"Sleep," I tell her. "I'll be here when you wake up."
She's asleep within minutes, her breathing evening out, her body going limp against mine.
I stay awake, watching her. Absorbing the way she looks in my bed, in my arms. Already planning how to make sure she never leaves.
Laney
I wake up to sunlight beginning to filter through the floor-to-ceiling windows and the feeling of being watched.
My eyes flutter open, and the first thing I see is Yakov propped up on one elbow, staring at me with an intensity that should probably be unnerving, but instead sends heat pooling low in my belly.
"Hi," I say, my voice rough from sleep and screaming his name.
"Hi." His hand comes up to brush hair away from my face. "How do you feel?"
I take inventory. Sore in places I didn't know could be sore. Exhausted but also somehow more rested than I've been in a week. And hungry. Starving, in fact.
"Like I got hit by a truck," I admit. "A really good truck."
His mouth quirks. "That's one way to describe it."
"How long was I asleep?"
"Six hours. It's just past dawn." He traces patterns on my bare shoulder with his fingertips. "I've been up for about an hour. Made some calls."
That wakes me up fully. "Laurie—"
"Is fine. I talked to Luka. Everyone at the safehouse is doing well. Most of them are still asleep. Your sister included." Histhumb brushes over my collarbone. "The medical team are happy everyone is recovering well. No complications."
Relief floods through me. "Thank god."
"I also called Adrik. Updated him on everything." His expression shifts slightly. "He wants to meet you."
"Your brother?"
"My oldest brother." At my confused look, he explains: "He’s the boss of our family since our father passed. He has the final say over the big things, even though we mostly work autonomously."
"Oh." I process that. "Should I be nervous?"
"No. He's... intense. But he'll like you."
"How do you know?"
"Because you fight like a badass to protect what’s yours. Figuratively and literally. You probably didn’t notice last night, with the adrenaline and just wanting to spend time with Laurie, but Kaiden’s nose is indeed broken."
Embarrassment floods my face. "I didn't know he was on your side." I feel terrible about it.
"You did what you had to do with the information you had available. I told you to wait for me, Kaiden got ahead of us and didn’t know. But you did the right thing. Though I’d prefer you not to risk your own life going forward, please." He leans down and kisses me, soft and slow.
I kiss him back, my hands coming up to thread through his hair. He's showered since I fell asleep, his hair is damp, and he smells like soap and something darker, more classically masculine underneath.
"I’m sorry for the tears and stuff," I say when we break apart. "I don’t know where it all came from."
"You can always be vulnerable with me, Laney. And to be honest, I think it was quite a normal response. Once your body was relaxed you weren’t able to hold it all in. But if you would like to talk to a therapist or anything, I can arrange that."
"No. I don’t need that, I think I just need to see Laurie and make sure I’m not imagining it all."
"The women are all still sleeping, and the medical team want to keep an eye on them for another twenty-four hours, but we can visit after breakfast." He strokes his fingertips over my face as I nod with a weak smile, lifting my chin to touch my lips to his again.
