going to wreck her, but in truth, that’s what she’d done to me.

Completely and wholly wrecked me.

“I’ve got you. I’ve got you,” I murmured as I shifted around to draw the covers over us before I leaned over and snapped off the lamp.

Darkness rained down, and she tremored and shook, and I brushed my fingers through her hair. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you, Emery. Let me hold some of it for you.”

And she did. She let it pour out, her tears seeping onto my bare chest, her body shivering. Freezing cold yet emitting a hundred degrees of heat.

Her hair bunched in my face and her spirit touching me everywhere.

“Kane,” she whimpered.

“I know, baby. I know.”

I might not know the details, but I knew.

I fucking knew.

And she cried like that for what felt like forever. Curled into me while I softly ran my fingers through her hair.

Had no idea how much time had passed before her body went slack. Before all the tension drained and her breaths evened out.

This woman asleep in my arms, our legs tangled and her pulse beating in time with mine.

But she finally gave.

Let me hold it.

And I whispered at the crown of her head once again, “I’ve got you.”

Only that time I added, “And I’m never going to let you go.”

THIRTY-ONE

EMERY

“I fink this is a very good idea.” Maci sang it as she kicked her feet from where she was buckled in her new car seat in the back.

I inhaled a shaky breath.

No, I thought it was a very horrible, bad idea. Especially after what had happened between me and Kane in the middle of the night. Well, what seemed to be happening between us every night. This connection deepening with each moment that passed.

He’d stayed with me the entire night. Until the dawn had broken, and I’d felt the soft brush of his fingertips along my cheek before he’d quietly slipped from my bed.

Then I’d spent the entire day locked behind my bedroom door pretending to work on plans to take over my sister’s store when I returned to Wisconsin in a vain effort to protect myself, then tried to come up with a million reasons why I couldn’t come with them tonight, only to land on the one reason why I had to.

Maci.

Maci who was meeting people who were supposed to become her family.

No chance would I hide while something so momentous was occurring in her life.

So, here I was, sitting in the front passenger seat of a shiny, very expensive red SUV that had been sitting in one of the bays of the detached garage at his house.

Kane in the driver’s seat beside me. Wearing jeans and a black tee that did far too good a job of showing off the strength that bristled underneath. The man slung back with a tattooed arm stretched out, one hand on the wheel and one of those ridiculously attractive grins playing all over his mouth as he glanced in the rearview mirror at Maci.

“Well, I think it’s going to be, too. They can’t wait to meet you.”

“Because they really wanna know your bestest friend?”

One of those smoldering glances was cast at me before it flicked up to the rearview mirror then back to the road. “That’s right, they do. My whole family is super close.”

“Well, me and my mommy and my auntie and my grammy and even my grampa Ted are like this!” Maci crossed all her little fingers together, twisting her wrist in an awkward gesture as she tried to demonstrate just how close we were.

My spirit moaned, though in it was a twining of sweetness, this affection for the little girl so stark.

“That close, huh?” Kane enthused, though I could feel the deep affection in his voice, too. The thickness as he came to a stop at a red light in the middle of town as we headed to River Tayte’s house.

A man I had been told wasn’t actually his brother but rather his friend, though Kane had said he considered every single person we’d meet today his family.

The only true blood relative he had here was the little girl in the back seat.

That weight pressed heavily on my chest.

We needed to tell her soon, but that confession seemed locked in my throat, waiting for the right time, all while I wasn’t sure there would ever be the right time.

But I could feel it stirring in Kane beside me.

His need to claim it.

To tell her what she really meant to him.

The light turned green, and he accelerated down Culberry, the main street that cut through Moonlit Ridge. We passed by the hotel where we’d been staying, then my stomach twisted as I caught a glimpse of the entrance of Twisted Moon Tavern, and that twisting devolved into a fist of greed when Kane peered over at me.

I swore I could see exactly what he was imagining in the depths of those magic eyes.

Me propped on his desk with his head between my thighs.

Thighs I was currently pressing together to try to quell the unbidden need he conjured in me.

I inhaled a shaky breath, prying my attention from his and turning it out the passenger window, praying he couldn’t read me the way I was sure I was reading him.

Completely useless considering the rough scrape of a chuckle he emitted.

The road curved to the left where it came to a T at a road called Vista View.

In an instant, awe tightened my chest.

It was definitely a view. So gorgeous you had to wonder how a place like this existed.

The large lake was set out in front of us, stretching far in either direction.

High mountains peaked at its backdrop, tips jutting into the bluest sky where they surrounded the lake on all sides. The sun was ablaze as it slowly sank toward them, its arms sending glittering rays tumbling across the placid surface of the water.

A dense forest hugged the water’s edge, homes and cabins tucked beneath their sanctuary.

“Look it, we found the lake again!” Maci screeched.

Low amusement rolled out of Kane as he made a right onto the road. “That lake is huge. You’re pretty much going to find it wherever you go in this town.”

Kane pointed through the windshield at a large building that sat on the far side of the lake.

“That right there is The Sanctuary, the motel Theo owns. He’s on the farthest northern side. But then Otto and Cash, who you haven’t met yet, have a view of the lake on those mountains way back there.”

He hooked his thumb toward the back window.

Maci squirmed in her car seat, frustrated she was pinned by the straps. “I can’t even see it.”

“That’s because it’s too big to see all at once unless we’re way up high on one of those mountains, but I’m thinking you and I should spend some time exploring all of it.”

“On a boat?!” Elation streamed out of her.

Kane chuckled with a nod. “If that’s the way you want to do it, we sure can.”

“I never been on a boat.”

“Sounds like we’re going to have to fix that then.”

One second later, Kane turned on his blinker and made another right into what appeared to be a secluded neighborhood.

My pulse sped an erratic beat.

Why did this have to be so uncomfortable? Make my stomach churn with a nausea I couldn’t shake?

These were the people who would replace me. People who would get to be a part of Maci’s day to day.

It both hurt and filled me with hope.

Lush trees towered above us, the thick, dense branches stretched out over the road and into the yards, shielding the massive homes that rested beneath their guard.

Kane made an almost immediate left onto a driveway that led down to a two-story house made of dark woods and stone and was fronted by a gorgeous wraparound porch.

There were a couple of motorcycles parked out front, and Kane came to a stop behind them.

“Is this it?” Maci peeped.

“Yep, this is it,” Kane said as he shut off the engine.

I was pretty sure the thud of my heart was deafening when he did.

What were these people going to be like?

I mean, look at Kane.

Okay, strike that.

Clearly, I liked looking at him a little too much.

But seriously, there was something there. An undercurrent. Danger rippling through his aura, verified by the innuendos that fell from his mouth.

Not to mention Theo. The pure menace that radiated from him.

Is that what they would all be like? Was I bringing Maci into some kind of horrible situation where she’d witness horrible things or was this a positive, these men who would gather around her and protect her with everything they had?

Nerves scattered, and I nearly came out of my skin when a hot hand suddenly landed on the top of my bare thigh, fingers digging into the flesh that was exposed by my shorts.

Kane leaned across the console, his voice rough as he murmured, “Don’t spin out, Little Warrior. Pretty sure they’re going to love you, too.”

“My only concern is Maci and how they’re going to treat her,” I rasped low.

Accept her.

Be positive influences for her.

Love her.

Emerald eyes twinkled. A softness subduing the stark. “These are the best people you’re ever going to meet.”

“Hurry it up, slowpokes. I gotta meet my new best friend,” Maci shouted, and Kane whisked away from me, stealing my breath as he went, my lungs bottoming out as he tossed open the door, climbed out, and went to Maci’s side.

The door swung open, and he unbuckled her and swung her up and into the air as he pulled her out. Maci howled with laughter, one second before she was on her feet and her hand was wrapped up in his.

He led her to the front of the car, that penetrating gaze on me as he waited.

Blowing out a sigh, I forced myself to unlatch my door and get out.

Warmth skimmed the air, and I could hear the faint trickling of laughter and voices coming from the backyard.

“Right this way,” Kane said with a gesture of his hand.

The same hand that he settled on the small of my back as I passed him.

A shiver tripped down my spine, and I faltered a step.

God, he was really trying to do me in.

Maci trotted along at his other side, their hands swinging between them, the child rambling away in her excitement.

“Do you fink he likes dolls? Because I got a lot of dolls. But I got books, too, and some games. I bet he really likes games.”

I finally managed to draw in a breath when Kane pulled his hand away when we got to the door.

He didn’t knock. He just pressed down on the latch and pushed it open, and he stepped aside to usher us in.

I took a tentative step into the great room of a modern house.

A huge kitchen sat off to the left, and an open living space was out in the middle that overlooked the yard beyond.

A curved staircase was to the right, along with a hallway that ran down that side of the house.

It seemed everyone was outside, and Kane guided us forward again, heading for the glass double doors that led to the porch.

The second he opened it, the chatter of voices clipped off, and a slew of eyes darted in our direction.

Nerves rocketed through me, and I found I couldn’t move.

Apparently, that was wholly unnecessary since Maci was enough action for all of us, bouncing out and smacking her hands over her head in time with her hops.

“Hi, everyone! I heard you wanna meet me real bad. My name is Maci!”

My heart locked.

Pained and overjoyed.

The little boy who’d been playing with a soccer ball out on the lawn turned around, his wavy blond hair blowing in the breeze, his blue eyes wide with his own excitement when he saw Maci standing there.

“Hey, hi, Maci! I’m Nolan! My uncle Kane said you were coming over to my house to play with me!” The little boy came bounding up the stairs, a dog wagging its tail as it ran along at his side.

The child rushed straight for a giggling Maci.

“He told me you wanted to be my other best friend.” She swayed in her white sundress, redness lighting her cheeks.

“’Course I do because my uncle Kane said you’re really awesome, and I was gonna be super excited that you get to play with me all the time now.”

“Wait.” Her voice dropped like it was a secret. “I get to play all the time?”

“I guess so because my uncle Kane doesn’t tell lies.”

“Lies are bad,” Maci agreed.

“Well, my dad and my uncles are really good,” he told her.

I’d been too distracted by the adorable little boy that I hadn’t noticed a man had come up the stairs behind him.

Just as intimidating as Theo and Kane. His hair midnight and his eyes to match. Tattoos rolled up from the neckline of his shirt and onto his throat, and five little stars dotted the edge of his hairline.

Apprehension skimmed through my nerves.

Who were these men?

“Maci, want you to meet one of my best friends. River. Nolan’s dad.”

“I fought you said he was your brother?” Confusion wound Maci’s little brow up tight.

Kane chuckled one of those light sounds. “He’s not my actual brother, but I care about him so much that I consider him that. My family. That’s what all these people here are to me. Family.”

“Family is who you love most!” Nolan sang.

Emotion thickened my throat, and I tried to swallow around it.

River leaned down in front of Maci, and he stretched out a tattooed hand. “It’s really good to meet you, Maci.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. River.”

“How about you call me Uncle River?” he said with a quick glance at Kane.

Kane gave him some silent look that said a million things.

Be careful. She doesn’t know who I am yet.

“I didn’t even got an uncle, but then I got Uncle Theo and an Uncle River?” Her cheeks grew pink with all of her adorableness rippling out.

“Well, think you’re going to have a whole bunch of them now.” River gestured to the group who had gathered behind them.

A group I’d been too caught up to notice since I’d been watching the interaction.

Shock widened my eyes when my attention locked on one of the women there, the same kind of shock that dropped her jaw with a gush of surprised air.

“Oh my gosh, I cannot believe this. I know you!” Eagerness blazed from her as she touched her fingers to her chest. “Do you remember me? I’m Raven. I met you outside my flower shop, Moonflower.”

Oh wow.

I couldn’t formulate a response before Maci squealed and jumped with a hand high over her head. “Me, me! I remember! I remember! You’re the lady who gots all the flowers!”

Gleeful laughter rolled out of Raven.

Goodness, she was really beautiful.

Strikingly.

Sleek, shiny black hair twisted into a loose knot with a few flowers tucked into the plaits. Midnight eyes rimmed in black liner and mascara, wearing bright red lipstick and a floral dress that hugged all her curves.

“That’s right. I have all the flowers. And I told you I have a nephew who I thought would really like to meet you, and it turns out he definitely does.”

She set a tender hand on Nolan’s head.

“Wait, Nolan is the good friend you got for me?”

“That’s right.”

Maci released a dreamy sigh. “I fink it’s meant to be.”

“You think you were meant for me?” Nolan peeped, his blue eyes wide.

I tried not to laugh, but a soft sound came out of me, anyway.

The child was so cute it would be impossible not to be captivated by him.

Clearly, Maci was.

“I fink so since I got here and I found you.”

“Then you better come on so I can show you all my stuff. I bet you’re gonna like it,” he told her as he snatched her by the hand and hauled her across the large, covered patio and down the steps, the dog hot on their heels as they ran into the backyard.

It had clearly been set up with a child in mind.

A fort and a swing set and a big grassy area where he could run and play.

It was enclosed by a high wooden fence that would keep him safe and contained.

A small amount of ease filled me.

It didn’t last long since Kane returned his hand to the small of my back.

A shiver streaked down my spine. That energy that dragged between us thick and suffocating.

Something about the way he did it this time felt possessive.

A claim.

The strength of that arm a band that I foolishly craved to fully wrap around me. Tie me in chains. All while I knew I needed to run.

“Everyone, I want you to meet Maci’s aunt. Emery.”

It was the first time I allowed myself to fully look at all of them.

River had risen, so darkly intimidating I would have stepped back if Kane hadn’t become a fortress behind me.

River had his arm casually slung around the waist of a blonde woman who’d come to stand at his side, her face beautiful and serene and full of joy.

A giant of a man sauntered up to Raven. Wholly formidable and covered in ink. Wearing an enormous, welcoming grin, though his piercing blue eyes seemed to be trying to cut right through me to see inside.

As if he should be the one wary of me when the lot of them looked like a pack of trouble.

Peril and affliction and an irrefutable threat.

Theo watched me with an amused smirk. Like he knew something I didn’t.

Undoubtedly, he did.

Kane started introductions. “As you probably heard, this is River.”

“Nice to meet you, Emery,” he said.

“Nice to meet you, too.” The words were thin.

“And this one right here is Charleigh, River’s fiancée.”

Charleigh was just as beautiful as Raven, but in an entirely different way. A soft innocence radiated from her as she stepped forward and smiled.

She reached both hands out for one of mine. Holding it gently as she whispered, “Hi, Emery. It’s so good to meet you.”

Emotion clawed through my consciousness, and some of the tension I’d had locked inside me unfurled.

“Charleigh,” I whispered in a hello.

Kane continued on, pointing at Raven. “And it seems you already have met this one right here, which isn’t a shocker considering she goes around befriending every person she meets.”

Playful affection laced Kane’s voice as he lifted his chin at her. “Raven is actually River’s little sister.”

There was no missing the resemblance.

Both with black hair and midnight eyes, their brows arching in nearly the exact same way.

“I can’t believe this,” she whispered, amazement in her voice. “There was something about you all that had me right here…” She splayed both palms over her chest. “And now…”

She clipped off as if she wasn’t sure she should release the joy.

“It’s a small world, I guess.”

“Or a small town.” She choked it around the happiness I could feel radiating from her.

The real kind.

Her sincerity clear.

Another rush of relief rolled through me.

There was something about them that was…good.

Safe.

Close to the type of safety I felt with Kane when he was the last person I should feel it with.

“And this brute rubbing himself all over her is Otto,” Kane teased.

The man didn’t seem to take any offense. He just grinned as he stretched out a hand to shake mine.

“Really good to meet you, Emery.” His expression was the one that dimmed, sympathy pursing his lips together as he murmured, “Though I am very sorry to hear about your sister.”

A thrum of sorrow crested. “Thank you.”

The pad of Kane’s thumb stroked at the very base of my spine.

It both soothed and ignited a fire.

But in it, I could feel the rush of his compassion.

Something real and true, and God, I had no idea how to make any sense of him.

How to make sense of any of them.

Theo lifted a hand where he loitered to the side. “Good to see you again, Emery.”

“You, too.”

He roughed his hand through the crop of his black hair.

It was the first time I noticed the tattoo stamped on the back.

Two stacked Ss with a dagger running through and an eye in the middle.

The same as Kane had on the back of his, though Theo had a skull at the top where Kane had the wilting black rose.

Awareness dawned, and my attention skated, dipping to Otto and River’s hands and noticing that they all had the same one, only with slight variations.

Kane had said they were close.

But there was something about them that made them seem tied in an intrinsic way. As if their connections reached far deeper than the obvious.

River seemed to notice what I was looking at, and he shifted his hand from Charleigh’s waist to her back to conceal it.

Disquiet gusted.

“Come on, let’s get you something to drink before you stand out here dying of thirst.” Raven broke the tension, and she reached out and grabbed my hand to tug me away from Kane. I didn’t realize I’d basically been leaning on him until he was no longer there for support.

My knees wobbly and weak.

“I literally cannot believe it’s you,” she squeaked near my ear like it was a secret as she snuggled close to my side like I was actually her new best friend.

Like she’d known me forever.

Like anything about this was normal.

She began to lead me back into the house.

No reservations or shyness.

“Um, excuse me…are you going to wait for me?”

The voice echoed from behind, and I peeked back to see Charleigh rushing to catch up, that warm smile on her face.

Raven spun around to face both of us, still holding my hand as she dragged me inside. “I would never leave you. I just knew you would follow because hello, we obviously have to talk about this in private because is this not the absolute best thing ever?”

She drew it out before she set an emphatic gaze on me. “I mean, I hope you don’t think I’m weird or anything, but I got this feeling we were bound to be close when I met you and look what happened. You’re standing right here in my brother’s house! And Maci.”

She dropped the last to a whisper, her hand coming to her mouth to cover the awe.

“Psychic.” Charleigh razzed it around the significance that hovered in the air.

“I call it implausible intuition. Impeccable insight. But if psychic is what you want to call it, go right ahead. Either way, I think we can all agree that I’m crazy amazing.” Raven drew it out, her tone a tease, no ego to it.

“Watch out for this one.” Charleigh’s words turned conspiratorial as she leaned toward me. “She’ll have all your secrets before you know what hit you.”

Raven rolled her eyes. “Obviously, since I’m basically the best friend you could ever have. So while I will have all your secrets, you don’t have to worry because I’ll have them locked down tight. Your girl here is a vault.”

My head spun, caught in the whirlwind that were these two, wondering how I’d ended up here alone in the kitchen with them within five minutes of arriving.

As if I’d been here all along.

As if I belonged.

But I didn’t. I needed to remember my place. Why I was here.

Charleigh wound around us and pulled a glass from the cupboard. “I would never have believed it when I first met her considering she basically doesn’t stop talking, but I can attest to the fact.”

Raven hauled me around the long counter that separated the living area from the kitchen.

“What? That I’m the best bestie you could ever have or the best sister you could ever have?” She swatted Charleigh’s hip.

Sister.

I tried to ignore the sting, but I must have flinched because Raven suddenly squeezed her eyes shut and lifted her shoulders to her ears before she whispered, “Oh my God. That was really insensitive of me. I’m so sorry. I would never⁠—”

“It’s okay.”

She grabbed both my hands. “No. It’s not. I was so excited to finally meet you that I wasn’t thinking, and I definitely should have been. I’m so sorry to hear about your sister.”

I didn’t think I was up to talking about Emmalee right then. Not when I was certain it would only take one second for these two to go deep. To dive into the places that I was still struggling to accept.

“Finally meet me?” I asked, hoping it would derail the direction she’d been going.

A light giggle rippled from her. “Well, I could barely stop myself from heading out to hunt you down the first night Kane told us you and Maci were going to be staying with him.”

“You got lucky he distracted her with home decorating.” Charleigh’s brows lifted with the tease, though caution remained in her voice.

Like she knew exactly what I was doing.

Deflecting.

Another swell of warmth rippled through my insides, threatening to melt the wall of ice I’d planned on keeping erected.

God knew how desperately I needed to.

I needed to remain alert.

Watch.

Ensure that this would be a safe place for Maci because none of this was about me.

I’d be gone in three weeks, and my niece would be…

I gave a harsh shake of my head and pinned on a smile.

“You’re the one who painted Maci’s room?” I attempted around the chaos ravaging my insides.

“Well, Charleigh, Otto, Kane, and I did. Both rooms. Plus, we did a little bit of shopping.” She gave me a wink as she looked at the shirt I was wearing that I’d found in my drawer, along with a ton of other adorable items.

Disbelief pulled through me again, though there was a tenderness invading it. “How in the world did you manage to pull that off in one night?” I asked.

Raven touched an innocent hand to her chest. “Um, let’s go back to what I told you in the beginning. I’m crazy amazing.”

Charleigh giggled as she filled the glass from an ice bucket. “You notice she’s already cut me out of that team she was bragging about a second ago?”

Raven hooked a thumb at Charleigh. “She wanted to paint your room pink. Can you imagine?”

“Hey, pink is my favorite color,” Charleigh defended.

“Keep it to those panties I know you’re always prancing around in front of my brother in,” Raven sang.

“Well, it turns out pink is River’s favorite color, too, so...” Charleigh shrugged.

I choked over a laugh.

I didn’t stand a chance against these two.

Because an ease took me over.

Swept me up in the comfort and care they exuded.

“Okay, tell me your favorite beverage.” Charleigh lifted the glass, the ice clinking against the sides.

“I’m pretty sure she needs a very strong margarita,” Raven supplied, as if she could feel my nerves.

“A margarita might be nice,” I admitted on a wispy breath.

Raven squeezed my hand tighter. In an instant, the playfulness was completely eradicated. “This has to be the absolute worst situation for you, Emery. I can’t imagine the pain of losing your sister that way.”

Except, I thought maybe she could. Thought she might know exactly what it was like to have someone you cared about most ripped from you. Because there was no missing the ghosts that writhed in the depths of her dark, dark eyes.

The stark empathy she held.

Her words so genuine it brought a trembling knot to the base of my throat.

She squeezed my hand even firmer, her voice dropping as her head inclined to the side. “But you should know that Kane is a good man. I mean, he’s made mistakes like the rest of us, and he can come across as…intense,” she seemed to settle on.

Terrifying.

Intimidating.

And somehow so attentive and supportive that he made my knees weak.

Her eyes pinched at the corners, emphasis laden in the words. “But that man would lay down his life for a stranger, so you can bet he’s going to give everything he is to that little girl.”

Emotion clawed at my heart.

Spikes of contradiction.

“Intense might be an understatement.” Charleigh mused it as she poured a margarita into the glass from a pitcher while her focus was out the big picture window that overlooked the porch and into the backyard. “I’m going to go ahead and go with obsessed.”

The four men were there, standing in a casual circle. Otto was joking about something, his hands animated as he told a story, and Theo and River chuckled along with him.

Only Kane…he wasn’t paying them any mind.

Because his attention was trained on me.

Magic eyes both penetrating and soft. Watching with concern and something that looked far too much like greed.

Lust licked across my flesh at the slow slide of his stare.

“Oh, it’s not like that,” I rushed through a whisper, refuting whatever ideas stirred Raven and Charleigh’s minds.

Refuting what stirred in mine.

“I thought we already established there is no need for secrets, Emery?” Raven had shifted to look out the window, and she nudged her shoulder into mine, the teasing back in her voice. “Look at you, squirming. Hello sizzle and spice. You might as well fess it up. Your secrets are safe with us.”

But that’s all this could be.

This attraction.

The fantasy I’d given into the other night.

This burn I was afraid would never go out.

THIRTY-TWO

KANE

“She’s fuckin’ cute, man,” River said where we were gathered around the barbecue, in a spot where we were able to keep an eye on Nolan and Maci who hadn’t stopped playing for a second.

Nolan had shown her about everything he called his own and had basically filled her in on every aspect of his life, mostly going on about how he’d finally gotten his dog that he’d named Rocky.

To say the kid was excited to have her there was an understatement.

Maci squealed as Rocky jumped up and licked her in the face, her joy so clear as she giggled and played.

A swell of devotion pummeled me.

A riptide.

The child so precious she had me on my knees.

“Know it,” I said.

“Good thing she doesn’t take after her dad because that would be some scary shit,” Otto razzed. He jostled me with an elbow before he took a swig of his beer.

“Pfft,” I told him with a shake of my head. “Kid’s a dead ringer.”

A hot gust of air puffed from Theo’s nose. “Honestly thought you’d lost your damned mind when you sent that text. Claiming her without any real proof. But I get it.”

I gave a slight nod. “One look and there was no question.”

Another wild giggle rolled out of Maci, that beautiful, tinkling sound riding on the breeze that weaved through the backyard as the day faded away. I looked that way to find her chasing Nolan up the steps to his fort.

The two of them were so damned sweet together, they might as well have known each other their whole lives.

But Maci’s laugh wasn’t the only one that was having an effect, though this effect was entirely different.

This was one that kept getting under my skin.

A laugh that kept coming from Emery.

Emery who’d sunk right in with Charleigh and Raven.

The three of them sat around a metal table on the far side of the porch sharing a pitcher of margaritas. Emery had been interacting with them as if she’d been a part of them all along.

My stomach fisted.

I couldn’t look away.

My gaze stuck on the woman who was wearing those fucking white shorts that were liable to drive me straight out of my mind. Red fitted tank that hugged her delicate curves and set my mouth watering.

Not that I couldn’t feel her misgivings. The way she was trying to guard herself. To keep herself separated from who we were because she was clearly terrified of getting too close.

Still buckled up in that armor I was pretty sure she thought was required for her survival.

But it kept slipping.

Jolts of surprised laughter ripping free from her while Raven and Charleigh would crack up at whatever story they were getting up to.

“Told you.” Theo’s laugh was filled with suggestion as his attention jumped between Otto and River.

“What?” Should have known the inquisition was coming. Might as well be done with it.

“Those hearts that are currently buggin’ out of your eyes.”

“Fuck you, man,” I told Theo the way I normally would.

Casual and easy.

Pinning on a wayward grin.

Doubted it cut it.

Not with the way my guts were knotted. Twined in bolts of lust I couldn’t tamp down no matter how hard I tried. My cock twitched every time any noise got free of that lush, sexy mouth, extra keen whenever she shifted in that chair, drawing attention to those bare, smooth legs.

The woman was pure, utter temptation.

“Heart eyes, and he’s drooling, too,” Otto taunted.

“Drooling?” I cocked my head.

Emery giggled and leaned over, and that fall of shiny blonde swished around her shoulders.

The smallest swath of flesh was exposed at the center of her back.

Okay, I was totally drooling, and I was about five seconds from just owning it and stalking over to Emery so I could tell her all the ways I wanted to own her.

In precise detail.

A cataclysm of fantasies rolling through my brain.

Every delicious way I would have her.

Too bad the last was an image of the two of us sweaty and sated where we were snuggled up naked in the middle of my bed.

“Dude’s fucked,” River grunted with a laugh.

Jolted by it, I realized I’d been staring, and I whipped my attention back to the three of them gawking at me.

Yup.

I was completely and utterly fucked.

“Weird she’s your kid’s aunt?” River arched a brow, the question true.

Agitation stirred through my spirit.

“Should it be?” Mine was just as earnest.

River shook his head as he took a swig of his beer. “Nah, man. You said you didn’t even know her sister.”

Unease slithered through me, hit by the same disturbance when I thought about how something with Emmalee had been off.

Wasn’t like it mattered now, anyway, except for the way it affected Emery.

“Think that might be what bothers Emery most,” I admitted.

“That you and Maci’s mom weren’t together?” Theo asked.

“Just the fact that we were together at all.”

“Since when do you have a problem with banging sisters?” This from Otto, the bastard.

I sent him a scathing look.

In surrender, he held out his hands, attempting to hide his laugh. “Fine, fine. That crossed a line.”

I sighed because this was something that didn’t feel like a joke. It was something that bothered Emery and, fuck me, if I didn’t want to gouge my eyes out at the thought of hurting her in any way.

A trickle of Maci’s laughter flooded the air, and my focus drifted to the child.

She was beelining my way, her arms thrown over her head as Nolan chased her across the yard.

How could I regret it? That night with a stranger that had brought this little girl to me?

“Damn, brother…” All the teasing had drained out of Otto’s voice.

Throat thick, I looked back at Emery.

Otto reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “You really are fucked.”

“There’s just…something about her.”

Something I couldn’t shake.

Something I wanted to drown in.

“Then don’t be an idiot and squander it,” Otto urged below his breath. “As far as I’m concerned, we’ve all wasted too much time thinking we didn’t deserve the best things in life. Going after that temporary thrill that could never really satisfy since we thought we couldn’t have something that actually counted. It’s bullshit, man, so fuckin’ make it count.”

I stalled as all those uncertainties came at me full force.

“And I’ll be taking on next week’s job.” Theo dropped his voice to be sure we were the only ones who could hear it, though I could almost hear the undercurrent of a question. His words prompting me toward what had taken me away during the middle of the week.

The guy urging me to be careful.

To see what was right in front of me.

But all of this?

It was for them.

The innocent.

My head shook. “I’ve already been debriefed. I’m doing this one.”

“Kane, you can’t⁠—”

“Not up for discussion.” The faces of that family spiraled through my mind, and I was unable to stop the way it interchanged with my mother’s.

The same as how those haunted faces always filled my mind when I stepped out beyond the bounds of Sovereign Sanctum to enact the only justice that I could.

A bridging of my failures.

The promise that I would never let it happen again.

River blew out a sigh, and I knew he was going to say something to try to convince me otherwise, but Maci bounding up the porch steps with Nolan hot on her tail interrupted us.

The little girl came straight for me.

“Mr. Kane, save me!” she shouted.

Her angel face was filled with joy.

No trace of fear.

I swept her into my arms.

That was the way I was going to keep it.

This child safe and secure.

In my arms and without fear.

Without the fear I’d faced as a kid, the way so many of us had.

And I was going to do it surrounded by a shit ton of people who would do absolutely anything for her, the same way as we would do for the little boy who was suddenly attached to me, both his arms and his legs wrapped around my leg.

“You were right, Uncle Kane. Maci is really awesome, and she jumped right into my number one spot, lickity split.”

He tried to snap his fingers while holding on with one arm.

Maci squeezed my neck like mad, her chubby cheek pressed to mine. “I got a whole lotta number ones because I really love my auntie and my mommy and my grammy, and now my Nolan and my Mr. Kane, too.”

That love she was speaking of? It battered me. Full battle blows that railed from every side.

Nolan seemed to agree because he swayed back and forth where he was attached to my leg, grinning wide. “Well, I love you a whole lot, and you gotta stay with us here forever because family is who we love most.”

Maci giggled while my spirit thrashed.

Family.

Never thought I would get to have one.

Not like this.

And my foolish eyes were landing on Emery, drawn in a beat.

I was thinking the same way as hers were drawn to me.

She stared at me with that warm, toffee gaze that sparked beneath the twilight.

The first woman I’d ever met who might have the power to do me in.

THIRTY-THREE

EMERY

“Look at them together. Are they not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?” Reverence filled Raven’s voice as she looked out at Maci and Nolan in the yard.

I’d barely been able to convince Maci to stop long enough to eat.

Charleigh hummed in agreement. “Nolan has been begging for another kid to play with since his best friend moved away last fall.” She shook her head in awe. “And now he has Maci who is basically his cousin? Someone who’s going to be in his life forever? I can’t imagine anything more beautiful than that.”

As I sat there at the outdoor table between Raven and Charleigh, I wasn’t even sure it was discomfort I was itching in any longer.

It was just a shifting.

A changing of my reality.

An altering of the things I’d imagined for my life.

As if the building blocks of my foundation were being restructured. Rearranged to become something entirely different.

Unfortunately, it was an upheaval I hadn’t asked for, and it was one that I certainly couldn’t stop or change.

That was so much of life, though, wasn’t it? Wanting or loving something or someone so desperately and having no control over whether that love was found or remained or if it would be stolen away?

I guessed the most painful part was so much of myself had been stolen over the years.

My innocence.

My belief.

First Jana.

Then my sister.

And now Maci.

I stared out at my niece where she was at the top of the fort, shouting down at Nolan, “I am the princess of the castle!”

From the ground, Nolan wielded a foam sword. “I’ll save you from the dragon, Princess Maci!”

“I don’t need no savin’. It’s my dragon, and I already trained him, and I ride on him all the way high in the sky to that mountain over there at his big cave.”

She swung her arm around to the mountain peak that showed through the trees.

Laughter rolled from Raven. “Ooh, our princess is a little firecracker. Just the way we like them.”

“If she’s going to be surrounded by all these burly brutes her entire life, she’s going to have to be. Show them who’s actually in charge.” Charleigh took a sip of her margarita, slanting a sly grin our way. “Apparently, Raven learned that from a very young age.”

Raven hoisted a playful shoulder. “What can I say…I’ve had these bad boys wrapped around my finger since I was nine years old.”

“You’ve known them since you were nine?” Surprise jutted out of my mouth as my gaze drifted to the group of men who were huddled over near the high wooden fence, chatting quietly.

Whispering maybe, as if whatever they were saying was to be held in secret.

“Yep. We started living in this abandoned warehouse when I was nine…right after River had snatched me away from my abusive father. It’s when we met all of them…” She pointed at the group. “Plus Cash, who you haven’t met yet. He’s a little more private than the rest.”

She said it all so casually while I felt stunned.

Floored by her easy confession.

“You were…homeless when you were nine…and living with River?”

A crest of emotion swelled in her eyes, though they were bright with adoration. “They took us in. Protected us as if we were their own. All of them only sixteen or seventeen themselves.”

“I’m so sorry that happened to you.” I felt dazed, trying to process the ton of information that had come out in those two sentences.

A million ghosts played through her expression. “Me, too, but once River got me out, my life was filled with love. So much love.”

“I can’t believe…” I trailed off, once again looking out at the group I couldn’t put my finger on.

“They’re good men.” Raven’s words lowered in emphasis. As if she were making more than a general claim.

“What’s with the matching tattoos on their left hands?” I didn’t know why it was so difficult to get the question out.

I swore that both Raven and Charleigh flinched, a subtle rigidness ticking through their demeanors, though Raven took another casual sip of her margarita.

“It’s a symbol of their oath to each other. Of what they stand for and fight for in this life. The fact that they will always take care of each other. Be there for each other, just as much as they’ll strive to stand for anyone who might be in trouble or need help. No matter what.”

I peered over at her, trying to gauge what that meant.

Clearly trying to change the subject, Raven groaned in pleasure when she took another sip of the sweet, lime-infused concoction. “Well, the one thing I can say for certain is what I’m really going to miss when Otto finally knocks me up are my bestie’s margaritas.”

I choked over the sip I was taking.

Caught off guard. Dragged from the most intense of subjects to this bombshell.

I could feel the weight of her smile when she leaned in and whispered in my ear, “But don’t breathe a word of it to my brother since he still gets all surly and grumpy whenever he thinks of Otto having his wicked way with me.”

She truly had no filter. No shame or worry or fear that I would take advantage of who she was. Things I would never dare to trust others with just dropping from her tongue as if it were natural to share them.

“No luck yet?” Sympathy filled Charleigh’s question.

Clearly, she was privy to details her fiancé was not.

Raven pouted her full, red lips, her words light but still tinged in disappointment. “Nope. I started my period this morning.”

Then she shrugged it off with a grin. “Which only means Otto is going to have to double his efforts this month, so we can hardly count that a bad thing, can we?”

Charleigh scoffed a playful sound. “I’m not sure how he’s supposed to double his efforts when the only thing you two do is get naked.”

“As if you’re one to talk? And can you blame me? I’ve been trying to make that man mine for years, and now that he is, I’m taking full advantage of the whole package.”

She flourished a hand in the direction of Otto. Otto who was currently gobbling up the sight of her from across the yard, as if he had direct access to her thoughts and was envisioning all the ways he wanted her to take advantage of it.

“I mean, that cock is something to behold.” She made a dreamy sound toward the sky. “Even better than I imagined, and with the amount of romance novels I read, you can bet I was imagining something spectacular.”

I spluttered again, and my cheeks went flaming red. I was so unaccustomed to this. Talking about men like this. About sex like this.

My foolish gaze traveled to Kane where he leaned against the fence.

Casually king.

How was it possible my insides flipped?

That connection yanking and pulling and coercing.

Charleigh giggled conspiratorially. “Looks like someone else is imagining something spectacular.”

I jolted back, stammering and fumbling all over my words, “Oh…I wasn’t⁠—”

My throat tightened, my mouth completely dry, because suddenly, I was. I was wondering what it would be like to see Kane completely bare.

My stomach in knots as the vision slammed me. Me on my knees as he moved to tower over me. That glorious body on full display.

I should be terrified.

Horrified.

Repulsed.

But my eyes were crawling back to the man, hungry for something I’d never been.

“Oh, I think you are,” Raven teased.

My eyes rammed closed in an attempt to stop whatever this out-of-control train was that the man had set me on. The one who’d cut the brakes. The one who had loosened the chains that had held me back.

It had to be the grief. The way I’d felt as if I’d been flayed wide open when I’d lost my sister.

Set out to sea.

Drifting and lost.

Floating away.

He’d been the one buoy I’d been able to reach.

But I had to know that was fleeting.

When I came to my senses, I’d be right back in that place where the demons and monsters reigned.

Where my fears consumed.

I needed to get back to what I knew.

Tucked safely in the place where I was okay to forever be alone.

Where no one could touch me or harm me or ruin me.

My hands started to shake.

Anxiety roiling through me and turning into panic.

My throat thick and my sight bleary.

Oh, God, I was going to have an attack right in front of them.

“Hey,” Raven whispered. “Are you okay? I’m sorry if we pushed you too far.”

She let go of a self-deprecating laugh as she glanced at Charleigh. “We have a way of tossing out whatever hits our tongues without thought, even when our new bestie isn’t quite ready for all our crazy yet.”

She nudged me with her elbow, fully tender, her voice thick.

“Yeah.” Charleigh set a soft hand on my forearm. “I didn’t know what hit me when I first met her. This one chased me down and demanded I was going to be her friend all while coercing me into coming to a festival that I most definitely didn’t want to attend, going so far as to threaten kidnapping. And apparently, I have now become just as bad as her.”

It was fully a tease.

Though in it was understanding.

A gentle encouragement.

As if I was in the same position as she’d been.

“Don’t judge me,” Raven told her with a wry smirk. “I was only using that psychic that absolutely affirmed you belonged with us.”

Then she turned her gaze on me. “I’m thinking you might, too, and I’m thinking you’re definitely not ready to hear that yet, but I’m going to say it, anyway. I can feel how lonely you are.”

That loneliness throbbed.

My head barely shook. “You know I’m not staying here. This isn’t where my family is. It isn’t where my home is.”

My family that was being pared down and torn apart.

Charleigh’s hand clamped down tighter on my arm, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “I don’t know…I think there’s something magical about this town. I think it calls to those who are supposed to come here. Reaches out when we’re lost and guides us where we’re destined to be.”

She turned her attention to Nolan who chased Maci across the lawn. “I think my very wise son has always said it best. Family is who you love most, and from my perspective? Home will always, always be with those you love.”

I had no clue how she could claim something like that.

As if it were that easy.

As if I was somehow part of that.

I knew there was no chance, but that didn’t mean everything didn’t quake when my gaze was drawn back out into the yard.

To Kane who strode our way.

I swore, the ground rumbled beneath his feet with each step that he took.

Stride easy and confident as he crossed the lawn, only there was something so decidedly concerned in his expression that for one foolish second, I thought I could be a part of it.

This was a man I’d all but hated when I’d found out who he was.

A man who set off every alarm bell.

Dangerous and brash.

The father of my niece.

The man who’d all but promised he was taking her away.

I had three weeks left.

Three weeks.

And all it took was him stalking up the porch steps to make my belly quiver.

“Ah, why does it look like you all are up to no good?” He might have said it like he was joking, but those intense eyes never left mine.

Searching.

As if he were…worried.

As if he’d noticed my moment’s distress and had come to check that I was okay.

“Us, trouble?” Raven challenged. “Have you ever once looked in the mirror, Kane Asher?”

He chuckled an easy sound, and he ran one of those tatted hands through his warm brown hair that glistened a thousand shades of gold beneath the fading sun. “Who me? I’m as innocent as could be.”

There was nothing innocent about him.

He was a vortex.

Gravity.

A magnetism impossible to resist.

“Are you two taking care of my girl?”

His girl? I nearly choked.

Raven rolled her eyes. “Your girl? I think not. I found her first, fair and square, outside of my shop last Saturday morning.”

“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong, Raven, I definitely found her first.” The emerald of Kane’s eyes sparked. A searing of heat and possession.

His mind so clearly on that first night.

I squirmed.

God, what was wrong with me?

“Which means she’s mine.” There was no missing the fact his words dripped with sex.

He reached out like he was going to touch me right before Nolan came stampeding up the steps. “No way, Uncle Kane! I already called her, and I’m the team captain, and you can’t go stealin’ because stealin’ is bad.”

My attention whipped up, confused by what was happening.

“And I already called my Mr. Kane!” Maci was right on Nolan’s heels.

“Uh-oh, why am I sensing competition brewing in the air?” Charleigh asked.

“You know the rules, Momma Dog!” Nolan enthused, punching a fist in the air. “We gotta play a whole family game before our family has to go because family activities are really important.”

Surprise widened my eyes.

Kane caught it. “That’s right.”

“What kind of game?” Raven asked.

“Kickballs!” Maci shouted, tossing out an awkward kick.

Kane nearly bowed in two as he laughed, low and deep with affection, his focus just canting to me for a beat as he set his hand on her head. “Why’s that sound so dangerous?”

I tried to staunch a laugh, but Raven let it out. “Because our little one here is definitely dangerous. She’s going to be kicking all the balls. I want her on my team.”

“Good fing because I already picked you, Missy Raven, and your Otto because he said you always gotta be on his team.”

Raven glowed, her own affection riding out, these people already accepting Maci in a way I still couldn’t wrap my heart around.

“That is a very good thing, but I have to admit, I’m not much of a runner,” Raven told her.

“Yeah, that’s all Charleigh over here. My Little Runner.” River was suddenly there, murmuring it as if he were only speaking to her as he pulled her up from her chair.

I would have thought the two of them would have been together forever if I hadn’t learned that she’d only come into their lives a year ago.

The two engaged but this little family closer than anything I’d ever seen.

“And I pick Miss Emery since she’s gotta be super fast because she’s got really good shoes!” Nolan wound around Kane and picked my foot up by the ankle so he could inspect my Adidas.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. My pulse clattering, my spirit spinning, telling me to get as far away from this tight-knit group as I could.

I didn’t do this.

I didn’t get close. Not when these people couldn’t remain. Not when they were only going to feel like another aching hole once I left.

“Oh, no, I don’t think I⁠—”

“Auntie Em! You gotta! It’s a family game!” Maci picked up my other foot, yanking at it, too.

Kane suddenly leaned down over the kids, planting his hands on either side of the armrests of my chair.

So close I inhaled him.

Spice and hazard and decadence.

