Which was the exact reason he was one of my top enforcers. He understood the rules.
“Please call me Emme,” she corrected. “I hate being addressed so formally.”
Horton’s eyes shot up to meet mine, and even though she deserved the honorific of the title, I wouldn’t go against her wishes here. With my nod, he gave her a relieved smile. “Emme it is, then. You can call me?—”
“Nothing,” I growled. “She doesn’t need to know your name. Now let’s get to sparring drills. Emme has no skills to speak of, so we’re starting at the beginning.”
She glared at me while Horton chuckled. “We all started at the beginning, Emme. We’ll get you trained up in no time.”
With one last withering glare my way, Emme returned her focus to him, and I forced myself to walk away before I did something stupid like kill my top enforcer.
“What are you hoping to work up to?” I heard Horton ask as I strode off.
Her reply was exactly what I hoped and expected from her. “I want to be able to take them all by surprise,” she said in a harder than usual tone. “I want to be a concealed weapon they never see coming. I want to be their worst nightmares.”
Pride flared again as I acknowledged that Emme was,and always would be, my destruction. It was fitting that she might be Fletcher’s too.
I couldn’t wait to see it.
CHAPTER 26
EMME
After almost dying during training, I drowned myself in the shower for an hour, got dressed in sweats, and dragged my broken, ragged ass down the stairs and into the dining room. Hunter had already informed me that we were having a family dinner tonight, and anyone who missed it was going to be inbig fucking trouble.
Now, while most of the time I chose to be inhiskind of trouble, I also needed to eat and replenish all the energy I’d spent today trying not to perish, vomit, or cry.
It had been a close call on all three happening at the same time.
When I stepped into the dining room, four sets of eyes locked in on me, anddamn, it was disconcerting to be at the center of all their attention. It hadn’t happened many times before, as Finley usually avoided me and direct eye contact. Tonight, though, his gaze was locked on the hardest, the whiskey tones of his irises light and swirling.
“Hey,” I said softly, a weird roll of nerves assaulting my stomach. “Sorry I’m late.”
Hunter waved toward the seat on his right side. “Not late, little mate. You’re right on time.”
Trying to act completely normal, I managed not to stumble as I crossed to my chair, excited to sit and rest my aching thighs. My wolf healing wasn’t fast enough to counter Slade’s barbaric training.
Before I could grasp my chair, Finley jumped to his feet and moved the wingback from the table. He was dressed nicely tonight, in jeans, a white shirt, and a red and white flannel thrown over the top that brought out the auburn in his dark brown hair.
Our eyes met as my lips parted in surprise, and Finley responded with a gentle smile.
“I’ve never seen you smile,” I whispered, blinking at him like a moron.
His grin grew and grew andfuck me dead, he had dimples. He’d been to the barber recently and I could just make out, under his thick, dark, and now well-groomed beard, gorgeous indents. In both cheeks.
When I’d been gawking for an uncomfortably long time, Kellan laughed and eased the tension. “You broke her, Fin. Nice job, bro.”
Finley’s smile never wavered, and it wasn’t just the dimples. The amber and gold were bright in his eyes, and the bear looked… happy.
“I don’t want to break her,” he replied softly, answering Kellan but staring straight at me. “I want to protect and save her from whatever the world throws our way. I will not let anyone hurt my family again, no matter what it takes.”
He leaned in even closer, and I barely breathed as he bopped me gently on the nose. “You’re my family, Ice. Now and always. Whatever happens,and whatever you choose.”
With that, he nudged me into my chair, and I remained shocked and speechless as he pushed me into the table. Hunter looked smug as he leaned back in his chair and swirled hiswhiskey around in his glass. “Everything in its own time. Just as I predicted.”
As Finley returned to his seat, Kellan, who was on my right, leaned over and pressed his lips to my cheek. “You look absolutely gorgeous tonight, Shortcake. I love that color on you.”
I glanced down to my plain black sweats, while remembering I’d left my hair stringy and wet from the shower. I shook my head at him. “You’re crazy, Golden. I look like crap. Slade tried to one-up Fletcher and killed me during training today.”
