They’re leaving.
We all stand and move toward the main entrance, watching through the windows as the men carry out their final preparations. Hurricane moves through his brothers like the natural leader he is, checking gear, giving last-minute instructions, making sure everyone’s ready.
Then his eyes find mine through the glass, and everything else fades away.
He strides toward me with that confident walk that made me fall in love with him in the first place, all controlled power and barely contained intensity. When he reaches me, he doesn’t hesitate, pulling me into his arms and kissing me like his life depends on it. “I love you, Kaia,” he says against my lips, hisvoice steady despite the emotion in his eyes. “You and our babies are the reason I fight. You’re the reason I’ll find my way home.”
I touch his face, memorizing the feel of his skin, the scratch of his beard. “We’ll be here waiting for you.Allof us.”
He places both hands on my belly, leaning down to press a kiss there. “Daddy’s gonna come home to you,” he whispers to our unborn children. “I promise.” Then he straightens, looking into my eyes one last time. “You’re my heart, Sha. Everythin’ I am, everythin’ I do, it’s all for you.”
“Come home to u-us,” I whisper, my voice breaking.
“Count on it, baby,” he replies with that cocky grin that’s gotten him through every impossible situation he’s ever faced. Then he turns and walks away, and I watch the man I love transform into Hurricane, President of NOLA Defiance, a force of nature ready to take on the world.
The vans begin to pour out of the parking lot, and I stand here with my hands pressed to the glass, watching as my husband leads his brothers into the night like the warrior he’s always been.
The sound of their vans fades into the distance, leaving behind only the echo of my heartbeat and the movement of our babies inside me.
And all I can do is wait.
All I can do is hope.
All I can do is believe that love is stronger than war, and that the man who owns my heart will find his way back to the family who needs him.
Because Lynx ‘Hurricane’ Ladet doesn’t know how to lose.
And I refuse to let him start now.
Chapter Eleven
Hurricane
Riding off to fight this war to help our LA Defiance brothers was a no-brainer. But riding off and leaving Kaia and Immy waiting for me in the clubhouse makes my bones ache. I never thought I would be the type of man to fall so head over heels for a woman the way I have for Kaia. That woman has irrevocably changed me.
For the better.
She tamed the hurricane.
But she’s not the only woman in my life I am grateful for. There’s her sister Lani, whom I adore more than anything. And of course, there’s Ingrid. The woman whom I would walk over hot coals for. The woman who is more of a mother than my mother ever was. I have been blessed in my life to be surrounded by strong and nurturing women who have loved me beyond my many faults. And it’s nights like this that I have to hold onto their love to get me through these battles.
Because they’re always big, and they always cost something.
The cold New Orleans night air bites at my skin as I crouch in position, checking my Glock one last time. My brothers are scattered across the shipping yard like pieces on a chessboard, and I’m the fucking king directing the play.
Except I’m not feeling much like a king tonight.
More like a father who wants to get home to his loving family.
The thought of Kaia makes my chest tighten. Those twins growing inside her, the ones I found out about during our honeymoon in February… God, that woman looked so beautiful when she told me. The way her eyes lit up, the way she placedmy hand on her still-flat stomach and whispered, “We’re having twins, Hurricane.”
I’ve been on a high ever since.
I can’t fucking help it.
Making babies with that woman is my favorite goddamn thing in the world, and watching them grow into incredible little humans?Even better.
Immy’s already got me wrapped around her tiny finger. I’m a sucker when it comes to my daughter. Hell, I’m a sucker when it comes to all the women in my life, Kaia, Lani, even Ingrid. They all knowexactlyhow to tame this hurricane.
