I know what it’s like to be younger, where my older brothers make most of the decisions and I’m the good soldier who has to follow them. But I never turned into a whiney little bitch. The tantrum Aria’s brother and sister just threw baffles me. How can they not be thanking her for what she’s done? She willingly took on this burden to keep them safe. How dare they pretend what she did was wrong?
Aria’s lying on the couch in our room. I get a warm, wet cloth to put over her eyes and rest her head in my lap, stroking her silky hair away from her face.
“How’s your head?”
“Better,” she whispers, “thank you.”
“How long have you had these headaches?”
“Since I was a child. I took up running when I was in high school, it helped a lot.” She shifts her shoulders, getting comfortable on my lap. “I haven’t had much time for that since we lost our parents.”
Her hair is spread over my thigh and the arm of the couch, glimmering silver in the sunlight as I run my fingers through it.
“How about now?”
She pulls the cloth away. “How about now what?”
“Let’s take a run,” I shrug. “Show me one of your favorite routes.”
“Really?”
“Aye, we’ll take our security detail and leave the King contingent here to look after your brother and sister.” I stroke her cheek with my knuckles as she smiles tentatively.
“That would be nice. Thank you.”
***
There’s no part of Halifax I’ve seen that isn’t beautiful, but the running path that rings the foothills above the harbor is especially grand. The deep blue of the water shifts to green with the wind over the harbor and the wildflowers along the running path are waist-high, bending gracefully as we pass them. Two of my men run in front of us, two in back.
The color returns to Aria’s face as she charges up the hill. Falling behind, I admire her perfect arse as she pushes herself harder.
Glancing over her shoulder, she glares at me. “What are you doing back there?”
I give her my most innocent smile, which never fools anyone. “Just checking the terrain.”
“Uh, huh,” she says doubtfully as I catch back up.
I hear the‘Pop! Pop! Pop!’of the bullets being fired before the first one hits the rock face next to us, chips shattering off the granite, one hitting Aria’s cheek and sending up a small spurt of blood.
“Down!” I shout as I pull her off her feet, rolling behind the boulders and covering her. “Gregor! What direction?”
“Downhill,” his voice is tight with pain and I realize one of the bullets must have found him. “To the east. Four men that I can see. Sending Michael up to check for vantage points.”
Grumbling, I pull out my Sig Sauer. One fecking afternoon. I want to give my wife one peaceful moment and this shite starts up. We’re all pinned; I’m still covering Aria and our four men are spread out, finding the closest shelter.
The deafening roar of gunfire continues until I shout, “Och, patch it!” Looking around our boulder, I can see two men sprawled out in the bushes below us, bloody and obviously dead. Three more are trying to move back down the hill and slipping on the loose soil. All my men are holding up their guns, waiting to return fire. Signaling to Michael, I point to his target and he nods curtly, aiming up and taking the shot.
Thestoter, the idiot flies forward, landing face-down in the grass and my bullet lands true in the back of the second man’s head.
“For fuck’s sake keep one of these arseholesalive!I mean it this time!”I shout down to Gregor. He’s closer and he’s already lining up the shot.
“Lachlan! Behind you!”
Spinning around, I see my wife nailing another man in the back of the head with a branch. It slows him down enough for me to shoot out his left knee, sending him toppling to the ground and howling, holding his leg. Aria quickly kicks his gun away from him.
“Pick it up, love, and good work,” I praise her, “did you spot anyone else?”
“There’s one more,” she nods above us, “Kyle took him out.”
