The look of relief and love on my brother's face when he looked at his nephew was downright touching. He’d held it together and kept me calm, but he wasn’t the only one that could read a person’s eyes. I knew he’d not only been worried about Griffin, but I was sure he couldn’t help but think what if it was his own children.
“Of course I did, little dude.” He held out his fist for a bump—something they did a lot—and waited. “Your dad and I are a team.”
Griffin moved slowly toward his uncle and tapped his knuckles with his. Then he let out a mini gasp, his eyes rounding even more than before. He took in Lyric before his gaze swung back to me.
“You have guns,” he whispered.
My son was well aware of most of the guys' time in the military and that we had guns. Heck, Gramps even had guns. However, they were always put away and locked up, but this was a whole different scenario. We’d have to have a long talk again about their use and go over safety instructions.
“Yeah, bud, we needed them for protection in this situation. We’ll talk more about that later, yeah?”
He bobbed his head.
Getting to my feet, I reached out to take his hand, but he didn’t grab it. Instead, he looked up at me with the same expressive, big brown eyes that his mother had and lifted his arms for me to pick him up.
Anger burned hot and fast, my jaw clenching as I took in the red mark with fingerprints encircling my son’s upper arm. I wanted just five minutes with the two fuckers who dared to hurt my kid.
Was five so much to ask for?
Breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, I tempered the anger pulsing through me and pointed to his arm. “I bet that hurts. You got any more spots that are hurting?”
He shook his head. “No.”
With that knowledge, I picked him up and held him against my chest while we exited the cabin, Lyric leading the way. His tiny heart quickly thumped against me, and I knew he was still scared.
It was also one of the best things I could feel.
Because it meant my son was alive.
The area around the cabin buzzed with activity.
While we’d been inside, a brush of darkness had set in, and the mountain air had cooled quite a bit, but the sheriff had gotten the ball rolling to clean things up. It was his jurisdiction in which it had all unfolded, so he would be taking charge now. We’d been lucky enough to be allowed to do what we had.
My eyes methodically took in the surroundings as wemade our way down the front steps of the cabin and toward the rest of our team, who were speaking with Hayes. Griffin, who’d kept his head against my chest the entire way out, sat up at the sound of voices.
“Wow, Uncle Gyth and Uncle Kace came too?” He clung to me, not seeming inclined to get down at all, but twisted in my arms to get a good look at our friends. “Thank you, guys.”
Every man’s face was painted with emotion at those few heartfelt words.
Kace, who had a blanket waiting for Griffin, wrapped it around his shoulders before saying, “All the others wanted to come too, but we were the lucky ones.” He reached over and ruffled Griffin’s hair. “Right, Uncle Gyth?”
Nodding, Gyth jumped in. “Damn lucky for sure.”
My son let out a soft giggle, and it was the most amazing sound. For hours, I worked hard to believe the only outcome was getting him back, unharmed. I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t let doubt in a time or two—wondering if I’d hear his laughter again, sing with him, play beside him, or teach him anything new. Or if I’d ever get to watch him grow.
To have my son in my arms, fairly unharmed, meant everything to me.
And he was joking.
“I won’t tell Embry you said the D word,” he told Gyth.
Gyth threw his head back and laughed. “Thanks, bud.”
“So, you seem to have a lot of uncles,” Hayes said, snagging Griffin’s attention. “There must be a story there.”
“Yup, a lot,a lot,” my son said, full of exaggeration. He squinted, studying the sheriff. “You catch bad guys?”
His eyes darted around, his body stiffening in my arms, and I knew what he was looking for right away—so did Hayes.