“Yeah, Em, you gotta.” The words dragged like temptation across my ear.

I sent him a scowl, and the man only chuckled as he reached out so he could smooth out the wrinkle on my brow with the pad of his thumb.

His mouth right there, lips nearly brushing my cheek. “Told you all the fun I was going to show you. And I think we should start right here.”

THIRTY-FOUR

EMERY

“Run!”

A surprised laugh tore out of me when the ball I’d just kicked went sailing across the yard, right over Otto’s head who was manning first base.

River was the one who’d shouted it, cheering me on from where he was already on third and was starting to sprint for home.

“Go, Miss Emery! You gotta run so super fast before Uncle Otto gets you!” Nolan jumped up and down to the side of me, up to kick next.

It finally knocked me out of the surprise, and I burst into action, propelling my legs as fast as they would go as Otto hustled after my ball that had landed on the far-right side of the yard.

Apparently, they were loose about the foul rules in this family because honestly, it’d been about the worst kick ever, but now that I was sprinting for first, I didn’t mind so much.

Because Kane was hollering at Otto, “Hurry, man! Pick up those boots and run! Em-Girl is about to leave you in the dust.”

It turned out, I did have the super fastest shoes at the party, and Otto had barely made it to the fence by the time I made it to first. So, I turned in the direction of second base.

Raven was there, bouncing on her toes and waving her arms overhead and shouting at Otto, “Come on, you sexy beast! Show me what you’ve got! Mama is ready and waiting, and she’ll reward you graciously later.”

From where he’d just crossed home base, River groaned like he’d suffered a mortal wound. “If you want me to take out your fastest team member, keep it up, Raven.”

“Just lighting a little fire under my man. It’s the exact kind of motivation he⁠—”

“My ears!” River covered them and dropped to his knees, and I nearly tripped because I could hardly stand with the laughter that was bubbling out of me.

The way they all taunted and teased and continually gave each other crap.

But in the sweetest of ways.

Their closeness distinct.

“Hey, what about me? I fought you told me I was really super fast?” Maci shouted from third, dancing on her little bare feet on the grass like she was about to suggest a race against Otto to prove herself.

“Right, what I meant to say was ‘your second fastest team member’,” River corrected.

“Good call, Uncle River!” she shouted back.

Joy all over her face, Raven stuck her hands out like she was going to physically stop me from making it to second. “Hurry, Otto!”

I barely touched the tip of my toe to the plastic base the second before she caught the ball out of the air.

“She’s safe,” Theo called, and I did my own little dance.

“Ah, a show boater, I see.” Amusement shook Kane’s head where he stood on the ‘mound’ that was another plastic plate.

“Just celebrating the little things in life,” I told him, feeling too free. The laughter still in my chest as Raven jostled her elbow into my side, totally playful like she was going to push me off.

“Don’t even try it, Auntie Raven!” Nolan sang from where he’d stepped up to kick. “No cheatin’. We gotta play fair and square.”

“Never would I dare,” she said, grinning over at me as she knocked my hip with hers.

Kane acted like he was winding the ball up, swinging his arm round and round, though he released it gently and sent it rolling in a perfect line toward Nolan.

Nolan ran forward and kicked it with all his might, which basically sent it right back to where Kane stood.

He went running, screeching with his hands over his head. Kane acted like he was going to throw it at him as hard as he’d done to River in the last inning, but he purposefully sent it over the top of his head and rolling across the yard.

Nolan threw his head back, his soft curls bouncing around him as he cracked up. “Missed me, Uncle Kane!”

“Ah dang! You’re just too fast for me.”

“That’s because I gotta leave you in the dust.”

“What? Leave me in the dust? That’s rude! And here I thought I was supposed to be your favorite uncle.”

Otto ran up, acting like he was going to block Nolan from getting to first, but stumbled to the side as if he’d tripped.

Nolan cackled as he stomped victoriously on the base.

Warmth spread.

A wild tugging at my chest.

All these fierce, brutal men who were so gentle with these kids.

I watched the whole thing go down as I jogged to third.

Third where my sweet, precious girl was still prancing on her feet as I made it to her base.

She wrapped those little arms around my thigh as she beamed up at me.

“Hi, Auntie Em,” she peeped.

I ran my palm down the back of her head, that tugging back in full force, my words thin as I whispered, “Are you having a good time?”

“I’m having the bestest time in my whole life. Fank you for bringing me here because I had a whole lotta people I’s supposed to meet.”

My chest squeezed. “I’m so happy you like it.”

“Are you ready for this?” Charleigh called as she moved up to kick.

“You’d better get ready, Auntie!” Maci screeched.

Charleigh kicked and sent it soaring, and I sprang into action again.

I hopped onto home base and threw my arms in the air. “Point for Team Nolan! That’s right, baby!”

“That was luck. I’ll be taking you down next time,” Kane heckled.

“Sure, sure,” I heckled back, unsure where the comfort and confidence was coming from.

River kicked next, and Kane snatched it out of the air high above his head.

“Out!” Theo called.

River grumbled, then muttered, “Show them how to do it, Emery,” since I was up next again.

I did a little taunting jig on the base, dipping low into a squat to stretch.

“Ah, she thinks she’s something special in those super-fast shoes, does she?” Kane ribbed.

I hiked a shoulder, sure I shouldn’t like the way those eyes raked over me.

But I did.

I liked it so much I was sure I was in horrible trouble.

Kane pitched the ball, it coming at me fast as it rolled across the lawn.

I kicked it high and bolted into a sprint the second it hit the air.

I was almost to first when I felt the quickening behind me.

The roll of the ground and the surge of energy.

Then those massive arms were wrapped around me, lifting me off my feet, my back plastered to his powerful chest as he spun me around.

“Kane!” I gasped, flailing in his hold.

Dizzy.

Dazed.

“No fair,” I wheezed.

No fair.

No fair.

Because his mouth was at my ear, and his words were dripping into my veins. “Yeah, she’s something special. So fucking special I can’t remember how to breathe.”

THIRTY-FIVE

EMERY

A swath of darkness hung overhead, lit in the sea of stars that were smattered across the canopy. Peace rained from it, this overwhelming stillness that felt as if we were held in a net of security.

It poured that respite across the placid expanse of the shimmering lake, the faint ripples glinting beneath the shimmer of the moon and stars.

Maci had fallen asleep almost the moment Kane had buckled her into her seat, and her little breaths filled the cab of the SUV as we drove the short distance back to Kane’s house.

For once, Kane was silent, too.

But I supposed the tension that strained between us said plenty. The way it felt as if the oxygen had grown so heavy and dense that it was nearly impossible to draw it into my lungs.

Awareness curled and wound around us.

Wisps of electricity that felt like pinpricks crackling across my skin.

It took us only a few minutes to get through the downtown area of Moonlit Ridge, and Kane was soon slowing to turn right onto the dirt drive that wound around Kane’s.

The club wasn’t busy yet, the parking lot sparsely filled, the hour just past eight. It felt as if it’d been one of the longest days of my life, yet it had also passed in a blur.

Being among these people that I didn’t want to find comfort in.

But that’s what I’d been.

Comfortable.

Floating through their care and laughter. Wary of the easy conversation but unable to stop myself from contributing.

As if it were natural.

But this wasn’t.

Natural.

This thing that burned between me and Kane.

It was something so outside of what I knew. Wrong on so many levels, yet in some way, it felt as if it was supposed to be.

The SUV bounced down the long lane, and the club disappeared behind us as we wound through the dense trees that grew up along the edges of the road. The headlights speared out in front of us, illuminating the gorgeous scenery Kane’s home was surrounded by.

Rather than pulling around to the detached garage, he came to a stop in front of the porch where he always parked his bike.

Silence swamped us when he killed the engine, and the air grew even heavier.

So heavy I was afraid it would crush me.

Obliterate the last pieces I was trying to hold together. Kane seemed caught in it, too, staring out the windshield for the longest time before he finally opened his door and slipped out, the man so brutally beautiful it was getting more and more difficult to look at him without completely losing myself.

But how could I not after the way he’d held me last night? After he’d shown me he was so much more than the callous intimidation.

He quietly shut it behind him before he was at Maci’s door, his movements fluid as he unbuckled her from her seat.

She barely stirred as he pulled her into his hold. It shouldn’t look so right when the man tucked her carefully against his chest.

But, God, it did, my little niece so at ease in his massive arms.

He knocked the door closed with his hip, ambled up the steps and across the porch, then maneuvered the key into the lock.

So adept he might as well have done it a thousand times.

Blowing out some of the tension, I forced myself to move, and I climbed out and followed them inside. I locked the door behind us, and I kept my footsteps as light as Kane’s as he carried Maci upstairs.

At the top landing, a dim light burned in the hall, and he crept into her room and laid her on her bed. I moved in behind him, and I went to the dresser and pulled out a pair of pajamas that had been stocked in Maci’s dresser on the first day we’d come here.

I edged up beside him, and that unstable air in my lungs locked all over again as we peered down at the child.

“She’s so perfect,” he murmured.

My spirit squeezed. “She is.”

With a knowing glance at me, he helped me change her into her pajamas, lifting her up so I could work her sundress over her head and replace it with the gown, then he shifted her around beneath the covers, and I drew them to her chin.

The blonde waves strewn over her pillow. Her lips puckered and her brow lax.

Her sweet, sweet face so serene that there was no mistaking the amount of joy she’d experienced through the day.

I brushed my fingers through her bangs, and my heart fisted when I stepped back and Kane moved in to take my place.

The man a fortress over her, his movements tender as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her temple, his words quiet and raw as he mumbled, “Goodnight, Angel Face.”

Adoration spilled from his being.

I backed away, unsure that I could stand within the magnitude of it.

I crept out into the hall in an attempt to find solid ground.

Only it rolled and rumbled and quaked.

The man a force that tremored the floors and rattled the walls.

Decimating all barriers and demolishing sound reason.

Because I couldn’t form one rational thought when he stepped out and drew her door closed a fraction behind him.

My throat went dry when the man shifted around to peer at me through the dull, hazy light in the hall.

Big body striking chaos in the middle of mine.

Gravity.

Pure awe-inspiring, terrifying gravity.

He took a single step toward me.

My entire being rocked and swayed. Blown through by the power he emitted.

My pulse raced, a frantic thrum that throbbed desire through my veins.

This fierce pounding that I couldn’t understand or fathom.

One that I couldn’t evade.

He took two more steps forward.

His aura swilled around me.

A rising tide that started at my toes and swirled up my body.

“What do you think?” Kane’s voice was a hushed scrape.

“What do you mean, what do I think?” I had to ask it since I was about to do something super foolish and blurt out that I thought he was magnificent and wonderful and everything I shouldn’t want.

“About my family?” he pressed.

I blinked through what seemed like the thousand memories I’d made today, and my brow pinched in emphasis. “I think you’re right. I think they’re the best people I’ve ever met.”

I didn’t know how it could be.

Not when I could sense that he and his friends were hedged in secrets. Could see the demons that played in their eyes and danced across their skin.

Could feel the severity of it blister across my own.

And I couldn’t make any of that seem to matter.

Satisfaction tugged at the edge of his mouth, though it was dark and seductive. “Told you that you’d love them. That Maci would love them.”

“You’re all so close.” I didn’t know why I was whispering it. I was pretty sure Maci could have slept through a fire alarm right then.

But this felt like my and Kane’s own little secret.

A dirty secret.

The way those magic eyes fluttered over me as he stared down at me with his face cut in harsh lines of severity that still flickered with this undying softness.

The man straight contradiction.

A conflict that waged in the deepest, darkest place inside me.

Because my stomach tremored, my insides twisting with this foolish need I knew was going to devastate me.

“They are the ones who made me believe in humanity again when I’d come to believe there were only monsters that walked the earth.”

His confession penetrated, cutting through bone to the marrow.

It was as if his thoughts directly matched my own.

As if he saw what haunted me and grasped it in some intrinsic way.

There was also a grimness there. Like he also believed himself one of those monsters.

“Raven told me about when she was young. How she lived with all of you in an abandoned warehouse.” The words were thick and sticky. “How you welcomed them in and took care of her.”

“Yeah.”

I blinked through the disorder that raged around us. “You were homeless…living on the streets when you were a teenager?”

“Much better than living with the assholes assigned to be my foster parents.”

Another punch to my gut, my spirit grappling with the onslaught of pain that rolled out of him.

“What happened to your parents?”

He’d mentioned that he’d lost his mother, but he hadn’t given me any details.

I tried to convince myself I was only asking these things because of Maci. Because I needed to know about her father so I’d understand the person she would be raised by.

It was true in some sense, but that was only part of it. There was another part that needed to know him. The part that wanted to climb inside him the way I wanted him to climb inside of me.

Kane flinched. Old wounds cutting deep into the rugged lines of his face. “Never knew the prick who fathered me. And my mom…”

His jaw clenched, and I could feel the rush of rage that billowed out of him. “My mom was killed when I was sixteen. Her boyfriend murdered her, Emery. Right in front of me.”

A gasp of horror ripped free as an arrow of sorrow struck me.

So fierce and harrowing I was nearly bowled over by it.

“Oh my God. I’m so sorry, Kane.”

I swore that I could hear his teeth grind. Could hear the battering of the storm that roiled within his soul.

Sickness spun, and my throat tightened.

My own nightmare flashed through my mind.

Ripping me back to the place where it felt like we’d lost it all.

To that time when nothing had remained the same.

Both me and Emmalee changed in an instant.

Only my throat squeezed tighter because Kane angled in closer.

His presence overpowering where he towered over me.

Energy screamed down the hall.

Bashing and belting.

Emerald eyes flashed, striking in blackened, singed flames.

“I had no power then. No way to stop it. Too fucking feeble and weak to stand up when she needed me.” Hate was seeded in every word. “But I’m not weak anymore, and I can promise you that no monster will ever get to Maci that way. I’m monster enough to protect her from that.”

I should be disturbed by the clear, vicious threat.

By what he was promising me.

By the claim that was so evident in his statement.

But I couldn’t do anything but push out the hoarse whisper, “That’s what we all need sometimes. Someone who will slay our monsters.”

The chuckle he emitted was foreboding, and his head tipped to the side. “Whatever the cost?”

“There’s no cost too great when it comes to those who are most precious to us.”

I would have paid it. Would have given anything to have brought Jana back to us. But I’d been just as young and powerless as Kane had been.

Little more than a child who hadn’t understood or fathomed the consequences.

Guilt bloomed.

No doubt sensing the sudden turmoil, one of those giant hands suddenly slipped to my cheek.

I gasped at the contact.

Flames igniting. Searing and inciting.

Kane searched my face, his eyes flicking across every inch, as if he held the power to sift through my ghosts.

“Would slay yours, too, if you’d let me.” His words were gravel.

I tried to hide them—the scars that for him were in plain sight. My voice was shallow when I forced out, “I don’t let anyone get close enough for them to see my monsters.”

A shiver rolled through me as I thought of the sense I’d had for months. Maybe there were monsters hidden in the shadows. The feeling that I was being watched. Plus, the unsettling information that I’d found in my sister’s notebook and on her laptop? I couldn’t shake the overwhelming premonition that something was wrong. Wholly off.

Gaze deepening, he stroked the pad of his thumb under the hollow of my eye. “You don’t have to hide from me, Emery. I can see the monsters lurking in your beautiful eyes. Felt them the moment I saw you in my bar the first time. Felt them in your fingers when you touched me. Can feel them now…trying to dim the beauty that you are. But they can’t do that, can they, Little Warrior? Not when you’re so strong. Not when you’re aching to rise above where they’ve kept you trapped.”

A tremble rocked through me.

“Your only concern should be Maci.” I went for the best defense I could find.

Something close to arrogance slid through his features. “Ah, think I’m big enough to take care of you both.”

“I’m not in need of a savior.”

“No, you’re plenty fierce enough. But like you said, sometimes we all need someone to slay our monsters. Sometimes we all need someone to hold us up when life gets rough. Sometimes we need someone to show us how powerful we are.”

“Is that what you want to do? Show me I’m powerful?” I didn’t know if it was a challenge or a plea.

Begging him to put out this fire that rushed through my insides.

Kane angled in closer, his nose just brushing mine, his words seductive wisps that wound around me. “Yeah. That’s exactly what I want to do. Want to show you that you’re powerful. That you’re in control. That you deserve to have every pleasure. Show you what it’s like to be treasured. I want you to be free in me, in a way you’ve never let anyone do before me. Want to erase every scar from your being.”

Unable to suppress it, a blast of fury rushed across his face, so volatile my knees went weak. It wasn’t what I’d expected.

His rage.

The anger that surged through his expression.

He lifted his second hand, both big palms suddenly gripping my face.

I could almost taste the violence that thrashed through his bloodstream.

I was such a fool because I wasn’t afraid.

“I want to know who hurt you so I can make sure it never happens again. Just give me a name.”

“They’re long gone,” I mumbled. Without a trace. No one knew who they were.

“I’d do anything for you, Emery.” Kane inhaled a shaky breath. “I want to set you free.”

“You have.” It pulled out of me without permission.

“Did you like it when I did?” The energy shifted around us. “Did you like me touching you? Did you like it the other night when you got yourself off to the sound of my voice?”

“Yes.” I breathed it.

He pulled back a fraction. Studying me again.

Searching for my truth.

He must have found whatever he was looking for because he suddenly swooped down.

I gasped as his mouth captured mine in a maelstrom of intensity.

His kiss desperate and fierce. Hands tightening as he pulled me against him.

Shock rasped up my throat, and I inhaled a sharp, staggered breath.

It only drew him down into the well of need that he’d built within me.

A well that instantly erupted.

My hands shot out, and my fingers fisted in his shirt in a bid to get him closer.

It was so wrong.

So wrong.

But right in that second, I didn’t care.

I needed this. I needed to feel. I needed to feel something else than the sorrow and the dread that had taken me captive. Needed to feel something other than the loss.

“Kane.” I muttered his name against the press of his lips.

“Right here, Little Warrior. I’m right here. Use up whatever you need of me.”

His hands skidded down the sides of my throat before one twined in the fall of my hair and the other wrapped around my waist.

He jerked me forward.

Up against the hard, packed planes of his immaculate body.

This fierce, terrifying, brutal man who made me feel as if I were flying.

A moan worked free.

A garbled yes.

His tongue stroked out, and I nearly wept.

It felt so good. Felt so good to find this freedom. This thing that hadn’t existed in me until I met him.

I opened and slid my tongue against his.

Heat exploded, and my insides turned molten.

Need gushed through my body.

Every inch of me throbbing and pleading as I fell completely into him.

He groaned into the mania of the kiss. “Em-Girl. So fucking good. You’ve got me so spun up, don’t even recognize myself.”

I whimpered, and he turned so he could back me across the floor and toward his room, never breaking the frenzy of the kiss as we went.

He closed the door behind us then spun me and pinned me against it.

I hit the wood with a soft thunk, and the hand on my back slid down to my knee. He drew it up to hook around his hip then he pressed himself to the pulsing of my center.

I rasped at the bliss that spread through me with the sensation.

“You still with me, Little Warrior? You good with this?” he rumbled.

“So good.”

It was a ramble.

Unintelligible.

No logical thought within reach.

Because the only thing I could process was how he felt.

So hard and huge.

Daunting and formidable.

And I was completely blown away that the only thing I felt was pleasure in the middle of it.

“Fuck me, Emery. What are you doing to me? How’s it you’ve got me on my knees?”

In it, I could feel his true confusion. As if he had never felt anything like this, either. As if I wasn’t alone in this being different.

This connection that pulled at every molecule in my being, drawing me toward him.

“It’s me that you’re destroying. Why do you feel so good?” My words were woven in the frantic tangle of our tongues.

Delirium.

It’s what it had to be.

Hoisting me higher, Kane grabbed onto my other leg and wrapped that around his waist, too.

My feet were no longer on solid ground.

I guessed they hadn’t been since I’d met him.

He held me up with both hands on my outer thighs and my back pinned to the door. Gripping tight as he rubbed himself against me.

“Like that, baby? Just the brush of my cock, and you want to ignite?”

A rash of chills skated at the coarse words he demanded into the kiss.

“Yes.”

Yes, so much yes.

We were both fully clothed, yet I wasn’t sure I’d ever felt so exposed.

The way fire rocketed through me with every rock of his hips. The man pressing and rolling as pleasure raced and gathered.

Rising and lifting with each stroke.

I almost wanted to laugh at how absurd it was, that the man was dry humping me against the wall and it was still the most scandalous thing I’d ever done.

Especially with knowing who he was.

What he meant.

But I was too busy getting sucked down into the depths of those emerald eyes when he broke the frantic kiss so he could angle back to look at me. Too busy getting my heart tangled up in the wild possession that was carved into every line on his face. Too busy watching his tongue stroke out to wet his plush, velvet lips.

“Look at you, Emery. So fucking gorgeous I can’t get a full breath. Watching you come alive under my hands. Like you’ve been waiting on the right time to bloom. Want to watch that happen. Want to make that happen. Watch you shine all that beauty that you’ve kept trapped.”

He dove back in, kissing me.

Kissing me into madness.

Kissing me into confusion.

Into euphoria.

The same way as he drove my body.

He suddenly hoisted me higher, and my arms looped around his neck as he carried me across his room to a wing chair that sat under the windows that overlooked the backyard.

The emerging glow of the moon scattered silvered light into the room.

I whimpered when he settled me onto the chair.

He straightened, standing tall, a tower that shrouded, that menacing body vibrating with severity as he stared down at me. Every inch of him was hard, his muscles bowing and flexing as he held himself in restraint.

“Don’t worry, Little Warrior. Going to give you what you need.”

“Please,” I whimpered.

“You don’t have to beg. That’s what I’m here for.”

He climbed down onto his knees, and he spread his palms over the tops of my thighs and rode them upward.

“That’s what these hands are for. To bring you pleasure. You can trust in that. I’ll never fucking hurt you. Will adore you every second that you’ll allow me.”

I couldn’t even process the promises he was making. The way his words whispered over me like a dream and sank deep into the fractured pieces of my heart.

Couldn’t fully fathom him flicking the button on my shorts.

I merely rode the wave of it.

Lifting my hips and helping him push both my shorts and underwear off my hips.

He dragged them down my legs, hissing as he went.

“So damned perfect. These sexy as fuck legs. Way you drove me out of my mind in these little shorts all day.” He grunted it as he dragged the fabric free, then he propped my feet on the edges of the cushion.

Exposing me.

And I wanted to be.

With him.

Exposed.

Vulnerable.

Free.

“Spent hours imagining getting to all the sweetness hidden underneath. Wondering the whole time if you were aching for me. If you were wet.”

He leaned up high on his knees, those magic eyes on me as he pushed two big fingers inside me.

A moan raked free, and I arched, my nails raking across the leather arms of the chair.

“Fucking drenched,” he rumbled. “So fucking drenched and needy. Did you need me, Little Warrior? Did you need me to show you how good it can be? Way I’d make you feel if you let go with me?”

“Yes. Yes, I need you.”

What was I saying?

But it was out, the haggard words trembling into the lust-addled air.

“I’m right here. Fucking yours.”

He started to drive them inside me, my back hitched to the chair as he pressed them in so deep.

I rocked and writhed as he worked me into a stupor that had me completely spinning apart.

Wound so tight I thought I was going to lose my mind.

Lose myself.

Then he dipped in and lapped his tongue across my clit. Spinning and swirling and driving me to disorder.

Two seconds later, that pinpoint of pleasure exploded.

The need that had been bottled inside me burst.

A rupturing.

A fracturing.

Bliss shattered far and wide.

Streaking through my insides and blistering across my flesh.

A loud moan rolled out of me as my entire being bowed, and Kane shifted, swooping in to take my mouth, swallowing down the unbidden sound. Drinking it up like it would sustain life.

“There you are. Blooming as you come on my face,” he murmured against my lips.

I should be horrified.

Embarrassed.

Sickened.

But my mind was too spun up in him to feel any of that. So, I just clung to him, gasping for breath as tiny pinpricks of pleasure kept ticking through my body.

Flames I’d never experienced before him.

In it, I felt completely weak.

Drained.

Invigorated.

Blinded.

He dropped his forehead to mine, right there as I experienced it all. Until my heaving chest finally began to calm and my fingers that were fisted tightly in his tee loosened.

Then he edged back and gazed at me. “You okay?”

I could barely nod. “I think so.”

He peered at me like he was trying to discern the validity of it, worried that he’d hurt me in some way. Ready to catch me if I was going to fall apart. This man who shouldn’t care. This man I barely knew who absolutely shouldn’t affect me this way.

This man who shouldn’t matter when he somehow was weaving his way toward becoming everything.

He carefully stood, and I could almost taste the need that radiated from him.

Could feel the force of his restraint.

The way greed billowed from his body as he stared at me bare from the waist down.

I should hide.

Cover myself.

Cower.

Instead, my gaze drifted, taking him in beneath the willowy light that filtered through his room.

A tower of menace and strength.

Lust oozed from him, a darkened cloud that saturated the air, though he wore a casual smirk like he wasn’t shaking with the same thing as me.

My eyes dragged lower, over the black tee that stretched tight across his massive chest, the fabric clinging to the defined muscles that rippled underneath. His abdomen jerked and ticked, and I could see the press of the enormous bulge in his jeans.

My mouth went dry, and my throat closed off at the same errant vision I’d been struck with earlier when I’d been talking with Charleigh and Raven.

Me on my knees with Kane towering over me.

A low growl rolled in his chest. “You shouldn’t look at me that way, Emery.”

My tongue stroked out. “What way am I looking at you?”

“Like you want to surrender.”

“Maybe that’s exactly what I want to do.”

Just for now.

Just for this moment.

“Don’t think you’re quite ready for what I have in store for you.”

It was a promise.

A threat.

Pure, unmitigated domination.

His voice deepened further. “Now let’s get you dressed, and I want you to go in your room and close the door, then I’m going to fuck my hand to fantasies of exactly that…sinking my cock so deep in your sweet little pussy that you’ll never be the same. Marking myself so deep in you there will be no unwriting me. So deep you’ll be aching so bad when I’m not there that you’ll be begging for it night and day.”

“I thought you told me I wouldn’t have to beg?” There I went, asking for the breaking, but right then, I really wanted to be.

Broken by this man.

I wanted to be completely undone.

He reached out and dragged the tip of his index finger along my jaw. “Oh, Little Warrior, I’ll be more than happy to give it to you. But first, you’re going to have to realize you’re mine.”

He took a step back like there was a chance he could cut off our connection.

But it burned too bright.

Its pull overpowering.

Inhaling a shattered breath, I slowly slipped off the chair and onto my knees, staring up at him as I did.

“I want to be yours. Like this. Just for tonight. Let me taste you the way you tasted me.”

I wanted to experience him like this.

On my knees for him.

Because for the first time in my life, it was where I wanted to be.

Kane’s entire being twitched.

His aura surrounding.

Sex and greed and intoxicating spice.

Dizzy anticipation rolled through me.

The energy shifted, and Kane’s words turned to gravel. “You sure that’s what you want? You want to feel my cock stuffed deep in that sweet mouth the way I’ve been dying to do?”

“Yes. Possess me like this.”

I felt half shocked that the words fell from my tongue.

Pleas that wafted through the desire-coated air.

Magic eyes slipped over me, sparks in the darkest night.

“Please…I want to give you a little of what you’ve given me.”

“I wasn’t asking for a return.”

“I want to give it. I want to feel what it’s like. I want to give you pleasure, too, the way you promised me.” It rushed out of me.

“And here you were the one worried I was going to wreck you, and you have me standing here splintering apart,” he rumbled.

I eased up higher on my knees, and my trembling fingers went to the button of his jeans. I looked up at him as I undid it.

His gaze was unwavering and hot, scorching my flesh.

A low moan rolled out of him, and he reached down and grabbed the hem of his tee and pulled it up and over his head.

The air punched from my lungs. The sight of his rippling abdomen and the strength of his chest. The horror and beauty of the designs that were etched into his skin.

His muscles rippled and bowed, and my throat went tight.

“You’re so beautiful.”

A low chuckle rolled out of him, and he dragged the tip of his thumb over my lips. “Nah, baby, there is no comparison to you. On your knees, your body quivering in need, and this face…fuck, this face could do a man in. Think I lose another part of myself every time I look at you.”

“It’s you who’s making me lose myself. You who’s changing everything.” Confusion poured out with the confession.

“I want to,” he murmured, his words a gruff caress. “I want to wipe the sadness from your face and the fear from your heart. Want to show you every pleasure this world has to offer. Want to be the one who has the honor of watching you glow. Because I saw it, shining all around you, this light that’s been dimmed. Want to help you set it free.”

“That’s what I feel. Right now. Free. You make me feel alive, Kane. Something I haven’t in so long, and in a way that I never have.” The words were haggard.

Something fierce ripped through his features.

Possession.

Devotion.

Lust.

I trembled beneath it.

“Because this is the way it’s supposed to be. You and me. Going to take care of you, Emery Voss.”

A shiver rocked me to the core.

I should refute it. Tell him that wasn’t what this was about.

But my throat went completely dry when he began to nudge his jeans over his hips, and chills streaked far and wide when his penis sprang free.

Enormous and hard and pierced at the tip. A rod ran through the fat head from top to bottom, held by two emerald balls on either side.

I should be afraid.

Intimidated by everything that he was.

But no. I trembled in want.

“Kane…” It wheezed out of me. A rush of dizziness spun through my being as he kicked off his shoes and fully pushed out of his jeans and underwear.

The man completely bare.

Towering over me the way I’d imagined.

A fortress. A stronghold. A trap.

A shield that would protect. Or maybe the only thing that was happening was he was dragging me down to the greatest desolation.

But I didn’t care if he completely ruined me.

It’d be worth it to experience this.

So, when he stroked himself from base to tip and rumbled, “You want this, Little Warrior?”

I rasped, “Yes.”

Because I was surrendering.

Even if it could only be for this moment.

THIRTY-SIX

KANE

Did she have any clue how gorgeous she was? A temptress on her knees, those lips plump and her tongue watering.

But it was those eyes that consumed.

What swirled in the toffee depths.

The fear mixed with the fight.

The ferocity mixed with the vulnerability.

All of it pure, awestriking beauty.

Maybe this was wrong, having her on her knees like this, but if this was what she wanted, then I was going to give it to her.

I was going to give her every fucking thing she wanted.

Knew it then.

What’d become my life goal.

This new purpose that burned inside me.

Emery and Maci Voss.

My duty to them the same as the debt I gave to humanity.

I would protect them—fight for them—with every breath in my being.

Every single one of them belonged to them, even if Emery didn’t get it yet.

I ran the tip of my dick across her lips, and her tongue flicked out for a taste.

The tiniest mewl crawled up her throat.

My stomach fisted, my muscles cinching tight in needy anticipation.

“You sure you want me to fuck this sweet little mouth?” I gritted.

“Please.” She almost begged it. Then those soulful eyes flashed up to mine, all that vulnerability and the bare trust she’d found in me flooding out. “What if you don’t like it?”

My spirit screamed. Screamed at this fucking world that this woman had shielded herself from it because of the calamities it allowed. That she was so strong and perfect and didn’t understand the power she held.

“No chance I’ll ever not like something you give to me. Open up, and you’ll see.”

Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, then she wrapped both of those dainty hands around the base of my dick.

A shudder tore up my spine. “Yeah…you get it? You get what you do to me? Barely touching me, and I already want to blow.”

It must have given her the confidence she needed because she edged up and drew the tip of my cock into her hot, wet mouth.

She gave it a tiny suck.

My hands fisted in her hair as a rush of pleasure surged through my body. “Yes. That’s right.”

I pushed myself deeper into the delicious clutch of her mouth, not quite deep enough to gag her.

Her hands shot out to my hips to steady herself, and she moaned some kind of garbled bliss into the motion.

“You like that, Emery? You like the feel of my cock stuffed in your mouth?”

A wild ferocity burned in her gaze, and she nodded.

I brushed the pad of my thumb at the side of her lips, barely able to hold myself together. The urge to fully possess her was nearly unbearable.

“Fuck. Never have seen anything more perfect than this. Such a good fucking girl on your knees for me. You trusting me like this. Going to show you that you can, Little Warrior. Going to show you that you want every part of me the way I want every part of you.”

The promise was gravel.

Hard and emphatic before I pulled out a fraction then drove back in, a little deeper that time.

Blunted nails dug into my hips.

“Take it, sweetness. Take it way down deep. Show me how good you are.”

She hummed and moaned as she pressed her thighs together.

No question, spun up again.

Her arousal thick in the air.

Fuck, she was too much. So good. Perfect. Everything.

I began to thrust, picking up a rigid pace, the woman fully giving herself over to me.

“So good. So fucking good. Never have felt anything like you.” The words tumbled from my mouth.

Praise and adoration.

Because it was the truth.

I’d never felt anything like this. Had never been affected like this. Not once.

This comfort.

This familiarity.

This need to wrap her up and possess her in every way.

She kept sucking me deeper, all the way until the head of my cock was hitting the back of her throat, that lush mouth hugging me just right.

A guttural moan rolled out of me as rapture threatened.

Rushing in from all sides. The feel of her almost more than I could bear.

“Yes. Take it, Little Warrior. Take it just like that.”

My fists were tight in those long blonde locks, guiding her, though her instinct had kicked in.

She knew exactly what to do.

She was made for this.

Made for me.

“Made for me.”

I realized the thought had gotten free. Had flooded the air as pleasure crawled at the base of my spine.

My balls tight.

My stomach twisted.

She moaned and opened herself more.

Letting me fuck her sweet mouth wild.

Hard and fast.

“So good. So good. This sweet, dirty mouth. So perfect. You, Emery. It’s you.” There was nothing I could do but shower her in praise.

She whimpered as she tipped that gorgeous face up to me.

The energy crackled.

That thing that boiled between us stark and alive.

Vibrating and inciting.

Wrapping us in a bond that would never let us go.

She splayed both hands over my ass and drew me in as far as she could.

“Gonna come, Em.”

She only drew me deeper.

And that was that.

I was done for.

Coming apart.

Bliss breaking.

Desire and her own kind of bliss tremored through her as I came in her mouth, dumping myself deep, the woman swallowing me down as she shot me to the highest high.

Ecstasy tore through me on a storm of chaos.

“Nothing. Nothing is better than this, Little Warrior. So perfect. You’re so fucking perfect,” I growled.

Tremors were still wracking me, but I didn’t give either of us time to recover.

I scooped her off the floor, holding her high as I shoved two fingers into her throbbing pussy. The woman dripping and needy, just like I knew she’d be.

Her arms flew around my neck, and she gasped my name.

“Kane.”

“Told you I was going to take care of you. Told you I was going to show you every kind of pleasure. Again and again. For as long as you’ll let me.”

I knew I was speaking forever, but I could no longer imagine my life without her in it.

I turned around and sat on the edge of my bed, leaving her straddling me on her knees. I kept driving my fingers inside her, her walls clamping down, the sounds coming out of her mouth nearly doing me in all over again.

I pressed my thumb to her clit.

Rubbing and rolling it in time.

Took all of a minute for her to go off again. For her nails to sink deep into my shoulders and her hot, tight body to wheel and writhe with pleasure.

“Kane. Oh my God. You…”

“Know it, Little Warrior. You don’t have to fight it. You don’t have to fight me. Give it to me. Give me your surrender.”

She pressed her face into the side of my neck as she came and came on my fingers. Her cries buried in my flesh and sinking down into the middle of me. I held her in it. Letting her soar for the longest time.

The drive of my fingers gentled as I guided her through the aftershocks.

Her breaths were harsh and shallow as she sagged against me, and she clung to me for what felt like forever, which was something I’d be all too happy to do.

Hold her forever.

I felt her swallow when she finally came back. When her awareness hit the ground and dragged her back down into her reality.

Reservations and questions resurfaced in a beat.

Emery edged back, peering at me through something that both looked like wariness and wonder.

I knew what she thought.

We weren’t supposed to do this.

To her, it was wrong.

Some kind of betrayal to her sister.

But I couldn’t help but believe there was a reason for this.

That she was here, right where she was supposed to be.

“How do you feel?” I finally asked.

Her tongue stroked out to wet her dry lips. “Like I’m both drifting away and weigh a thousand pounds.”

I brushed my fingertips along her jaw as I whispered, “I’ll hold all of it.”

A frown pinched her brow. “I don’t understand what’s happening between us.”

“Something magical.” The words rough. “No other explanation for the way you make me feel. Something that’s always been impossible until I met you.”

Pain lanced through her expression, though her fingertips were soft as she ran them over my lips. “That’s what this is. Impossible.”

“It’s not, though, is it? To me, it’s irrefutable.”

Her eyes dipped before she admitted, “I’m scared of it.”

“The things that are most important to us always are, Emery. Terrifying because they mean the most.”

“You don’t think it’s wrong? Us doing this?”

The pad of my thumb stroked over the indentation between her eyes.

Soothing it.

Hoping I could soothe her.

“How could it be when you make me feel like this?”

“What do you feel?” Emery’s question was earnest. Her spirit so close to being laid bare. The way she had me.

Exposed.

While the secrets I carried felt like a barricade in the middle of us.

“I feel like my heart has been frozen in time. In the grief and torment and the mistakes of my past. And there was no one in the world that could bring it back to life than you. You and Maci who make me feel like I’m truly alive for the first time since I lost my mother.”

When all hope died.

Through it, I’d somehow found it in my patchwork family.

But this was different.

“I just…don’t want to do wrong by my sister. I…I miss her so much.”

Emery was suddenly hugging me fiercely again, sorrow pouring out with the admission.

My chest squeezed tight. In affection. In empathy.

I carefully peeled her from me and set her on the edge of my bed, then I rose and moved to where I’d left our clothes a pile on the floor.

I pulled on my underwear, then I grabbed the slip of lace that was bound in her shorts and shifted around to walk back to her.

Nearly tripped at the sight.

Emery sitting on my bed.

Shaking with the energy that burned through us.

Blonde hair mussed and her cheeks pinked.

Lips plumped and swollen.

Bare from the waist down.

Stare untamed as she took me in.

I forced myself to move slowly. To ease up to her before I got down onto my knees in front of her. Careful as I helped her back into her underwear.

I never looked away from her as I did, our gazes tangled and our hearts locked.

When I covered her, I reached up and framed her precious face in both my hands. Gripping on tight. “I know, baby, I know. I won’t discount the pain and worry that you’re feeling. And I might not have really known your sister, but I have a feeling that she would have wanted you to be happy. If that’s what I make you.”

I wanted to.

I wanted to make this woman happy.

A flicker of guilt buzzed through my being. I also knew that my life could bring suffering. That it was dangerous and wrought with peril.

But I couldn’t imagine changing it. Couldn’t imagine stopping what I did.

Not when I knew it made the world a better place for them.

“I’m afraid that you might,” Emery whispered.

I reached up and caught a tear that slipped from her eye.

“I don’t think you need to be afraid of that. Not when I’m pretty sure it was what I was made to do.”

“We hardly know each other…and…I have to leave.”

Pain tore through her when she said it.

“Do you?” It was a soft grunt.

Uncertainty passed through her delicate features, and I pushed up to standing, hoisting her into my arms.

With one arm looped around her waist, I dragged down the covers with the other hand and settled her in the middle, then I crawled in beside her.

That gaze turned cautious and excited. “What are you doing?”

“Holding you.”

I tucked her close to me. Her body alight while mine was afire.

I blew out a contented sigh at the feel of her against me.

“I’m not sure this is a good idea.” She breathed it at the base of my throat.

I ran my hand down her back. “I think it’s a great idea. After holding you last night, I think it’s exactly the way I want to spend every night of my life.”

Silence hovered between us. Her qualms fluttering in the space.

“You know I’m going back to Wisconsin in three weeks.”

Every molecule in my body revolted at the thought.

Of her leaving. Of her walking out of my life.

How had I known her for such a short amount of time and already it felt like she had become intrinsic to who I was?

But some people came into our lives and changed everything.

I hesitated, before I asked, “Is that what you want to do?”

I could feel her answer in her hesitation, though she murmured, “That store was my sister’s dream.”

I kept my voice soft. Cautious. “Her dream. But was it yours?”

A few seconds passed before she spoke again. Her words hushed and filled with the loss. “It was until⁠—”

She clipped off like she’d almost revealed something she was supposed to keep secreted. Whatever it was too fucking painful for her to divulge.

I eased back so I could see her face. That stunning face that pierced through me like an arrow every time I looked at her.

This woman with a hook in me.

“What happened?” Didn’t mean for it to come out a demand, but there was no keeping the rage from my tone. The fury that ignited at the thought of someone doing her harm.

The thirst for wrath thumped in the dark recesses of my psyche. In that place that sought vengeance and found no guilt in the drawing of blood.

No shame in putting those in the ground who didn’t deserve to stand.

Emery flinched, her whole body going rigid in my arms.

I smoothed my palm down the back of her head and back, again and again, trying to assuage the fear that she held. My Little Warrior always going on lockdown the second her past was mentioned.

But I had a hunch we had to get to it in order for her to fully put her trust in me.

“You started to tell me last night…” I murmured it quietly, close to her ear.

Her heartbeat accelerated a fraction.

“I don’t talk about it.”

She overwhelmed my senses. Her spirit and her heat and her sweet morning glory scent.

It was standing at the brink of a sunrise, waiting for the first rays to shine.

Wading at the edge of surrender for the both of us to topple over the side.

I’d catch her.

I’d be sure of it.

“But the scars still gape. I can feel them,” I told her.

“And somehow you’re the first person who’s ever reached beyond them.”

“Then maybe that means you can trust me with your pain.”

“I don’t think I’m ready yet. I’m not sure that I’ll ever be.” She wavered for the longest time, the two of us caught in the stillness, caught in each other, before she rushed on a breath, “I told you my sister fell off her roof…but…but I don’t know if I believe that.”

Disquiet tightened my insides, and I edged back so I could see her face better. “What do you mean?”

Uncertainty pulled through her expression. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m just reaching, grasping at straws. But she was always out on that roof, Kane. We’d done it our whole lives. What caused her to fall now?”

She looked like she was going to say more but stopped herself.

“You can tell me anything, Emery.”

Ironic considering I was hiding so much of myself.

“Maybe it’s just the way of grief. The unacceptance. No logical reason for it happening.” She seemed to settle on it, but I could tell that she didn’t believe it for a second.

“She have enemies?” My jaw clenched as I asked the question, unable to write it off so quickly. That disquiet turning to apprehension as I thought of Emmalee. This woman who I could barely remember but, of what I could, she had seemed completely carefree.

Until I found her snooping in my office.

That strange essence about her that had left me unsettled.

My guts clutched as I thought about how I’d cocked my head when I found her and told her, I think it’s time you leave.

It was the last I’d seen of her, and I’d pretty much never thought of her again.

Not until my little girl was standing in front of me.

“I don’t think so. Everyone loved her. She handled it so much better than I did. Didn’t let it stop her from enjoying her life. From meeting it head on and going after every experience.”

It.

Still, she kept me in the dark. A brick wall built between us where she kept herself protected.

