“He’s worried about the kids seeing their mom like this. And not knowing anybody else if somebody other than him tries to goget them. But all that blood out there is going to freak them out, anyway,” Bam said. “There’s blood everywhere.”
“Bodies everywhere,” Maverik said. “Well, not everywhere, just here and there.”
Tempest was still sitting on the ground beside Giada. “I got it,” she said, raising an arm and swirling her fingers in the air.
Ronan looked down at his body when he felt himself covered. She’d removed the blood and dressed him. He looked down at Giada, then up toward the houses again, obviously torn.
“She’s going to be fine,” Tempest promised.
“Can we get her to Ronan’s so the kids only see her resting in bed?” Brandt asked. “Are you up for that, baby?”
“Yeah, we can do that,” Tempest said.
“Great. Maverik can you bring Ronan and the kids home in the truck?” Brandt asked.
Ronan opened his mouth like he was about to object to being separated from Giada or the kids once he’d found them.
“We’ll stay with her. She won’t be alone,” Brandt said.
“You know I’ll get him home. Staying there after, too. Damn straight,” Maverik said.
“Ronan, go get your kids, your dad will drive you home. Me and Tempest will get Giada to your house and situated before they get there to see her. We will not leave her side. Tempest will be right there if she’s needed. This way Giada is taken care of and the kids aren’t traumatized. That sound alright?” Brandt asked.
Ronan squatted down and lifted Giada into his arms. He pressed a kiss to her temple. “I’ll be right behind you,” he whispered. He looked over at Brandt who held his arms out so Ronan could hand her to him. Then started for the tiny houses.
Maverik rested a hand on Bam’s shoulder. “I left the keys in the truck. You go get it?”
“On it,” Bam said.
Maverik jogged after Ronan, scanning the property, glancing to places he knew there’d been bodies and blood only moments before. He turned around and while jogging backwards called out to Tempest. “Everything’s gone! Where you send the bodies?”
Tempest smiled at him deviously. “You really don’t want to know.”
Maverik chuckled and turned back around. He sped up a little until he fell into step with Ronan. “I love that girl. But damn, she’s a little scary sometimes. I’m glad she’s on our side.”
Ronan tried to force a smile, but managed only a slight uplift of one of the corners of his mouth.
“She’s gonna be fine son,” Maverik said.
“I don’t know how you managed to protect all of us all these years. If Mom needed you, you had to be there. If one of us kids needed you, you had to be there. How do you not let somebody down?”
“Same way you just managed to get it all done — with your family and your clan helping you pull up the slack, and you love your mate and your kids with everything you got every minute of every day. You can’t be in every place at once. But you can make sure they all know no matter what you’re coming, and you’re bringing hell with you if necessary. And when you get them all home safe, you hold them, and thank the creator for the gift of them belonging to you, and then you start all over the next day. It’s the best any of us can do. And believe me, somehow, it’ll all work out.”
Chapter 22
Ronan walked up to the door of Giada’s tiny home. He tried the door and the moment he touched it, it swung open. Ronan looked back at Maverik when he realized the doorknob was broken.
Maverik cocked his head a bit, his suspicions going on high alert.
Ronan took a few steps into the tiny home, with Maverik right behind him. He stopped and looked around. The place was a mess. It had obviously been broken into and ransacked. The sofa cushions were thrown across the small room. The pillows and blankets from when the sofa was folded out into a bed were strewn across the floor, and the few pots and pans Giada had were thrown on the floor. The shower curtain had been ripped down. The blinds on the windows were broken and hanging from only one side. Even the storage bench was not spared, its top was left ajar and the extra clothes and blankets that were stored there were strewn about the small kitchen. But there was no trace of the boys.
Ronan walked though the small home, stopping every few steps to listen. There was nothing to indicate anyone was in the home at all. “I don’t think they’re here.”
“Gotta be. Tempest said she felt them here,” Maverik said. He started going through the house, opening each cabinet and looking inside. He even stood on the table and and used the multi-tool he carried on his belt to unscrew the vent to see just how wide the air and heating ducts were.
Ronan got down on his hands and knees to look under things, and between things. He laid on his belly and scooted across the floor inches at a time, his eyes roving over every inchof the small home. Having not noticed anything out of place, he sat up and just looked around himself, looking for any little clue he was missing.
“This is a nicer little place than I thought it was. But I just can’t figure out how three people slept in this little place. What’d she do sleep on the floor? There’s not room for everybody to sleep on that sofa,” Maverik said.