My Little Warrior thinking she had to go it alone.

No more.

“Give me the details, and I’ll check into it.” I tried to form it as casual, but every word was grit.

A frown curled across her pretty face, and incredulity filled her question. “You’ll check into it?”

There was no stopping myself from giving her more of me than I should. Wanting to open that door but terrified of what she’d think if she really saw who I was.

“I have some connections.”

Cash who could crack anything.

Emery wavered for a moment before she shook her head. “No. I’m just being foolish. Conjuring something that isn’t there.” A self-deprecating smile pulled at one side of her mouth. “I’ve even convinced myself that someone is following me.”

I had her gathered up and straddling me in a flash.

Shock ripped out of her at the change of position. At the rage there was no doubt she could feel boiling out of me. “Someone’s been following you?”

She blinked. “No. I’ve never seen anyone. I⁠—”

“Won’t take the risk with you, Emery. If you think you’re in danger, in any way, I need to know.”

Fuck, I was shaking. Heart hemorrhaging in my chest. Felt like I was being cracked wide open.

Emery set one of those tender hands on my cheek. “There’s nothing for me to tell you.”

I pressed her hand tighter against my face. Relishing the burn of her palm. Knowing she could feel the intensity of mine where it covered hers.

Our gazes locked.

Energy crackled and lapped. This bond vibrating between us.

A gravity I’ve never experienced.

“I’ll hunt down anyone who’s ever hurt you. Will destroy anyone who wants to do you harm. I promise you, Emery. I won’t let anyone get near you. Not you or Maci. But you have to let me in for me to be able to do that.”

She should be afraid with the violence that dripped from my pores. With the brutal urges that pumped through my veins and poured like wrath from my tongue.

But she only looked at me in a way she’d never done before as she edged up on her knees and pressed her hand even closer.

As if she could sink all the way inside.

“My sweet, sweet dragon.” She whispered it like praise.

And the only fucking thing I could hear was mine.

The claim in her voice and the shouting of my soul.

Emotion twisted my insides. “I mean it, Emery.”

Her nod was juddering, and I was sure right then, she was seeing all the way to the depths of me.

To the wickedness and cruelty carved on my conscience. To the sins and the depravity.

Like maybe she could see the blood that stained my hands and she didn’t mind if it covered her.

Because I heard her acceptance when she gave a bumbling nod and murmured, “I know.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

KANE

Sixteen Years Old

Kane walked beneath the dull haze of city lights. His hands stuffed into his jeans pockets and no destination in mind.

He had no place to go.

No home.

No family.

Nothing.

Nothing.

The agony nearly brought him to his knees. The overwhelming grief that pressed in from all sides made him feel as if he was going to implode.

The only thing that kept him standing was the rage. The only life inside him the hate that had infiltrated his blood and had become the beat of his existence.

Loneliness his partner.

The bracelet he wore around his wrist felt like it was cutting off circulation. The simple gold chain that wasn’t even real with three roses interspersed across the top.

One he’d given his mother when he’d been a child and she’d never taken off.

One he’d fumbled to get off her wrist as the paramedics had wheeled her away from their house.

Now he wore it himself.

Like it was going to give him comfort when the only thing he felt was pain.

He’d been in two foster homes since his mother had been killed six months ago. Both of them homes to the same kind of bastards he’d been subjected to his entire life.

There’d been zero hesitation to fight back. Hell, he might have even instigated it. Needing something to do with his fury and his fists. Some way to pound out the vengeance that suffocated.

He figured the circumstances didn’t really matter. Either way, he would have ended up here. Walking the streets of LA.

Alone.

Hungry.

Exhausted from the fits of sleep he fell into for mere minutes at a time on whatever cold, hard surface he could find.

Terrified of whatever wickedness might be lurking in the dark, dingy corners.

Pangs of hunger tightened his stomach as he trudged down the crime-infested street.

He’d become a partner to it, and he whipped his head back and forth to check that no one was in sight as he grabbed a broken brick that sat in a pile of garbage off the sidewalk then bashed it into the side window of a car that was parked along the street.

He ducked through it to grab the change sitting in the console.

He felt like a piece of shit.

He was a piece of shit.

Coins clattered as he stuffed them into his pocket, and he ducked his head between his shoulders and continued down the sidewalk like he wasn’t responsible.

Then he quickened his pace when he sensed someone behind him.

Not someone.

A group.

Multiple footsteps approached, nearing with each step.

Sweat gathered at his nape, and his hands curled into fists in his pockets. No doubt he was going to have to fight his way out of this. With how many it sounded like there were, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get out of it.

A second later, he was surrounded, two guys on either side of him and one behind him.

Trepidation billowed through his body, his muscles tight and his chest heaving, his breaths coming too sharp to play off the fear that slicked through his being.

The guy on his left stepped out ahead of him, turning around to walk backward as he faced him.

Kane barely cut up a glance, trying to act like he wasn’t affected. Act like alarm wasn’t blaring in every single one of his senses.

“That was low, bro. A bashed window for a dollar in change?” The words left the guy on a huff of laughter.

The guy was likely his age. Sixteen or seventeen. Tall and thin with jet black hair. Cropped super short on the sides with a strip running down the middle.

Amusement glinted in his dark, dark eyes, and he tsked. “Gonna find yourself in all kinds of trouble if you keep that up. Right out in the open and obvious as hell. Bet you haven’t seen the dude who owns that car, or you wouldn’t have done it.”

The asshole kept chuckling as he said it, way too entertained at Kane’s expense.

Kane’s teeth gritted, his nerves going haywire, mind spinning with how he was going to defend himself. How he’d beat them when they eventually jumped him, which would be right after this fucker had his fun with him, he was sure.

“You got a death wish?”

“Hungry.” He grunted it. And that change had a fifty-nine-cent taco written all over it.

The guy dipped his chin. “Yeah, figured as much. Have seen you walking up and down this street nonstop for the last week. Been watching you.”

Unease slithered through him.

Last thing he needed was to be noticed. For these assholes to know he was completely alone.

“Just leave me alone, man,” he grumbled, figuring they’d either take off or do what they’d come here to do.

“Now why would I want to do that?”

Dread twisted Kane’s stomach.

“Come on, Theo, stop fuckin’ with the poor kid.” The guy to his right shook his head and cut Kane a glance.

He had light brown hair and bright blue eyes and a giant smile on his face. “You got a place?” he asked.

Kane almost scoffed. The only thing he had were the few possessions stuffed in the backpack attached to his shoulders.

He didn’t respond.

“Not safe out here on your own,” the one on his left said, “and it’s clear you don’t have a fuckin’ clue how to survive it.”

Kane’s attention swung that way. “What the fuck do you care?”

The guy’s brown eyes were intense. Swimming with demons, Kane guessed. The guy gave a slight shrug. “Maybe I know exactly what you’re feeling right now.”

Did he?

Could anyone feel even an ounce of the devastation?

His jaw clenched in distrust. Why the fuck would these guys help him?

“Hey, man,” the one on the other side of him said. “We just saw you wandering and got the sense you had nowhere to go, and we find things go a whole lot better for us if we stick together. Figured we’d extend that hand to you.”

Kane almost scoffed.

Why would they trust him? He could be some psycho mass murderer for all they knew. Hunting for his next prey.

Though he figured the trembling of his limbs gave him away.

The gaunt hunger on his face.

The desolation in his eyes.

The amusement drained from the one who was still walking backward. “Know you don’t know us, and we don’t know you, but we’ve seen you a bunch of times, and we’re pretty sure we’re gonna find you dead in a ditch if we don’t intervene. We have a place we stay. It’s nothing to write home about…”

His voice went ironic before it dipped back into sincerity. “But at least it’s a roof over our heads. My name’s Theo, and this is Cash.” He gestured to the one at Kane’s left before angling his head to the guy on the other side. “And that’s Otto. We’ve been out here a bit and know the run of things. You wanna stay alive, you stick with us.”

Kane stopped walking.

“You just…want to take me in?” Incredulity rolled out with the words.

Theo smirked. “Let’s just say we have a feeling about you.”

They say the deepest bonds are forged in the fire.

In trials and tribulations.

Kane had never thought he’d care about another person after he lost his mother. He thought his hate and grief would prevail. The only emotion he could experience since it’d obliterated everything else.

And that hate and the grief, it was still there.

Alive and thriving.

But it was different.

His crew had every bit as much of it as him, and they used it, fuel for their survival.

Theo, Otto, and Cash had become family. Intrinsic to who he was. A loyalty carved so deep between them there was no longer any question of betrayal.

His trust growing to something he never thought it could be.

It didn’t take long until River and his little sister Raven had become one of them, and the six of them lived in the dilapidated warehouse that had become their home.

Each walking the streets of LA. Doing whatever it took to endure the situation they’d been cast into. Delving into the seedy. Stealing and conniving and manipulating.

Corruption and depravity taking them over.

Their only allegiance was to one another.

It got darker with each month that passed, the things he and his crew devolved into.

And Kane knew they were sliding down a dangerous path when River and Theo started hanging out with Trent who was the vice president of the Iron Owls MC.

Kane knew it the first time he slung his leg over his new bike.

Knew it for sure when he donned his leather cut.

His mother’s voice echoed through his mind as he stood in the back room of the club where they met.

“You’re such a good boy, Kane. Such a good, good boy. My favorite boy. Don’t ever change. Don’t ever let that beautiful light fade. Fight for love and what’s right. I know you will…because it’s who you are. And always, always take care of the ones you love most.”

And he knew he was the same wilted rose. The best parts of him had died when she had.

The light faded.

The darkness the only thing he knew.

THIRTY-EIGHT

EMERY

Daylight pushed in through the bay of windows, a soft warmth that brushed at my cheek and nudged me from sleep. From where I lay on my stomach, I moaned a contented sound, and I stretched a bit to chase off the grogginess that still clung to my body and mind.

I felt as if I’d gotten an actual good night’s rest for the first time in months.

My eyes popped open when I realized the reason for that. When I remembered what had happened last night.

When I realized where I was.

In Kane’s bed after he’d again sent me soaring last night.

Twice.

After I’d…

Heat flushed across my flesh as the memories inundated me.

Me on my knees with him towering over me. How ferociously beautiful he was. His bare skin and the bulging power of his body. The feel of him in my mouth.

How I’d felt both vulnerable and free.

Then I’d fallen asleep in the safety of his arms for the second night in a row. After I’d exposed myself in a way I never exposed myself to anyone.

Tentatively, I spread my hand out over the mattress, searching the spot next to me where I remembered he’d been.

My palm glided over the black, silky sheet. It was still warm, the pillow ruffled and dented from his head.

My teeth clamped down on my bottom lip as I was washed in a wave of affection so significant and severe that I felt as if I might float away. Chest stretching tight and belly tingling.

A ridiculous smile fluttered at the edges of my mouth.

I should fight it. The quickening inside me.

But I didn’t want to.

Not right then.

Not when this man made me feel truly seen for the first time since I was seventeen.

This sweet, terrifying, beautiful man.

My sister’s words echoed through my mind.

She deserves to have a father like him.

I understood it now, why she would have believed it, but what I didn’t understand was how she’d known it. How she’d known it when he had been nothing but a vacation hookup.

He barely even remembered her.

How had he made that much of an impact?

I blew out a sigh then pushed myself upright, sitting up on my right hip with both hands planted on the bed as I listened to the muffled sounds echoing from downstairs.

That tugging remerged in my heart, a prodding of my spirit, and I slipped out of bed, pulled on my shorts that were still on the floor, then tiptoed to Kane’s door, all covert-like as I popped my head out into the hall to make sure I was in the clear before I raced on bare feet to my room.

I used the restroom, washed my hands, brushed my teeth, then tied the mess of my hair up into a casual knot on top of my head.

Hair that smelled like him.

Spice and temptation and the most masculine things.

A shiver rocked my spine, and I shoved it off and tried to gather myself as I padded back out the door and into the hall.

Sounds from below rose to meet my ears. The clank of silverware and the tinkling of a giggle and the low, mesmerizing roll of laughter.

My belly shook.

I was in trouble. In so much trouble because I felt myself teetering on a ledge. So close to falling. A fool who was starting to believe this man would be there to catch me when I did.

Steeling myself, I crept downstairs, keeping my footsteps light. I hit the bottom landing and edged along the wide passageway toward the voices that increased in volume the closer I got to the kitchen.

I stopped at the entryway and peered in.

Kane was again at the island, this time cutting fresh fruit.

Wearing a fitted black tee, locks of shiny brown hair a mess, the most magnificent grin on his even more magnificent face.

The man was so handsome the sight of him sent an earthquake rolling beneath my feet.

My foundation rocked.

Maci sat on the island at his side, her back to me, hands animated where she waved them above her head.

“Just like that!” she gushed.

“No way,” he enthused, his love so distinct as he looked at the child.

“Yes, way!” She gave him an earnest nod. “I already told you I got a dragon and he’s blue and all sparkly and he’s got really sharp teef.”

She lifted her fingers like they were claws and snapped her mouth at him as if she was going to bite him. “Rahhhrr!”

“Whoa, that dragon sounds super scary. Are you sure you should be hanging out with him so much?” Kane teased, playing along with her sweet imaginings.

“He gots the sharp teef because it’s his job to protect me.”

An emotion swept through Kane’s features. So distinct my spirit wobbled.

Then he started making all these chomping noises as he leaned over and playfully gnawed at Maci’s arm and shoulder. “Like this?”

Maci shrieked with laughter, giggling and squirming as she put her hands out to stop him. “No way, Mr. Kane, my dragon is never gonna eat me! He really loves me and keeps me safe!”

Kane slowed, easing back as he gazed down at her, that rough voice tender. “That’s what I’m going to do, Maci. I’ll always protect you and keep you safe.”

Even from behind, I could see the way Maci beamed, her little shoulders hiking to her ears. “Because you love me?”

His thick throat bobbed, and devotion gusted across his strong brow. He set the knife aside and moved to fully stand in front of her. He dipped down to meet her gaze as he took her precious face in his hands. “Yeah, Maci, because I love you.”

I nearly came apart right there.

Broken.

Mended.

Destroyed and reborn.

Maci squealed and kicked her feet. “Are you my dragon, Mr. Kane?”

A jagged chuckle rolled out of Kane. “I guess I am, Angel Face. Your fire-breathing dragon.”

Emotion squeaked out of me. A riot of affection and fear. Hope and destitution.

His head jerked up.

Emerald eyes flashed, a rushing of greed that streamed through our connection. Memories of last night playing on repeat in our minds.

Our frantic kisses and our searching hands and the plea of our bodies.

It was all mashed up with the easiness he always met me with.

That sly, sexy grin that twitched at one corner of his mouth.

“Hey there, sunshine.” It was a gruff scrape of welcome.

I might as well have been with the way heat ate me up. A torrid blast that burst in the air.

“Good morning,” I managed.

Maci whipped around, her adorable face full of that heart-rending smile. “Auntie Em! You finally woke it up, you sleepyhead! I tried to wake you up when the sun was sayin’ hi ’cause I got all the way hungry, but you was sleepin’ in Mr. Kane’s bed wif him, and his eyes popped all the way open.”

She bugged out her eyes and spread her hands out extra wide beside them. “Dis big. And he said we had to be really extra quiet so you can get your rest.”

Redness streaked through me so hot and fast there was a chance I caught fire.

God, why hadn’t I gone back to my bed last night?

Kane only smirked. “Good thing I was able to derail this little munchkin from waking you up at the crack of dawn.”

“I like the dawn,” Maci said, so matter of fact.

Flustered, I cleared my throat and eased forward, trying to ignore the timidity that barreled through me. Unsure how to traverse whatever this was.

I slipped onto a stool opposite them, wavering with what to say or how to handle this. The last thing I wanted to do was confuse Maci more than she already was.

“Kane was really nice and let me sleep with him since I had a bad dream last night and he wanted to be able to check on me.” I forced the lie out around the landslide of rocks that sat heavy in the base of my throat.

“Well, of course he’s nice if he’s your very best friend,” Maci said.

“Right, of course, he is,” I mumbled quietly, my attention getting caught up in the trap that was Kane Asher.

Kane whose smirk had picked up a speed that had the power to barrel right through the center of me. “Next time, I’ll check on you even closer.” He tipped his head to the side. “Make sure you’re feeling extra good.”

“You really are a good friend, Mr. Kane,” Maci prattled, completely oblivious to the suggestion pouring out of him.

“That’s right, Angel Face, a really, really good friend.” He didn’t look away from me when he said it.

A mini explosion of fireworks went off inside me, and I squirmed on the stool.

Lust curled into his features, no doubt envisioning all the ways he was going to tear right through me.

And I wondered what that would be like—being completely consumed.

Kane chuckled before he ruffled Maci’s hair and swept her down onto her feet.

“All right, go wash your hands. Breakfast is almost ready.”

“On it!” she shouted, bouncing on her toes and scampering around the island and out the door toward the powder room down the hall.

Turning around, Kane grabbed a mug from the cupboard, and he filled it from the carafe, then he was rounding the island, his aura penetrating as he edged closer.

He set the cup onto the counter in front of me, and he dipped down, his mouth so close I thought he was going to run his lips along the angle of my jaw.

I shocked myself that I wanted him to.

Only he hovered right there, his breath teasing at the sensitive skin on my neck.

Spice and sex and man.

“Nothing better than waking up next to you. Hot body tucked up close to me, that morning glory scent invading my senses, my name tumbling off your tongue in your sleep. Were you dreaming about what it’s going to be like when I really send you soaring? What it’s going to be like when I fully possess this body? How good I’m going to make you feel when it’s my cock buried deep inside you? What it’s going to be like when you realize you’re mine?”

A haggard gasp ripped from my lungs as the flames leaped. Consumed by a greed I’d never felt.

My brain rampaged.

Quantifying the risk.

How painful it would be if I fully gave myself to him up against the pleasure I’d receive. If I opened myself up the way he was clearly asking me to. But the biggest problem would be if I fell.

If I toppled right over that cliff.

Where would I be then? I had no place left inside me to be hurt.

And I was so, so tired of the hurt.

A big palm suddenly settled on my cheek, so gentle that it stole my rasping breath. He leaned in so his cheek was pressed to mine on the other side, his warmth all around as he cradled my face between his cheek and his hand.

His words were low and emphatic when he murmured, “Know what it’s like to be afraid. To fucking run for your life from the pain. I’d been running and running until I crashed into you. And I don’t want to run anymore, Emery. I won’t hurt you. Not ever. Not when the only thing I want to do is cherish every single thing that you are.”

My heart ravaged at my chest, and my ribs stretched to the point of cracking. “You know I have to leave.”

Kane vacillated before he somehow dragged me tighter, his fingers on the other side of my cheek winding up in my hair. Inching back a fraction, he brought his nose to mine as he stared down at me.

Emerald sparked and the golden flecks glowed.

“And maybe you thinking you have to go is just an excuse for you running. For the war you think you have to fight.”

“All clean! Let’s eat, Mr. Kane!” Maci shouted it as she came bounding back into the kitchen with her arms thrown above her head.

He pulled away, all grins again, as if the severity hadn’t transpired between us.

Kane reached out and tugged at my hand. “Come on, Little Warrior, let’s eat.”

“You don’t have to do that. I can go.”

“You’ve completely upended your life since we came to stay here. I can go to the grocery store, Kane.” I tossed my cell into my purse where I’d left it on the entryway table.

“That was the whole point of inviting you here. Upending my life.” Kane’s words rushed me from where he was standing on the third step of the staircase, hand on the railing as he gazed down at me.

A wicked king ruling his lair. A sweet, gentle soul who’d never committed a crime. I couldn’t tell anymore.

Wearing a fitted tee, colorful designs rolling out from the sleeves and exposing the power that shouted from the bristling muscles underneath. Worn jeans that still appeared expensive.

Feet bare.

Casually cool and completely ruthless.

Enthralling.

Captivating.

What I needed was some space from it before I completely succumbed to his unabashed stares and brazen touches.

To his hands and his body and the weight of his eyes.

Before it was too late, and I became his.

I should go.

Permanently.

I knew that Maci was safe and loved, so what was the point of my staying here?

Every molecule in my body revolted against the idea.

I could rationalize my staying here since he hadn’t even told her who he was yet, and she thought we were merely staying here for a while because he was my friend, not because this was her home.

Though we’d been using that terminology more and more.

Home. Home. Home.

Whispering of its permanence so it would be embedded in her psyche.

But I’d be a liar if I said it was the only reason.

“Stay with Maci. I’m sure she would be happy to swindle you into playing memory or something of the sort.”

A rough chuckle escaped him. “Doesn’t take too much convincing.”

No, it didn’t.

Because he was an amazing father.

A natural.

I’d accepted it.

I dipped my chin, needing to get out of there before staring at him convinced me of something else.

“Good. It will give you two some time alone.”

“Think I can speak for both of us when I say we like it better when you’re with us.”

Another flush.

I swore, the man could set me aflame with a glance.

“Be careful,” he said when I didn’t respond.

“I will.” I pulled the door open and hurried out to the SUV sitting in front of the porch. The same expensive SUV we’d taken to River and Charleigh’s yesterday that Kane had insisted was mine for as long as I stayed here.

I clicked the fob to unlock it and slid into the driver’s seat. I pushed the button to start it and the engine purred to life.

I backed out, tires crunching on the gravel as I turned around in the circular drive and started down the dirt lane.

Rays of afternoon sunlight slanted through the leaves of the statuesque trees, sending flickering shadows across the windshield as I traveled beneath their shade.

I wound through the dense foliage, heading toward the main road that would lead into town.

I didn’t know what it was. What caused my attention to jerk to the left. But I caught a glimpse of something metallic glinting between the trees.

Slowing, I peered deeper into the woods as the hair at the nape of my neck lifted.

Spikes of awareness prickled through my consciousness.

That same sickly feeling I’d gotten for months gliding through my senses.

Paranoia fluttering along the fringes of my being.

God, why was I doing this?

Conjuring things?

I shook it off and accelerated.

It was time I stopped being ridiculous. Time I stopped allowing the beasts to rule my heart.

To rule my mind.

To rule my body.

It was time to allow myself to heal.

Face it.

Acknowledge it.

Put it all out in the open if that’s what it took.

Inhaling a cleansing breath, I hit the main road and drove through the quaint town of Moonlit Ridge.

Its pace slowed. An easiness billowing through people who strolled along the sidewalks in front of the trendy businesses that lined Culberry Street.

I took a right at Broadway then made a left onto 9th.

Affection rippled through me as I passed by Moonflower Floral Shop. Still unable to believe the young woman who’d made such an impact when we’d met her in front of her store would become such a fundamental part of Maci’s life.

Unable to believe the way she and Charleigh had welcomed me into their lives as if they’d known me forever.

I had to admit, it made me feel comfortable and safe.

As if I might be able to trust them with anything.

Harder to believe was how grateful I’d been that they did.

How I’d let go and allowed myself to feel a part of a group in a way I hadn’t done in all of my adult life.

Following the GPS, about a half mile down, I pulled into the parking lot of Moonlit Ridge Grocers. The supermarket was smaller than any that you’d find in a city, set in a building with a pitched roof and exuding a cozy cabin vibe.

Surrounded by the gorgeous woods of this small town.

I found a spot on the right side of the parking lot, and I eased into the space, shut off the engine, and climbed out. I grabbed a cart, went inside, and began to move up and down the aisles.

Trying to force Kane out of my mind but unable to as I shopped, grabbing the things that I’d learned that he liked.

Fresh cherries and organic whole milk and Oreo cookies. The man’s taste in food as contradicting as his personality.

A small smile tugged at my mouth when I moved through the frozen aisle and found the Cherry Garcia ice cream that he’d told Maci was his absolute number one favorite when she’d been grilling him on the subject over breakfast this morning.

The whole time, I picked all of her favorites, too, my time away from them not even close to being that since the only thing I did was think of them every second.

I’d been away from them for less than thirty minutes, and I was already yearning to get back to them.

Satisfied I’d loaded the cart with everything we needed, I went to a register, paid, then pushed into the warmth of the summer day.

I headed for where I’d parked the SUV on the far side of the lot, clicking the button to open the tailgate as I crossed the space. It glided open, and I angled the cart to the side and began to pile the bags into the back.

A sudden sensation slicked through my being.

A sticky awareness that sent my heart thrumming wild.

And I realized it wasn’t just because I was anxious to get home.

It was that sense again.

The skitter of spider legs that crawled across my flesh.

A shiver rolled through me, and I slowly shifted to peer over my shoulder and into the parking lot.

Across it, I saw a woman with two children loading groceries into a minivan and a man carrying one bag opening the door to his truck.

Irritation rolled through me. There was absolutely nothing to be worried about.

I whipped back around and finished loading the bags into the back, and I turned around so I could return the cart to the corral.

Only I gasped when a blur came at me from out of nowhere. A rush of maliciousness that flew up from behind.

A hand clapped over my mouth, and a thick arm locked around my waist, pinning me against the horrid wall of wickedness.

Evil oozing out and blackening my sight.

Terror ricocheted through my body as the deviant began to drag me backward where we were almost completely hidden from the lot by the angle of the car. Toward the dense copse of trees that surrounded the store and lot.

No.

No, no, no.

Flailing, I kicked and jerked. A frantic, desperate bid to break free of the painful hold.

My nails raked at the only bare flesh I could find on him—a sliver of it at his wrists where the long sleeves of his black tee didn’t meet the leather gloves that he wore.

“You bitch,” the ungodly voice hissed in my ear. “You want me to make this hurt? Stop squirming, and maybe I’ll make it easy for you.”

He meant make it easy for him.

That was not going to happen.

I gripped onto the wrist of the hand that covered my mouth, causing him to release it for a fraction of a second.

It was enough time to release a scream. A scream full of rage and anger and all the fear I’d kept contained for too many years.

And I fought, tearing and ripping at his hold as he tried to pull me into the forest where there was no question I’d be forever lost.

I rammed an elbow into his ribs.

He grunted out in pain, though it rebounded in indignation.

“You fucking whore. The things I’m going to let them do to you.” He grated the threat at my ear.

Horrors spun. A thousand of them that hit me in a torrent of appalling flashes.

Things I’d suppressed.

Three days of agony.

Three days of torture and hell.

A lifetime of it that Jana had lived, however short that was likely to have been.

And the fury of that all came rising to the surface. Erupting in a strength that I didn’t know I possessed.

Little Warrior.

Kane’s murmured praise echoed through my mind, and I fought the monster with everything I had.

Refusing to let this happen again.

Kicking the heel of my shoe back, I struck him in the shin. It was enough to make him stumble a step. I used it to my advantage, jerking the arm he had bound around my waist.

It set him off balance, and I threw my weight forward and fully broke out of his hold.

A rabid growl of frustration heaved out of him.

I started to run.

I had to get away. I had to. I had to.

I made it two steps when a violent hand fisted in my hair and yanked me back.

Agonizing pain seared across my scalp.

I screamed, but the pain wasn’t enough to stop me.

I still tried to run, willing to endure the torture of ripping out the mound of hair from my head if it meant getting away.

“Shut the fuck up, you cunt.” He jerked hard.

I lost my footing, and the soles of my shoes scraped along the ground as he dragged me toward the woods.

Fear spiraled.

Consuming.

Stifling.

The memories penetrating.

No.

God, please, no.

I battled with everything I had all while hopelessness taunted at the edges of my narrowing sight.

“Hey, stop right there!” Another man’s voice cut through the air, far across the lot. “Hey!”

A pounding of footsteps clamored in the distance.

A shout of a man and then another. “Someone stop that creep! He’s trying to drag that woman into the forest!”

“You little bitch.” The monster spat it at my ear. “Looks like you get one more day.”

Without warning, he tossed me to the side, and my body flew without will, no way to stop myself before the top of my head slammed into the front-passenger door of Kane’s SUV.

Pain splintered with the crack against the metal.

Rushed and overcame.

Blinding.

Deafening.

No way to stand as the ground came up below me.

THIRTY-NINE

KANE

“I found it!” Maci howled with laughter as she lifted the second eight of hearts into the air.

“Are you kiddin’ me! You got another match?” Okay, she might have had to peek under six different cards to find it, but I was convinced my kid was brilliant.

We were on the rug on the floor in her bedroom. Warmth from the natural sunlight spilling in and saturating the space, though I thought what really was filling it was the type of ease and joy that I’d never before felt.

“What do you even fink, my Mr. Kane? I told you my mommy said I was really extra smart. I bet it’s even time for me to learn how to read because I know all the letters.”

She shrugged as she piled her new match onto the stack of the other fifteen she’d already uncovered. Blonde pigtails swishing around her cherub, chubby face.

My heart did somersaults in my chest.

Love hitting me like a sledgehammer all while I felt the secondary blow of her casual words. My child still not understanding the ramifications of her mother’s death.

That she was gone and she was never going to see her again.

Knew I needed to tell her who I was and do it soon. Explain to her that I was the one who was going to be raising her since her mommy didn’t get the honor of doing that anymore.

But how the hell did you force out those types of words? Break her heart all while hoping to mend it a little?

“That’s right. And I know your mommy loves you so much. No matter where she is or where she goes.” I settled on that for then.

“And you and my auntie Em,” Maci rambled, not a question.

“Yeah, Maci. Your auntie Em and I love you so much.”

Her auntie Em who’d been gone for so fucking long I was getting antsy. But I could tell when she’d left that she’d needed a breather. Needed some time to clear her head after what had gone down between us last night.

The smile Maci tipped up at me was earth-shattering.

“I fink it’s really good we found your house, Mr. Kane.”

“I think it’s really good, too. Think it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

That smile somehow widened, dimple denting her chin, her button nose scrunched up in the most adorable way.

I was just about to tell her that I wanted her to stay here forever when my cell rang from my pant pocket, interrupting the moment.

I shifted so I could dig it out. I frowned when I saw Charleigh’s name lighting up the screen.

I glanced at the time.

Just after three. She should be in the middle of work right then.

A flash of concern washed through me, but I shoved off the paranoia, accepted the call, and pressed my cell to my ear. “Hey, Charleigh, what’s up?”

“Hi, Kane. Listen, don’t panic. She’s okay⁠—”

I surged to my feet, the panic she’d just been instructing me not to feel hitting me full force.

“What’s going on?” It gushed out on a low demand.

From the other end of the line, Charleigh inhaled a shaky breath, the words quivering when she released them. “Emery is okay, but she was brought in here to the office.”

“What do you mean, she’s at the office?” Couldn’t stop myself from hissing it.

Charleigh worked at one of the medical offices here in Moonlit Ridge. The same office as Dr. Reynolds, the doctor who was on Sovereign Sanctum’s books. He was one of the few civilians here in Moonlit Ridge who were on the inside of what we did.

We needed someone we could trust to check out and care for the victims we brought here. Someone who was willing to cover our tracks and take cash under the table.

Charleigh was a medical assistant at his clinic and was currently working toward becoming a nurse practitioner so she could one day take his place when he retired.

She wanted to be an active part of Sovereign Sanctum. Stand in a spot where she could make a real difference for the women and children we brought here on the way to their new homes.

It didn’t matter that I trusted both of them with my life. I still felt like I was going to spiral out.

Charleigh’s voice was held low when she spoke. “There was an incident in the parking lot at the grocery store.”

My guts tangled in a knot of dread, and I glanced down at Maci who was searching through the few cards that remained for her next match. It took everything I had not to flip the fuck out in front of my daughter. In front of this child who’d already lost so much.

“I’ll be right back, Maci, I have to talk to Auntie Charleigh.” I forced it out around the ball of razors that lined my throat.

By the time we left Charleigh and River’s house last night, Maci had been calling my whole family auntie and uncle.

“That’s okay, my Mr. Kane. I’m really busy findin’ another match so I can win the biggest prize.” She uttered it as she went hunting under the cards, thankfully oblivious to the turmoil that clamored through my spirit.

I strode for the door, knees fucking knocking as I stepped out into the hall, voice curling in caged desperation. “What kind of incident?”

Charleigh hesitated, and that dread was sinking like a stone to the pit of my stomach. Just knowing it was something bad. Intuition kicking in that my girl was in trouble.

“I think I need to let her tell you what happened when you get here. Raven is already on the way to your house to pick up Maci. She’ll take her to her and Otto’s place. She has Nolan with her, so hopefully Maci will be excited about that.”

“Is Emery hurt?” The direct question scraped out on a ragged plea. A sea of rage already bubbling to the surface.

“She’s going to be fine,” Charleigh whispered. “I promise. Just get down here.”

“Okay.”

With the way I was shaking, I was barely able to end the call and stuff my phone back into my pocket. I swallowed around that painful, jagged ball, forcing a smile onto my face as I went back into Maci’s room. “I’ve got great news, Angel Face.”

Maci’s head popped up. “What?”

“Auntie Charleigh just told me that Auntie Raven is coming over here to pick you up so you can go play at her house. Nolan is with her, so that means you get to have a surprise playdate.”

In a flash, Maci was on her feet. “What? Are you serious?”

“Completely.”

She did a exuberant jig in the middle of her room, that excitement Charleigh had been talking about pouring out of her.

Too bad I wasn’t able to share in it.

“This is a really extra special day because I got to play wif you for so long, and now I get to play with my best friend, Nolan, and I got so many friends that my heart goes boom.” She jumped into the air and threw her arms out as she said it.

God, she was perfect. Nothing less than a treasure. My own heart boomed in determination and something else entirely. The truth that this was what Emery had become to me, too.

A treasure.

A treasure I would do absolutely anything for.

“All right, we’d better hurry downstairs so we can meet her.”

Maci grabbed my outstretched hand. “Good idea. We can’t be late.”

We rushed from the room, Maci skipping along at my side, completely immune to the torture eating me alive, thank God. Last thing I wanted was to cause her any stress.

By the time I was whipping open the door, I could hear the hum of a car approaching in the distance, and about thirty seconds later, Raven’s little white BMW emerged from the thicket of trees that veiled my house from the club and made it feel like my place was completely secluded.

Dust billowed behind her as she barreled down the road, and I clutched at Maci’s tiny hand as we waited for her to come to a stop in front of the house.

The back window slid down to Nolan grinning like mad. “Hi, Maci! Did you know we get to play today? I had an extra booster at my house that I got too big for, and now you get to have it, so you can sit right next to me.”

“I like that plan.”

I hurried down the porch steps and around to the rear driver’s side. Raven was already out of the car and opening the door. I quickly strapped Maci in, kissed her forehead, murmured, “Have fun, sweetheart,” then shut the door.

I straightened to Raven standing there with a boatload of worry carved into her expression.

She must have seen the same thing reflected in mine because she rushed, “Charleigh said Emery is fine, Kane. You know she wouldn’t mislead us. Go on and take care of her. Otto and I have got Maci for the rest of the night. You don’t need to worry about her.”

“Thank you.”

She slipped back into the driver’s seat, and I ran to the detached garage, punched in the code to open one of the bays, and grabbed the key for the blacked-out four-door Mercedes, knowing if Emery had wound up at the doctor’s office, she’d been injured in some way.

As much as I wanted her body wrapped around me on my bike, I wanted to shield her more.

Take care of her.

Ensure she was safe.

Fuck. I wanted to make sure she was safe.

I shoved it into reverse and went flying down the drive. By the time I got to the end of it, I was right on Raven’s tail. Raven turned right where it would take her up the south ridge of the mountains to where she and Otto lived, and I peeled out as I took the left that would lead me deeper into town.

Sweat beading on my hairline, I weaved in and out of traffic as I took the couple of turns required to get to the medical complex where Dr. Reynolds’ office was located on 9th.

Guts a tangle of nerves and fear.

Thought I was going to come apart when I caught sight of the plaza, just fucking needing to get to her.

To see her face.

To know that she was whole and safe.

The tires squealed on the pavement as I made a quick left into the parking lot.

I didn’t go to the front. I wound around to the back to the private entrance that was only used for Sanctum business.

Somehow, I already knew that was where Charleigh would meet me.

Fear clawed up my insides when I saw River’s bike sitting near the door.

No doubt, this was Sanctum business.

“Please let her be okay.” It wheezed out of me as I came skidding to a stop beside River’s bike and threw the car into park. I jumped out and flew around the front just as the door whipped open.

“Kane.” River’s midnight eyes were full of turmoil.

“The fuck happened?” I gritted as I stormed his way.

From thirty feet back, I watched his features twine with the disorder as he stood in the open doorway. “Someone tried to snatch her from the parking lot of Moonlit Ridge Grocers.”

Horror punched me square in the face.

A fist that nearly dropped me straight to my knees.

Every muscle in my body went weak for the flash of a second before it rebounded in a fit of fury.

Insides lighting with the instant need for retribution. To make someone bleed. To cut them wide open and watch their insides spill out.

It was those types of monsters that were the most depraved of society.

“Another guy saw the commotion from the other side of the parking lot and went to stop it,” he continued. “The piece of shit who was trying to get her threw her against your Rover before he disappeared into the woods. She hit her head pretty hard.”

Not slowing, I angled through, grating, “Where is she?”

“Serenity One.”

Serenity One.

Sovereign Sanctum’s room.

The room with all the high-end equipment that you’d never typically find in a regular doctor’s office. A place where we could bring the most fragile and broken when we couldn’t risk taking them to a public emergency room.

I busted through the door without pause, pulse stampeding through my veins as I pushed into the room, so overcome when I saw her sitting up on the side of the examination table that there were no reservations left.

Nothing stopping me from going directly to her and taking her gorgeous face in my hands.

Fire scorched through my body the second I did.

“Emery.” It rasped out of me.

A question.

A promise.

A million things in that one single word, which wasn’t all that surprising since she’d come to mean everything.

Tears blurred her eyes. “Kane.”

“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” I searched her face.

She nodded in my hold. “I’m fine.”

“Are you in pain?”

“My head hurts a little, but it’s nothing significant. I just⁠—”

“Who was this fucker?” It ripped out of me.

Terror swam in those toffee eyes.

“I don’t know. I didn’t see him.” Her words lurched and faltered. “He came from out of nowhere. I…I felt something. Something off. That same feeling I mentioned last night. I thought I was just being paranoid, Kane. I thought…”

Fear clogged her voice, hitching the words she couldn’t force off her tongue.

Rage burned me through.

A firestorm.

The cataclysmic type.

The kind that decimated everything in its wake.

“We’ll find him. I promise you, we’ll find him.” I pulled her against me, hugging her tight. Swore to God, those thin, slight arms that wrapped around my waist were the best thing that I’d ever felt.

“I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.” I murmured it at the top of her head.

The second I said it, she let the horror go, and she clung to me as she started to sob.

No doubt, the adrenaline and fear breaking loose of the dam once she knew she was safe.

“It’s okay, baby. Let it out. You’re safe. You’re safe.” The promises kept pouring out as I held her there, standing at the edge of that examination table while it felt like pieces of my life were falling away and others were coming together.

A knitting.

An intertwining.

The realization of what this meant.

Holding her like this wasn’t meant to be temporary.

And I knew, right then, that this was how I was supposed to hold her for the rest of my life.

“You’re safe,” I mumbled again.

Hot tears soaked the front of my shirt, and her hands were fisted in the back of it. She nodded against the hammering of my heart. “I fought him, Kane. I fought him with everything I had. I couldn’t let it happen again.”

Her words impaled me. A barrage of missile strikes. A surprise attack.

I couldn’t let it happen again.

Turbulence screamed through my senses, and I’d never wanted to go on a murder spree quite like I did right then. But I forced myself to remain right there.

Her rock as the confessions hiccupped out of her.

“But he was so strong. So strong. I don’t know what would have happened if that guy hadn’t seen it happening from across the lot. Where I would be right now. Oh, God, Kane.”

It was a whimper. Turmoil as she was wrought with whatever horrible memories had been imprinted on her spirit.

That pain I’d recognized in her the first night I’d met her.

Trauma and wounds.

“I would have found you, Emery. I would have hunted every inch of this world for you. Turned over every stone and sifted through every grain of sand. Would have gone to the ends of the earth and back a thousand times if that’s what it took. I will destroy any monster who even thinks about doing you wrong.”

Whoever this motherfucker was?

He was dead.

So fucking dead, he might as well have been counting his last breaths.

Charleigh was suddenly standing at our side, her expression cautious as she set her hand on my arm. “I just want to take her vitals one more time before we release her, but otherwise, everything looks good. Dr. Reynolds did a scan before you got here just to make sure she was fine, and it’s clear.”

The tiniest bit of relief hit me, but it was still affliction that I was feeling as I peeled myself back from Emery, not wanting to be away from her for a second.

I forced myself to keep moving until I backed into the opposite wall.

Eyes pinned on her the whole time.

This woman who had come into my life and rearranged everything.

My purpose and goals. Kindled the kind of love I never thought I’d feel.

River’s low-slung voice hit me from the side as he angled his head toward the door. “Need to talk to you.”

Reluctance filled me, and I took another glance at Emery. She wore the smallest smile on her face, nodding slowly as Charleigh gave her instructions.

“She’s in good hands,” River said.

I knew she couldn’t be in better, so I finally gave with a nod and followed him out into the vacant hall where the rest of the staff wasn’t allowed.

Still, he looked each direction to ensure we were alone, his words hushed as he began to speak. “Sheriff showed up at the scene and was able to get a statement from the man who witnessed part of what happened.”

We’d just brought Moonlit Ridge’s Sheriff in on what we did. Putting him through a bunch of tests to see where he might stand.

If he stood for the straight line of the law or if he stood for what might have to be done to set something right, legal or not.

Turned out, he was all about helping people, no matter the cost.

He wanted to know as little as possible, but he’d stand by us, whatever that looked like.

“Cash got a call from him, and he let me know the report had come through, which was also how Charleigh was able to get Emery here rather than her being taken to the emergency room.”

My heart locked in a fist. “And did the guy who saw it get a look at this motherfucker?”

The single shake of River’s head was sharp. “Piece of shit had gone stealth. Dressed in black with a cap pulled down low on his head. Didn’t leave a fuckin’ trace behind him before he disappeared into the woods.”

“Fuck.” It was a growl that ripped out of me, and I leaned against the wall and scrubbed my palms over my face, trying to keep my cool when it felt like I was being burned in hell.

“Who is this asshole? Some random in our town trying to nab one of our innocents?”

Nausea spun my stomach into disorder.

Knew the way these deviants worked. They watched for the opportune time when a girl was alone, and they stole her right off the street without warning.

River’s expression turned grim. “Doesn’t sit right to me. We’re too fucking remote and, not that it doesn’t happen, Emery is a little old for the typical trafficking demographic.”

“So, what? This was some random assault? Some backwoods miscreant looking for easy prey?”

He looked me square in the face. “Or she was targeted.”

My pulse careened. “You think it’s someone after us? Someone who knows?”

An old vendetta that someone had come to avenge?

“Don’t know that, but I do know she told Charleigh that she’d felt like she was being watched for a while now but had chalked it up to being paranoid.”

“Yeah, she told me the same thing last night.”

Uncertainty billowed through me, and I blew out a jagged sigh, wanting to race out and end someone without having the first clue who it was.

I couldn’t let it happen again.

That statement was eating me alive, and I squeezed my hands into fists and pressed them into my eyes like it could stop the assault of images that tried to invade. Mind conjuring the most horrid, disgusting things.

Had dedicated my life to ending it.

To never letting it happen on my watch.

Not ever again.

And here I was, feeling like I was getting sucked back into the most brutal time of my life. When I’d realized I’d come up on a dead end and there’d been no moving forward on the direction I was going.

“But she wrote it off as a grief reaction over her sister,” I continued on a sigh.

“She in trouble?”

Felt like I had a ball of barbed wire at the base of my throat. “Seems so.”

I looked at River. “How the fuck do you do it?”

“What’s that?”

“Love someone this fucking much?”

Because I knew it then, and maybe I’d known it all along.

I loved her.

I loved her more than anything I’d ever loved in my life.

Emery and my little Angel Face.

“Ah, brother, it’s the most terrifying thing you’ll ever feel, and the best gift you’ll be given. And once you feel it, there is no going back. That’s it. It’s over for you.”

Sounded about right because I was done for.

On my knees.

These two girls my everything.

FORTY

EMERY

It was late afternoon as we slowly drove down the dirt lane and came to a stop in front of Kane’s house.

Stillness hovered in the air, a calm quiet that gleamed against the windows and sent peace echoing back.

The sensation was fully at odds with the turmoil that blistered through my being. The tattered fragments of fear that lingered in the periphery of my senses.

Except vestiges of that peace were there, hinting at the edges of my consciousness when I shifted to look at Kane who sat in the driver’s seat of his car, his jaw taut with the strain, though his green eyes were soft when he turned them on me.

“Wait right there.” It didn’t matter that his tone was harsh and grating. The comfort of it still swam around me.

I didn’t have the time to protest before he was out and rounding the front of the car, his tall, lithe body rippling with power as he moved.

My door was pulled open to the potency of his aura.

His presence intense.

It washed over me in an inundating wave that pushed me up to the edge of surrender.

His care so stark that my throat locked up.

“Here we go,” he murmured as he dipped in to pick me up.

“I can walk, Kane. I’m not even injured.”

I’d sustained nothing more than a bump on my head, though the impact of it was going to leave a scar. A deep, invisible scar that only I could see.

The terror I’d felt in that moment.

Fighting for my life.

I knew I’d been so close to losing it.

Kane didn’t heed my deflection. He slipped one arm under my knees and the other under my back, that voice low with tremoring emotion as he murmured, “I want you in my arms and not anywhere else.”

My spirit tremored. Trembled in this want and adoration that I shouldn’t feel.

I gave a slight nod, and he pulled me into the strength of his hold. Arms flexing and bowing with the magnitude of the man.

“I’ve got you.”

It was the same promise he kept making.

As if he might have been as afraid as I had been.

Emerald eyes were pinned on me as he nudged the door shut with his hip, and he never broke the connection as he carried me up the porch steps and to his door. He didn’t put me down as he worked the key into the lock, and somehow, he managed to maneuver around enough to get it open.

He carried me through, kicked it shut, and locked it behind us, quick to input the security system code to shut it off.

My arms held tight to his neck as he began to carry me upstairs.

Slowly.

Never looking away as he stared down at me in this adoration that nearly toppled my walls to the ground.

Our hearts were a thunder around us. A bashing that clattered between our souls.

This man who wasn’t supposed to be mine. One I shouldn’t want. But one I didn’t stand the chance of staving off this attraction right then.

The gravity that ripped and pulled between us.

A silent connection that blared at full volume.

When he got to the landing, he didn’t head for my room. He turned right and carried me into his where I’d fallen into the safety of him last night.

His bedroom was massive, taking up this whole upper wing of the house.

Masculinity dripped from the walls, the space every bit as dark as the man. Haunting paintings were framed on the walls, as distinct as the art that covered his flesh.

His bed faced out at the wall of windows that overlooked the back property. This afternoon, the heavy curtains were drawn open, giving a view of the forest that surrounded the stream that ran through in the distance.

Kane sat me down on the edge of his bed.

My pulse beat wildly as he dropped to his knees in front of me.

It didn’t matter that he was below me.

I could feel the bristling of his strength. The violent ferocity that blazed from his being and belted into me.

I could barely draw oxygen into my lungs with the pressure he exuded.

At the pain and devotion that was carved into the harsh lines of his unforgettable face.

“I won’t let anyone get to you, Emery. Whoever this fucker is, he won’t come near you.”

I wasn’t sure how I could trust him in this, but I did. I felt this overwhelming calm curl around me like a blanket.

“My crew is looking. Right now. And we won’t stop until we find him.” It was there again. That undercurrent to his admission that should have sent me running.

A violence that skated beneath it that promised peril and hazard.

That the instinct I had that he was dangerous—that they all were dangerous—wasn’t some idle, vague idea.

I should be afraid. Terrified for my niece.

Instead, I felt a security that I hadn’t in years.

That feeling of forever falling into a bottomless, harrowing abyss obliterated in his arms.

Kane’s expression deepened as he took both my hands in his. “What happened today, Emery…thought I was going to lose my mind when I got the call, terrified that I was about to lose what I finally found.”

Emotion crested, rushing up from where I tried to keep it shored. There was no chance of containing it any longer.

“What did you think you were going to lose?” The question tremored out of me. For the first time in my life, I was asking someone to bare themselves to me.

Because I wanted to feel. I wanted to feel it all.

Everything I’d been missing even when I knew there was no chance it could last.

“You.” Kane wheezed it on a tumultuous breath. “I thought I was going to lose you. You who brought my heart to life when I’d accepted that I was going to live in this eternal nothingness for all my days. You who made me see there is so much more to this existence than just pressing through each day. You who made me see I want to be so much more than what I thought I was destined for.”

Kane reached out his hand that was tattooed with the Ss and the dying rose and set his palm on my cheek.

Energy rushed.

A landslide of want.

“It’s you, Emery. You I’m destined for. You and that little girl that have wrecked me in the best way possible. You who turned my world upside down. And now I’m going to wreck you, Little Warrior. Wreck you in the best way possible so you know exactly where you belong. So you know you’re meant to be right next to me.”

Desire wracked through my body.

An earthquake.

There was no question he felt it because arrogance ticked up at the corner of his mouth. “That is as long as you’re okay with that?”

I should absolutely tell him no. End this before he fully broke me in the end.

But the words were wisping out, “Wreck me, Kane. I want it. I want to feel you. I want to know what it’s like.”

Vulnerability seeped out with it.

That veritable ferocity pounded in the dense air. “I would never hurt you, Emery. I’ll only show you what it’s like to be treasured. Pleasured in every way you’ve ever imagined.”

A tremor rocked my spine.

God, what I had been imagining. Every time he touched me, I felt as if I was caught in an avalanche of bliss all while I was left wanting so much more.

So I admitted it.

“I ache for it. I ache for you.”

A dangerous smirk took over his smile. “I’m going to fill that ache. Erase it all while leaving you hungry for more. Because once you have me? You’re going to want it again and again. You’ll never be full of me, just the way I’m never going to be full of you.”

It sounded of a threat.

Of a promise.

Of a forever that he shouldn’t be speaking.

It didn’t matter.

Shivers raced, and my mouth parted as he shifted so he could trace the pad of his thumb over my lower lip.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Hypnotizing.

His head cocked to the side. “That sound good to you, Little Warrior? Because I don’t think I can stand not to be inside you for a second longer.”

He stared at me as he said it.

An invitation.

One I accepted with a shuddery, “Yes.”

The instant I said it, he pushed up high on his knees, one hand binding into the fall of my hair and the other gripping onto the side of my neck.

It was the exact moment his mouth descended and captured mine.

Flames ignited at the crash of our lips.

A blast of heat gusted through my veins.

My fingers dove into his hair, and I kissed him back as furiously as he was kissing me.

It wasn’t gentle or meek. It wasn’t him treating me as if I was fragile or broken. It was him showing me that I might be scarred, but those scars didn’t hold the power to keep me from experiencing what I wanted.

They didn’t hold the power to stem the onslaught of need that careened through my body. Licking up through my insides and saturating every cell.

I felt the rush of him everywhere.

His passion.

His greed.

His beauty.

This chaotic man who burned right through the middle of me.

“Emery,” he rumbled into the frenzy of the kiss. “Gonna show you what it’s like to be adored, and I’m never going to stop.”

“Don’t stop.” It was out without permission, as if he’d drawn the plea directly from that secreted place inside me.

“Don’t worry, sweetness, I don’t intend to.”

His tongue licked at my lips, and I opened to him. Beckoned him to take it deeper.

And I welcomed the thrill that charged through me when his tongue tangled with mine. Welcomed the sensations that rolled and whispered from the innermost sanctums of my spirit and blistered across my flesh.

No numbness to be found.

I was here.

Alive and burning beneath the caress of his hands.

“Kane.” I muttered his name at his mouth as my fingers searched, dragging down the back of his neck and sinking into his shoulders.

“I’m right here, Emery. I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

He pushed up to standing, and I angled back onto the bed. His feet were still planted on the floor as he hovered over me and kissed me into a puddle in the middle of the mattress.

I started scooting back, making room for him to climb on top of me.

Because I wanted to feel the brute force of his weight. To be pinned and know I was completely safe.

That energy rose and lifted, vibrating through the room as he followed me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist, urging him to press himself against the throbbing at my center.

To quench it the way he’d promised, then beg him to make good on doing it all over again.

He rubbed his hardness between my trembling thighs.

A growl rolled through his wide, wide chest.

On a ragged gasp, I arched up.

“That what you want, Little Warrior? You want to feel my cock buried so deep inside you that you can’t feel anything else? Nothing else but the pleasure I’m going to bring you?”

I writhed against him, and my nails raked down the fabric of his tee that covered his back. “Yes. I want to feel it. I want to feel you.”

His mouth came to my ear, his words a raw rasp. “I’m going to mark myself so deep in you that you can never erase me. Going to claim you in every way. Going to write you in ecstasy.”

He began to kiss along my jaw, rumbling as he licked across the sensitive flesh. “Every. Fucking. Inch.”

Arousal rushed, pulsing through my body and trembling my thighs.

“So needy,” he said as he continued down the column of my neck, his lips raving across my collarbone and down to the exposed skin on my chest. “Can scent you, Emery. I know that you’re soaked. Dripping for me.”

I squirmed as he let his mouth wander along the neckline of my tee then lower over my shirt.

I gasped when he pulled my nipple between his teeth, and my shoulders arched from the bed.

There was far too much fabric separating us, but maybe it was exactly what he intended, because there wasn’t an ounce of pain in the bare sting. It was only enough to send a bolt of desire streaking to my center.

My hands fisted in his hair. “Kane. Don’t play with me. I need⁠—”

“Going to give it to you. All of it.” He lifted his head, and my belly tumbled at what was engraved in his features.

His own vulnerability seeping through.

“All of me,” he murmured in that scratchy, rough voice.

I should reject it, but I couldn’t.

Not anymore.

That was probably what should have scared me the most, but instead, I was stretching out a shaky hand, touching the defined angles of his unforgettable face as I whispered, “All of me.”

Emerald eyes flashed, and he edged back and lifted onto his knees.

He looked so imposing there.

Glorious and awestriking as he reached for the hem of his tee and slowly peeled it over his head.

My mouth went dry, throat squeezing at the sight.

All that golden, inked flesh on display, the dueling demons on either pec twitching over the packed, hard muscle that bowed and flexed.

Chest wide and abdomen trim, his hip bones jutting out over the waistline of his jeans.

I gulped, and the words I released were shallow and thin. “You’re so beautiful, Kane. This terrifying beauty that captured me the first time I saw you. There was something that first time…something inside me that the sight of you unlocked.”

“Was never a believer in fate or any of that bullshit. Not until I met you,” he mumbled.

Maybe it’d been the same for both of us.

That instant when our spirits had met.

Because what I’d felt for him had been impossible.

And now I was sure it was unescapable.

“You brought me back to life.” Once the confessions had started, I couldn’t stop them from tumbling free. “I was dead inside. Numb. And then there was you, and suddenly everything I’d been terrified to feel was there. Alive and real and so powerful there was no chance I could ignore it.”

It didn’t matter if it was wrong. Didn’t matter if I was wracked with guilt by admitting it.

It was true, and I wanted him to know.

Old grief crawled through his expression. “Lost my heart the day I lost my mother. I believed it gone forever. That I’d live my life for the only things I could. The temporary. The superficial. That I’d give to my crew what I could, but it wouldn’t count all that much because I didn’t have the capacity to really feel it.”

There was a mystery woven within his confession. Something right there. All these threads sticking out around him. Like the only thing I had to do was pull the end of one to unravel and expose what was patched underneath.

Reverence filled his voice. “She taught me to love, Emery. To love and to cherish that love with everything I had. But I thought it died with her.”

I could almost see the dead, wilting rose tattooed on the back of his hand coming back to life.

“Then there was you,” he whispered.

My heart flailed. An erratic bid to meet with his. To accept what he was saying. To hold it and cherish it, too.

I wanted to say it.

And maybe he knew it.

Maybe he knew he would taste it on my tongue because he dipped down and took my mouth with his.

This time, he kissed me slowly and deliberately.

Fully and completely.

He kissed me and kissed me until my pulse was racing wild and my spirit was screaming with desperation and my body was writhing with need.

My hands wandered, eager to touch him everywhere. Gliding down his sides and over his shoulders and across the muscled expanse of his undulating back.

All while his seared and gripped and caressed.

Over my breasts. My hips. My waist. My belly.

“You,” he murmured at my mouth.

I swore he poured that single word directly into my soul.

Find me in the darkness, bring me to the light.

Is that what he was doing? Did he have the power to end this pain?

He edged back onto his knees, this time pulling me up to sitting so he could peel my shirt up and over my head. Cool air brushed my overheated skin, and I trembled with it.

Kane groaned a low sound as he stared down at me with my chest heaving.

“Black lace. You really are my every fantasy.” He dragged the back of his knuckle over my left nipple that was pebbled and hard.

“Look at you,” he murmured. “Most fucking stunning thing I’ve ever seen. Stealing my breath and my sanity. Most of all, stealing my heart.”

God. This man. The things he said. He undid me with every word that dropped from his mouth.

“The ways I’m going to find to say thank you.” A bit of that cockiness pitched through his demeanor when he said it.

Shivers raced, though I somehow managed the smallest smile. “Is that so?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Then you probably should get started.”

A low chuckle rolled from him. “That’s it. My needy girl. You want it, don’t you? You’re never going to have to go without it again.”

Another promise.

One I didn’t even want to reject.

Because he reached around to unsnap my bra and dragged the straps down my arms before he tossed it behind him to the floor.

I had no urge to fight or shield or cover.

Goosebumps lifted across my flesh, and my stomach tightened as he gazed down at me.

“Perfect tits. But you’ve got perfect everything, don’t you? Perfect heart and perfect spirit and this tight, perfect body that I’ve been dying to get lost in.”

My head barely shook. “I’m far from perfect.”

Kane reached out and tipped up my chin, attention so intent I was chained by it. “You might not be perfect, Emery, but what I know is you are perfect for me. Meant for me. My match that I didn’t know I was missing.”

Energy streaked, pounding against the walls and reverberating back into us.

As if the ghosts that had haunted us had been freed. Freed to find this moment’s peace.

Kane eased off the side of the bed and came to stand over me.

He never looked away as he kicked off his shoes and his hands went to the button of his jeans. Just touching the bronze that glinted beneath the rays of sunlight that poured into the room through the windows.

The man lit in shimmery beams.

A beacon that had called me home.

Home.

I trembled at the thought.

“You good with this?” he asked, the man full of caution and care all while being this shaken bottle of severity.

I guessed for both of us, this felt insurmountably different than it had last night.

As if a barrier had been broken.

A door opened that had been locked shut.

“I’m more than good. I’m the best I’ve been in a long, long time.”

It should have been impossible after what had happened this afternoon, but it was true.

I’d never felt this alive before.

“Oh, you just wait, Emery…I haven’t even touched you yet.”

He flicked the button, dragged down the zipper, and slowly began to rid himself of his jeans, taking his underwear with them.

He bent over to shove his jeans the rest of the way off his ankles.

Then he stood.

A tower of vibrating strength.

Completely bare.

His cock hard and enormous with that piercing at the tip on full display. The emerald balls on either side of the rod struck in a ray of sunlight and sent colorful baubles of light scattering against the walls.

Maybe the whole intended effect was to have me hypnotized. Enthralled and mesmerized.

Because I was. I was completely caught up. Every molecule in my body lurched toward him in a fit of greed.

His tongue stroked over his bottom lip as he edged forward, the man watching me as he leaned over and traced his thumb over the button of my shorts.

And for one beat of a second, the cockiness evaporated. “You sure, Emery? All you do is say, and we stop.”

“I’m sure.”

I’d never been so sure of anything in my life.

His thick throat bobbed as he swallowed, and he gave me a short nod of understanding before he popped the row of buttons.

The breath left me as he hooked his fingers in the waistband of both my underwear and shorts. My back hit the mattress as he began to drag them down, my hips lifting from the bed to help him.

“Fuck,” he hissed as he wound them free.

He left me completely naked.

Bare and exposed.

And for once in my life, I wanted to be.

“You knock me straight onto my knees, Emery.” The hoarse words scraped through the dense, lust-soaked air. “The sight of you. Most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen. These legs and this body and that face. Every time I look at you, I’m done for.”

Energy thrashed.

A shockwave of it.

A storm that had gathered, the same as whatever this connection was had seemed to gather at the ends of the earth to bring us here together. A twisted, convoluted path that I didn’t fully understand.

One that I’d once believed so wrong, but right then, I was having a hard time accepting as fact.

“I’m going to take care of you. In every way.” A smoldering smirk took to his mouth as he leaned in closer. “And right now, I’m going to start with this sweet, drenched pussy.”

He dragged the tips of his fingers through my center.

Sparks flashed through my body.

“Kane,” I rasped toward the ceiling.

“I’ve barely touched you and you’re already about to come apart. The amount of pleasure I’m going to give you.”

“Please.”

He leaned down further, his mouth just brushing across my hip bone, and he kissed over my trembling belly, higher and higher as he murmured, “You’re going to fly, Emery. Soar and shine the way you were meant to do. I’m going to see to it.”

Chills lifted in the wake of his words.

I gripped onto his hair when he pushed two big fingers deep inside me.

“So tight and sweet. Think how it’s going to feel when I’m filling you with all of me.”

“Please, Kane, I can’t take it,” I rasped, already writhing. I’d waited far too long for this.

To feel.

To experience.

Kane chuckled. “So needy. Such a good girl, aren’t you? Dripping for me? Aching for me? Begging for me?”

For a beat he was gone, pulling a condom from the drawer next to his bed and covering himself.

He returned in a flash, continuing to kiss a path up my body as he climbed onto the bed.

He came all the way up, hovering close as he gathered me in both arms.

Heat burned in the space between us, and I could feel his cock just skim against my belly.

Those penetrating eyes pinned me to the mattress as he gazed down.

Greed and adoration filled his features. A tumultuous riot that crashed and pulled and dented every line on his face.

And I wondered if he had the power to see straight down into my soul.

Because he dipped down close to my mouth and murmured, “You don’t have to wait anymore.”

I felt the blunt head of him at my center before he started to push inside me.

Tiny nudges that completely obliterated as he slowly filled me, inch by inch.

The size of him the most sublime sort of pain.

A gasp ripped up my throat and my entire being bowed. My body levitated up to meet with his as my nails clawed at the hard expanse of his back.

Breaths raking from my lungs, I struggled to adjust to him. To his size and his presence and the truth of what this meant.

Kane growled a gluttonous sound.

Feral and wild.

Nearly unhinged.

He edged back, his expression raging, though his hand was gentle as he brushed back a lock of my hair that stuck to my cheek. Those eyes flicked over my face.

Searching.

Seeking.

Seeing.

“You good?” he rumbled through his restraint.

Tears blurred my eyes, overcome by the emotion that swept me. By this man who’d become everything that I never thought I’d have. “I don’t think I’ve ever been good before. Not until right now…here…with you.”

Softness rippled through his features, and the fingers that had been brushing through my hair trailed down my cheek. “Nothing, Emery. Not one thing has ever been this good. Not until you.”

And God, I felt myself breaking. Splintering apart as he slowly withdrew then slowly drove back in.

Carefully watching me again.

A long sound of approval rolled out of me, my chest quaking with the ravaging of my heart.

“You like that, honey? Me filling you so full I’m the only thing you can feel?”

I couldn’t speak, couldn’t answer, I could only hold onto his biceps as he did it again, this time his name leaving me on a raspy breath.

Propped on his elbows, he drove inside me, his body burning into mine as the confession rolled from his tongue. “You, Emery. It’s you, and I’m going to make sure you know it for the rest of your life.”

Whimpers began to trip off my tongue as the pleasure he’d promised sparked and flamed.

Pleasure that licked up my insides as he began to thrust into me in deliberate, consuming strokes.

Each drive of his body devastated me more.

Breaking down the barriers that I always believed I had to keep erected. Sure I was never meant for this.

Kane watched down on me as he worked me into a stupor, his cock dragging in and out, filling me full, near to overwhelming each time that he pushed in deep.

Sensation crashed through my body.

Curling and rising.

The piercing hit me in a spot that nearly made me see stars every time he rocked into me.

“Fuck.” It vibrated out of him on a growl of pleasured pain, and I could feel the raving of his heart. His restraint in the way the lines of his sharp jaw flexed and ticked. “Fuck me, Little Warrior. You feel so right. So fucking right. Do you feel how perfect I fit you? Nothing like this. Nothing in the world.”

There was no chance I could lie to him right then. “I feel it.”

With my admission, he dipped down and took my mouth in a fevered kiss.

His slow strokes grew faster and faster.

Our bodies pitched and bowed as we met again and again.

His hips snapped in a desperate greed that took us over.

And that pleasure he promised billowed and blew, a mind-bending burn that lit at every edge of my consciousness. In every cell of my body.

Rushing and winding as he spun me into this perfect disorder.

He pushed up onto his hands, every muscle in his body hard and packed as he continued to drive into me, his words mere scrapes.

“Fuck, Emery. Knew you were going to do me in. Knew once I had you, that would be it for me. But it was a lie. You were it for me the second I saw you. And now it’s going to be my pleasure to be the one to please you night and day. The things I’m going to do to you. The places I’m going to take you.”

“I’m already there.”

Right on the cusp.

At the edge of surrender.

My breaths shallow and short as I climbed for that place I’d only found with him.

“You’re so perfect. So perfect. The way you fit my cock. Going to lose my mind…going to lose all of myself with you.”

I worried I was already gone when he edged back and grabbed me by the knee and spread me wider. He glided that palm up the inside of my thigh until he wound it between us.

His fingers found that engorged, aching spot.

A moan ripped out of me, and my hips jutted upward at his touch.

“Don’t fight it, baby. Take it. Take me the way you were meant to do.”

Kane started thrusting faster, and his fingers flicked over my clit in time.

Bliss threatened at the edges of my sight, and I clawed at his shoulders as he drove us toward madness.

Energy gusted, a gale force wind that battered through the room and beat back into us.

Our breaths harsh and jagged.

Our hearts a stampede that rushed beyond our control.

In sync and completely out of time.

“That’s it, Little Warrior. Let go. Let go because I’m always going to be there to catch you. Let me feel you come around my cock.”

And I did.

I let go and found my freedom in the safety of his arms, and I welcomed the pleasure that had been waiting.

Bliss cracked me wide open and rapture broke through my being.

Rupturing.

Splintering.

Dragging me up into the heavens. Where he’d promised to meet me there.

“You and me, Emery.” He rasped it at my ear as he drew me closer, his body slick against mine as his thrusts turned frantic.

Euphoria rolled and rolled, the orgasm careening through me as he took me hard and fast.

As my name dropped from his mouth on an acute whisper, “Emery.”

I felt when he split.

When he let go and fully gave himself over.

His body went rigid as he took me completely. As deep as he could.

The man everywhere.

Everything.

Shuddering and releasing the longest moan as he came.

Tremors of ecstasy flickered through me, wave after wave.

Unending.

The two of us clinging to each other as we soared.

We stayed like that forever. Elevated above the grief and the fear and loss.

In this haven that could only belong to us.

Kane held me tight, refusing to let go, his body pressed to mine as we gasped and searched for the oxygen that neither of us could find.

Our chests heaving with the impact of what we’d just shared.

Finally, he pulled back. One of those big hands cupped my cheek, and he seemed to struggle to find the words. Eyes emphatic as he rushed, “You don’t have to go it alone anymore, Little Warrior. I know you want to fight. So let me fight at your side. For you and beside you and behind you. Let me lift you. Let me hold you. Or just fucking let me stand in awe of who you are, just as long as I’m standing with you.”

FORTY-ONE

KANE

I gazed down at the woman who had shattered every belief. Blonde air strewn around that gorgeous face. Toffee eyes swirling with the affection she’d been fighting.

Breaths short and panted, her heart this thundering beat against mine.

I exhaled heavily as I shifted off to the side, ridding myself of the condom and tossing it into the trash. Then I laid back onto my side and dragged her against me so that we were facing each other. All that hot, sweat-drenched flesh tucked up close to me.

Right where she belonged.

Emery let go of a contented sigh, and fuck, I didn’t think there was much that sounded better than that.

The woman finding her peace—her comfort—in me.

Especially after what had gone down this afternoon.

“How do you feel?” I finally asked, voice rough with the lust and relief that still barreled through my insides.

Emery blinked. Blinked those fathomless eyes that had the power to suck me down to the very depths of who she was. A looking glass into her soul that she kept under lock and key but had somehow granted me access to.

Yet, somehow, I felt as if I’d recognized them all along.

“Amazing,” she quietly admitted, lashes fluttering low as those tender fingertips danced across my chest.

“That so?” I kept it soft. Close to a tease. Probably should have been impossible with the way this moment felt profound.

Emery sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, so fucking cute when she got coy, and she gave a slight nod. “You want me to sing your praises, my dragon?”

It was her own tease. Something playful ridging into her features, her tenderness so deep and wide I thought there was a chance we might be floating in it.

“Well, a man needs to know if he lived up to expectations.” A smirk hitched at the edge of my mouth.

“I think you already know you by far exceeded my expectations.”

My brows lifted. “An A+ performance?”

“A perfect ten.” She might have been playing along, but she whispered it in awe.

My tone intensified as I let the pad of my thumb caress along the defined angle of her cheek. “That’s what I want to be for you. A perfect ten.”

“I think you’re proving yourself to be so much more than that.” All the ribbing had drained from her words, and I drew her even closer, needing to feel her life beat burning through my veins.

I ran my lips across her forehead. “Guess that’s fair since you’ve become my everything.”

We stayed like that for the longest time, just existing in those words. In the silent promises that were woven in between.

Finally, I broached the topic that I didn’t want to give any credence to. The topic I didn’t want anywhere between us, tainting the moment. But it was there, anyway, a part of Emery that I needed to understand.

A piece I needed to hold.

Share with her because when I told her she didn’t have to go it alone anymore, I meant it.

Because fuck. I didn’t want any secrets between us, which I recognized the irony of considering the charade that I lived.

“What you said at the doctor’s office…you couldn’t let it happen again.”

The question darkened the air like a wraith had just crawled in through the cracks in the walls.

Emery winced, rigidness lining her spine as she grappled with the shift. I could feel the war go down inside her. Her uncertainty up against the trust that I had gained.

My spirit flailed. Couldn’t stand the thought of sullying or defiling that trust. Couldn’t stand the idea of her fearing me when she’d just learned that there was no safer place for her than in my arms.

Hated that I was keeping things from her when I was asking her to cut herself wide open.

But I couldn’t let her behind the veil of who I was yet.

Not until I knew she would stay. Not until I knew she wouldn’t run. I couldn’t put my crew or her at risk like that.

The situation was already jacked.

But there was no way to imagine her not becoming a permanent part of my life. To me, there was no other solution or conclusion than her being right here.

With me.

With Maci.

With us.

I could do nothing but curl my arms tighter around her, like locking her against me would bring her to the same resolution.

“It was a long time ago,” she finally whispered into the tension that bound us. Like it was enough of an answer and explained everything.

“Yeah?” I encouraged.

She nodded against my chest, and I caressed my thumb along the small of her back.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

My voice was choppy as I asked, “But you didn’t leave it there, did you? It has chased you? Haunted you?”

Her exhalation was shaky. “It’s always with me. Lurking in every corner of who I am.”

Protectiveness slammed me as fast as a summer storm.

Crushing.

Pervasive.

Compelling me to demand a name. That’s all I needed.

One little name, and I’d do the rest.

But I knew it wasn’t always that simple. Even if I put the monster in the ground, it wouldn’t erase the scars that had already been written on her.

I waited, giving her the time to see that she could tell me anything.

“Emmalee and I were seventeen.” Emery’s voice was sallow, and her sweet hands clung to me as if I could keep her from being sucked back to that time. “We were on a team trip out of state for a cheerleading competition. Our best friend Jana was with us. We were supposed to stay in our rooms, but we snuck out.”

Tears blurred and bleared that fathomless gaze, and I hated the torment that I could see written there.

“I tried to convince them not to go, but Jana and Emmalee were up for a good time. They wanted the thrill of experiencing something scandalous and new. It didn’t take much for them to convince me to go, too. I’d wanted all those experiences, Kane. I wanted them.”

Grief dented deep in her brow, and her voice dropped to a horrified breath. “We were going to have a great time. We’d won the trophy that day, and I felt invincible.”

Agony lashed through her expression, and my arms spasmed with the effort of trying to hold her through it.

“We’d heard about this club that didn’t always card, so we got dressed up and went. There were these guys there⁠—”

Old fear cracked on her tongue, and she squeezed her eyes closed tight.

“It’s okay, Emery.”

“No, Kane, it’s not. It wasn’t okay. We were never the same, and Jana didn’t make it through it.”

Her words pierced me.

An arrow staked straight through.

What the fuck had happened to these poor girls?

Sickness roiled at the possibilities.

“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.”

I knew firsthand how sick and twisted these monsters could be.

I tried to keep it contained. The rage that burned a path through my insides. But it was impossible when Emery began to sob. Her cries burrowed in the thunder that sieged my chest.

“What happened?” I issued it at the top of her head as she clung to me.

Those walls trembled around us. Bricks fracturing. Close to caving.

“I…I can’t, Kane. I can’t.” She croaked it.

“Let me destroy the bastards who hurt you. All I need is a little information, and I’ll see that it’s done.”

By my own hands.

It would be my greatest honor to take these motherfuckers’ last breaths.

Emery froze, and in that instant, both of us became distinctly aware of what I’d said.

I’d hinted at it before. Given her undercut warnings.

But this was a blatant admission.

I could feel the force of her gulp where she was still pinned against me.

“What exactly do you mean by that?” The question was ragged. Frayed and torn apart.

“Means I will go to any length to see to it that you feel safe. That you are safe. Warned you before that I’m not a good man…”

Maybe she’d understood on some level, but she hadn’t allowed herself to fully grasp the brutality of who I was.

I couldn’t do anything but admit to being that person right then.

“And I will gladly use that fact to protect what is mine.”

A shiver rocked through her. This one different than the chills that had been flashing through her body when I’d sent her soaring.

This was a flash of fear that was followed by what felt like a wave of acceptance. Her fingertips tapping across the spot where my heart pounded out of control, my own fear slashing through my insides. Dread that she was going to haul herself out of my bed and skip town.

Take Maci with her.

“Should I be afraid of you?” She whispered it into my flesh, those eyes concealed where she had her face completely pressed into my chest.

I shifted so I could take her chin and tilt her face up to me.

Forcing her to meet my gaze.

“I would never hurt you. The only person who should be afraid of me is anyone who would dare to think of threatening you.”

Her, and the rest of the vulnerable.

The fucking monsters that roamed this world. Monsters who would beg and plead for their lives when they met with the monster in me.

Emery met my stare, her fears and her faith and her doubt roiling in the depths. “I don’t think I could be even if you told me to be. I feel who you are. I see it. And maybe I should be terrified of it, but I’m not.”

In what seemed confusion, she slowly dragged the tips of three fingers down the scruff on my cheek.

Like she was struggling to process the way I made her feel.

The way this thing should have been impossible for us both.

“I need to know if what happened this afternoon could somehow be related to that, Emery. If it could be related to the suspicion you had about your sister. Any detail that might help us find out who might have come after you.”

Emery’s head barely shook. “I don’t have a name, Kane. No one does. The police looked high and low. There was no trace. And my sister’s death was ruled an accident.”

“Police have parameters that I don’t.” I gritted through another admission. Dragging her closer to who I really was. To what me and my crew did.

Emery’s eyes squeezed closed for a beat. “I would give it to you if I had it. But there’s nothing there.”

“I just want to take care of you. Give you everything that you’ve given me.” It was a rough plea.

Emotion crested in her features. “You already have, Kane. You’ve given me this.”

Shifting, she rolled me onto my back and came to straddle me.

Emery going all vixen.

Naked body lifted high, long locks of blonde a cascade around her shoulders, dipping down long enough to brush over those pert, perfect tits. All narrow waist and delicious flare of her hips.

Lust punched the air.

A swift, sudden fire that surged through my veins.

My hands shot to her hips when she ground herself against my instantly hard dick. “Ah, Little Warrior, are you ready for the next lesson in setting you free?”

“Yes,” she whimpered.

“Told you that once you had me, you’d be aching for it all over again.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get enough.” It was the breath of a confession as she set her hands on my chest, balancing herself as she let her gaze sweep down my body to where she was rubbing her cunt on my bare cock.

“You can rest assured that I have zero problem with that,” I told her.

“I’m on the pill,” she breathed.

“Yeah?”

She gave a quick nod, a bolt of trust spearing between us. “Yeah.”

I nudged her up higher on her knees, and I fisted my dick, pumping myself once as I poised my engorged head at her center.

Could feel the heat radiating from her. Way her tight little body was begging for a brand-new type of release.

“Take it,” I told her, words a growl. “You own me. You have me. Take me however you want me.”

Those eyes flashed to mine, and a beat of awareness spun around us.

Affection and greed.

Emery began to sink down. Painfully slow.

Pleasure smacked me in the face. The overpowering feeling of her walls gripping me inch by inch, her pussy throbbing and her thighs quivering as she lowered herself onto me.

Could tell she was a bit tender from the first time I’d had her. Sensations magnified. Every slight brush and jut sent a frisson of bliss curling through our bodies.

“Kane.” It was a strangled sound as she struggled to adjust to my size.

My fingers dug into her hips. “That’s it. Take my cock the way you were meant to do.”

She gasped as she fully seated herself, filling herself to the brim.

Bliss tightened my balls, my stomach in fucking knots at the sight of her like this.

Naked and glorious above me. Her beauty unfound. Her heart my purpose.

“I never thought I’d experience this…I don’t know if I can…” She whimpered it as she bent forward. The ends of her hair fell around her and tickled across my chest, and her nails burrowed into my flesh like she was trying to find a way all the way in.

To reach through my insides to the place that was forever going to belong to her.

I sat upright, my arm sliding around her waist and pulling her chest to mine as my other hand wound in the lush fall of her hair.

Bringing us nose to nose. Our mouths a fraction apart. Our breaths mingling between us as we inhaled the other.

Her sweet morning glory scent drove me out of my mind.

“You feel so fuckin’ good,” I murmured at her lips, lifting her a bit and slowly guiding her back down.

Emery moaned at the friction.

“Promised you every pleasure,” I continued. “Every bit of me. You have it, Emery.”

The oaths kept sliding out. Unable to contain the permanence of what I felt. Knowing there was no chance of me ever letting her go.

Every bitter, brittle part inside me had been surrendered.

Surrendered to her.

“Show me,” she rasped.

“Is that what you want, Little Warrior? You want me to show you what it will really be like being with me?”

“Yes. I want it. I want it all.”

No chance was I pulling out of her right then. So, I tightened my arm around her waist and scooted us to the edge of the bed so I could stand up with her.

Surprise babbled out of her as she readjusted to the position. Woman hiking up higher on me, arms locked around my neck as she rocked up and then pressed back down.

Pleasure tore a path up my spine. “You’re going to do me in. Completely ruin me. Can’t even see straight with the way you’ve got me.”

I dipped down to capture her mouth as I carried her toward the en suite bathroom on the far side of the room.

Twilight was just beginning to spill in through the windows, the glittering rays of the setting sun turning the trees to golds and fiery embers.

Inside the bathroom, the claw-foot tub sat in front of another giant window that overlooked the gorgeous scenery out back. Something that Raven had insisted on during the renovations, but I hadn’t quite come to appreciate until right then.

Not until I pulled back from the kiss, stare steady as I lifted Emery off me so I could set her on her feet.

She groaned in protest, and my mouth went to her ear. “No need to fight this out, Little Warrior. I have you. Going to take care of you, just like I promised.”

I shuffled her around, and I took her by both hands and planted them on the sides of the tub, bending over her from behind before I straightened.

She remained bent over, her back smooth and soft, her perfect, round ass swaying in the air.

The lips of her pussy were swollen from me already marking her, all that sweet, pink flesh soaked and dripping wet.

Rasps of exhilaration puffed from her mouth, and her legs shook with anticipation.

“Please.” Her plea tugged through the dense air.

I glided my hands down her sides and over her butt cheeks.

“If you had the first clue the way I feel when I look at you like this. Always knew the scene out that window was missing something. Now it’s perfect, painted with you. Nothing but a vision with you standing there throbbing for me.”

A large standing mirror was propped in the corner, angled enough that it captured us. All my inked, hard flesh at odds with the creamy softness of hers.

“Look at you,” I rushed on a hard breath. “Look at how perfect you are. So fucking sexy you make my knees weak.”

Emery turned her head to take in our reflection. “It’s you. You who’s making me weak. I need you.”

I pressed two fingers into her cunt. “Like this?”

She bowed forward with a soft hiss. “More.”

A rough chuckle skated free. “Eager girl.”

But it was me who was never going to get enough. Me who was losing his mind. Me who’d already lost his heart.

I drove them in and out twice more, deep and slow, watching as she began to glow. Her skin slicked with needy beads of sweat.

I pulled my fingers out so I could smooth my palms over her ass, spreading her so I could lean down and lick through her folds, diving my tongue between her lips.

Emery bucked and whimpered as she pushed back. “Kane. Oh, God.”

I licked up all the deliciousness that she was, tongue driving deep before I rode it up through the cleft of her ass, swirling it around her puckered hole.

This garbled, desirous sound rolled out of her. A call that clamored against the walls. Lust filling the room in a shimmery sheen.

I kept moving, kissing a path up her spine until I was murmuring at the shell of her ear, “Are you ready for me?”

“Yes. Please.” Her words were abraded.

“You have me.”

I thrust back home. All the way to the hilt.

Taking her hard and deep and demanding.

Pleasure sparked at the edges of my sight. Fucking fireworks that instantly went off.

Emery shuddered, and her nails grasped at the slick porcelain of the tub.

“Fuck, you feel so good. This sweet little cunt squeezing me in a fist. Such a good girl, the way you take me. Knew you were going to feel like paradise.”

Her entire being hummed, a glow of spun silk striking across her body. The clutch of her throbbing and nearly too tight.

She mewled as I pulled back then shoved myself back in deep. “Do you like that, Emery? Being completely stuffed with my cock? So full you couldn’t take anything else?”

Her nod was frantic. “Yes.”

I withdrew then drove back in.

“So much,” she whimpered.

“That’s right. So good, so right,” I mumbled as I pulled out until the head of my cock was barely hanging on then plunged back in.

“So fucking good. What have you done to me?” It was an unintelligible ramble considering the woman had demolished all rationale.

My only sense her.

Every scent and sound and touch.

Her.

My hands curled around her slim waist, and I began to pick up a rhythm.

My cock soaked as I thrust in and out of her tight, delicious body.

Emery writhed and thrashed, my girl meeting me with each desperate stroke. Pushing back on the tub to propel herself, air jetting out of her lungs with each drive of my dick.

Harder and faster with each stroke.

“Is that the way you want it, Emery? You like it hard and rough?”

“Yes. I think…I need…”

She met my gaze in the mirror, her expression as bare as our bodies. Her truth that she trusted me with her pleasure.

Completely.

That she knew I would never hurt her.

“Know what you need, baby.”

I leaned down so I could wind my arm around to her front, pulling her up and dragging her back against my chest.

Needing to feel her against me.

Her heat.

Her fire.

This connection that burned and seared. Some kind of gravity that I never could have resisted.

That familiarity right there. Buzzing around us with the truth of what we were meant to be.

I turned her so she was facing the mirror, and I grabbed her behind the knee and propped her foot on the edge of the tub. Opening her to me while she was draped across my body.

She looped an arm up and around my neck, and I had one of mine banded around her waist to keep her supported while the other slid down her abdomen so I could get to her clit.

I played my fingers over that engorged, swollen bud.

And I didn’t think I’d ever seen anything as beautiful as right then. This woman spread out for me as I buried my cock deep in the warm, wet welcome of her body.

“Look at you,” I rushed at her ear as I drove into her from behind. “Look at you. You are the sun rising, Emery Voss. You are the light on my darkest day.”

“It’s us,” she whispered, her mouth parted as harsh pants gusted from her lungs.

“Us.” I claimed it where I buried my face in her neck.

Energy bound.

Careening and inciting as I drove into her over and over.

Friction and light sparking in the middle of us.

Igniting in the room.

That fire that had lit in a single glance burning up the walls.

“Kane…I need…I…”

“You have it. It’s yours. Take it.” Our gazes tangled in the mirror as I fucked her hard and rough, fingers swirling around her clit.

Driving the pleasure higher.

The tension winding.

Desire coating the air and licking across our skin.

“Kane.”

“Let go, baby. Give me the pleasure you’ve been aching for. Surrender it to me.”

And she did.

She let go.

Gave into the bliss that I could feel streaking across her skin. Every inch of her throbbed, her pussy gripping me in a pulsating vise that sent me soaring right behind her.

A splintering of ecstasy.

A height I’d never touched on before. Not before her.

“Emery. Fuck.” I clutched her to me as I pulsed and poured.

She spasmed and gasped, both her arms locked around the back of my neck as she fully gave herself over to me.

Her weight and her heart in my hands.

I held her there for what could have been forever.

A moment.

Eternity.

The two of us elevated above everything else.

Where a dawning showed us exactly where we were destined to be.

I gathered her closer, my arms surrounding her and my mouth on her cheek.

“Stay with me, Emery. And I don’t mean temporarily. Because I don’t think I can let you go.”

FORTY-TWO

KANE

Twenty-Six Years Old

Kane was well aware that he had spent the last decade in a spiral. Taking a straight nosedive into depravity.

Into greed and immorality and every kind of wickedness. Doing the bidding of the MC.

So far gone from the boy his mother had believed he was, she would not have recognized him if he were standing in front of her.

But she couldn’t stand in front of him, could she?

Couldn’t see the vile perversion that he’d become.

He wondered when it was all going to catch up to him.

It was insane that he’d let himself go so far while his loyalty and love for his crew remained, but he guessed it was the same for all of them.

Each running at the cruel beckoning of Cutter, the president of their MC.

Kane couldn’t decide if it was because there was a boot on the back of his neck or if he did it of his own free will.

If he did it because he got a sick satisfaction in the power and money or if it was just because he couldn’t be destined for anything else.

“He has you running again?” River asked from over the volume of the heavy metal music that screamed from the speakers. He was lounged back in a stool at the dive where they always hung out.

The grungy walls were filled with Iron Owls. The only women there with the sole intention of riding their cocks.

Hoping for the privilege of then riding on the back of their bikes.

That was shit that was never going to happen with him. He loved to fuck, but he was never one to bother with a name.

“Apparently, I’m the best.” He sent River a big grin.

Otto took a swig of his beer. “Or maybe the most expendable,” he razzed.

“Fuck you, man.” Kane was standing next to him, and he jostled his elbow into the brute’s side.

Otto laughed.

Kane’s chest tightened.

He didn’t hear that sound nearly enough since the dude was always fretting about his baby sister who kept getting herself and River’s sister, Raven, into trouble.

Grimness filled River’s dark features, and he lowered his voice as his attention skated to the back of the bar where another group of Owls were snorting a fucking mountain of coke and passing around a bottle of tequila. “Be careful of Tyke and Kelp. Don’t trust either one of those fuckers.”

Kane barely glanced in their direction where they were partying with the rest.

Kane had a mind that River had come not to trust anyone in the club other than their family, plus Trent and Jud, Cutter’s sons. It was becoming clear that there was no love lost between Cutter and the two, either, and since Kane and his brothers were tight with Trent and Jud, it made Kane speculative, too.

But he still had his job to do.

A runner.

The gun who made things right if a delivery went south.

Weapons.

Drugs.

Whatever illicit materials needed to get from the south and across the US.

“Yeah,” Theo agreed from the other side of River as he took a swig from his bottle. “Neither of them would think twice about driving a knife into your back, and not the figurative kind.”

“Don’t worry. Always have an eye on my back.”

Living a life like this, if you dropped your guard for even a second, you got dead.

River lowered his voice even further, making sure no other members of the club could hear. “Or Cutter, either. Don’t like the vibe that’s been rolling around. Something isn’t sittin’ right.”

“I get in, get the job done, and get out.” Kane said it nonchalant, though a gust of unease rippled through him. He knew it, too. Things had gotten strange.

“Good,” River said. “Keep it that way, and keep it clean.”

Kane arched an incredulous brow. “You suggesting anything we do is clean?”

River’s expression remained flinty. “Maybe it’s time we did.”

The old bracelet burned against Kane’s wrist. The bracelet that he’d never taken off. Now worn and tarnished. A suffocating vise that still felt like a lifeline.

The haunting of his mother’s voice fluttered through the darkest recesses of his mind.

“Don’t ever change. Don’t ever let that beautiful light fade. Fight for love and what’s right. I know you will…because it’s who you are.”

Except it wasn’t who he was.

Not anymore.

He’d lost himself.

Maybe in the exact same way as she had, only his circumstances were just different.

And there was no way to find himself again.

So, he rode the runs he’d been charged to do.

The roar of his bike rumbling beneath him as he followed the trucks to their destinations and did whatever was required to ensure the loads were protected.

Spiraling and spiraling.

Until he swung off his bike on that fateful evening, standing guard as Tyke hopped out of the driver’s side of the truck and came around to open the back.

Until the moment when he saw what was inside.

“Don’t ever change. Don’t ever let that beautiful light fade. Fight for love and what’s right. I know you will…because it’s who you are.”

He’d never heard his mother’s voice shout so loud. And that spiraling he’d fallen into?

It came up on a quick dead end.

FORTY-THREE

EMERY

Kane reached into the massive stone shower and turned on the faucet. The muscles of his big body flexed over the designs that covered his back. The grim scene of the dead woods with the skulls hanging from the trees on full display. Haunting and beautiful. The perfect match to the man.

The water began to fall, and he turned back to me.

Magic eyes swooping over me in a flash. Green flames that raved.

The old wounds didn’t stand right then. No place inside me that wanted to hide or shield.

Not when he was looking at me like that.

Like I was the treasure he kept promising I was.

God, what was I doing?

I was so close to tripping into that free fall. But from where I was standing, I wanted to step over that ledge.

Just let go. The guilt I felt now a distant vibration somewhere in the back of my mind.

Because maybe he was right. Maybe Emmalee would have wanted me to be happy. Maybe this is exactly what she would have wanted if she knew.

Could it be good and right?

Could he be?

Because there was no longer any question that Kane was involved in something hazardous, and I was also almost certain that whatever it was wasn’t legal.

“Come here,” he rumbled in that dark, low voice as steam began to fill the room.

I could barely stand where I remained in the same spot where he’d just devastated my body in the absolute best way…just the way he’d promised…my legs wobbly as I made my way to him where he waited.

He stretched out a big hand as I approached, taking it as he stepped into the shower and guided me in with him.

He looped an arm around my waist, spinning me around so that I was in the cascade of water that rained from the ceiling.

Chills skated across my flesh when the water hit my back, and Kane angled my head back to wet my hair.

His touch gentle as he carefully soaked me through, the warmth coming at me from every direction.

The spray of the shower and the caress of his hands and the fire in his eyes.

He shifted long enough to pump shampoo into the palm of his hand, the scent of eucalyptus and spice invading my senses, before he was back massaging it into my hair, careful to avoid the bump on my forehead.

“Figure this is the best way to keep you smelling like me since I’m about to wash myself off of you.” There was the hint of a tease that fell with the words, the gentlest smile tipping up at the edge of his delicious mouth.

“I doubt there is any washing you off after that, Kane Asher.” The words were coarse, clogged in my throat that was still thickened after the bliss he’d shot me into.

My mind and heart still trying to catch up to the way I’d fully given myself to him.

“Told you there’d be no erasing me once you had me. Told you I was going to write myself so deep on you that you’d be marked forever.”

But would it become a scar that he left?

Affection tightened my chest, and I realized I no longer believed that. This man was so much more than the imaginings I’d conjured. The way I’d believed he was my enemy, a horrible man who’d only used up my sister and tossed her away.

He rinsed my hair then gathered my hand and placed it over the thunder that pounded at his chest. “Just like you’re going to be on me.”

“Is that what you want? Me marked on you forever?”

That entrancing gaze danced. “Yeah, Emery. Told you that you changed everything. That there was something about you the first time I met you. And now I know it’s because you’re supposed to belong to me. With me.”

Guilt tugged again, though, this time it was different. The old dream that I’d shared with my twin that I’d been set on finally chasing. “I don’t know if I can just neglect taking over my sister’s store.”

She’d begged me to do it with her, then had left it to me. How could I turn my back on that?

Kane’s expression dimmed, and he seemed to struggle to force out the words. “Why don’t we not think about you leaving right now until we take care of whoever came after you this afternoon?”

A trace of the terror I’d felt earlier trickled through.

Uncertainty and horror.

I truly had no clue who it could have been. No understanding of why.

But I swore, it was like the monster had known who I was. The vile words he’d hissed at my ear.

Nausea tumbled in my stomach when I thought of all the chaos that Emmalee had written in that journal. Her obsession with what had happened to us.

Why couldn’t I give it to him?

I guessed because I felt like I needed to protect her. I didn’t want him to see the way she seemed to have lost little pieces of reality.

Had become consumed and unbalanced.

I couldn’t help but fear that she’d lost herself in a way that I hadn’t understood. Fear that maybe she allowed what had happened to us to destroy her, so she destroyed herself.

How could I betray that? Give that to anyone else?

Kane ran the pad of his thumb along the hollow of my eye. “No one is getting close to you, Emery. You’re not going to be alone until we figure this out. Either me or one of my crew will be right next to you. Because you’re our family. All of ours.”

The impact of his statement punched through me, and my chin trembled as I gave him a slight nod, though old fear kept the words that threatened to escape trapped on my tongue.

The emotion that rose up from the places where I thought my hopes and dreams would exist.

All because of this man.

“You make me feel so different, Kane. So real and alive. Vibrant when I’d been living my life in grayscale.”

“That’s because you were meant to shine, Little Warrior. You just needed someone to help you stand in the light.”

He took my arm with the tattoo and tenderly ran his fingers over the inscription.

Find me in the darkness, bring me to the light.

That familiarity roiled between us. A humming connection that keened. Memories of that time flooded me. The reason I’d gotten it and what it represented.

And I guessed it had come to mean something brand new.

My hand was shaking as I let my fingertips trace over the images on his chest. The dueling demons on his pecs. His own ghosts that haunted him.

He stared down at me the entire time.

An understanding passed between us as we stood beneath the warmth of the shower, the fall dragging us into a dream.

Kane grabbed a loofah and doused it in soap, then he carefully dragged it over every inch of my body.

Nothing about it felt like he was cleaning me. It felt as if he were worshipping me.

The way he ran it in circles.

Softly.

Tenderly.

Over my shoulders and breasts.

He crouched as he did the same down my abdomen, the man kneeling in front of me as he pressed gentle kisses to the spots he’d just washed.

While I ran my fingers through his drenched hair, across his neck and shoulders. Whispers and sighs left me as he continued, as he showered me in an adoration unlike anything I’d experienced before.

Then I turned and did the same to him.

Exploring his glorious body as I ran the sponge over him.

Memorizing the colors and lines as I went.

Shivering with the realization that I’d never been cut wide open and exposed like this. There was no reservation or hesitation left.

Kane shut off the shower and reached out to grab a towel, and he grinned as he ruffled it through my hair. “You make me happy, Emery Voss.”

This man had a way with words, but I wasn’t sure any of them had ever made me as happy as that.

Because that’s what caring about someone was, wasn’t it? Hoping to make them happy?

And that place inside me glowed.

Rising up and overflowing.

And the words whispered from my lips. “You make me happy, too.”

I’d thought it impossible.

Now I knew it was unstoppable.

“Plan on making you very, very happy for the rest of my life.” He let the innuendo wind in with that as he tucked the towel around my body then reached out to grab another one and wrapped it around his waist.

A giggle ripped out when he suddenly swept me up and tossed me over his shoulder, a gasp of words rushing out of me as my nails raked across his back. “What do you think you’re doing, Kane Asher?”

“Gotta feed my girl.”

My chest tightened, and I didn’t have time for softness to take me over since he was barreling out of his bathroom, through his room, and into the hall.

Twilight hugged the walls. Filtering in through the windows as he carried me downstairs.

“Oh my gosh, put me down.” It was a rash of giggles.

“Nah. Think I like you just like this.”

“A sack of potatoes slung over your shoulder?”

“Potatoes? Hardly. This is precious cargo. Diamonds. Gems. Motherfuckin’ gold.” He chuckled it as he hit the bottom landing and ambled down the long passageway to the kitchen, carrying me as if I didn’t weigh a thing.

He strode all the way in, rounding the island before he set me on the edge. He wedged himself between my legs that dangled over the side, and one of those big hands slipped to my cheek, his thumb running circles as he stared at me.

“Precious, precious cargo. It’s Emery Voss. And I want to carry her forever. In every way. Both in my arms and in my heart.”

My stomach swooped.

Damn him, making me fall for him this way.

Then he strode to the refrigerator, opened it, and ducked inside. “Here we go.”

He pulled out a cherry pie, a smug grin riding all over his handsome face.

I arched a teasing brow. “We’re having cherry pie for dinner?”

“Figured I’d have both of my favorite things tonight.” His words were playful, waggish as he sauntered back over, the man so hot just looking at him made me ache.

“Oh, you’re favorite, huh?”

He set the pie down on the island before he traced his thumb across my swollen lips, his voice dropping to a murmur as he said, “My very, very favorite.”

“Kane.” It wheezed out of me.

A plea.

A promise.

A prayer.

Unsure of what I was supposed to do.

Because I was falling.

Falling free and fast.

And I was sure there was no longer any stopping myself.

He dipped in and kissed me. Kissed me long and slow and adoringly.

No rush or desperation because he’d already settled on what he wanted.

Then he eased back, the loyalty showing so stark on his face. “I want to tell Maci on Thursday.”

He hesitated, his thick throat bobbing in uncertainty as he swallowed. “You know I have to leave Thursday night. With Theo.”

He’d mentioned it a couple of times. Another work trip he had to take.

“One of my brothers will be with you and Maci the whole time,” he rushed.

Disquiet blustered. It took about everything I had not to sink my nails into him and beg him not to go, but somehow my spirit already knew that I couldn’t keep him here.

That this was bigger than what he’d let on that it was supposed to be.

“You have to go.”

I said it a statement.

As acceptance.

The pad of his thumb was back to tracing my bottom lip, and I could see the war go down in his expression, could see him waging it all the way down in his soul before he finally admitted, “It’s part of what me and my crew do. When I told you we protect those more vulnerable than us.”

“What does that mean, Kane?”

His bare chest heaved. “I don’t think you’re ready to know that yet.”

Fear slicked down my spine. Not fear of him, but for him.

My throat grew thick, and I nodded. “Okay.”

Kane angled his head, his hand tightening on my cheek. “One day, I’ll give you all of me, Emery. Every bit of it. But first, you’re going to have to give yourself completely to me.”

FORTY-FOUR

EMERY

Mom

How is it going?

I hesitated, my teeth raking my bottom lip before I forced myself to tap out a reply.

Me

Really well.

Mom

Do you want to fill me in a little on what that means?

I could feel her prodding from across the miles. Her care and her concern.

Me

It means you were right in asking me to do this because he did turn out to be exactly what she needs.

I wavered, unsure, my fingers hovering over the screen, waiting for her response, though I could almost feel she was waiting for me to elaborate. Like she already knew. But she’d always had a way of tapping into exactly what I was feeling.

Me

Is it wrong if he’s exactly what I need, too?

The dots danced and played for the longest time before her response came through.

Mom

No, Emery, it’s not. I wondered. Thought that I sensed something between you two. And you deserve to be happy. Whatever that looks like. And if he’s what that makes you, then you take it.

I swallowed around the rocks in my throat.

Me

What about Ivy Threads?

Mom

You get to choose your priorities in this life, Emery. Whatever your heart is calling for? You listen to it. You chase joy and grab onto it wherever it’s waiting for you. It’s your time, my sweet girl. I’ve felt your spirit waiting to be freed for a while now, and it’s time. Don’t you dare feel guilty for finding love or happiness because I promise you that is what your sister would have wanted. I know you know that. Embrace it.

I could almost feel my mother curl her arms around me.

Me

I love you so much.

Mom

I love you, too. More than you know. You and that little girl. Now go and wrap your arms around that joy.

“Put it right there in the basket.”

Standing on a stool at the island, Maci carefully set the container of the little finger sandwiches that we’d spent the last hour working on into the basket, her tiny tongue coming out in concentration as she nestled it beside the container of fresh fruit.

“I fink I got it really good, Auntie Em. This is definitely going to be a super fun picnic. Do you fink my mommy wishes she was here?”

Her rambled, casual words pierced me like a knife.

A dull, blunt blade that sheared through me with gutting pain.

My knees going weak as I thought of my sweet sister. Guilt roiling in my spirit because I still didn’t know if what I was doing was wrong.

The only thing that was becoming clear was there was no letting go of him.

My foundation had been rocked. All the things I’d thought I’d known and wanted completely demolished in his touch.

My hand was shaking as I ran it over the top of Maci’s head, the words choked as I murmured, “I think she would definitely want to be here.”

“I fink I’ll draw her a picture so my dragon can fly it all the way up to heaven so she can see it.”

Grief bashed through my spirit, but somehow, it was mixed with this blossoming joy that had sprouted inside.

“Your mommy would absolutely love that.”

A wash of warmth suddenly flooded the room, and my stomach tightened in anticipation. Kane’s nearness eradicating every question all while evoking a thousand more.

I looked up to find him striding through the entryway, wickedly cool and sporting one of those easy grins that I found so sexy, though there was no missing the intensity. The worry he’d carried after what had happened at the beginning of the week so clear.

There’d been no trace of whoever had attacked me. No clues to pick up on. No additional threat.

That didn’t mean we hadn’t all been on edge since then.

Those magic eyes rolled over me as he approached, and I had to steel myself from the reaction that he evoked in me.

A bare glimpse and the fire he’d ignited was rekindled in an instant.

I couldn’t count the number of times he’d had me in the last week since I’d given in to our connection. Every moment while Maci was asleep, we’d be tangled in each other. Kane searching me in every way while I discovered exactly what it was like to be worshipped.

Sometimes it was soft and slow, but usually, it was grasping hands and desperate bodies. A wild sort of freedom that I was fast becoming addicted to.

“Found us a good blanket,” Kane said, lifting the folded white and black checked blanket that he’d carried in.

“Finally, my Mr. Kane. I fought we were gonna have to wait for you for the whole night, and we gotta hurry up and have our picnic ’fore the sun goes to sleep.”

It was only three, but apparently, she was concerned.

An affectionate chuckle rolled out of him, though I knew him well enough now to sense the tension that underscored it. Nervous of Maci’s reaction.

He’d confessed it last night, in the deepest hours as we’d lain in the dark curled in the middle of his bed.

His fear of being enough for her.

Of being good enough for her.

Was I a fool that after everything he’d confessed, after the terrifying things he’d suggested, that I’d argued that he was more than good?

It seemed impossible that I’d been here for just over two weeks and every presumption I had made had been transformed. I’d wanted nothing more than for this man to change his mind and allow me to take Maci home with me, but now I couldn’t imagine ripping the little girl from her daddy.

Her daddy.

Thickness grew at the back of my throat.

She would know it today. Who he was, and where she was supposed to be.

Excitement shivered through me at the thought. At what her precious little face would look like when he told her.

I wanted that for her so desperately.

Was I completely wrong that I wanted that to apply to me? That I’d know who he was completely—this man who asked me to stay?

This man who was promising me forever?

To surrender all this pain and grief and loss?

Asking me to allow him to hold a piece of it?

Kane’s boots ate up the floor as he came our way, and he dropped a kiss to the crown of Maci’s head. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Angel Face. I had to search around for the blanket in that mess of a closet.”

“Sounds like you should do a better job of cleanin’.” Maci shrugged one of her shoulders.

Another low toll of laughter. “Guess I’d better, hadn’t I?”

Emerald eyes found mine. Sparks and light. Stealing sanity and breath.

He took a slight step in my direction, covering me whole, the man a landslide. I shook when he reached out and ran his thumb across my brow, his voice both deep and tender when he murmured low enough that Maci wouldn’t hear.

“You’re frowning awful hard.” Concern flitted across his features. “Don’t be sad, baby. In the middle of all the sadness, I think this might be a good day.”

I saw what he was pleading for. For me to do this with him. To be at his side. And I wanted to be.

“I’m not sad, Kane,” I whispered back.

At least not over this.

I wanted this for them. They both deserved it. The fullness of who they were.

Maci slammed the lid shut on the basket. “Time to go, lovey doves.”

Surprise jolted me back.

“Lovie doves?” I didn’t even mean for it to drop from my mouth as a question.

She hopped off the stool. “You love my Mr. Kane because you give him so many kisses, just like my auntie Raven gives my uncle Otto so many kisses.”

I didn’t know if it was horror or embarrassment that hit me first.

How had she seen that? I’d made sure we’d been careful. That whatever was happening between me and Kane was happening behind closed doors.

But I realized it’d been getting harder to keep it that way.

The covert brushes of his hands. The times when he’d grab me when he thought we were alone and kiss me into a needy puddle, growly promises dripping from his mouth about what he was going to do to me when he really got me alone.

Kane set his big hand on her shoulder, but he remained looking at me. “That’s because I really like giving your auntie Em all the kisses. All the kisses in the world.”

Maci giggled, while I struggled to stand.

To stand beneath what was clearly on his face.

The plea that was written there.

Stay. Stay. Stay.

I grabbed the handle to the basket. “We’d better get going then.”

“Yay! It’s about time, you slowpokes.” Maci started for the big sliding door that led out back.

“Let me take that,” Kane rumbled near my ear, his hand going to the handle.

Energy snapped at the bare contact.

I heaved out a breath, and he angled in closer. “You don’t have to hold it all, Little Warrior.”

A smirk took to the edge of his mouth as he angled back. “Some things are just better when you do them together.”

FORTY-FIVE

KANE

Maci ran across the lawn ahead of us, searching for the perfect spot for our picnic.

Emery was at my side.

My footsteps were a whole ton slower than typical on account of my stomach being in fucking knots of anxiety and anticipation.

Twisted and tied as I thought of how to tell my little girl that I was her dad. How to make her understand when it hardly made any sense to the rest of us.

But I wasn’t sure that the exact words even mattered. The only thing that did was the amount of love that gushed out of me when Maci turned around when she got to the big shade tree that was about midway between the house and the stream.

Her beaming face lit up beneath the bright sunshine that poured down from the endless expanse of blue above.

But she was the true light.

This joy that had been found in me.

Both she and the woman who seemed every bit as nervous as me. As if we were trudging for desolation rather than the nirvana that we’d achieved.

But I got it.

There was a big, gaping hole cut out in the middle of this paradise. A figure I barely knew but who had been so intrinsic to these two.

Their hearts had to take on a brand-new mold since such a significant piece had been scored out of them.

My little girl jumped up and down, waving her hands overhead as she shouted, “Over here, over here! I fink I got the very perfect spot.”

“That looks pretty danged good to me,” I hollered back, my pulse speeding erratically as we approached.

She hopped from foot to foot, the child wearing another one of those adorable sundresses, her soft blonde curls done in pigtails that swung around her head. “That’s because I’m extra smart.”

“That’s right, you are,” I told her as I set the basket onto the soft green grasses below then grabbed the edge of the blanket and tossed it out.

It unfurled, and I knelt as it drifted down to the lawn. Maci hopped into action and grabbed the other side to help straighten it.

“And a huge help, too,” I told her. “Wouldn’t have been able to get this blanket down here without you.”

“That’s because we gotta do things together.”

“Yup. Together.”

I glanced up at Emery who wavered at the side.

Wasn’t sure how one person could look so captivated and terrified at the same damned time.

Maci scrambled onto the blanket on her knees. I plopped onto my butt on it and stretched a hand toward Emery. “Come on, lovie dove.”

Redness streaked all over that pretty face, and she hesitated for only a beat before she dropped to her knees, teeth gnawing at that bottom lip as she inched forward until she was in the middle with us.

Maci grabbed either side of Emery’s face and screeched, “It’s picnic time!”

Laughter rolled out of me. The kid was so adorable I couldn’t fully process it half the time. The way my heart felt like it was going to blow whenever I looked at her. Way everything that was wrong seemed to right itself when she was in my arms.

“You’re hungry, huh?” I asked as I grabbed the basket so we could pull out the food.

“Don’t you know you get hungry when you’ve been workin’ in the kitchen all day?”

Amusement rolled, and Emery and I shared a glance, our love for this little girl so distinct.

She and I pulled everything out of the basket, Emery ripping off the lids to the containers.

One held these cute little sandwiches that had been cut into different shapes.

Another with fruit, crackers, and cheese.

Plus three juice boxes.

Maci was the one to pass those out. “One for you. One for you. And one for me,” she peeped.

I picked mine up, unwrapped the straw, and jabbed it into the foil hole.

Holy hell, had my life changed.

From tequila to juice boxes.

I brought the tiny straw to my mouth, and not for one second did I feel the need to complain.

“Fought you would like that because cherry is my favorite, and I know it’s your favorite too since we got all the same favorites.”

“That’s right, we do.”

Maci grabbed a sandwich and stuffed it into her mouth, chewing around the ham and cheese. “Like this one,” she garbled around her food.

Affection pulsed. I was probably supposed to tell her to chew with her mouth closed, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that right then. Not when today was about this.

About this family.

About making it permanent.

I couldn’t help but look at Emery, guts getting all twisted up again as I peeked at her nibbling at the edge of a sandwich, blonde hair stirring in the gentle breeze that whispered through the trees.

Every distinct curve and line of her gorgeous face striking beneath the bright rays that slanted in through the giant shade tree above.

The sound of the stream babbled in the distance, and I didn’t think I’d ever felt as much peace as I did right then, even though I was shaking apart in my boots at the same time.

Maci gobbled up three sandwiches, chattering the whole time.

“Wow, you sure are hungry,” I told her as she stuffed a giant piece of watermelon in her mouth, something I’d been sure to pick up when the three of us had been at the store since I knew it was definitely one of her actual favorites.

A swell of protectiveness hit me unbidden. It felt like I was hunting the whole time I was at that store. Searching through every face like I might uncover the motherfucker who’d tried to abduct Emery, this piece of shit who’d disappeared without a trace.

We hadn’t been able to pick up on his trail.

Not one damned clue as to who it had been.

Four days had passed without any other incidents in town, but I wasn’t about to chalk it up to random.

Maci’s tinkling voice cut off my spiraling thoughts. “I’m a growin’ girl. I’ll be five ’fore you even know it, and that means I’m gonna get to go to school. Did you know my best friend Nolan goes to school?”

“Sure did.” I hesitated, nerves gripping me tight, and I glanced at Emery for encouragement. For her to give me the go that what I was doing was right.

Moisture brimmed in those toffee eyes, her spirit so alive, wrapping around me like an embrace.

I cleared my throat and turned back to my daughter. “Might be fun for you to go to his same school?”

I didn’t know why I was framing it a question, but I found myself tiptoeing into this thing.

Eyes the same color as mine went wide, so vividly green, though the gold sparkled beneath the rays of the sun. “Don’t even tease me, Mr. Kane, because I fink that would be the best thing in my whole life.”

God, this girl had a ton of bests, and I was set on giving her a billion more.

“That’s good then because I want this to be your home. Where you live.”

“Forever?” Her brows shot for the sky.

“Well, at least until you grow up and you’re ready to move out.”

“Because you love me so much?”

Emotion crested in Emery. A wave of grief and a torrent of love.

Same way as it did with me.

“Yeah, Maci. Because I love you so much. Because you’re my best friend, but you’re more than that.”

“What am I?” she asked, so innocent.

I scooted closer to her, my hand trembling like crazy when I reached out to run my fingertips down her chubby cheek. “You’re my daughter, Maci. I’m your daddy.”

Confusion knitted her little brow. “I don’t got a daddy.”

Air wheezed out of my lungs, my spirit screaming for what I’d been missing but had had no idea that I was. “You do, sweetheart, just neither of us knew it.”

“Because you loved my mommy?”

Fuck.

How the hell was I supposed to answer that?

Emery sustained the brunt of that question. I knew it in the way a tormented moan clawed up her throat. One she tried to keep hidden.

I paused, wanting to be cautious, to make sure I didn’t damage my daughter more than she already had been. I knew questions would arise as she grew older. As she understood what having a child meant, but I figured it was unnecessary to go into those details then.

“Well, unfortunately I didn’t get to know your mommy all that well, but I know enough about her from you and your auntie Em to know that I absolutely would have loved her. I know she was amazing, just like you and our Em.”

“I fink when she gets back from heaven, she should come live here with us.”

Sorrow clutched my chest. Sorrow for Maci. Sorrow for Emery who physically bowed at her statement.

My palm spread out over Maci’s cheek, my hand covering the entirety of the left side of her face. My thumb stroked over the plumpness, and my voice grew rough with the pain I was experiencing for the two of them.

Taking it on as if it were my own.

“I wish that she could, Maci. I wish I could bring her back from heaven, but she has to stay there. But I know she’ll be watching over you. Watching over both you and your auntie.”

Tears blurred my daughter’s eyes. “Never?”

Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Stickiness lined my throat, making it nearly impossible to speak. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I promise you, I’m going to be right here with you. Both me and your auntie Em.” I glanced at Emery from over my shoulder, and she inched forward, her words just as haggard as mine. “We’re right here, sweet girl. Both Kane and I are right here, with you.”

“But what if you have to go to heaven, too?”

Thought my heart was going to hemorrhage out.

“I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen,” I rasped. “The only place I want to be is right here, with you. With your auntie.”

Tears poured down her cheeks.

“Come here, precious girl,” I murmured, and Maci climbed over to us. She threw her little arms around my neck and squeezed me tight, and I pulled Emery into us.

The three of us hugged each other like mad.

“I’ll always take care of you.”

“Because you take care of who you love most?” Maci whimpered it through her tears, her question so sweet in the middle of the turmoil.

“That’s right, Angel Face, you take care of who you love most.”

A silent promise poured out inside me.

A promise to give this child everything that she deserved.

To love her the way my mother had loved me, but without the torment and pain that tainted our lives.

Maci would never have to question her safety at night. Would never have to question the safety of Emery or my love for her.

Because I was going to love them both with everything I had. Sacrifice it all if that was what was required.

Because I’d never fail the ones I loved again.

FORTY-SIX

EMERY

Kane tucked a clean, folded T-shirt into the duffel that he had on the end of his bed. There was an aura about him.

A darkness that spun and stirred the air into disorder.

A razor-sharp edge that made it feel dangerous to touch him. The same thing I’d felt when I’d first met him.

“Won’t be gone for more than twenty-four hours.” His words were a rumble of ferocity as he said the same thing he’d repeated at least three times in the last hour.

Like he was trying to convince me of it. Or maybe himself.

Unease churned in my spirit, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was worried that he might not make it back.

That whatever this was could bring him to his end.

Horror coiled in my guts at the thought of it. He’d come to mean so much more than I ever should have let him.

Because I couldn’t bear the thought of him risking himself. Couldn’t stand the thought of losing someone else who meant everything.

I wrung my hands as I stood three feet behind him. “Are you sure you have to go?”

Tension ridged his spine, and he stilled where he was about to shove his toiletry bag into the top.

A sigh rippled out of him, and he turned to face me.

So big and menacing. So intimidating and fierce that I knew there was no chance that he wasn’t exactly that.

Dangerous.

He took a step forward, and the ground trembled beneath my feet. The man an earthquake. A riptide. A force that I didn’t know how to evade.

A big, tatted hand came to the side of my face.

Tender and right.

My heart flailed, begging for me to snip the last thread that kept me dangling over the edge.

To just let go.

He dropped his forehead to mine. His breaths were short and rasped as he murmured, “This is something I have to do, Emery. Something I have to do because it’s a part of who I am. Part of the oath I made.”

My eyes squeezed shut as my hands fisted in his shirt. “What oath?”

I was ready.

I needed to know.

How could I fully trust him if I didn’t know what he was involved in?

He breathed out, hand so warm where he had it pressed to my cheek, his spirit feeling as if it was sucking me into the depths of his soul.

As if he were inhaling me into all those secret places that he still kept hidden. Trying to show me when the words had been forbidden to fall from his tongue.

“Want you to know all of me, Em. But I’m terrified of what you’re going to do when you find out.”

Kane eased back, gazing down at me.

“River is going to keep watch over you and Maci while I’m gone.”

“Is that really necessary?” Maybe I wanted him to lie to me and tell me that it wasn’t. That he believed us completely safe. But I knew that wasn’t the case.

Emerald eyes flashed and sparked. “Yes, it is. Won’t take a chance like that. Not with you and not with her. Not when both of you are the most important thing to me.”

That thing I hadn’t understood billowed in the bare space that separated us, fighting for me to give into it.

To surrender.

“Please, be careful.”

Come back to me.

Come back to me.

“I promise you, I won’t let anything happen to me. Not when I know what’s waiting for me when I return.”

For a moment, we stayed locked. Gazes tangled and souls whispering.

Then he dipped in and took my mouth.

The kiss was slow.

Swirling with the type of passion I didn’t know if I could handle. The type that made me sway, my spirit quaking with the truth.

I wanted to weep when he pulled away, and he dropped his forehead back to mine as he cupped my face in both his hands. “Need to go.”

He peeled himself away and strode back to the bed. He tossed the rest of his things into the duffel and zipped it. I followed him out as he slung it over his shoulder.

He went straight for Maci’s room, quietly setting his bag on the floor outside her door before he crept into the muted light, while I remained hovering near the door.

He stood at the side of her bed, staring down at the child who was fast asleep.

Soft blonde waves strewn around her precious face.

Emotion poured out of him as he leaned down and brushed a kiss to her temple. His words were so quiet I didn’t know how I heard them. “You are my life, Angel Face. Daddy loves you. So much that I didn’t even know this type of love existed. And I promise that I’ll always come back to you.”

Reluctantly, he straightened, then he moved toward me.

Ferocity and fervency radiated from his forbidding form.

Chills skimmed across my flesh as he came to stand in front of me, a tower that hedged me in his intensity.

His hand slipped back to my cheek.

Energy thrashed. A gale force in the middle of the room.

“Had no clue, Emery.” His voice was a low, rugged scrape. “No clue that this type of love existed.”

I knew that time he intended the confession for me, and that love that I’d been trying to suppress ricocheted around in the depths of me.

But I had no time to acknowledge it before he tore himself away, grabbed his bag from the ground, and left me with the pounding of his boots on the stairs before the door clicked shut behind him.

FORTY-SEVEN

KANE

I sat in the driver’s seat of the white Suburban that we had hidden behind a hedge at the far end of the lot. Near the sidewalk where Sophia Damascus walked her son to and from school each day.

It was the only time we thought she might not be being watched, though undoubtedly, there would be a tracker on her phone.

We’d made a pass in front of their house right before dawn when we’d made it to Eugene, Oregon, verifying her piece of shit husband’s truck was there. That it was the same as the intel Cash had gotten that he drove a brand-new gray Tundra.

He typically left for work at seven thirty in the morning and arrived back at just after five, though based on the information Sophia’s best friend had given, it wasn’t atypical for him to drop in at random hours throughout the day to make sure she remained bent to his twisted, tyrannical will.

We needed to nab them before they got onto school property. Back where we’d remain invisible, and they’d simply disappear into the morning.

It was the only way we were going to get them out of this without a showdown. Without anyone else realizing what was happening. We needed them to become little more than a missing person’s report.

And we needed Sophia’s cooperation to do it.

For her not to freak out when we grabbed them. For her to remember the hints that her best friend had given her that someone was coming. That there was going to be a way out of the torment that plagued their lives.

That purpose pounded inside me. The one I’d made for my mother on that fateful night when I realized the path I’d been traveling had to come to an end. When I stood there realizing who I was meant to be.

To fight for those who couldn’t fight for themselves.

In every way.

“This feel off to you?” Theo asked. He itched in the passenger seat, dude antsy as fuck, continually peering through the window at the slip of street we could see from our vantage point.

She wasn’t due to walk down that street with her six-year-old son for seven more minutes.

I blew out through the tension that thickened the air. “We knew this extraction might be messy.”

It was the whole reason he and I were there. The reason we’d taken over for River when this was normally his gig. To protect him from the added dangers when he had his family he needed to be present for.

Now he was standing guard over mine while I was here.

The tattoo on the back of my hand throbbed. The stacked Ss and the wilting rose on top. I’d never been so sure that there was no turning back.

“There’s just…something in the air. Don’t like it.” In agitation, Theo ran a tattooed hand through his crop of black hair.

“Nothing but the fact that bastard is breathing the same air as us from a mile down the street.”

Where he worked as the manager at an autobody shop.

Theo scratched at his jaw. “Think we should just take him out and rid the world of his stain rather than putting Sophia and her son through the bullshit of starting new lives.”

Something unsettled rumbled in my stomach, and I clutched both hands on the steering wheel. “Not the way of Sovereign Sanctum.”

We did our best to keep it clean unless circumstances required otherwise.

It was the safest for everyone involved. At least, that’s what we’d decided when we’d established it.

Droll laughter rolled out of Theo, and he swung his attention toward me, staring me down. “That’s not the way you do it, though, is it?”

My chest tightened. “What are you talking about?” I defended.

Disbelief filled his features. “Don’t play dumb, Kane. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Fuck. He knew. How the fuck did he know?

“Not Sanctum business.” I tried to assert it casually, though it cracked through the clench of my teeth.

Air puffed from his nose. “Sanctum is family, and you know it, so it most definitely makes it our business.” He paused for a strained beat before he continued. “Know why you do it. Know what you did and what you continue to do.”

What the fuck?

Adrenaline pumped through my system. “Theo…”

I struggled to find a way to explain my actions. Why I’d gone behind Sanctum’s back for all these years.

His head barely shook. “You did the right fucking thing. Those bastards deserved to die, just like they still do.” He shrugged a nonchalant shoulder. “Just so you and I are on the same page. And now that you have Maci and Emery in your life, figured you might need backup.”

“Won’t get you involved in that.”

“Look around us, Kane. We’re all neck-fucking-deep. It’s our destiny. Ridding the world of the scum, because sometimes what it takes are monsters to wipe it clean.”

He glanced down the street, his voice dropping low. “Because there are innocents who need us…just like them.”

I shifted so I could see where his focus had gone.

To a dark-haired woman who was coming up the sidewalk with a little boy’s hand in hers. She wore a willowy floral dress that swished around her ankles. She appeared so downtrodden it made my insides ache.

Another stark reminder of why we did what we did.

It grew thicker.

A dense severity that blazed in the space.

Theo stirred, and I could almost hear the screaming of his spirit. The way aggression and rage slipped beneath the surface of his skin at the sight of her.

“Look at them.” Theo’s words barely broke the air.

“It’s why we’re here, brother.”

That strain climbed and climbed, becoming suffocating as they approached, the woman completely unaware that we’d come for her where we were concealed behind the hedge.

Thinking she would go on living the life that she was living.

No more.

This was it.

“Go,” Theo ordered the second they were close enough, and we both clicked open our doors and flew out.

The second we rounded the hedge, she whirled in our direction, a gasp of shock and crippling fear tearing out of her before it turned into determination. Into the same kind of fight I’d seen out of my Little Warrior.

The determination to survive even when the light had been dimmed.

“No.”

Before we could explain ourselves, she grabbed her son and swept him off his feet, guarding his head as she turned to run.

Theo’s voice curled like a dart behind them.

Deep.

Quiet.

Piercing.

“We aren’t here to hurt you. Morgan sent us.”

Sophia stalled with her back to us, her shoulders heaving up and down with her harsh breaths. She didn’t turn to look, ready to bolt back into action at the first indication that she needed to.

Theo took one step forward, and his words curled on the breeze. “She asked you that if you had the chance to get out, if you would take it. This is that chance.”

Silence hovered thick. She continued to face forward with her son pinned to her chest, the child not making a sound, though I could feel the terror wafting from him.

A type of terror so distinct.

So familiar.

The same kind I’d been in for my entire childhood.

Finally, she turned a fraction, her son’s face buried in her neck, chaos bounding around her.

The pounding of a violent storm.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“Help.” Theo stated it simply.

Her chin lifted. “What do I have to do?”

Theo gestured with his chin at the outline of the Suburban barely visible through the foliage. Only noticeable when attention was brought to it. “You get in the SUV, and you never look back.”

Incredulity flared through her features, and she tightened her hold on the child.

“And I’m just supposed to trust you? What if he sent you?” Her tone went raspy at that.

Rage flared between me and Theo. No question, we both were thinking the same thing as we saw the sheer panic the idea evoked in her.

The traumas she’d been inflicted.

The agony that she’d sustained.

Theo was right. We should just end him. Wipe out that possibility.

“Morgan said…” She blinked as she processed through the memory. “I…I thought she meant it hypothetically.”

“The question is, did you mean it when you said yes?” My question hovered in the dense air.

She shifted, fear darting her attention left and right before she turned her fierce gaze back to us. “Yes.”

“Then we need to go, and we go now,” I told her.

She hesitated for one more beat, glancing back and forth again, before she came running our way. We hurried her to the SUV and ushered her into the back seat, the blacked-out windows obscuring that she was there. We already had a car seat ready, and she fumbled to get her son buckled while I jumped into the driver’s seat and turned over the ignition.

It roared, and Theo jumped into the back with them, sitting guard as I slowly pulled from our hiding place. I took it cool and casual as we bounced along the side road as if we were just another person going about their day.

While two fragile lives were getting ready to change.

Gravity pulled in the cab of the Suburban. Confusion and hope. Dread and fear.

“Is this really happening?” Sophia whispered into the disorder.

“It’s real,” Theo rumbled, and I could hear the frenzy he was holding back. The violence that pulsed through his veins as he watched for things to go south.

“What happens now?” she asked, disbelief in her voice.

“We take you to a safehouse where you’ll stay for a few months until you’re ready to move on to your new lives,” I explained.

“Out in the open? He’ll hunt for us. He won’t stop until he finds us.”

“He won’t be able to. You’ll have a completely new identity.”

“How? Are you…part of the witness protection program or something?”

Theo sent me a knowing glance through the rearview mirror, and I mumbled, “Something like that.”

Not at all except for the fact that we would do everything it took to conceal them. To keep them safe.

The longest time passed as I took a few turns through Eugene, covering our tracks in a maze of turns that led us farther out of the city. Then I took to a desolate two-lane road that would lead us to where we’d left the actual truck we’d be driving back to Moonlit Ridge.

The thick forest grew up close to the edge of the road as we traveled farther and farther from the nightmares that they’d lived.

“How do you make sure he can never find us?” she finally asked.

I didn’t have time to answer before we were suddenly rammed in the back.

A scream tore through at the impact, Sophia’s fear blistering like a shockwave through the cab.

“Shit,” I grunted. The Suburban lurched forward, and my hands jerked at the wheel as I struggled to keep from skidding out of control.

Theo’s attention flew behind him out the back window.

“Tundra.” He gritted it as he pulled the gun from the holster hidden under his shirt.

Fuck.

“He’ll kill us,” she wheezed, gripping onto Theo’s leg where he sat beside her in the back.

“He won’t have the chance,” Theo promised.

He cocked his gun.

We should have known it had been too easy. Getting them into the SUV and out of town without a hitch.

The roar of the Tundra’s engine blazed up behind us again. I prepared myself for impact. This time, he clipped me on the left rear bumper.

It threw us into a skid, the tires squealing as we fishtailed down the winding road.

I fought it.

The way our Suburban wanted to fly into a spin.

There was no stopping it when he hit me again.

Our SUV hooked hard to the right, sending the tail end whipping around to the front. Tires squealed as I slammed on the brakes.

We landed facing the fiend who’d come to a stop, me staring down the beast through the windshield.

Two beats of stilled eternity passed.

Then we fast-forwarded into action.

He threw open his door, and Theo shouted, “Get down!” a second before gunshots rang out.

They pinged against the metal, and Theo and I were out, our guns in hand as we returned fire. We ducked low behind our doors as we exchanged shots.

The asshole began to come out from behind his door.

Brazen motherfucker who continued to take shot after shot.

“Take that bastard down,” Theo gritted as he ducked back into the Suburban to reload, and I straightened, coming out from around the door, too, trying to draw him away from the SUV.

I couldn’t let him get to them. Couldn’t let him get near them. No way would I allow him to continue to inflict the kind of torture that had been inflicted on my mother.

I saw it in his eyes.

That disgusting rage that made him think he had the right.

That he deserved the foul, obscene control.

“I knew it. I knew it. Knew that bitch was up to no good,” he spat.

A thousand memories from my childhood came battering into me.

“You piece of shit,” I gritted. I fought to keep my trembling hand steady as I aimed, ready for when he came out far enough in front of his hood that his chest and arms were exposed.

I took the shot.

He roared when it pierced him in the shoulder, and he fumbled backward two steps. Only he rebounded in a flash, fury and adrenaline flooding him as he ran around the front in a barrage of bullets.

I dove for cover, gasping as a shock of pain ripped up my side just as I slammed against the ground.

He kept moving, coming my way, a nonstop barrage of bullets pinging and flying.

Dread sank to the pit of my stomach when the man was suddenly standing right in front of me, and my limbs quivered as I tried to wrap my hand back around the handle of my gun.

My skin was clammy with dread. Sweat slicking my flesh in a searing cold.

The man hell-bent on bringing me to my end.

A single shot rang from out of nowhere, and the man dropped to his knees before he slumped facedown onto the dirt.

And the mayhem that surrounded us slipped into a tacky silence.

The bright sky suddenly burned too bright against my eyes. Spinning in a way that it shouldn’t.

A moan tore out of me, and Theo was suddenly there, rasping, “Oh, fuck. Kane.” He dropped to his knees and pressed his hands low on my side. “It’s okay, brother. I’ve got you. You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna be okay.”

And the only thing I could see behind my eyes were two faces.

Two sweet fucking smiles.

My Little Warrior and my Angel Face.

And I remembered the promise I had made that I would always make it back to them, just as Theo was on his cell, words raking in low desperation, “Dr. Reynolds…fuck…Kane was shot, and we’re in the middle of fucking nowhere. Tell me what the hell to do.”

FORTY-EIGHT

EMERY

“How are they so cute together?” Raven gushed it from where she sat on the top step of the wooden porch that overlooked Kane’s backyard. She, Charleigh, and I were watching Maci and Nolan run across the rambling expanse of grass that flowed into the woods that fenced in his property in the distance.

The area open.

Gorgeous and whispering of peace.

Though I felt little of it right then.

Peace.

I couldn’t shake the nerves that had rattled through me since the moment Kane had left.

Unable to sleep, I’d tossed in his big bed, hugging the covers as if it might provide the type of comfort he normally held me in each night.

Foreboding had seeped down into my being. A sense of uncertainty. Like I was at the edge of something profound but had no access to what it really meant, only knowing that it threatened the one who’d captured my heart.

What made it even worse was he wouldn’t give me those answers, his own dread so stark whenever he mentioned it. Like if he admitted it, I’d disappear.

Which only made me worry about how bad it could really be if he reacted like that.

And the spiral had gone on that way, compounding with each scenario that I’d conjured in my mind.

Just as Kane had promised, the rest of his family stood guard, River, Otto, and Cash taking shifts around the clock.

They had refused to come in the house.

Vigilant in their watch.

Charleigh, Nolan, and Raven had shown up at nine this morning with easy smiles on their faces as they’d come through the door carrying a bunch of reusable grocery bags. Raven had lifted them high with a shimmy of her shoulders as she’d proclaimed, “We come bearing gifts. Prepare for us to make your day.”

She’d strode right into the kitchen and prepared a delicious brunch.

Mimosas included.

Now, we sipped them as we watched the children playing out back.

A peal of Maci’s laughter breezed through the warm, summer air.

“She loves it here,” I murmured.

Charleigh looked up at me from where she lounged on a lower step. “She’s acclimating well?”

My nod was soft. “Yeah.” I paused, then whispered, “Kane told her who he was to her yesterday. She knows she’s going to be living here permanently. Of course, I think she’s still confused about her mom, but I feel like that’s natural.”

Understanding washed over her pretty features. There was something so intuitively soft and genuine about Charleigh.

“Absolutely.” She issued it quietly. “She’s so young, and I’m sure she’s going to have a lot of questions as she grows older.” She reached out and gently squeezed my knee. “And it’s so good she has you to share all those memories of her mom with her. She’s going to need that.”

Raven peered over at me with her midnight eyes sparking. “And what about you, Em?”

I could tell what she was thinking by the gleam in her eye.

“What about me?” I deflected.

“Oh, come on, do you think we can’t tell that you’ve been absolutely loved up by that man? Kane Asher is written all over you. Tell me I’m wrong.”

Redness splashed my cheeks.

Raven giggled like mad. “In bold streaks and bright colors. Look at those cheeks.” She fanned herself. “That man must have really done you up right.”

I bit down on my bottom lip, but I found myself admitting it on a hushed whisper, “So right.”

Raven squealed and batted at Charleigh’s shoulder with the hand that wasn’t holding her mimosa. She still sloshed a little over the side. “I told you!”

A sweet smile played over Charleigh’s face. “Um, I don’t think that was your psychic abilities kicking into action. It was clear and blatant last weekend at my house. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a kickball game quite like that. The chemistry coming off you two? Scorching. I thought we were going to have to take the kids inside and give you and Kane some privacy.”

More redness flashed, mostly due to the memories of what had happened after we’d gotten home that night.

When that chemistry had finally exploded.

“It wasn’t that obvious,” I defended, though there was a guilty laugh to the words.

Raven cackled. “Oh, girl, they had to call the fire department to put out the fire you two left. Their lawn is completely ruined,” she teased.

I shook my head at her, embarrassment and joy fighting for dominance. I wasn’t sure how these two had managed to take this place in my life.

“Well, he is hot, so…” I couldn’t help but play along.

“Like, seriously. You should have seen when I was in high school.” Raven took a sip of her mimosa. “The only place any of my friends wanted to hang out was at my house so they could get a good look at my brothers.”

“I imagine you were very popular.” I jostled her in the shoulder.

She gestured at herself with her champagne flute. “Prom queen.”

I laughed. “Of course, you were.”

Though I doubted it had much to do with her family. I bet she had stolen hearts her whole life.

Maci’s laughter rolled across the lawn, and I looked out to where she and Nolan were doing somersaults halfway across the yard.

“Not any farther than that,” I hollered, reminding her of the boundaries we’d set. We didn’t want her getting anywhere near the stream or the woods.

“I know all the rules, Auntie Em,” she hollered back. “I gotta stay way away from the stream because I’m only four and I gotta get swimmin’ lessons, and I might get lost in the woods, so I gotta have you or my daddy come out and watch me when I want to come outside.”

She lifted one finger at a time as she checked off the rules until she was holding up three.

Amusement rippled through me, at odds with the nerves that I couldn’t shake.

“Smart girl!” Raven shouted with a grin.

“That’s right, Auntie Raven. My mommy told me I’m really extra smart, so you need to know it.”

Maci went right back to the tumbling instructions Nolan was giving her, the little boy far too excited that she was going to be joining him in class next week.

Affection rushed out of Raven, and she glanced at me. “She’s so special, Emery. I’m so thankful she’s a part of our lives. That you’re a part of our lives.”

I wavered in my uncertainty, so desperately wanting to be a part of it.

Concern rode into her expression. “You are staying?” she pressed.

Wariness wheezed from my nose. “I’m supposed to go back in two weeks.”

Questions marred both their brows, and I sighed as I continued, “Emmalee left me her clothing boutique back in Wisconsin. Her friend has been managing it for the last few months, but I’m scheduled to go back and take it over.”

Charleigh frowned. “Is that what you want to do?”

I couldn’t stop the bout of wistfulness from rushing out. “My sister and I, we always dreamed of owning a shop together…”

I hesitated, unsure how much to give them, but my heart told me I could trust them with most anything. “But, we had a traumatic experience when we were seventeen.”

Both Charleigh and Raven released heavy breaths. In an instant, their care and understanding weaved around me.

Emboldening.

Sustaining.

As if they absolutely understood everything I was feeling.

“I kind of…withdrew afterward. At first, I tried to act normal. To go to college and date and do all the things I thought someone my age was supposed to do. But it got worse with each year that passed. By the time we graduated and Emmalee was ready to open it, I had gotten to the point where I barely left my house. So, she ended up doing it alone. Without me.”

I gave them a sad glance. “I know it broke her heart a little bit.”

Needing a safe place to cast my attention, I turned it back to Maci and Nolan. I was silent for the longest time, swimming through the memories, through the support of my new friends.

Finally, I whispered, “After Maci was born, something changed inside me. I realized I didn’t want to be the aunt who couldn’t leave her house. I wanted to experience this life with my niece. I’ve been slowly coming out from behind the shell I built around myself. And now that Emmalee is gone…”

Thickness gathered in my throat, and I forced myself to continue, “I want to live. I want to live the way my twin had tried to get me to do. But now, I’m starting to wonder if that life is supposed to begin here.”

I took in the scene. This house and the children’s laughter and the tugging on my spirit. The connection that pulled through time and space, begging for Kane’s return.

And I couldn’t imagine it—leaving this behind.

Any of them.

A shiver rolled through me at the thought, mixed with the anxiety that I couldn’t shake with Kane being gone. Goosebumps lifted, and I ran my hands up my arms.

Raven must have noticed it because she rubbed the same spot, her face twisting in sympathy.

“You’ll get used to it,” she whispered, so low, as if she could see straight into my mind.

I looked her in the eye, a plea pouring out. “What am I getting used to?”

Her expression dimmed. “Kane needs to tell you that, Emery. I can’t do it myself. But I will tell you that anything he does, he does it because he’s a good man.”

Was that enough?

I wanted it to be.

I wanted to let go.

To just fully give in.

I didn’t have time to contemplate it further before River came jogging around the side of the house.

Hard breaths panted from his lungs and the air churned around his being.

The dread I’d felt all night swelled and expanded.

A thousand-pound weight that pressed on my chest.

Charleigh shot to her feet. “What’s wrong?”

River scrubbed a tattooed hand over his face, looking at her for one second before his focus drifted to me. “There was…an incident.”

Ice slicked down my spine.

“What happened?” It left me on a scrape of horror.

Grim sympathy coated his features. “Kane was shot.”

I staggered to standing, and my hand shot to the railing as I swayed to the side. Raven jumped up and wrapped an arm around my waist to support me.

“Is...” I croaked it, unable to get a coherent question out.

“Where is he?” Charleigh demanded at the same time.

His voice was hushed as he began to explain. “We chartered a flight to get him back here to Dr. Reynolds. Someone Cash knows who is a vault. You know we couldn’t take him to the ER. He should arrive in twenty. You need to get down there.”

“He’ll be fine,” Raven whispered, her voice quiet but frantic at my ear. “He’ll be fine. I know it. Dr. Reynolds is the absolute best. Charleigh is the absolute best. He’ll be in the best hands.”

I couldn’t even process what she was saying.

All I could hear was he was shot.

He was shot.

“I’ll stay with the kids. Take Emery with you,” Raven asserted, squeezing Charleigh’s hand in encouragement. “Take care of him. Make sure he’s okay.”

Charleigh nodded. “I will.”

“We need to go,” River urged.

My nod was lumbering, and I stumbled out into the yard. One second later, I was on my knees in front of Maci. With a trembling hand, I brushed back her hair. “Auntie has to run an errand really quick, but Auntie Raven and Nolan are going to stay with you.”

Maci beamed her sweet smile. “Okay, Auntie! Hurry it back fast because you know I’m gonna miss you.”

“I will, sweetheart.”

And I just prayed when I did, I wouldn’t have to break her heart all over again.

FORTY-NINE

EMERY

We burst in through the back door of the clinic. The same door that I came through when I’d been brought in by the ambulance. I should have known then that something was amiss. That there was truly something treacherous in the underlining of Kane’s life.

And the only thing I could think was, Please, be okay, please, be okay.

As if Charleigh could hear the prayers dropping from my spirit, she squeezed my hand as we ran inside.

“He’s going to be fine,” she promised.

Sickness boiled in my stomach and my head felt light, and it took everything I had not to crumble to the floor when River tossed open the door that led to the secret examination room ahead of us and I found Kane sitting up on the stretcher.

Awake and alive.

Hooked to a bunch of tubes and wires with the softest smile on his gorgeous face.

“Oh my God.” It wheezed out of me.

Supplication.

Praise.

I didn’t know.

The only thing I knew was I was pushing around River and Charleigh and throwing myself against him.

He grunted when I made contact, though those arms wrapped around me.

Strong and fierce and unrelenting.

A sob tore out of me. “Kane.”

A hand ran down the back of my head, his voice a gruff murmur at the top of it. “I’m okay. I’m okay.”

“I was so scared,” I choked around a sob.

He urged me back to look at him, his hands never ceasing in their caresses, those magic eyes flaring as he stared back at me. “I told you I would never leave you.”

Tears blurred my sight, and I could barely get the words out with the way cries clogged my throat. “You were shot.”

There were uncountable questions in the muddled statement.

How and who and what was he involved in? How was this possible? Because I didn’t understand the details of his life. Who he really was or if my niece or I were safe. If I was making a horrible mistake by allowing my heart to be right here with him, bleeding all over the floor.

His thumb brushed over a tear that slid down my cheek. “It’s okay.”

My brow knitted in the disorder of fear and relief. “Is it?”

Kane sent a wary glance at River who I felt hovering right behind. His own turmoil flooding out.

Kane’s regard dipped back to me. “We need to talk.”

“But first I need to make sure you’re stable,” Dr. Reynolds cut in. The man was probably in his mid-seventies, his hair completely grayed and a litany of wrinkles carved into the map of his face.

Kindness and care leaked out with what almost seemed irritation.

“Told Theo that I was fine, but he freaked out.”

River grunted. “You fuckin’ blacked out, man. Theo thought he was losing you.”

Something vicious streaked across Kane’s face. His voice a blade. “Are they safe? Don’t know what happened once I got on that plane.”

I could feel River’s reticence. The way he glanced at me in speculation and worry before he gritted, “Yeah. Once Theo got you to that airfield, he made his way back to the transport truck with them. They’re secure and on their way.”

Kane breathed out a strained sigh. “Thank fuck. Wasn’t sure we were going to make it out of that one.”

My attention ricocheted between the two of them. Dread so thick I could hardly breathe. What were they talking about?

“And that scumbag who came after them?”

More hesitation from River, then the scraping of words. “He’s down. Permanently.”

Nausea spun, and Kane hugged me closer.

Energy curled between us.

Both disorienting and comforting.

“What’s the status?” River asked, turning his focus to Dr. Reynolds and Charleigh who’d been bustling around on the other side of Kane during the exchange.

“He was stable on the flight. Blood pressure is good. The injury was mostly superficial, and he lost only a small amount of blood, though I have no doubt that it hurt like hell.”

“Like bloody hell.” Kane grinned.

My chest tightened. This wasn’t funny. Wasn’t a joke. Wasn’t something to be written off.

As if he sensed the turmoil, Kane squeezed me tighter, coaxing me to bury my face in the sanctuary of his chest, his voice rough when he muttered, “If I’m all good, then I’m going to need you all to step out.”

I started to straighten.

“Not you, Little Warrior. Need you right here with me.”

“That should be fine,” Dr. Reynolds said as he scribbled something into an old-school chart before he patted Kane’s opposite shoulder. His words turned poignant. “You did well.”

Confusion continued to race, and River hesitated. Charleigh came around the table, her hand brushing across her fiancé’s chest to scoot him back before she ran a tender hand down my arm.

A soft show of encouragement before she ushered everyone out the door. It clicked shut behind them, and the dense air only thickened more the second Kane and I were alone.

A pounding that thudded against the walls. Reverberating. Multiplying the tumult that barreled through me.

“Hey,” Kane murmured.

I peeled my head back enough to look at him.

Intensity blazed from his expression, those magic eyes so full of emotion, lapping and swimming with secrets and truth.

“Who are you?” I finally managed to whisper.

Mournfulness flicked and flashed across his striking face, and he brushed back a lock of hair stuck to my tear-stained cheek and tucked it behind my ear. “Told you I wasn’t a good man. That you weren’t going to get a white knight but a dragon.”

The warning filled the enclosed space.

Ballooning to unbearable.

I sniffled. “You never told me what that really means.”

Severity creased the corners of his eyes. “You want to know, Emery? Do you really want to know me? You want to see inside to the man that I really am?”

My nod was frantic.

A fool.

A fool.

Wanting to dive straight into whoever that was.

“I tell you this, Emery, and I’m letting you into something that can never be revealed to anyone else.” Ferocity underscored the words. “It’s a secret that we carry. One that very few know about. One that I want you to hold and share with me.”

His throat bobbed harshly as he studied me. “And I’m fucking terrified that you might run when I do. Terrified that I’ll lose you. Terrified because I love you so fucking much that I don’t recognize myself any longer.”

Moisture continued to pool, my own emotion cresting. Rising up and overflowing.

His confession sounded so sweet in the middle of the hurricane.

“I love you so much,” he pushed on. “So much that I’m willing to face any consequence for the chance of you loving me back.”

My heart burned.

Burned and blazed as the confession poured from him.

“But if I have any chance of that, then you need to know me. You need to know this.” The last word cracked.

“What is this?” I begged.

Kane inhaled a steeling breath. “You know that I met my crew while living on the streets of LA. I ended up there after my mother was killed. Desperate and alone and trying to find a way to survive. And we did that by falling into a bad crowd. A really bad crowd, and we got involved in really bad things.”

Apprehension expanded, my breaths coming short and haggard while I watched the demons play through Kane’s eyes.

The grief and regret.

The shame and the torment.

My fingers trembled with the urge to reach out and smooth them away.

“Our hands are dirty, Emery. Fucking filthy and tainted. Brutality. Barbarity.” Shadows of shame crawled across his striking, intimidating face. “I’ve done horrible, abhorrent things.”

My throat was so thick I could hardly breathe, and I clutched his hand to keep myself grounded. Tied to his reality that he didn’t want me to face.

Remorse shook his head. “So many years passed like that, and I don’t know if we all came up on a T in the road at the same time or what. If there was something that popped up inside us that told us we all had to make a change.”

Kane hesitated, sweeping his tongue over his bottom lip before he forced himself to continue. “This one night…”

Pain oozed out of him on a torrent. “This one night, I ran straight into a T, Emery. A dead end.” He swallowed hard, barely able to speak. “These bastards that we’d gotten messed up in were asking me to do something I absolutely could not do. I don’t think I realized I still had a conscience until that moment.”

I couldn’t get the air into my aching lungs while I waited, my eyes trapped by the torment that thrashed in Kane’s penetrating gaze.

“What…what was it?” I finally managed to ask.

Grimness shook his head, and he brushed a trembling thumb over the apple of my cheek. “I’ll spare you that, Little Warrier. The only thing you need to know is I couldn’t go along with what they had planned. So, that night, I betrayed these guys who were supposed to be my brothers.”

He inhaled a shattered breath. “Not one of my crew knew what I’d done. None of them knew I was basically a dead man walking. I hid out for a couple of weeks, trying to lay low, though I kept an eye on Theo and the rest of the guys to make sure they were safe. I couldn’t let what I’d done blow back on them.”

My heart was hooked on every word that he confessed.

Kane let go of a disbelieving chuckle. “Thing was, those monsters we’d gotten involved with? About a week later, that whole group imploded, and they scattered like the fucking rats they were. So, I went back home—to the house I shared with all the guys and Raven.”

He pushed out a heavy sigh before he continued. “Two nights later, River showed up with this woman…”

Kane blinked a bunch of times, as if he were taken back to that time. His voice ground like gravel. “River had overheard an altercation between her and her boyfriend. Had heard this guy beating on her. Her pleas and cries.”

He paused, staring at me, worried that he was revealing too much.

My entire being rattled. Sure of the direction he was going, but needing to hear him say it, anyway.

“Tell me,” I rushed on a whisper.

Kane gave a soft nod as if it would lessen the verbal blow he was about to deliver.

“He killed him, Emery. He killed that bastard to protect this woman who couldn’t protect herself.”

Even though I’d almost anticipated it, a gasp raked up my throat. I’d known there was something about them, hadn’t I? A dusky, quiet menace that echoed around their spirits?

Grief curled Kane’s brow, and his hand tremored where he settled it on my neck. “Are you still with me?”

It was a plea, his question begging me to understand.

I nodded as a tear slipped free.

Kane gathered the moisture with his thumb, and he tipped his head to the side, his expression turning to awe. “He brought her to us. Wanted us to help him give her a new life.”

A shiver ran through me when he shifted to expose the tattoo on the back of his hand. The two stacked Ss with the blade running from top to bottom with an eye in the middle.

The same one they all had.

He squeezed that hand into a fist. “Sovereign Sanctum. That was the day it was born.”

“Sovereign Sanctum?” It cracked with uncertainty.

Kane gave a tight nod. “It’s what we really do, Emery. It’s who we really are. We left the type of sin and corruption we’d been involved in and turned our brutality to this.”

His voice was a tolling of low thunder. “We get women and children out of whatever dire situations they’re in. Setting them up with new identities and lives…by any means necessary.”

Dark emphasis rode on the last.

I blinked, trying to process what he was saying. “You mean…you’re like…some special undercover cops?”

The second I asked it, I knew it was all wrong.

“No, Emery. There isn’t much of anything we do that’s legal.” He shook his head with the admission.

I tried to swallow around the stone that sat heavily at the base of my throat, my mind spinning through the things that he said.

What he admitted.

Raven’s statement from earlier traipsed through my mind. “But I will tell you that anything he does, he does it because he’s a good man.”

“You…kill people to get them away from their abusers?” God, it felt ridiculous coming off my tongue. Impossible. And yet it so profoundly rang with the truth.

“Only if we have to. Only if there’s not another way.”

“And that’s what happened today? You got shot trying to help someone?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed violently when he swallowed. “Yeah. A woman and her little boy. We tried to get them out without him knowing, but he was watching and followed us. Ended in a gun fight.”

“Are they…” I rasped around the horror.

Relief filled Kane’s nod. “That’s what River was saying. They’re safe. With Theo and on their way here to Moonlit Ridge where they’ll stay at The Sanctuary. It’s what it’s really used for…hiding victims away until we get them on to their new lives.”

“This is…”

“More than you should have to bear, and I’m the bastard who is asking you to do it, anyway. The bastard who can’t fucking stomach the idea of you walking away. But if that’s what you need to do…to protect your beautiful heart…then I will respect that. But I can’t take it back or stop it. Not when these people need us. If my mother would have had someone like us...”

The last broke off, the man unable to speak.

Overcome with old grief.

My heart felt like it was being squeezed. Bled out and filled.

“Oh, Kane…”

I could see the thoughts play out in his mind. A spinning record he would never be able to stop. If only I could go back and save her…if I could help her the way I help these women and children.

My own thoughts raced through my mind, the tattoo on the inside of my wrist burning with its truth. Find me in the darkness, bring me to the light.

For three gutting days and nights, it had been the plea of my soul. For someone to find us. To bring us out of the torture that we’d been subjected to. And I could almost feel the relief I had when we were rescued. When I’d been brought into the light.

How could I ever, ever consider what he did wrong?

Kane’s frown was grim. “Know what you’re thinking, Em. But you need to know how ugly this goes. How dangerous it is. Everything I do is criminal. From my bars that we use as a cover for the money laundering that we use to support ourselves and those we set up with new identities, all the way to the fact that we shot a man dead today, and I don’t have an ounce of regret in doing it.”

My chin wobbled. “Because you’re a fighter, too.”

I was sure, right then, that he would always fight for me. For us.

And all the walls that I’d tried to keep erected were finally floored.

Demolished.

Ruined.

Because I could feel myself slip over the edge, right into that free fall that I’d been so terrified of.

Surrendering.

Surrendering.

Regret rippled across his face. “You really should run.”

“Is that what you want me to do?”

A big, big hand was back on my face, softly caressing as he murmured, “Think you know the only thing I want is for you to love me back.”

And that last barrier cracked wide open, and a rush of tears gushed down my face. “As if there was any chance of me not loving you?”

Emotion gripped him, and he pulled me in, his nose brushing mine. “What are you saying, Little Warrior? That you’re mine?”

“Kane Asher, I think I was yours the second you picked me up off the floor at Twisted Moon.”

“Fuck…Emery.” Gulping, he dropped his forehead to mine. “I love you. I love you with every breath that this body will give me. With every sunrise and every twilight and every fucking second in between. For every single one of my days.”

The only thing I could do was curl myself against him, my mouth buried in his neck when I fully, completely surrendered. “I love you. With all of me. With everything.”

FIFTY

KANE

Freedom.

I didn’t think I’d really understood the meaning of it until right then. The wind lashing across my face, the heavy metal of my bike vibrating below me, my girl wrapped around me from behind.

Her tits pressed tight against my back and the thud of her heart battering through me like a beautiful storm.

Right then, we were traveling down the south end of the mountain after I’d taken her to watch the view of the sun going behind the lake.

“It’s so beautiful,” she’d whispered.

I couldn’t help but ask her, “Does this feel like home?”

Her answer had been simple.

“Home feels like wherever you are.”

Like I said, freedom.

This thing that we’d found.

Three weeks had passed since the showdown with that bastard in Eugene. Emery had come to the place where she knew she wanted to stay, believing this was where she belonged.

With me and Maci.

Making a family.

She still wasn’t sure what she was going to do about her sister’s store, but she, Raven, and Charleigh had been tossing around some ideas.

Tonight was the first time I was up to taking my bike out on the open road after the incident, and I’d wanted to experience that moment with my Little Warrior.

Hell, the only thing I wanted to do was celebrate, so I’d organized exactly that.

A celebration.

The trees hugged the winding road as we made our way down the mountain, and I slowed as we made it to the bottom where it widened into Moonlit Ridge. My arms outstretched as I clutched the handlebars and my heart in this woman’s hands.

I slowed even more as we came upon my club, but rather than taking the lane that led all the way back to my place, I pulled into the dirt lot and eased my bike up to the row of motorcycles that lined the side wall of the enormous building.

River, Otto, and Cash’s bikes were already there.

I came to a stop, then planted my boots on the ground so I could back my bike into the open spot between Cash and Otto’s.

I killed the engine.

In an instant, silence swamped us. Emery just remained there, her body plastered to mine and her sweet breaths invading my senses.

That delicious morning glory scent that had become the fragrance of my life.

I set my hands over both of hers. “What’d you think?”

“I think I could definitely get used to this.”

A low chuckle rolled out of me when I thought back to the first time I coerced her onto my bike. Before I’d known that my entire life was getting ready to shift. Everything I’d known knocked from its axis.

When I’d told her if she wanted to ride me, she was going to have to get used to riding on my bike.

It seemed we’d come full circle considering she had me every chance that she got.

“Now I do like the sound of that.” I swiveled so I could peer at her. That gorgeous, striking face lit up below the pool of muted light that bled from the side of the old building. The black helmet she wore looked so fucking cute, though I didn’t complain as she quickly worked through the buckle and those blonde locks went tumbling around her shoulders as she shook her hair out.

“I thought you might.” She was all teases and light. The barriers that’d fought to keep us separated had been smashed to shit.

“Plan to have you on it every moment I can,” I rumbled.

A saucy grin edged her mouth. “I bet you’re just sad you can’t fit a car seat on it.”

Laughter tumbled out of me as she brought attention to my little girl.

My little girl who was having a sleep over at Nolan’s babysitter’s house so my whole crew could celebrate tonight.

I took Emery by the hand to help her off. “Don’t put any ideas in my head. My Angel Face has already been begging me to let her take a ride on my motorbike.”

Emery and I both cringed a bit, the protectiveness we felt over that sweet thing almost too much to bear.

“I think we should hold off on that for a…while,” Emery suggested.

“Maybe forever,” I agreed, no stopping the smile that took over my face as I swung off my bike.

Emery chewed at her plump bottom lip. “I never thought I would get to experience this kind of life. You and me and that little girl.”

Emery’s words were a breath of joy mixed with a tenor of grief that was always going to come with this gift.

Reaching out, I dragged my fingertips down the defined angle of her jaw. “Never, Emery. Never thought once in my life that I’d get this. This love that is bursting out of me. I thought I had one single purpose, and then there was you and Maci and the place inside me I thought was forever dead came alive.”

I could almost taste my mother’s gladness from wherever she was watching over me.

You take care of the ones you love most.

I was never going to stop.

Toffee eyes swam, and Emery pressed her palm against where my heart battered at my chest. “You are my perfect ten, my sweet, fierce dragon.”

I gathered up the hand she had on my chest, pressed my lips to her knuckles, and whispered, “I will always take care of you. Do what’s right for you. For both of you.”

“I trust you.”

I trust you.

I trust you.

I would never shatter it.

“Come on, let’s go celebrate you,” I told her as I tugged at her hand.

“What do you mean, celebrate me? I thought we were celebrating that you were fit enough to get on your bike again? Not that you haven’t been plenty fit for other things.”

She tossed me a coy grin where she walked along beside me, the woman wearing this red halter top, black leather skirt, and thigh-high boots. The lush fall of her blonde hair was done in soft, gorgeous waves that babbled around her bare shoulders.

So fucking sexy she made my insides quake.

It was all thanks to Raven who’d insisted on coming to our place to help Emery get ready. Dressing her up like she was meant to be on the back of my bike.

There was no doubt in my mind that she was.

Shifting so I was behind her, I wrapped my arms around her front and let my hands wander down her abdomen and thighs until they were barely inching up under her skirt. “Like I wouldn’t be taking every opportunity to get inside this tight, perfect body.”

Emery shivered.

My mouth went to the shell of her ear. “And sure, my crew wants to celebrate that I’m still standing, but the real victory here is the fact that you’ll be standing at my side. A part of this family. A part of me forever.”

Forever.

What a mindfuck that I would accept nothing less.

Since we were in the shadows at the edge of the wall, I let my hand glide a little higher beneath that skirt. Fingertips just brushing the needy spot between her thighs.

A tiny moan got free of Emery as she leaned back against me.

Lust rippled out with my chuckle, the words scraping against her ear, “Just want to be sure my girl is drenched and aching for me the entire night.”

“You’re mean,” she rasped when I suddenly pulled my fingers away.

I snatched her hand again and walked out in front of her, turning around and pulling her along with me. “Nah, baby, I told you before and it’s never going to change. The only thing I’ve got for you is pleasure.”

And maybe I was too wrapped up to notice the movement in the distance.

Lurking in the trees.

Too smitten to remain alert.

Because I barely glanced over my shoulder when I felt the disturbance, peering into the shadows of the lapping trees before I hurried Emery up the steps and into the club.

Inside, we sat at the large horseshoe booth that I kept reserved for my crew. Music pounded from the speakers, the drinks flowed easily, and satisfaction simmered in every recess of my being.

My girl was tucked under my arm and the rest of my family were gathered around.

The booth was at the far-left corner of the club, looking out over the rambling expanse that was packed as always, bodies crammed together on the dance floor, the energy alive as the band played from the stage.

Emery and I sat in the middle section of the booth, flanked by Charleigh and River to our left and Raven and Otto to our right. Theo and Cash capped off each end.

We’d been here for the last two hours, catching up and sharing stories of our pasts, some far more sordid than others.

Our laughter rang just as deep as the ease that played through the hazy atmosphere.

“Can’t believe you finally tamed the beast,” Otto razzed as he took a sip from his beer, gesturing his chin at Emery who hadn’t stopped grinning. “Never thought I’d see the day.”

“Guess I was waiting for the only person who could do it,” I supplied for her, hugging her close. Loving the rush of heat that burned across her flesh as I did.

The girl was still shy, but she was steadily sinking into this family the way she’d been meant to do.

“It still kind of gives me whiplash myself, considering I hated him the first time I met him.”

I was surprised by her ribbing, and my chest glowed as I nudged myself a little closer to her.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure you didn’t hate me the first time you met me.” I didn’t hide the suggestion, lifting my brows as I smirked down at her.

Toffee eyes went wide, and that energy blazed as she realized what I was referring to.

Charleigh giggled from my other side. “Love at first sight.”

Maybe.

Maybe that’s exactly what it’d been.

“Think that’s called lust at first sight.” Theo grinned with the taunting.

From under the table, Emery clamped her hand over my thigh as she peered up at me.

A silent message passed between us.

Our truth that this binding was profound.

That the connection we shared—the familiarity and comfort? We’d fallen into it that first, fleeting moment.

I shifted my attention to Theo. “Nah, brother, it was so much more than that. You’ll know when you feel it.”

He shook his head as he took a sip of his whiskey. “I can guarantee you that is not going to happen.”

Cash chuckled. “Yeah, because any sane woman would go running the other direction.”

“Says the guy who won’t come down from his cabin hidden in the mountain,” Theo razzed, chuckling under his breath.

Cash stretched out his thick arms. “I am sitting right here.”

Loved it that even Cash had come out tonight. He’d met Emery the day everything had gone down and I’d been taken to Dr. Reynolds’ office. Everyone had come to make sure I was okay.

Needing to see it with their own eyes because it was just the way we were.

It meant more that he’d shown up now. When things were good.

“By the grace of God,” Raven interjected as she shook her head, the biggest grin on her face. “And it’s a good thing since I have a toast to make.”

She wiggled around on the booth, placing a knee on the cushion and the other on the floor so she could awkwardly stand.

From where he was sitting next to her, Otto wrapped himself around her waist, all smirks and smiles and fucking obsessed as hell.

I finally understood the affliction.

Raven lifted her drink. “When I was nine years old, I found myself living with this group of four strangers. These guys who were little more than boys. They took me and River in as if we were blood. Protected us. Watched over us and taught us how to survive when our circumstances were so messed up.”

Her voice shook a little, moisture blearing her eyes that were as dark as midnight.

“You’re the only family I’ve ever known,” she murmured, emotion thick in her words. “The only one I’ve ever needed. The only one I want. I just wanted to say how happy it makes me to see it growing.”

A soft smile kissed her red-stained lips. “Nolan was a shock when he came into our lives, and then Charleigh found us. Charleigh who needed us just as badly as we needed her.”

She inhaled an affected breath, joy prancing all over her pretty face that she then turned toward Emery. “And now Emery and Maci. Honestly, my heart feels like it could explode. It’s the most beautiful thing watching it happen.”

Emotion flooded from Emery, and she shifted so she fully faced Raven, placing her hands over her chest in her own show of affection for Raven.

The one who’d become her friend. Her sister. Someone I doubted Emery very much expected. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” Emery said.

“Well, that is a very good thing because if you even tried to leave, I would hunt you down.” Raven’s words shifted into a tease.

“I would bring the rope and tape.” Giggling, Charleigh lifted her glass.

“Good lord, what have we turned you into?” River’s voice was soft with amusement, and he looped an arm around his fiancée’s shoulders. “Apparently, we really are terrible influences.”

Charleigh shrugged. “I kind of like what you’ve done to me.”

“That’s right,” Raven agreed. “I needed a partner in crime, and now I have two.”

She gave Emery an unhinged smile.

Emery laughed and lifted her own glass. “I’m ready for whatever antics and adventures you have in store for me.”

Fuck, I loved the way that sounded. The permanence of it.

“That’s what I like to hear,” Raven continued, “because Otto and I have a brand-new adventure in store for you all.”

The look she sent him spilled over with adoration, the same as what was coming from him.

Anticipation filled the air when she looked back at us.

“Because we’re adding another cutie pie to this family, and I know it’s going to be the most amazing sort of adventure.” The last word cracked with the joy that locked in her throat.

“We’re having a little one!” Otto shouted it with a fist pump over his head.

Pride streaming out.

And every single one of us were feeling that joy, too.

The way it radiated over all of us. Wrapping us whole.

Emery glanced up at me. Awe on her beautiful face.

I gave her a tender, knowing nod.

It was good. It was good.

“A baby!” Charleigh couldn’t contain her excitement, and she scrambled over River and Cash to get out of the booth. Raven did the same on the other side, and the two were laughing and crying and hugging each other like mad.

Everyone poured out of the booth behind them, wrapping Raven and Otto in their love and support.

River held her the longest. Hugging her and hugging her as he murmured something in her ear that none of us could hear, but I could tell from the way he hugged Otto after that there was no longer any question or anger over the two of them hooking up.

Because this was right.

Nothing had ever felt quite this perfect before.

“I think this really calls for a celebration,” I said, and I sauntered behind the long bar and snagged our best bottle of tequila and a bunch of shot glasses.

I returned to our table, poured the silver liquor into the glasses, and passed them out, save for Raven, of course, who I realized had been drinking club soda all night.

I looped an arm around Emery’s waist, and I lifted my glass toward the rest of our group. “To this family. Our greatest gift and my only treasure. May it remain strong and unshakable. And may it grow forever.”

“To this family!” everyone shouted as they clinked their glasses together and tossed their shots down their throats.

I didn’t throw mine back, though. I turned to Emery, a smirk taking over my entire face as I edged up close to her. “You want to drink tequila with me, baby? You know you should never drink tequila alone.”

Coyness played at the edge of her delicious mouth, and she swayed from side to side to the rhythm of the music that pounded through the air. “Is that so?”

“That’s right.”

I was swaying, too, getting lost in the moment.

In her.

Her scent and soul and the look in her eyes.

“You’re the only person I want to drink tequila with,” she whispered.

“Because you’re mine.” Possession ground out with the words.

Her nod was slow, toffee eyes flaring beneath the strobing of the lights as she admitted, “I’m yours.”

I clinked my glass against hers before we both tossed them back. Fire burned a path down my throat, and I grabbed her glass and tossed it aside, and my mouth found hers in a flash.

Eating up the taste of her tongue as I kissed her and kissed her.

My hand wound up in a fist in her hair and the other splayed wide against the small of her back.

Desperate to get close to her.

“Get a fuckin’ room,” Cash grumbled as he slipped by, and I pulled back for a beat, long enough to say, “For once, something intelligent coming out of your mouth.”

Cash lifted a middle finger over his shoulder as he sauntered away.

I couldn’t stop my chuckle, and a peal of laughter rolled out of Emery when I snatched the bottle from the table with one hand and grabbed hers with the other and began to haul her down the long hall to my office at the end.

She fumbled on those sky-high boots behind me.

“What are you doing?” Emery’s question was a whispered breath, just low enough that I could hear it over the din.

I spun her around and pinned her to the door. “Need you. Think I might die if I don’t get inside you.”

The playfulness wound with the desire, need flashing in that mesmerizing gaze as she stared up at me. “You have me.”

My girl was no longer shy or reserved, and I fucking loved it.

“And I’m never going to let you go,” I rumbled at her lips as I blindly punched in the code that unlatched the door.

It swung open, and I backed her inside, shutting and dead bolting it behind us as I edged her toward my desk.

I alternated pouring tequila into her mouth and kissing her the whole way.

Lapping it up with my tongue.

Mad with lust.

Crazed with devotion.

With this love that I didn’t understand.

This connection that felt like a life beat that ran through my veins.

“So happy, Em-Girl. So fuckin’ happy. Didn’t know it could be like this.”

I set the bottle to the side then pushed a bunch of shit off my desk so I could prop her on the edge of it.

She gasped as I stepped between her legs and dragged her against me. My jean-covered erection pressed heavy at her center.

Pleasure ripped up my spine at the bare contact. “Fuck. I’m never going to get enough. Never going to get enough of you or this tight little cunt.”

With frantic hands, I shoved her skirt up to her waist.

Our breaths came in choppy quakes as we struggled to get to one another, my kisses demanding and wild as I pushed her panties down her legs.

I stepped back to peel them all the way down, over her thigh-high boots before I tossed them to the ground.

“Lean back and let me see you,” I demanded.

Emery complied, leaning back on her elbows and hooking her heels on the edge of the desk and spreading herself wide.

Exposing herself.

Her pussy pink and swollen and drenched.

“Fuck. Look at you, Emery. Giving yourself this way. Knowing the way I’m going to take care of you.”

It was insane that she’d been so afraid of being touched before she was with me. It was something that both made me irate since she still hadn’t fully come to the place where she could talk about it, the words locking in her throat whenever she tried.

It also made me feel like a king.

That it was me she chose.

That she was free in my touch.

I ran my fingers through her wet, hot slit.

She arched, her chest heaving as her body begged for more.

“You want it, Little Warrior? You want my cock filling you full?”

“Yes. Always.”

I flicked the button of my jeans and dragged my zipper down, and I shoved them down far enough around my thighs so that I could free myself.

My cock jutted for the ceiling, hard as stone and bobbing with greed. So engorged I thought I might explode.

I fisted myself and ran the tip through her lips, making sure to rub the ball at the base of my tip over her throbbing clit.

Emery moaned and spread herself wider. “Please.”

My molars ground as I slowly began to feed her my dick. Driving slow and deep into her tight, soaked pussy.

She writhed and whimpered.

“Take it, Little Warrior. Take it the way you were made to do.”

Her lips stretched wide around my cock, so fucking pretty where we met. I couldn’t look away as I filled her so full we both were gasping.

The oxygen thin.

Our heads spinning

Delirium.

That’s what this had to be.

Touching her and feeling like I might pass out.

“So good, so good,” I rumbled as I fitted myself inside her, the woman so snug that I always had to give her a few moments to adjust. Her walls spasming and clenching as I worked my way in.

“So good,” she agreed. “So good, Kane. Nothing is better. I still don’t know how.”

I pulled out almost to the tip then drove back in.

Possessive and deep.

“Because this is the way it’s supposed to be. You and me. Knew it the second I saw you.”

Felt it.

This thing I’d been missing.

“You and me,” she whimpered as I pulled back out.

“You and me, Little Warrior. We fight this world together. For that little girl. For us. Whatever it takes.”

I took her under the knees and slammed back in hard.

Her nod was juddering as her body rocked up the surface of my desk. “Whatever it takes.”

Fuck, we were so in sync.

This rhythm.

This connection.

We swam in it. A frisson zapping through the air as I began to move in her.

I fucked her the way she liked me to do.

A little rougher than I’d ever imagined.

I definitely wasn’t going to complain.

My hips snapped as I began to pound into her.

Juts of approaching bliss ruptured from her mouth, and she stared up at me the whole time. Her nipples pebbled and poked through the thin fabric of her shirt. Blonde waves fell all around her and dripped onto the desk.

And those eyes…those fucking gorgeous eyes that could see all the way into my soul.

“You feel that, Em-Girl? Way this pussy was made for me? So perfect. So perfect. Nothing better.”

Praise spilled out, and she suddenly rocked up, her arms going around my neck as she began to kiss me senselessly. Her body pushing up to meet mine with every thrust.

I slipped my hands up the inside of her thighs so I could spread her even more.

Taking her and taking her.

A frenzy broke between us, and our movements became frantic.

Rapture a blaze of anticipation that burned between us.

“Anything you want. Every pleasure. Every fantasy. It’s yours,” I promised close to incoherently.

Sweat slicked across our flesh. Flames rising high as we gripped and clutched and clawed to get to the other.

She felt so good it was close to unbearable.

The pleasure that wound with each thrust.

“You. The only thing I want is you. The peace I’ve found.” It spilled from her tongue and onto mine.

“You have me. All of me. Everything I’ve got.”

She crawled up my body until she was in my arms, the woman rolling over me, begging for me.

I shifted her around, and I placed her on her knees on my desk facing away. She bent all the way over, her forearms resting on the desk.

Her perfect, round ass arched out over the side.

Pussy drenched and dripping.

I shoved back inside.

The position allowed me to take her deeper, and she choked over the shock of pleasure.

I took her by the cheeks, spreading her wide as I began to drive into her from behind.

In one second, she was a flame.

An inferno that nearly set fire to the room.

Cries ripping out of her, rasps and pleas and the urging of my name.

I wound a hand around her so I could get to her clit, fingers swirling in time with the rock of my hips.

I fucked her deep and hard.

Until she was writhing and thrashing.

I curled a hand around the front of her throat and dragged her back against me, pulling her higher up on her knees.

“Kane,” she begged at the change in position.

“Show me how bad you need it,” I growled at her ear.

She did exactly that.

Rocking down hard on my dick. Taking me rough and wild and with everything she had.

Energy lifted. That thing that only existed between us. Vapor that clouded the lust-addled air. Spinning us into a perfect disorder.

Both of us so close.

Right there.

Her body glowed and my stomach twisted.

“Come for me, Little Warrior. You don’t have to fight me. Not ever again.”

Loved the sensation that burst through me when she splintered, this woman’s pleasure in my hands as she came undone.

Her walls throbbed and spasmed as she pulled me apart.

Orgasms ripping through us both. The greatest kind of pleasure as we soared. Lights flashed behind my eyes, so fucking bright as I poured myself into the tight clutch of her heat.

Claiming her the way she’d claimed me.

We both were sucking for air as we reoriented ourselves. As the frenzy we’d incited calmed to a warm glow.

Where we rested in the silence and just knew.

I wrapped my arms around her way up high, pinning her arms to her sides as I drew her fully against me. Her back to my chest, her mussed hair in my face. “I love you so fucking much, Emery Voss. You are my everything. My heart and my soul and my body will always belong to you.”

She shifted her head so that she could cut her eye toward me. “And you, Kane Asher, are my complete surrender.”

And that familiarity surged. The way it felt like I’d known her the moment I met her.

The connection that thrummed.

And I didn’t understand why my guts twisted in it. In a dread. The faint memory that fluttered in the recesses of my mind, the frayed threads dancing around the periphery of my being.

Understanding just out of reach.

FIFTY-ONE

EMERY

“Then there was a girl named Sadie, and another boy named Lenny, and another one called Peter. And we can’t even forget my very best friend Nolan who did so many fwips, and I did almost as many, and did you know he’s my cousin?”

It was just before two in the afternoon, and Maci skipped along at my side as I climbed the stairs after doing a load of laundry, the child chattering nonstop.

Kane was at the club receiving a shipment. He was barely a mile away, but he’d still posted Otto out front.

I wasn’t sure it was necessary. Weeks had passed since I’d been attacked in the grocery store parking lot, but Kane insisted we needed to be cautious. The things he’d witnessed and experienced in his sordid, vile world made him unwilling to take the chance.

He promised it wouldn’t always be that way. That once they caught the guy, he wouldn’t be so overprotective.

Because of it, I always was a little antsy while he was away.

At least I had Maci to keep me entertained since she hadn’t stopped talking about her first tumbling class she’d had yesterday.

“Did you and my daddy even see me?” she prattled, her little body turned sideways as she grinned up at me, her chubby, adorable hand on the railing as we ascended.

Amusement tugged on my chest. “We absolutely saw you, and we almost couldn’t believe it. You were doing flips all over the place.”

Kane and I had sat in the parents’ section and watched through a big window. He’d claimed her a natural, even though she’d fallen more than she’d landed on her feet.

“Big ones, too!” she enthused.

“Oh, yeah, they were definitely big.”

“And guess what, Auntie Em?”

“What?”

She lowered her voice like it was a secret. “I even get to learn how to do a backfwip.”

“Whoa. Are you sure you’re ready for that?”

We hit the top landing, and her sweet smile filled my periphery as she beamed my way. “I’m ready for anything, Auntie. My mommy told me that’s the way we gotta live. Takin’ evwy opportunity we got.”

Joy pressed down fiercely on my heart. It shouldn’t be real. That I could feel this way. But it was there. A warm glow that surrounded me.

I could almost feel my sister’s presence. Like if she couldn’t be here, this would be exactly the way she would have wanted it.

As if maybe she’d somehow set me on this course on purpose.

Kane’s grin flashed behind my eyes. That gorgeous face and those big hands and his beautiful heart.

I was still having a hard time understanding how I’d found myself in this place.

Trusting.

Giving.

For so long I’d believed I would forever live hiding from my ghosts.

But he’d brought me out of it. Out of the darkness and into the light.

I balanced the laundry basket on my hip as Maci darted ahead of me into her room. “Here, Auntie, I’ll help you.”

She tore open the bottom drawer of her dresser where we kept all her sundresses.

“You really are a big help,” I told her as I knelt so I could place the folded stack into the drawer.

She shrugged a tiny shoulder. “That’s what my daddy tells me.”

I tucked the stack of dresses into the drawer then leaned down so I could press a kiss to the crown of her head. “Your daddy loves you, doesn’t he?”

“He told me he’s got two very most favorites…” She lifted two fingers in the air. “That’s me and you! I think that’s a special spot, and my daddy’s got a really special spot right here.”

She touched the spot over her precious heart, and mine basically melted.

“I love you so much, Angel Face,” I said, trying to keep the soggy emotion out of my voice as I whispered it.

“As many as all the stars,” she mumbled, then she hopped up and moved to where she’d left her dolls scattered on the floor, her sweet imagination carrying her away in an instant.

I pushed to standing. “Okay, I’m going to get the rest of these things put away. I’ll be in the other room if you need me.”

“’Kay,” she said, not really paying me any attention.

I stepped out into the hall, and I glanced down at the rest of the clothes I had in the basket.

Butterflies lifted in my belly. All of this still felt so new. Kane insisting that I make his room mine.

A nod to our permanence.

I hadn’t really started keeping my things in there yet. Just some toiletries and clean pajamas and underwear in an empty drawer that he’d cleared out for me.

I glanced between the open door to what had been my bedroom and the double doors at the end of the opposite hall. A grin tugged at my mouth as I made the decision, and I walked into his room and directly into the massive walk-in closet that was on the opposite side of the bathroom.

I flicked on the light.

It was long and narrow, and it hooked around at the end. Rows of clothes hung from each side, and there were built-in shelves and drawers in different sections.

I moved down to a spot where there were fewer items hanging from the rod, and I began to hang up a few of my shirts that I’d just washed.

Contentment danced on my lips.

It smelled like him in here.

Cedar and clove. That masculine scent that never failed to intoxicate me.

I ran my fingers over his things as I moved down the closet, no stopping my smile as I experienced him this way.

This rough, intimidating man who kept his clothes perfectly arranged and organized.

There were a ton of different button-up shirts that he normally wore into the club. How much I loved how sexy they looked when he rolled the sleeves up his forearms.

His jeans were hanging, too.

I’d always thought him a complete paradox.

I moved deeper into the closet, and I slowed when I saw a lower shelf that had a bunch of old framed pictures sitting on it.

It looked like a tribute. Maybe a shrine.

Heavy emotion tugged at my chest, and I reached out and ran my fingertips over the glass of a frame, staring at the image of a beautiful woman wearing a floral dress and the little boy who was tucked close to her side, his arms around her waist as he squeezed her hard and grinned at the camera.

Her eyes—they were the same color as Kane’s and Maci’s. That striking emerald tempered by flecks of gold.

Though hers were weighted with a sadness that was unmistakable.

Pain speared me. Looking at this woman who Kane had adored. Someone who I had no question would have wanted her life to be different but had somehow remained trapped. This woman had suffered the types of brutalities that Kane and his family gave all of themselves to try to protect them from.

It was still hard to process it. What they really did. On some level, I recognized it was wrong, but there was a much larger part of myself that couldn’t imagine him doing anything else.

The way he stood for others in a way he hadn’t been able to for his mother, and I’d gleaned enough from the things Kane had shared, the things that Raven and Charleigh had, too, to understand that all the guys had gone through similar situations in one way or another.

It was what had brought them together in the first place, was what they’d known, and now they did their best to end it for as many women and children as they could.

How could I think of it as anything less than honorable?

My gaze traveled, taking in the different pictures of Kane and his mom. He grew older in each.

A soft smile tugged when I saw him with the rest of his crew. All of them so young. Maybe seventeen or eighteen. A little black-haired Raven was smack in the middle of them.

That smile shifted a fraction when my attention landed on another image that sat farther in the back. I reached in and carefully pulled the frame out so I could study it better.

A flare of disquiet fluttered somewhere in the back of my mind.

I narrowed my eyes as I took it in.

Kane was with the rest of the guys. Theo, Cash, Otto, and River. They were older. Maybe in their early twenties. Their arms were slung around each other’s shoulders as they gawped at the camera.

A bottle of alcohol dangled from one of Theo’s hands and Otto was tossing a middle finger at whoever was taking the shot.

But it was what they wore that sent a cold slick of familiarity slithering through my veins.

An ice-cold dread that tightened my chest and soured my stomach.

All of them were in leather cuts. The kind that bikers wore. And it wouldn’t have been all that shocking except for the patch that sat on the upper left side of each of them.

It was the depiction of a vicious owl, its wings stretched wide and in full flight. In its claws was a skull.

Flashes of memories streaked through my mind, and in an instant, horror took me hostage.

The floor was cold and hard below her, her hands and feet bound. Fabric covered her eyes, tied tight around the back of her head, her sight obscured.

She was disoriented.

Sick.

Pain and fear heavy in her limbs.

She went in and out of consciousness, as if her spirit tried to float away. To rise above the torment that had been inflicted.

Raucous laughter hit her ears, pulling her from the reprieve of the stupor.

“Bro, you know how much they’re worth?”

“Don’t care…gonna get my piece.”

Another bark of laughter. A clapping of a shoulder. “Cutter’s gonna cut your dick off and feed it to the sharks.”

“Fuck Cutter.”

Her sister whimpered beside her while Jana wept.

The light was minimally brighter above her left eye, and Emery carefully shifted, her head angled in a way so she could peer around the edge of the blindfold. A bulb hung from the ceiling and poured jaundiced light against the brick walls, and two men stood facing each other.

The only thing she could make out was the one with his back to her.

Brown hair and he wore a black leather vest.

A design was embroidered on the back. An owl in full flight with a skull clutched in its claws. It was circled by an O with an I slashing through the middle.

And inscribed at the bottom was Iron Owls MC.

Sickness pooled in my stomach, and nausea rolled up my throat.

No.

I squinted at the picture, praying that I wasn’t seeing it right. That I was only making it up. Conjuring a nightmare that wasn’t really there.

But there would be no scrubbing that memory from my being. The emblem that would forever be emblazoned in my mind.

Trembles rolled through me, and I fumbled as I tried to set the frame down. The wood clipped the top of another frame, and it knocked it over. It hit another, causing a domino effect.

Frames toppled, and two hit the floor.

I was shaking. Shaking and shaking. My chest squeezing so tight I couldn’t get the air into my lungs.

A frenzy took over as I hurried deeper into his closet. Here, where he seemed to keep the relics of his past. I shoved through the clothes, old tees and worn, aged jackets.

Then I fumbled when my fingers landed on the leather.

The cut.

It was the same. The same.

The back embroidered with the owl flying with the skull in its claws. The design circled by an O with an I slashing through the middle.

Terror gripped me by the throat.

Suffocating.

Destroying.

Obliterating.

I stumbled back like I could get away. Like maybe if I clawed my way out of this closet, it wouldn’t be real. This would only be some horrible, phantom vortex that I’d been sucked into.

Glass crunched beneath my shoe, and a shiver rocked me as I looked down and saw that I was standing on a busted frame.

I didn’t know what possessed me to reach down and pick it up, but I did.

My fingers trembled as I peered at the image behind the shattered glass.

Kane and his mother. They stood in front of an orchard of roses. He was maybe ten, and she had her arm looped around his shoulders. Her hand and wrist dangled over the side as she tipped her head against his.

Frantic, I brought it closer, and I studied the bracelet she wore around her wrist.

A thin gold bracelet with three flat filigree roses sectioned out across it.

I choked on the lash of pain.

“Don’t fuckin’ fight me, you bitch.” A malicious voice snarled it in her ear from where she was pinned against him. Even though her wrists and ankles were bound and her entire head was covered in some kind of sack, she fought.

She fought.

Writhing and thrashing in his brutal hold. Scratching and clawing with the bare movement she had of her hands.

He grunted as he threw her up onto another hard surface, and she flailed, reaching out to try to grab onto something. Her nails dragged down what felt like an arm.

She struggled to grip on. To fight her way out. To do something. Because she couldn’t let this happen.

He jerked back, and her fingers clasped onto metal that tore free as he ripped his arm away.

Cries echoed all around her as the glow of what she knew had been sunlight was shut off by the slamming of a rolling door.

Darkness consumed, and the sound of an engine roaring suddenly filled the turbulent air. She was jostled as they began to move.

She fisted tightly onto the tiny scrap of metal that cut into the palm of her hand. A bracelet, she realized.

She gritted her teeth as the hate met with the fear as she held the tiny piece of their captor.

Air wheezed in my constricted throat.

I gripped onto the photo as I tore out of the closet and raced through Kane’s room and into mine.

I dropped to my knees at the small walk-in closet where I’d stored my laptop case that had Emmalee’s things.

I ripped out my laptop and her tablet then tipped the bag upside down and poured the contents onto the floor. Frantic, I searched for the little velvet bag.

A gasp rasped from me when I found it, and I dumped it out into the palm of my hand. My eyes darted between it and the picture.

I didn’t know why I was searching because I already knew it was the same.

This bracelet that I’d had hidden in my room until it’d been gone. Stolen, I’d thought. Until I’d found it in Emmalee’s things.

When I realized she’d taken it from me, I’d thought—I’d thought maybe she’d done it as a reminder of the hatred, too. A reminder of the one who’d hurt us. Ruined us. The one who’d stolen Jana from us. Plus, all those other girls.

I’m not even close to being a good man. I’m not the dragon slayer you think I am. I’m the dragon.

Oh God.

Dizziness nearly knocked me back to the floor when I stood, and the frame slipped from my fingers. My hand shot to the wall to steady myself as I swayed.

Panic blistered beneath the surface of my skin.

The realization was too much to bear.

No.

No.

Bending in two, I pressed my hand to my stomach, trying to stop the bile that raced up my throat.

Quavers of horror rocked through me.

I couldn’t…I⁠—

Maci’s little voice filtered through the walls from where she played with her dolls.

Desperate, I shot into action.

I would protect her. The way I promised my sister I would always do.

I ran out of my room and into hers, trying to keep it together when she looked up at me with that precious, trusting face. “Hey, Auntie Em! You wanna play wif me?”

“I think…” I ran a flustered hand over my face. “I think we should go for a walk. In the woods.”

We couldn’t go down the main road.

Otto was there.

Protecting us.

Guarding us.

Sickness boiled.

Excitement blazed through Maci’s features, and she popped onto her feet.

“You know I really like walkin’ in the woods, Auntie, but I only gotta do it when I got you or my daddy.”

My knees wobbled, and I swallowed around the torment that threatened to gush out.

“Then we’d better hurry,” I told her as I took her hand and hurried with her downstairs. Revulsion crashed through me when I peered out through one of the big windows and saw Otto out in the distance, his phone pressed to his ear, the man laughing as he paced back and forth.

How?

How could they ever laugh after the things they had done?

“This way,” I told her, the words barely audible.

“Is it a secret?” Maci whispered too as I all but ran with her into the kitchen.

“Yes. A fun game. We have to be really quiet.”

“Like hide and seek?” She squeaked it low, her green eyes so bright.

“That’s right. In case Otto or Kane try to find us.”

My purse and phone were on the counter, and I turned the location off on it before I tucked it into my purse and slung the strap over my shoulder.

We moved to the back door, then I pulled in a steeling breath before I unlocked it and cracked it open.

We slipped through, and Maci followed my lead as I kept my footsteps light, barely breathing as I hurried with her across the deck and down the steps and out onto the rambling lawn.

Fear pummeled me since we were right out in the open, and I ducked down as I gripped Maci’s hand and dashed with her toward the bank of trees that loomed off to the side of the house.

Praying that we could disappear into their cover before someone noticed.

That I could make it into town and get to the police station before they began to track me.

Maci giggled quietly. “We’re so fast and sneaky, Auntie Em.”

“You’re doing a great job, sweetheart,” I rasped, the words quaking as my breaths spasmed violently from my lungs.

I nearly gasped out in relief when I made it to the yard’s perimeter where we ran into the hedge of pine trees, then a shout of horrified surprise jolted out of me when an arm suddenly looped around my neck and dragged me back. The other hand clapped over my mouth to suppress my scream.

Malice rode out with the words he tsked in my ear, “It’s about time you came out to play. He can’t protect you now.”

FIFTY-TWO

KANE

“Is all that inventory accounted for?” From where I stood in the stockroom at Kane’s, I gestured with the end of my pen at a crate. I’d spent the last thirty minutes jotting notes on the inventory sheet attached to my clipboard, trying to catch up on some of the tasks I’d been neglecting since Maci and Emery came into my life.

Not that I was regretting a single second that I’d spent with them.

Mallory sent me a grin. “It is…as you would know if you checked the inventory on your tablet.”

I chuckled a low sound as I crossed the crate of vodkas off my list. “Hey, now, you know I like to do things old school.”

“I don’t even know how you function half the time.”

Mallory was my lead bartender, and she basically ran the place. She was the one woman we rescued who had stuck around. It’d been risky, allowing her to remain here in Moonlit Ridge. We’d set her up with a new identity in Virginia, but three months later, she showed back up here.

She’d become a part of the mold of this place.

Keeping an extra eye.

She mostly kept to herself while always being right out in the open. Raven had tried like mad to bring her into the fold. Make her a real part of our family, but Mallory had claimed being here was enough.

What she needed and wanted.

“Come now, look at me. I am thriving,” I told her.

She let go of a wry chuckle. “Oh, I know why you’re thriving.”

“Can you blame a man?”

Mallory leaned over to pick up a box of ginger beer, and her voice softened. “No, I can’t. Emery seems really amazing.”

My chest tightened with joy. “She is.”

She and that little girl were the best thing that had ever happened to me. A reprieve from my sins.

Couldn’t wait to get back to them. I’d changed my schedule to more normal daylight hours so I could be with them more. Not wanting to sacrifice my evenings with my daughter or my nights wrapped up in my woman.

My cell rang from my back pocket, and I set my clipboard aside so I could pull it out.

I tried to ignore the unsettledness that washed through me when I saw it was Otto, and I accepted the call and pressed it to my ear.

“What’s up, man?”

A disturbance sheared through the line.

“Fuck, Kane. I just got this sense that something was off, and I knocked on the door. No one answered, so I went in, and they’re gone.”

The unsettledness burst into panic. “What? Where the fuck are they?”

Fear hit me like a battering ram. Thoughts immediately on whoever had tried to get to Emery at the grocery store. My instinct had never settled into the idea that it’d been random. Intuition telling me that it wasn’t over.

But still, I’d sunk too much into the comfort we’d found. Had gotten too complacent. I never should have let either of them out of my sight for a second. Should have had every single one of my brothers standing guard.

“He got to them,” I wheezed on a horrified breath.

Whoever the fuck he was.

I was already moving, running through the stockroom and out to the front of the club.

“I’ll be right there. Get everyone to my place. Stat.”

Dread curled through my being, disbelief a vise around my chest.

I blew out into the heat of the sun, sweat instantly slicking my flesh as I sprinted to my bike. I jumped on and kicked it over, pinning the throttle as I peeled out in the lot and took to the bumpy dirt lane.

Shadows flashed across my face as I flew between the line of trees. Blood sloshed and careened through my veins, pure desperation taking me over.

I skidded as I came to a stop in front of my house, tossing the kickstand and running up the porch steps to where Otto waited.

“I’m so fuckin’ sorry, man. I have no idea how someone got to her while I was here.”

I couldn’t speak. I just ran inside, shouting, “Emery! Maci!”

Emptiness echoed back, and my heart flopped in my chest.

“Did you find anything? Any clue?” I demanded.

A frown carved Otto’s brow. “There’s a bunch of shit on the floor in the closet in her bedroom. It was like she was…looking for something.”

Confusion nearly tripped me, and I hesitated for a beat before I bound up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I raced into her room and dropped to my knees where she’d scattered a pile of her things.

A frown hooked into my brow when I noticed the broken frame that had a picture of me and my mother, but what curled around me in a crushing fist was what was on the ground next to it.

Could barely get my hand to cooperate as I reached out and picked up the delicate strand of gold.

A bracelet.

A bracelet with three roses spread out across the top.

My mother’s bracelet.

Ice slithered down my spine.

What the fuck? What the fuck?

How did she have this? It had been missing since that night.

The night when the sordid life I’d been living had come up on a sharp dead end.

When I’d realized my purpose.

I couldn’t breathe, my lungs closing off with the weight that pressed down on my chest, though a frenzy took me over as I started to rush through the ton of shit that had been poured out on the floor.

There were lots of pictures of Maci. Most of them with Emmalee, some with Emery. There were older images of Emery and Emmalee from when they were teenagers, another girl their age grinning with the same eager smile.

There was a large notebook beside them. Frantic, I flipped it open.

It felt like I was being gutted.

A thick blade dragged across my abdomen and my insides spilling out.

It was news article after news article that had been printed out. All of them reporting about an incident that had taken place in San Diego ten years ago.

One where a man had been found dead.

Four young women rescued, their identities concealed to protect their privacy. The different stories and reports of the ones who hadn’t gotten away were more detailed. Their faces and names and histories printed all over the pages.

The pleas from their families for them to be found.

A flurry of handwritten notes had been made on the articles.

Speculation.

Desperation.

A clear obsession as the writer had tried to draw lines to come to a conclusion.

It was there with me again. That same unease that I felt when I found Emmalee Voss sneaking around my office. Way I was sure something was off with her.

Horror wrapped its spindly fingers around my heart.

She’d been seeking me out.

My mind raced to Emery. To that familiarity. To the way it felt like I knew her the moment I met her. The connection that had blazed between us.

And fuck.

I knew.

I knew.

And I was pretty fucking sure she did, too.

FIFTY-THREE

KANE

Twenty-Six Years Old

Kane stood gaping at the load in the back of the truck. His attention swept through the cargo box, covertly counting the heads that were covered by sacks.

Seven.

There were seven fucking girls in the back of this truck.

All of them were bound.

Shaking and whimpering.

Their terror hitting him in a full body blow.

What the fuck was going on?

Disbelief bashed against the reality that laid siege to his brain.

Rage ate up his insides. A fucking monster that devoured every ill-intention he’d ever had and stirred a thousand new.

The thirst for blood and vengeance a bitter taste on his tongue.

“Don’t ever change. Don’t ever let that beautiful light fade. Fight for love and what’s right. I know you will…because it’s who you are.”

He nearly crumbled with the truth. With the truth of the foul, abominable man he’d become.

Tyke howled with laughter as he clapped Kane on the shoulder.

“Surprise. Told you I had something extra special for you.” He lowered his voice, deviant lasciviousness curdling his words. “Every one of them are delectable. I made sure to test them out for myself. We’ll be sure to make a pit stop so we can let you have a little fun, too. Wouldn’t want to leave our brother out.”

Disgust churned in Kane’s guts, and his hands twitched with violence. How fucking bad he wanted to reach out and strangle the life from this motherfucker.

But there were at least six other guys moving around the abandoned warehouse where they often transferred loads from one truck to another.

Mixing things up to remain more undetectable as they moved product to its final destination.

He attempted to gather himself before he gave himself away. Before he went on a straight rampage and murdered every single one of these bastards.

He had to play this smart.

Tyke lifted his hand and waved for Kelp to start backing up the second truck, and once he got it into place, Tyke threw up the rolling door as Kelp came ambling around to the back.

“Get ’em moved,” Tyke ordered. Kelp went to work, yanking the girls up from the one truck and shoving them into the other.

Cries of terror ripped and cut. Knives that scored and flayed.

Kane wavered, so fucking sick he couldn’t move, but he knew he couldn’t stand there and not act the part. So, he grabbed a girl who was huddled against the wall, her body shivering with silent sobs.

He tried to act the beast that the rest of them were on the exterior, while he wished with everything he had that he could whisper in her ear that he wasn’t there to hurt her.

She only whimpered as he jostled her into the other truck, no strength to even stand on her feet.

He turned and went for the next.

He swore to God, her spirit fired.

This ricocheting of energy that bounced against the metal walls of the box.

He inhaled a shattered breath as he hauled her onto her bound feet from behind.

She thrashed, shouting, “Let us go. How can you do this?”

He couldn’t. He couldn’t.

Only he forced himself to comply for the moment, and he jumped off the back end of the truck and lifted her up to place her into the bed of the other.

She fought him the whole time.

Fought and fought.

A warrior scratching and clawing and kicking.

“Don’t fuckin’ fight me, you bitch.” He spat the abhorrent words, playing the same as Tyke and Kelp.

But Kane? He wanted to weep.

She gripped onto his arm, and her nails dug into the flesh.

Drawing blood.

Surprised, he jerked his arm back, and when he did, her fingers snagged on the bracelet he’d always worn, snapping the clasp that held it together.

Kane didn’t know what he wanted more—to snatch it out of her hand or promise that she would have the chance to return it to him later.

He stood there unable to do either.

Tyke laughed, completely oblivious to his turmoil. “Watch that one. She’s feisty.”

Then the bastard hopped up to stand on the bumper and pulled on the leather strap attached to the handle to drag the door closed. He latched and locked it then made a swooping motion with his hand overhead. “Let’s roll.”

Nausea burned in Kane’s guts, but he followed Tyke around the passenger side of the truck while Kelp headed to the driver’s.

Tyke climbed into the front seat of the cab, and Kane opened the back door and hopped in.

Antsy.

Itching.

Sweat drenched his skin as Kelp and Tyke slammed their doors shut and Kelp put it into gear.

The truck rattled as the diesel engine gained speed, the entire thing swaying and lurching as Kelp ground through the gears.

The sun was just going down as he took to the road.

They were in the industrial part of San Diego, their destination the docks in Los Angeles. Kane had thought it would be some kind of expensive, black-market weapons that they would be transporting when he was told he was being sent south for an important job.

One that he was warned not to fuck up.

Oh, the ways he planned on fucking this shit up.

They traveled for about ten minutes, through the heavy industrial area before they made it to a more commercialized one.

Streetlights flickered on and their headlights illuminated the road in front of them.

They made several turns, moving farther and farther away from the dirtbags back at the warehouse who wouldn’t have the chance to intervene.

Anxiety buzzed in Kane’s body, and his knee bounced a million miles a minute as he waited for the right opportunity. Trying to calculate his every move before he took action.

They turned onto a side road that was less traveled, winding around so they could take a loop to get them onto the freeway that would lead back to LA.

A stop sign was up ahead, and Kelp started to slow.

This was it.

His chance.

Kane flew forward, lurching between the two front seats and yanking up the emergency brake.

In the exact same moment, he lifted his gun with his other hand, put it against Kelp’s temple, and pulled the trigger.

Blood splattered against the driver’s side window as the truck careened back and forth before it came skidding to a stop.

Kelp slumped over.

Kane knew he had only one second to move before Tyke would process what was happening.

That Kane was staging a full-scale mutiny.

He swung his arm around to point his gun at Tyke, but Tyke was already reacting. Both hands flew out to grip onto Kane’s wrist to deflect the shot.

“You fuckin’ disloyal bastard,” Tyke hissed through gritted teeth. His entire face flamed red as he struggled against Kane. “I knew it. Knew your whole fucking crew was gonna flip.”

“You think I’m going to stand aside and watch this sick shit?” Kane growled, a surge of strength taking him over when he thought about the girls in the back.

Kane managed to rip free of Tyke’s hold, and he angled to the left, trying to get in a position where he could get a clean shot.

Tyke twisted around and leaned back in his seat, and he kicked out with his foot. His heavy boot struck Kane’s wrist.

Kane couldn’t keep hold of his gun, and it toppled to the floorboard. Kane ducked down to grab it.

Without warning, a crack hit him in the back of the head.

Darkness threatened, the pain that splintered so close to knocking him out. But he fought it. He knew he couldn’t give. He had to do this.

He finally got the gun then launched himself into the front seat, hitting Tyke hard, trying to pin him down.

Tyke fought back, locking one arm around Kane’s neck and driving his fist into Kane’s ribs with the other.

It knocked the air out of him, and he choked for air, trying to get a breath as he continued to fight the motherfucker who was trying to get hold of his gun.

Both of Tyke’s hands were wrapped tight around Kane’s wrist.

Only Kane was higher than him, and Kane managed to pin him sideways to the seat with the gun locked between them.

Kane gritted his teeth, fighting with everything he had. For those girls. For his mother. As retribution for every sin he’d ever committed.

A gunshot went off, and Tyke cried a pathetic sound before he slumped back as blood started to gush from his side.

Kane gasped for oxygen, through the relief as he reached out and yanked at the door handle. It opened, and he scrambled out over the top of Tyke’s body.

He hit the pavement running for the back of the truck.

Darkness rained from the sky, no stars visible against the glow of city lights that blotted them out. The only thing he had was the hazy fog of a streetlamp to light his way.

Thank fuck, he had the key, and his hands were shaking out of control as he fumbled to get the right one. He slid it into the heavy-duty padlock.

The lock gave, and he tore it out of the slot then shoved the door upward to the sound of screams and pleas. Torment hit him as hard as a rogue wave.

The desolating type.

Their fear so distinct he couldn’t breathe.

Their heads covered without a clue as to what was going on.

He jumped into the back and hauled up the first girl he could reach. She screeched in terror.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he rushed, not taking the time to explain what was happening. He jumped down with her curled in his arms, hating that he basically tossed her to the side of the road where there was an embankment of grass, but knowing he had zero time to waste.

He did the same with the next and the next.

Before he was dragging up the one who’d fought him.

“It’s okay,” he promised again, his breaths jagged from the exertion.

She gasped as he jumped down with her, and he set her beside the rest. He turned quickly and ran back for the cargo box.

Only gunshots started to ring out, and he dove to the ground, hands going to the back of his head like it would be enough to protect himself. Bullets pinged against the metal siding of the truck and kicked up pebbles of pavement where they struck the ground.

Fuck.

Asshole was still alive.

Adrenaline surged through his veins, and Kane grappled for his gun that was tucked in the waistband at the back of his jeans, and he flipped around onto his back so he could take a shot as Tyke rounded the end of the truck.

But the asshole was still firing.

Shot after shot.

Kane rolled back onto his stomach and frantically crawled to get out of the spray of bullets. His breaths short and rasping as he ducked behind the embankment on the opposite side of the road.

Air wheezed as he flung around to try to get in a shot, but he wasn’t sure he could take Tyke down without risking hitting one of the girls.

Agitation burned a hole through him, and he swiveled his gun from left to right as he aimed.

Sirens suddenly shouted in the distance.

Kane could feel the deviant’s uncertainty. His attention darted between the four girls who were screaming in the middle of the mayhem and dust and the back of the truck that was still gaping open with three girls remaining inside.

The sirens grew closer, and hope bloomed inside of Kane, and he lifted up on his knees so he could fire.

He couldn’t get it off before Tyke popped off two wayward shots in Kane’s direction just as he jumped up and hauled back down the door. He slammed it shut and twisted the latch.

He didn’t take the time to put the lock back into place.

Tyke raced for the driver’s side.

Violence screamed inside of Kane. He couldn’t let this bastard get away.

No matter the consequences.

He jumped to his feet and took off after him, lifting his gun and taking aim. He fired. It pinged on the back passenger door on the driver’s side, just over the top of the scumbag’s head.

Tyke whirled, firing again.

Kane dove for the ground as dust flew through the night, and one second later, he lurched back to his feet as Tyke ripped open the driver’s door. The bastard fisted Kelp’s shirt and tossed his body to the ground, jumping in to take his place.

Kane fired again. It struck the inside of the door just as Tyke was slamming it shut.

The engine ground as he shifted into gear and the truck started to roll.

No.

No. No. No.

Kane couldn’t let this happen. He couldn’t let him get away with them.

He ran after him, pushing himself as hard as he could go. His feet pounding on the pavement as he chased down the truck that increased in speed.

The truck gained distance with each second that passed.

Kane strained, gasping as he struggled to keep up.

But there was no chance. No chance as the truck skidded around the corner at the next street, tires squealing as he made a sharp left turn.

Kane stumbled to a stop, air raking from his lungs as he bent over at the waist, grief nearly cutting him in two.

He roared in agony.

Because he knew there was no chance that Tyke would end up at the docks with those girls.

No chance that Kane could find them.

And undoubtedly, his death warrant was being signed by Cutter right then.

He failed.

He failed.

Cries echoed on the deepening night as the sound of the truck disappeared into the nothingness and the shriek of the sirens increased.

Kane lumbered off the side of the road and dropped to his knees.

Hatred and shame and regret battered his soul.

Every mistake and sin he’d ever committed laid out in front of him as if it were proof.

A devastating condemnation.

And he submitted himself to it.

Gave his complete surrender.

His one purpose distinctly clear.

Because as he hid himself on the far side of the embankment in the distance and watched as four police cruisers came skidding to a stop where the four girls had staggered to their feet and out into the middle of the road, their silhouettes lit up in the blaring glare of the cars’ headlights, Kane knew.

“Don’t ever change. Don’t ever let that beautiful light fade. Fight for love and what’s right. I know you will…because it’s who you are.”

His mother’s last words fell over him, and he welcomed the pain.

The grief.

The shame.

He might not ever have love, but he would fight for what was right.

It would be his life’s mission to hunt these bastards. End them one by one. And he wouldn’t stop until he took his last breath.

FIFTY-FOUR

KANE

My throat closed off as I stared at the broken bracelet. The realization pummeled me like a thousand fists.

“What the fuck is that?” Otto growled through the disorder from where he stood panting in the doorway to Emery’s room.

“My sins catching up to me.”

A scowl marred his brow. “What does that mean?”

I shot to my feet. “It means Maci’s mom wasn’t some chance encounter in my bar. She knew who I was. Back from the MC. And I think Emery took Maci with her and is running scared.”

She thought I was responsible. That I was the one who hurt her.

Horror slashed through my spirit, and I ran from the bedroom.

Otto was right on my heels. “What the hell are you talking about?”

I threw out as much of an explanation as I could as I bound downstairs, spilling the secret I’d kept for the last ten years. What had become my burden. One I had the honor of shouldering.

For them.

For all of them.

Emery.

My guts knotted when I thought of what she’d been through. The pain she’d suffered. The fear she’d carried.

And the trust—the trust she’d given to me.

“Oh fuck, man,” Otto wheezed as we ran into the kitchen. It was the only way they would have been able to get out without Otto noticing.

Thoughts battered through my brain. What didn’t make sense was Emmalee. She’d sought me out. But why? It was like…memories spun…like she’d wanted something from me.

Then I found her snooping around my office, and I kicked her out.

I told her it was time to leave and not to come back.

Fear pillaged the hope in my spirit. So many questions wheeling I couldn’t make sense of them.

“We have to find them,” I gritted.

I ran for the back door, threw it open, and bolted out onto the back porch.

The sound of motorcycles rumbled in the distance, the roar of my crew as they growled up the road to come to stand at my side.

Thinking that Emery had been taken by whoever the monster was who’d tried to get to her at the store.

Turbulence blustered through my senses, and I scanned the thicket of trees that hedged my property, terrified by the thought of Emery and Maci running scared through them.

It wasn’t that far into town, but there were plenty of dangers they could come upon on their way. Wild animals and rugged terrain and the cliffs that lined the lake on this side, especially if Emery was terrified and trying to get away.

You took far more risks when you were in that type of position.

Motorcycle engines chugged as they came to a stop on the other side of the house, and one by one, they shut off. I grabbed my phone and dialed, the command biting out of me the second River answered. “In the back.”

Thirty seconds later, River, Theo, and Cash came running around the side of the house. Aggression lined their bones. Each of them prepared for war. To fight for these two girls who’d become an intrinsic part of us.

A part of this family.

Exactly where they’d always been purposed to be.

I just needed to convince Emery of that.

I was already shouting as I ran down the steps in their direction. “Everyone spread out in the woods. Think Emery and Maci are running.”

Confusion twisted Theo’s dark features. “Why?”

“Emery found out something about me that she doesn’t know how to handle.”

“Fuck,” Cash rumbled, and his gaze swept over the dense forest. He lived in the farthest recesses of it, and no one knew its hazards better than him. “You think she’s running for town?”

“Hope so.”

It was then a piercing scream ricocheted through the summer air. Riding on the cool breeze that carried through the trees.

Panic seared through my being. A cold draft that threatened to freeze me over.

Emery.

“Oh fuck,” I wheezed, and I took off in the direction it came from.

My brothers were right behind me.

“Emery! Emery! Maci!” Their names ripped from the deepest parts of my soul. Bellows of desperation as I raced into the woods.

It was instantly dimmer here beneath the towering pines, their spiked tips reaching for the blue sky, the branches of the stately oaks covered in lush leaves a woven tapestry overhead that obscured and shaded.

Not to mention the dense vegetation that grew on the forest floor. Bushes and vines and shrubs that gathered thick to obstruct our path.

I blew right through them, angling in every direction as I ran through the maze. My pulse pitched and screamed. An anguished pound that thundered in my ears.

My ears that suddenly picked up on cries.

Cries to the left of me.

Cries that I recognized.

Terror crushed my chest, and I turned course and raced through the woods in that direction. Branches slapped against my face as I barreled through.

“Oh my God. Maci.”

She was on the ground in a ball. Rocking. Her hair matted. Blood was smeared on her face and shoulder.

Dropping to my knees, I scooped her up as a rasp of shock and horror and relief blistered through.

A clash of confusion.

Where was Emery?

She would never leave her.

“Daddy!” Maci wailed it as her little arms locked around my neck.

“Maci. Maci.” My hands ran down the back of her head.

Searching.

Soothing.

“What happened? Where is your auntie?” I was barely able to force it out.

“We were supposed to be pwayin’ hide and seek from Uncle Otto, but a really mean man got my auntie. She told me to run really fast, but I fewl down,” she hiccupped.

Oh fuck.

Oh fuck.

“What’s going on?” Cash demanded as he burst through the shrubs.

I climbed to my feet and jogged his direction, holding Maci tight against me. “Someone has Emery. He’s here. Take her,” I grunted as I shuffled Maci toward him.

Cash didn’t hesitate.

“No, Daddy!” she cried.

Frenzied, I ran my fingers through her matted hair. “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay. I just have to go get your auntie, then I’ll be right back.”

Sniffling, she turned those sweet, trusting eyes on me. Her precious face smudged with blood and dirt. “Okay, but hurry really fast.”

Cash cradled her softly, so much care in his muscled arms, while he slanted me a vicious look.

Get that motherfucker.

I absolutely intended to.

FIFTY-FIVE

EMERY

Terror thudded and throbbed.

My heart hammering through the short and ragged breaths I exhaled as the monster forced me deeper into the forest.

One of his hands was locked in my hair and the other held a gun under my jaw as he jostled me through the cragged terrain and underbrush.

“Keep moving, bitch.”

Another shiver ripped through me at the vitriol he wheezed into my ear, and my head spun as I tried to find a way out of this. How to get loose of the ruthless clutch he had on me.

The only thing I could be thankful for was Maci got away. He’d tried to hold onto both of us, but when she tripped over a branch and stalled our speed, he’d swung the gun in her direction.

I knew the wickedness he intended.

He’d been distracted enough in that second that I was able to flail around and ram my knee into his stomach, while I’d screamed at Maci to run.

When he realized what I’d done, he’d whipped the gun across my face, though he hadn’t gone after her.

It was the only thing that mattered.

Her safety.

Her freedom.

Now, he shoved at my back as he urged me through the dense woods.

It was the same man who had targeted me at the grocery store. I had known it in an instant.

The same old recognition had finally struck me as a slew of visions and memories impaled.

The bare glimpse I’d caught of a man with brown hair with the emblem embroidered on the leather vest he’d worn.

The same type of vest that I found in Kane’s closet.

Kane who I’d run from—who I should run from—but still, who my spirit was howling for. Praying for him to come for me.

I couldn’t process it all.

This horror I felt against the pleas my soul shouted.

Kane told me that he lived this life to repay the horrible deeds he had committed. The sins that he shared with me as if he trusted me to hold them. But how could it be enough? How could it be enough after what he’d done?

Old wounds thrashed from where I’d kept them hidden. Three days of darkness, blindfolds and sacks over our eyes. The torture we’d endured, our bodies used as if we were nothing.

Playthings to be abused.

Confused.

Disoriented.

Our consciousness coming in and out as the men had come and gone. Their seedy, disgusting laughter. The stench of their scents.

Those words wound on a loop.

“Don’t fuckin’ fight me, you bitch.”

The bracelet.

I knew. Oh, God, I knew.

Kane had done this, along with the bastard who now held me hostage.

Because of them, Jana was gone.

Lightheadedness swam as my face throbbed. My left eye was nearly swollen shut from the impact of the gun, but nothing hurt quite as badly as my heart.

“Let me go.” I thrashed against him, the words grit with the adrenaline that flooded my body as we stumbled out into a small break in the trees.

It was the smallest meadow, and what had to be the same stream as on Kane’s property ran through it.

The degenerate laughed a morbid sound. “Nah, I have plans for you. Same ones I had for your bitch sister who was putting her nose into places it shouldn’t go. Digging around like she thought she was going to stop us.”

Confusion ran rampant while tendrils of awareness wisped at the edges of my consciousness.

The intuition I’d had that something was off.

That she hadn’t just…fallen.

Emmalee.

Emmalee.

My spirit moaned as he kept shoving me through the brush.

“Should have ended you all the second I found out she had been in LA asking questions. But I guess I shouldn’t regret it too much since you led me back to Kane.” He hissed it at my ear.

Uncertainty spiraled. Pressing and pulsing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He barked a shock of laughter before he was back to wheezing. “Ah, so innocent. But you were, weren’t you? That’s why you were my favorite.”

With a lecherous grin, he dragged a finger down my cheek.

Bile surged, and I squeezed my eyes against his taunt.

The foul.

The depraved.

My heart raced, a desperate urging at me to do something.

I had to fight.

I had to fight.

Little Warrior.

Sunlight glinted through the leaves above, flashes across my eyes.

I stumbled on a limb and yelped when he fisted my hair tighter. “Keep moving.”

And that fear spun and spun.

Misery.

Grief.

It wound with the deafening roar of my blood. The tumultuous surging of adrenaline.

The air both dense and thin. A crawling of sensation across my flesh.

A flare of intensity.

A flame of severity.

I felt it move, the energy that stirred and incited.

And there it was, the awareness that had possessed me the first time I’d met him.

Kane.

I felt the violent, menacing presence of him rise over us from behind. The shadow of a wraith that covered and consumed.

The connection a blister of ferocity that I felt one second before Kane shouted, “Emery, get down!”

I let my weight go at the same second a thunderclap of footsteps suddenly burst from behind us.

Kane and the rest.

Oh God.

He came for me. He came.

Pain splintered across my scalp as I dropped to my knees, and the monster gripped tighter, refusing to let me go as he turned around and fired.

Gunshots rang out.

Chaos erupted.

Shouts and dust and animosity.

I fought, refusing the agony of the fistful of my hair being ripped out as I smacked my hand frantically around on the earth, searching for anything I could use as a weapon.

A rock.

I grabbed it, grunting as I swung it high and wide, and I whipped it around and slammed it into the beast’s hip bone.

He howled, and his grip slackened with his surprise, releasing the hold he had in my hair.

I used it to my advantage, sucking in a shattered breath as I scrambled onto my feet.

“Run, Emery. Run!” Kane’s voice penetrated from behind, and tears leaped to my eyes.

The torment at odds with the relief.

I turned to do just that, only the beast launched himself at me, his hand swiping out to get ahold of me. I spun, just out of his reach, though the sole of my shoe slipped against the slick, soft dirt. It nearly brought me back to the ground.

I fought the tumble, one hand hitting the ground, which I used to propel myself back up onto my feet.

The asshole reached out again and grabbed me by the ankle.

I yelped, struggling to break free.

“You fuckin’ whore. You don’t know what hurt means yet,” he growled.

Air rasped from my lungs, and I wavered for only a second before I gathered my strength and stomped on his face with the heel of my other shoe.

He roared as he released me. Frantic, I stumbled back, slipping and sliding on the damp earth as I struggled to find my balance.

“You cunt. You’re dead. Dead, just like your sister. You should have heard her begging as I tossed her over the side of that roof. Gonna make sure you do the same. Beg for days before I finally end you.”

I gagged at the cruelty he spat, my heart shredding apart, but I managed to force myself to move. Turning, I propelled myself around a tree and into the forest.

The second I was out of the meadow, mayhem erupted, and I froze as a hundred shots went off at the same time. Loud and disorienting.

Shock pinned me to the spot, my eyes wide with horror as I watched from behind the trunk of a massive tree as my captor staggered to his feet.

His body jolted and lurched as he was impaled over and over.

He dropped to the dirt, and a piercing silence suddenly swept in, a cloud of smoke and dust and a keening ring that reverberated in my ears.

River stepped out into the fray and came to stand over the body that lay limp in the middle of the ground.

I covered my mouth as he stood over him and fired once more.

Theo and Otto ambled out behind him.

Though Kane. He turned those eyes on me.

The same aura of duplicity radiated around him, but his wickedness was no longer shrouded.

My spirit moaned and pled and screamed.

I wanted to drop to my knees and beg.

But instead, I turned and ran.

Ran from the fear and the pain and the confusion.

From this man I had known better than falling for.

I needed to find Maci. Get to her and get her out of here. She had to be terrified. Scared and wandering and alone.

“Emery!” Kane’s shout carried on the gust of wind that whipped through the trees, and I gasped, pushing myself harder.

“Emery!” Desperation filled my name, and I could feel the pound of his boots as he began to chase me.

With each step, the ground rocked beneath my feet.

An earthquake.

A landslide.

A black hole that I’d known I’d be sucked into.

“Emery, please. Please don’t run from me,” he begged.

Breaths wheezed from my aching lungs as he neared.

The energy thrashed. Thrashed and whipped through the howling branches of the trees.

The connection wailed.

Bowing between us in a force that I couldn’t fathom.

He was right behind me.

All around me.

His aura surrounding.

I dropped to my knees.

He couldn’t stop his momentum, and he stumbled into me from behind, his arms wrapping around me as he took me all the way to the ground, pinning my stomach to the earth.

Gently, though it felt as if I’d been hit by a truck.

The crashing and grating of our bodies.

“How could you? How could you?” It was a sob that erupted from my soul. The grief I’d held for so many years burst free of the boundaries where I’d tried to keep it shored. “How could you? How could you?”

Kane’s heart battered at my back, and his breaths jutted violently from his chest. “Emery.”

“How could you?” I fumbled around, trying to push out from under him, my feet kicking up and my fingers sinking into the soggy soil beneath me as I struggled to get away. “How could you?”

Kane gripped onto my calves, and a low moan of agony rolled out of him. “No, baby, no. I⁠—”

“You took her. Where did you take her? Jana… Oh, God, Jana.” The cries hurtled out. Caught up in the storm that raged around us.

“Emery, please, listen to me.”

Kane gripped onto me with those hands, crawling up so he could wrap his arms around me.

Trapping me.

Holding me.

I couldn’t tell.

“Where is she?” I begged as I pounded my fists against his chest, no strength to the punches as I wailed against him.

He shook his head, and he held me closer as he buried his face in my neck. As if he could stop me from floating away on the deluge of grief. “I don’t know, Emery. I don’t know. I tried to stop them. I fucking tried. I tried so hard. But I failed. I’m so fucking sorry.”

“No, you were there. It was you.”

Misery poured from his being. “I was. I was there that night. I told you I wasn’t even close to being a good man. That I’d done horrible things. But the second I saw what was in the back of that truck…”

He swallowed thickly, the words trembling as he released them. “I saw my purpose for my life, Emery. I knew exactly what I’d been meant to do.”

My head thrashed against the wild grasses and dirt, while my entire being bowed toward him. “I remember you.”

I wanted it to be an accusation, and it somehow came out in some kind of prayer.

“I remember what you said. You were wearing that bracelet.”

He angled back to look at my face. Shame covered him whole. “I know what I said, Emery, but I had to so they wouldn’t catch on to what I had planned.”

Confusion bound me as I tried to process everything that had happened that night. But I had been close to delirious by then. Our senses distorted since we’d been blindfolded for so long, plus we’d hardly been given any food or water. Compounded by the trauma…

I sucked for the air I couldn’t find as it slammed me.

It had been reported afterward that there had been a gunfight between the police and the criminals inside the truck. They’d managed to rescue four girls, while three had been lost.

But I could almost feel it then.

His aura.

His scent.

The ferocity of the man who’d pulled us from the back of the truck.

Find me in the darkness, bring me to the light.

A shattered breath wheezed into my lungs.

It was him.

It was him.

The gunshots and the shouts and the desperation of the man who’d been willing to do anything to get us out.

“I would never, I would never, I would never.” Kane spilled the words out across my chest, peppering them over the top of my shirt like he could pour them directly into my heart.

A jagged cry erupted, a sob of misery and relief.

My fingers sank into his shoulders, desperate to get him closer. “It was you. It was you.”

He pulled me closer. His arms banded around me as he rocked me and whispered as I wept, “I would give anything to go back and stop it before it started. I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”

“It was you. You saved us.”

Then I shot upright, pushing him back. “Maci,” I rasped.

Kane brushed back the hair matted to my sweat-drenched face, and his emerald eyes flashed beneath the glints of the sun that streamed in through the breaks in the leaves. “She’s safe. She’s with Cash.”

Another cry tore out of me as I threw my arms around his neck. He curled his around my waist, his words a rough scrape as he murmured, “It’s over, Little Warrior. It’s over. You don’t have to fight any longer.”

Night had fallen two hours ago, and Maci had been asleep for about thirty minutes. The entire family left just before sundown, at the prompting of Kane telling them we needed rest, though Raven and Charleigh had a difficult time leaving.

Hugging us and hugging us as they whispered how thankful they were that we were okay.

Kane had insisted that Dr. Reynolds come to the house to check us out as well. I could barely see out my left eye, but that was the extent of my injuries, and Maci had little more than a scratch, though I knew what would really scar her would be the mental and emotional traumas that she had faced today.

Kane had told her over and over how brave she’d been. Running, then hiding herself away. He promised that she’d done exactly what she was supposed to do.

She was scared, but I didn’t think she really understood the full scope of what had happened.

Had no clue her mother’s killer had come here with the same intention for me.

A tremble rolled through me at the thought, and Kane tightened the blanket he had wrapped around me, but the real warmth was the way the man was curled around me from behind.

His big body a furnace that blazed into the frozen planes incited by the horrors of the day.

He sat against the headboard of his bed with me tucked between his legs, his chin resting on my shoulder as he looked down at the tablet I held in my hands.

“Are you sure you want to do this tonight?” he asked in that low, hypnotic voice.

“I need to try,” I told him.

I still couldn’t comprehend what happened to my sister. How to make it all fit. How to rearrange what I thought had become a disturbed obsession but now believed was something much bigger.

I clicked on the folder I had never been able to open. The one that had left me unsettled since the moment I found it.

And I remembered that one line in the letter she’d written me, her statement that Kane would know what to do, her faith that I would find him and discover who he was.

The clue she had left.

He’ll protect her and take her into his sanctum.

So this time when the box popped up for a password, I typed in Sovereign Sanctum.

Moisture blurred my eyes when it granted me access, and Kane let go of a weighted exhalation.

“She knew,” he mumbled in quiet surrender.

I blinked through the blear of tears.

Go to him. Find him. Give him the chance to raise her. She deserves to have a father like him.

“Yeah,” I whispered, unsure where to start, but I clicked on another folder that contained a slew of reports.

Reports of missing women and children, the strange circumstances of their disappearances detailed. Their faces printed with pleas from the men I was sure had tormented them.

“You saved these women and children?”

His nod was slow against the side of my head, and I nodded, too, as I clicked into another folder.

My insides trembled when I saw this one contained news articles of a slew of unsolved murders across the US. Speculation that they were members of criminal organizations and that their assassinations had been delivered by rival associations.

Pictures of their vile, disgusting faces sat like mug shots across the pages.

“Do you recognize these men?” I could barely ask it.

A disturbance rolled through Kane. “Yeah, baby, I recognize them.”

My nod was short. It was difficult to fathom. To understand. While a whole different piece of me whispered in awe.

He’d been seeking these men out. Ending them before they could inflict the type of pain that had been inflicted on us.

Kane hugged me tighter. I didn’t know if it was an apology or a promise that he would never regret what he did.

Standing for the vulnerable.

I clicked into another folder, and I shivered when I saw what it contained. It was like the open folder I’d found before with the journal-like letters she’d written then saved and printed.

The same type that had contained the letter she’d written me about her wishes for Maci.

Though there was only one here. It had been written and saved two days before her death.

Obviously, it was private. A secret she was keeping.

Tyke’s horrible words filtered back through my mind. The way he implied that he’d killed Emmalee because of what she’d known, and I had to imagine these were secrets she’d planned to share.

I opened it to her handwriting forever imprinted on the screen, and the tears only thickened as I began to read.

Emery,

I can’t sit still as I’m writing this letter to you. It’s the middle of the night, and I can’t force the fear away.

They’re coming for me. I can feel it. I don’t even know how I know, but something in the air has shifted. The peace that I found with Maci—with all of you—my amazing family—no longer exists. Unrest keeps sweeping in to take its place.

Even now as I write this, I don’t know if I would take it back. Because I had to try. I couldn’t give up like the authorities had done.

And most of all, through the twists and turns that I’ve followed for the last years, I got my daughter out of it.

How could I regret it?

But God, it’s terrifying, being sure that someone is watching me. The police took a report, but they wrote it off since I have no evidence of anything other than a feeling.

Other than knowing I’ve gotten too deep.

A tear streaked down my cheek. “I wish she would have told me. Wish she would have let me in.”

Kane snuggled closer, his mouth buried in my hair. “She was protecting you.”

“And it cost her life,” I quietly choked.

“I’m so sorry, baby. I wish I would have known. I—” He clipped off.

“It’s not your fault, either,” I whispered.

“Sometimes it feels like it, though. Like I haven’t come close to doing enough.”

“You give your life for them. For us.” I breathed it before I turned back to reading my sister’s words.

I knew what I was doing. I knew what I was doing from the beginning, but I couldn’t not do something.

Jana was gone, and my soul burned with the desperation to find her. To know what happened to her.

I knew where to start. I had to find the man I would never forget from that night.

I never told you this, but the entire time we were held, I could see through the sack they placed over my head. I witnessed it all. The horrible things they did to us. The fiends that came and went.

But I also saw him.

I saw the look on his face when he found us piled in the back of that truck that might as well have been a hearse.

I was certain what he’d done. At least, I came to believe that helping us had been his intention and I hadn’t misconstrued his actions in some way.

I told the investigators questioning me that there was a man who had saved us, but they suggested I was delirious.

Hallucinating as they tried to convince me the events had occurred differently.

I couldn’t understand why they would lie.

Who they were protecting.

But the one thing I was certain of was I had to find that man. He was the only one who might know where Jana had been taken.

So, I searched through every news article and report I could find. Sifted through every crime there was, whether it seemed like it could be related to us or not.

Most of all, I searched for the emblem on that vest.

Iron Owls.

A violent MC out of Los Angeles.

God, I must have had a death wish because after almost a year had passed, I went there. Do you remember when I said I was going out to visit a couple of colleges? You were terrified for me and begged me not to go. I knew then that I couldn’t let you in on what I was doing. It would have been too hard for you.

I went to the area where the Iron Owls were known to hang out. In the seediest, scariest parts of Los Angeles. Most everyone I tried to talk to were tight-lipped. Except for a single bartender at a dive bar that I normally would never chance going into.

“I can’t believe she went alone.”

“She was a fighter, too,” Kane whispered.

Swallowing hard, I turned back to her tablet.

He told me their president had been killed, and the members of the MC had scattered.

But that bartender? He was the break I needed. He knew a bunch of their names and gave them to me willingly. With a shrug of his shoulder. Though he told me he doubted that I was going to find any of them since they all had disappeared months before and no one had a clue where they’d gone.

I wasn’t deterred. I searched every name associated with Iron Owls that he’d given me until I finally found one that might have matched the face I remembered.

A mug shot from an arrest for petty theft when he was nineteen.

Kane Asher. Except just like that bartender had told me, the man had disappeared. There was no trace of him anywhere. No known address or social media or a mention of his existence.

I basically gave up hope on finding him, which meant I gave up hope on finding Jana. That sinking acceptance only grew as the years passed.

There was no question she was gone.

Forever.

So, I tried to move on and live. Tried to get you—my sweet, beautiful sister—to move on with me. Only you were stuck there, in that time, too traumatized to move forward with our dreams.

And my store, or our store, which is the way I’ll always consider it, was a testament to that. Moving on. Living when we’d been given another chance to.

I’d grown almost content with it.

At least coming to a concession that I was going to have to live with the loss.

Until years later, when I was on vacation with my friends at a ski resort in Northern California. In a town called Moonlit Ridge.

There was a club there called Kane’s. I’d laughed at myself when I got a buzz of anticipation. That feeling of desperation I’d felt to find Jana coming back at me in a torrent of sensation. I told myself I was being ridiculous. It was just a name.

Except, it wasn’t just a name.

I saw him.

I saw him across the club.

It was him. I’d never been so sure of anything in my life.

I felt Kane flinch as he was taken to this point in time, both our hearts drumming as we prepared ourselves for what she would reveal.

There was something so inherently dangerous about him. The way he moved. The glint of something menacing when he grinned.

Maybe I’d been an idiot. Sidling up to his side to flirt with him. Giving him only half my name. But I thought it was the only way I might be able to get to know him. To see if he was as wicked as he looked or if he had any of the goodness I’d sworn he’d exhibited that night.

Honestly, I was terrified that I had made it all up. That maybe my consciousness had turned a beast into a savior as a way to protect my heart and mind.

But what had compelled me forward was the idea that he might have information on Jana. Even if he knew she was gone, at least we’d have closure.

So I slept with him as a means to an end.

Not that he wasn’t gorgeous. But it wasn’t attraction that had brought me to him. It was the desperation to get close enough to him that I could find something.

Except, the man was a fortified fortress. A wall of secrets and easy grins.

I finally found myself alone in his office, so I searched for…anything.

I would never forget the chill that filled the room when he found me doing it. The steely rage that had emanated from him.

I wanted to blurt it. Tell him why I was really there, and a vacation fling wasn’t it. But I still wasn’t sure that I trusted him enough to do it.

Turmoil spun through Kane, and he held me closer as he released his regret. “I remember that. I found her hunting around in my office. It instantly put me on guard, and I kicked her out. Told her to never come back.”

“You didn’t know,” I whispered.

“But I should’ve looked closer. Should have given her a chance to explain.”

“I’m not sure she would have if she wasn’t confident about who you were.”

Which we both knew he wouldn’t have given her since he couldn’t let anyone in.

No one until me.

And then, when I found out I was pregnant, everything changed. My goals. The reason I was living. I thought to go to him and tell him, but I still wasn’t sure. Wasn’t sure that he could be trusted. I should have left it at that. Went on and just cherished the gift I’d been given.

But every time there was a report of another young girl going missing? I couldn’t stop the clutch of my stomach. This sickness that I’d feel at the thought of someone else going through what we had. No way to stop myself from imagining the things that Jana must have suffered.

And then there were three college girls who went missing from an off-campus party in Los Angeles, and I looked at my little girl and thought…what if it was her?

What if it was her?

I asked you to watch Maci for a few days while I went to LA. You thought I was meeting with designers for a new clothing line I wanted to bring into the boutique.

But I was hunting. Hunting for any clue. The scenario that had been reported by the media was so close to what we’d been through that I couldn’t help but believe it was related.

That one of the monsters we’d been saved from was back. I don’t know if it was fate or horrible bad luck. But I found him. I found the guy in the same seedy bar in LA.

I found the one guy who I remembered most distinctly.

Our tormenter for those three days. The one they called Tyke.

I immediately went to the police and told them I found the man who’d been responsible. They said they would look into it, but nothing has come of it.

Except I’m being followed. I know I am.

Desperate, I told you I needed you to watch Maci again because I had another work trip to LA, but I went back to Moonlit Ridge and watched Kane from a distance.

“She was here.” Kane’s grating voice drew me from my sister’s words. “Fuck, she was here. She came for my help.”

I couldn’t respond, could only gulp around the sorrow before I continued reading.

I saw him with a little boy. A child I found out was his nephew.

And I think I knew then that he was a good man. But I hadn’t quite discovered what that really meant.

I tried to get up the nerve to talk to him, and I went in and sat at the bar at the club he owned. There was a bartender. Her name was Mallory. She kept watching me strangely, chatting with me a little before she leaned over the bar top and asked if I was in trouble. She said I couldn’t be in a better place if I was.

There was something inside me that twisted with the way she said it, and I knew I was on to something. So, I told her I was. She was hesitant. Swearing me to secrecy. Saying the hope of so many was riding on it.

She told me about Kane’s secret group called Sovereign Sanctum. These men who would help me. It was something they did in the shadows. Behind the scenes. I don’t know all the details yet. I couldn’t find it on the internet. But I think it means that he will help us. That he has the power and the will to do it.

I tried to get up the nerve to go and talk to him right then, but I lost it at the last minute.

I have to go back. Ask him for help before it’s too late. So, I took the bracelet. You know the one. You thought I didn’t know, but I knew you kept it hidden at the bottom of your drawer for all these years.

I don’t know how you got it, but I saw him wearing it that night, and I believe he will know exactly who I am when I show it to him.

I know what it represents to you.

Those horrible three days.

Everything we lost.

Our innocence.

Our belief.

Jana.

But to me, it’s come to mean something else.

I’m sorry. I’ll give it back. I promise. But I need to do this first. I have to face him, demand to know his involvement, beg him for help.

But if something happens to me and I can’t get to him, Emery, I think maybe you can.

I left the letter for you to go to him, and I have faith that once you meet him, you will discover what’s happening and get into this folder. I couldn’t leave this out in the open for someone else to find it.

Understand now why I wrote you that first letter for you to go to him. Why I believe he’s the best thing for Maci.

He’ll take care of her.

I believe he’ll take care of all of us.

Take this folder to him and give him the information. It has Tyke’s address plus pictures of the places in LA and Seattle I believe he is using to smuggle girls. Kane will know what to do with the information.

I believe it. I trust it.

I’m so sorry I did it this way. I wanted to protect you. Make right what had gone so terribly wrong. Bring back your heart and your belief.

I hope you know through it, I would do anything for you. For you and Maci. And for Jana.

I love you forever, my sweet twin. Be strong. Be wise. Be free. Don’t be afraid of love. I can feel it waiting for you. All around you. And no matter what, know I will always, always be with you. No matter where I go.

Emmalee

A deluge of tears streaked down my face, my throat nearly closing off from the grief.

“Why didn’t she tell me?” A sob wracked from my body.

Years. She’d spent years knowing all of this and didn’t tell me.

Strong arms curled tighter, and Kane rocked me, that soothing voice whispering, “I don’t know. I don’t know. But I know that everything she did was because she loved you. Because she loved all of you so much. She was a fighter, too, Emery. A beautiful fighter, just like you.”

My head shook. “I wasn’t brave.”

I hid myself away.

Kane released a haggard breath, and he shifted me around to straddle his lap.

With his index finger, he tipped up my chin. “You fought when it was your time. When you had that little girl who needed you. You stepped up and you protected her. That’s brave, Emery. When you’re terrified to do something, but you do it anyway because you know it’s the right thing to do.”

Sadness tugged through his striking, harsh features. Emerald eyes awash in pain. “We both have massive regrets, and I wish I could go back and do it all over. Look at her and recognize her. Look at her and see what she really needed. But I can’t, just the same as you can’t go back and know what she was doing, either. But the one thing we can do is continue fighting in her honor. For women. For children. For all who are vulnerable. For that little girl who is sleeping down the hall.”

“I knew, Kane. Even when I ran, I think I knew there was no chance you were responsible for it. Each step that took me farther away from this house?” I spread my palm out over the beat of his glorious heart. “You drew me back.”

He gathered that hand up and pressed gentle kisses all over it.

My palm.

My knuckles.

His nose breathing me in as he gazed over at me.

“It made me sick for so long, Emery. Sick knowing that I was there. That I was this close to being a part of it. But I know now…I know I was meant to be right there. Drawn through all the heartache and grief and crimes and regret to stand in that very spot. My only regret is that I couldn’t get the rest of them out.”

Sorrow pulsed between us. “Do you have any idea where they took Jana?”

Bleakness took to his features, and he hesitated before he gave.

Fully surrendering.

Giving all of himself to me.

Every facet of his life.

“I found the bastard she ended up with about a year later. Some rich, sick fuck who lived in Florida.” His big hand settled on my cheek and his mouth tweaked down on the side. “I’m so sorry, but she was already gone.”

I knew what he meant with the way he carefully phrased it.

She was dead.

Another sob ripped out, and I nearly bowed in two.

Kane held me up, arms cinched tight as he murmured, “I know, baby. I know. I would have done anything to stop it. I destroyed that motherfucker for it. He can’t hurt anyone else. I wanted to let her family know, but I couldn’t find a way without bringing attention to myself. Because I knew I had to keep doing what I was doing. Going after these monsters. I’ve been trying to track that bastard Tyke for years. I never could pick up a trace.”

He kept rocking me, rubbing his hand up and down my back. “He’s gone. He’s gone. Thanks to you and Emmalee, he’s gone.”

I could barely nod into his bare shoulder. “He’s gone.”

Kane held me that way for the longest time. Both of us processing through everything that had happened.

The tragedy.

The loss.

The things that we would give anything to change.

Except for this one single thing.

The connection that burned bright between us.

Blinding.

Gripping.

Perfecting.

He finally eased back, gaze fierce and sincere.

“I love you, Emery Voss. My soul recognized you in a heartbeat. This beautiful girl who’d fought with everything she had. One who’d struck a chord inside me. One that lit a fire in the depths of me. And maybe your light was dimmed, but no more. And it will be my honor to watch you glow for the rest of our lives.”

EPILOGUES

Kane

Flames flickered and leaped for the darkened sky, the logs crackling and popping where we sat around the campfire. The heavens stretched overhead, going on forever, the blanket of stars so clear where we had set up camp in the private cove near the lake where our family often spent our Sunday afternoons having picnics.

This time, we were spending the entire weekend out here. Surrounded by every member of this incredible family.

This family that had grown and woven into me.

Threads that I hadn’t known I’d been missing.

I was still having a hard time fully wrapping my head around the fact that they were mine. No clue that this kind of joy even existed.

A peal of laughter wound with the peace. “Look it, Daddy! Look it!”

Maci giggled like mad as she held the long metal rod with a marshmallow at the end over the open flames. The white, gooey blob bubbling to a golden perfection right in front of her eyes.

“I see it. You’re doing a great job,” I told her. “It’s almost ready.”

I sat right behind her on a blanket that we’d strewn across the grass-covered ground, hugging her close to make sure she didn’t get too close to the campfire.

Emery was right next to us, her sweet little body tucked up next to mine, radiating all her beauty and light.

Her gorgeous face lit in the glinting leaps of the flames.

“I told you that you were gonna do a really super great job,” Nolan told Maci from where he sat next to her roasting his own marshmallow with his dad on the other side of him watching him closely, though his dog, Rocky, was basically on his lap, doing a little protecting of his own.

His tail wagging nonstop.

My sweet nephew was finally getting his camping trip, even though it was about six weeks late. After everything had gone down, we wanted to give Emery and Maci time to readjust. Time to heal and rest and find the relief in the fact that they were safe.

To settle into this brand-new life after they had been so close to losing it.

My chest tightened as I wrestled with the thought. How close that fucker Tyke had gotten to stealing my heart right out of me. Our minds still twisted over the truth of what we’d discovered.

The connection that Emery and I shared was so much greater than we’d imagined. This thing that had burned between us an affinity only our spirits had recognized.

But I got it now. The depths of what we meant to each other.

Emery snuggled even closer, no doubt, feeling the significance of it, too.

“Guess I didn’t have a fing to be worried about.” Maci shrugged one of her adorable shoulders.

Amused affection pulled through my being, and I pressed a kiss to her temple. “No, Angel Face, you don’t have a thing to be worried about.”

I would fight with everything I had for that. For her to be able to live a life that wasn’t riddled with the types of fears that no child should face.

Give her a life that wasn’t wrought with injustices and wrongs and abuse.

No, I knew I couldn’t protect her from everything. I knew she needed to experience some hardships and obstacles.

They’d make her strong and wise.

Discerning.

But I’d be right at her side to help her see them through.

But for the rest? The monsters that lurked? They’d meet with my wrath first.

“That’s ’cause I got everyfing I need.” Maci gave a resolute nod.

“Well, you got me and you’re always gonna have me,” Nolan told her in his sweet little drawl.

Could feel the love that rolled through the entire circle as everyone watched down on these kids who had us enchanted.

Theo and Cash chuckled a bit, and River and Charleigh smiled softly where they were snuggled under a blanket together on the other side of Nolan.

From where Raven sat on Otto’s lap on a folding chair across the fire, I could see the flames dance in her dark gaze as she watched down on them.

Otto squeezed her a little tighter, the two of them obviously dreaming about the day their little one was going to join Maci and Nolan.

“That’s because I had to come here to find my daddy and my aunties and my uncles and my most very best friend,” Maci prattled.

My arm tightened around her waist, and I simply breathed in her sweetness. “And I am so glad you found me,” I murmured before I shifted to gaze at Emery through the babbling night.

“So glad you found me.” It came out rougher that time as I stared at my woman, and Emery bit down on her bottom lip, toffee eyes full of so much emotion the sight of them hit me like a freight train. The amount of love that slammed me every time I looked at her stunning face.

“I’m so glad we found you, too,” she whispered.

Charleigh tipped her face toward the serene calm of the heavens and exhaled a contented breath. “I really do think this place draws us to it. Guides us where we’re supposed to be.”

Emery peered over at me, so much joy in her expression I could feel it spilling into me. “I do, too.”

“Daddy! I got a fire!” Maci suddenly shrieked.

“Uh-oh, that’s bad. Real, real bad.” Nolan sadly shook his head.

“Ah, crap,” I rushed, a bit of laughter riding up my throat as I saw the orb of fire that had become Maci’s marshmallow.

It flamed and charred before it fully melted off the tip of the rod and plopped into the flames.

“Oh, no!” Maci cried, close to distraught.

“It’s okay, sweetheart, we have plenty more. Maybe this time your dad will pay attention and stop being so distracted.” Theo sent me a razzing look as he tossed me the bag of marshmallows from the ground next to him.

“Hey, what can I say? I can’t help myself.” I turned my words to Maci. “I got distracted looking at how pretty your auntie is, and I missed the perfect moment.”

“That’s ’cause you lovie doves don’t never stop kissin’.” She huffed like the fact put her out.

“Guess I’m just a kissing dragon.” I smacked a bunch of loud kisses against my daughter’s cheek.

“Daaaaaad,” she drew out with a giggle and shriek, and I was chuckling as I edged back and carefully loaded another marshmallow onto her rod before I helped her place it back into the flames.

That time, I made sure to keep watch, then helped her build a s’more when it was ready.

“Be careful, it might be a little hot,” I told her as she went to take a bite.

She blew on it for a second before she nibbled the edge, chewed, then just dove in and took a giant bite.

“What do you think?” I asked.

She turned to look at me, her precious face a mess of chocolate and marshmallow. “I fink it’s my most very favorite.”

Tenderness pulled and lashed, and Emery curled her hand into the crook of my elbow and rested her cheek on my shoulder.

I glanced between them.

Love swelled.

Powerful.

Unshakable.

Absolute.

And I murmured, “Well, I definitely know what’s mine.”

Emery

A giggle rolled out of me as Kane hauled me up the steep incline behind him. The night was all around us. The moon just enough to light our path.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I kept my voice hushed against the bewitching silence that surrounded us. The only sound the low drone of bugs and the soft lapping of the lake hitting the shore in the distance below. “Won’t like a bear eat us or something? Raven hasn’t stopped talking about them since we got here.”

Maci had fallen asleep three hours ago in River and Charleigh’s tent next to Nolan since the two of them couldn’t be separated for a second, and once everyone else had gone to sleep, Kane had insisted he and I go for a walk.

He had something he wanted to show me.

Something he promised would be worth it.

Lightness drifted between us, this sweet contentment that I never thought I would find.

My home had become this place.

With him.

With Maci.

He sent me a cocky glance from over his shoulder. His smirk slipped through me on a fit of greed.

God, I would never get enough of this man.

“You really think I’d let a bear get to you? Besides, I think my Little Warrior can handle herself. Wrangle that bear right to its knees.” A playful tease filled his words.

“Hmm…I’m thinking dragon wrangling is more my specialty.”

“Is that so?” That magic gaze glinted as he glanced back while we trudged farther up the path. Our breaths coming short as we climbed our way up the side of the mountain.

“You did say I have you on yours.” It was so freeing that I could flirt with him and feel confident in it. Every emotion I experienced was so different when he looked at me.

The burn and the need and the comfort.

The joy and the hope and the peace.

He shifted around to face me.

The moonlight spilled over him, and the warm glow illuminated his defined jaw and the harsh cut of his brow.

The first time that I saw him, I thought his face was a carved sculpture of fierce, unnerving beauty.

And that’s what he always left me.

Unnerved and shaking.

One glance and a tumble of desire rushed through my veins.

A shockwave of that energy pounded between us. There was no chance of me not being completely swept away by it.

I didn’t care any longer.

I no longer wished to fight it.

Because I now understood why it was him. Why I was drawn, that connection so powerful.

Relentless.

Unstoppable.

Because that’s exactly what we were.

“Is that where you want me, baby? On my knees?” His voice was a low, guttural rasp as he leaned in close.

Heat brushed across my flesh.

Mine dipped to a whisper. “No, Kane, the only place I want you is with me.”

He dragged his fingertips down the side of my face, then gently traced them over my lips. “Good thing because I don’t plan on ever being anywhere else.”

We were nearly at the top, and he kept backing up the trail, tugging me with him until we crested the summit.

Kane guided me out ahead of him, and the breath escaped my lungs on a gush.

At the awe-inspiring beauty stretched out in front of us.

We were near the edge of the cliffs, boulders all around, the lake appearing like silvered glass from the glow of the moon that hung just over the peaks of the mountains in the distance.

“It’s gorgeous.” It was a wisp of wonder.

“Told you that you needed to see it.” He lifted my ponytail and murmured it at the sensitive skin at the nape of my neck.

Shivers raced.

In it was an intense bout of emotion. Joy and thankfulness. “You’ve helped me see so many things, Kane. I thought…I thought I’d live my life alone. A prisoner to what had happened to me.” A scrape of a disbelieving laugh left me. “I thought I was satisfied. That it was enough. But you made me shine.”

I released each word like a prayer. Exhaling, he pulled my back against his chest and wrapped those strong arms around me.

Lifting me.

Supporting me.

My dragon.

Kane let his flattened palms slip beneath the bottom of my tank top, splaying wide across my abdomen. “I knew you would glow.”

I whimpered as I felt him pressing against my shorts, his cock hard as he dragged his hands higher, slowly, slowly lifting my shirt.

“What are you doing?” I wheezed, already so spun up I couldn’t breathe.

“Figured I’d really make you glow,” he rumbled at my cheek.

“Here?” I squeaked it.

I could feel his grin against my flesh. “I think there’s only one thing that could make this setting more beautiful than it already is. And that would be my girl coming alive under it.”

A sigh rippled out as he began kissing a path up and down the side of my neck.

Slow, delirium-inducing kisses that made me weak.

“How do you make me feel this way, Kane Asher? How, in one second, do you have me shaking?”

“Because you were made for me, baby, just like I was made for you. Both of us purposed to be in this very spot. Together.”

He started guiding me forward, up to a boulder that rested close to the cliff.

He pressed my hands against the cold, smooth stone.

A tremulous breath curled from me as he let his hands wander down my sides.

“Do you have any clue what you do to me, Emery Voss? All damned night, feeling your warmth next to me. Glancing at your face. Tempting me with this body. Wearing these little shorts and this tank. Nearly drove me out of my mind with the need to get inside you.”

“Every second, Kane. Every second you have me in knots, and that’s never going to change.”

“Have you been wet for me? Thinking about what I was going to do to you once the sun went down?”

My nod was erratic.

Needy and wild as he dipped his fingers into the elastic waistband of the casual shorts that I wore.

I gasped a shocked sound as he knelt and ripped them down, taking my underwear with them.

Cool air clashed with the flames that burned between us.

He wound the shorts from my ankles and tossed them to the ground before he kissed his way up the back of my right thigh.

“Oh God,” I mumbled as his tongue laved and lapped an upward path.

A low chuckle glided out of him as he made it to my ass.

Still leaning low, he spread me, and I choked over the pleasure when he dragged his tongue through my folds.

“Kane.” I struggled to keep quiet.

“Told you the only thing I had for you was pleasure.”

“So much. So much.” I felt half delirious.

He rose. The man a shadow. Intimidating and awestriking and everything I hadn’t known I wanted.

Arousal rushed, my entire being throbbing and achy.

“Always, Emery. I’m always going to give it to you.”

He pulled himself from his sweats and drove straight into me.

My legs nearly buckled, and my nails scratched at the boulder as I bowed forward, struggling to adjust to him filling me full. So full I was overwhelmed.

Overpowered.

Perfected in his touch.

By his body and his spirit and the aura that surrounded.

“Such a good girl, taking all of me the way you were meant to do.” He grunted the words as he gripped my hips.

A frenzy of energy snapped around him.

A crackle of intensity that blistered in the night.

“Nothing. Nothing in the world feels as good as you. This tight pussy hugging my cock. I will never get enough of you, Little Warrior. You are it for me. My everything.”

Pleasure sparked as he pulled out then rocked back in.

So deep I was gasping all over again.

“Fucking heaven, being inside you.”

Kane started to move, picking up a fast, reckless rhythm. Thrusting in possessive, long strokes. He gripped my hips and jerked me back to meet him with each one.

As he owned me.

As he drove me right up to the edge of surrender.

But that’s what I was.

Surrendered.

Wholly and completely.

My heart and my body and the joy that I had found in the one man I’d thought I could never fall for.

But I was wrong.

The tattoo on the inside of my wrist seemed to glow and throb in the whispers of the lapping night.

Find me in the darkness, bring me to the light.

He was the one I’d been looking for all along.

Kane grunted as he fucked me hard and deep, murmurs of praise falling from his lips with each desperate stroke.

“So good, Emery. So fucking good.”

He pulled me back against him so he could grip me by the jaw, and he turned my head so he could kiss me into oblivion.

His mouth as potent as the drive of his body. He splayed his hand across my belly, running it down until he pressed it between my thighs.

His fingertips swirled over my clit.

Pleasure glinted and sparked in the darkened night. A glow that lit up around us.

I felt consumed. Overtaken.

Bliss flamed around us.

The two of us standing in the fire.

The juts and rocks of our bodies as we crashed into one another.

An inferno that consumed.

“Let go.” Kane commanded it low at my mouth.

But I was there.

Already gone.

Completely taken by this love that had been purposed for me.

I rode it.

This rapture.

With him as we both soared into the star-strewn heavens.

He gripped and pulled at me as he poured into my body.

Breaths heaving from him, he curled his arms back around me, holding me fiercely against his chest.

The two of us gazed out on the beauty, and he murmured, “There’s never been anything as beautiful as this. My girl blooming like a morning glory. Pulled from the darkness and coming alive. You are my perfect ten.”

Emery – Six Months Later

The bell jingled over the door of Ivy Threads. It was no longer located in Wisconsin. It was here in Moonlit Ridge, in the building two doors down from Moonflower.

Kane came striding in with that easy smirk on his face. The man so intimidatingly beautiful he never failed to steal my breath.

“Ah, I see you have been making magic, Little Warrior.”

My cheeks pinked at the pride in his voice. “You think so?”

I glanced around at the displays of clothing and accessories. Mine and my sister’s dream. The one I’d let go out of fear that now had come to fruition.

“It’s amazing. Whole town is going to be clambering to get through that door come tomorrow morning.”

Excitement blazed in my chest, and he rounded the counter that he’d built then helped me paint.

The store had been decorated in pinks and whites, something Charleigh had suggested and Raven had reluctantly climbed on board with, the two of them helping me design and put everything together. The shelves and floors were whitewashed woods, and the seating areas were soft blush velvet.

A chandelier hung from the ceiling, giving a glam vibe to the different displays situated around the store, and Raven had insisted on bringing over a slew of pink and white flower arrangements from Moonflower for our grand opening.

Kane wrapped his arms around me from behind and hooked his chin on my shoulder. He swayed me back and forth. “No chance of it not being amazing. Not when you are behind it.”

Air puffed from my nose, and I rested against his chest, watching the flurries of snow fall out the big windows in front. Colorful lights and wreaths adorned each storefront outside, the streets of Moonlit Ridge decorated for the holidays.

I couldn’t wait for my mom and Ted to come visit for Christmas. For them to see our new home. This life we had made.

The joy we had found amid the horrible grief.

“I’m so happy,” I whispered.

Those arms tightened a fraction. “So. Damned. Happy,” Kane grunted at the shell of my ear.

Both of us seemed to be drawn to the bracelet that I wore around my wrist. The one that his mother had worn. The one that had been lost when Kane’s heart had been lost. The same one that had served to guide us here.

Connecting us.

Binding us.

“She would be so proud of you, Kane,” I murmured.

His nod was wistful. “Think she would have given anything to see this. You, me, and Maci.”

Kane traced his fingertip over one of the roses, and I whispered, “Maybe she’s been right here, all along.”

The bell dinged overhead, and my attention jerked up as we were popped from our bubble.

A really beautiful woman came through the door, wearing a puffy white coat with faux fur around the neck, jeans, and heeled boots that came up just past her knees.

She smiled, both confident and wary as she stepped into the boutique. “Hi, I hope it’s okay that I just came in, but I saw that you are hiring?”

With a smile, I untangled myself from Kane and stepped closer to the counter. “We are. I’m just getting ready to open the shop tomorrow, and with ski season and the holidays, we’re definitely going to be shorthanded. I’m Emery.”

Eagerness shined in her eyes. “It’s so nice to meet you. I’m Piper.” She paused then lifted an uncertain shoulder to her ear. “I was hoping I could put in an application?”

“Of course. Are you new to town? I’ve never seen you before.” And Raven had made it her life’s mission to introduce me to everyone she knew.

Piper gave a slight nod. “Yes. I just got into town and am looking for a permanent place to stay. I…I hope that’s not a problem?”

“No, not at all.”

Relief seemed to ripple across her face, and she gave me a timid smile. “That’s great. I could really use this job.”

“And I could really use the help.” I didn’t know what it was about her, but I immediately liked her.

“Where are you staying?” Kane asked.

She averted her gaze for a moment then seemed to force out, “The Sanctuary. Though it might be more aptly called The Prison.”

She let go of a roll of self-deprecating laughter.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She shrugged in uncertainty. “The owner is a little…overprotective. He demanded to know where I was going when I left today. He somehow thinks just because he did me a favor when he was fully booked, I’ve become his responsibility.” Then she dropped her attention to the ground and scratched her forehead, her voice lowering when she said, “I probably shouldn’t be unloading that on you, should I?”

A small giggle rolled from me. “You can definitely unload it since I’m pretty sure you and I are going to be great friends. Just to be clear, you are talking about Theo?”

Her blue eyes went wide with surprise. “Yes. Theo Mallin. You know him?”

“Oh, I definitely know him.”

Kane chuckled a low, disbelieving sound, and his words slipped into amusement. “So, you’re Piper Whittman. Welcome to Moonlit Ridge.”

Curious what Theo is up to with the town’s new resident? His story, Beyond the Blue Horizon, is up next!

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ALSO BY A.L. JACKSON

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Moonlit Ridge

From Here to Eternity

Under an Endless Moon

At the Edge of Surrender

Beyond the Blue Horizon

On the Brink of Bliss

Time River

Love Me Today

Don’t Forget Me Tomorrow

Claim Me Forever

Hold Me Until Morning

Redemption Hills

Give Me a Reason

Say It’s Forever

Never Look Back

Promise Me Always

Falling Stars

Kiss the Stars

Catch Me When I Fall

Falling into You

Beneath the Stars

Confessions of the Heart

More of You

All of Me

Pieces of Us

Fight for Me Series

Show Me the Way

Follow Me Back

Lead Me Home

Hold on to Hope

Bleeding Stars Series

A Stone in the Sea

Drowning to Breathe

Where Lightning Strikes

Wait

Stay

Stand

The Regret Series

Lost to You

Take This Regret

If Forever Comes

The Closer to You Series

Come to Me Quietly

Come to Me Softly

Come to Me Recklessly

Stand-Alone Novels

Pulled

When We Collide

Hollywood Chronicles

A collaboration with USA Today Bestselling Author, Rebecca Shea

One Wild Night

One Wild Ride

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A.L. Jackson is the New York Times & USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romance. She writes emotional, sexy, heart-filled stories about boys who usually like to be a little bit bad.

If she’s not writing, you can find her hanging out by the pool with her family, sipping cocktails with her friends, or of course with her nose buried in a book.

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