We haven’t said the words. I want to. But seeing him struggle with his guilt every waking minute has built this wall between us I can’t figure out how to tear down.
His phone vibrates, and he checks the screen before he answers. “Ry? You’re on speaker.”
The former Special Forces team leader has already called twice to tell us how sorry he was he couldn’t come to Boston with West and Raelynn, two of the team I now know helped save me.
“Inara and Graham checked in,” Ryker says, his voice taking on a satisfied tone I haven’t heard before. “Dante Lambert thought he could evade an Army Ranger sniper. He was wrong.”
“He’s…?” I don’t want to say the word. Not over an open line.
“Yup. Niehaus knows the score. He thanked us for cleaning up the mess.”
A weight I didn’t know I was still carrying lifts, and I set the tea down before I spill it all over myself.
“What about theotherissue?” Ronan asks.
After a rough chuckle, Ryker clears his throat. “The General Intelligence and Security Service raided three separate safehouses after we pulled all the GPS data off the phones West brought back from the scene. Six arrests, four dead hostiles who weren’t smart enough to give up, and the Strauss Cartel willneverbother you again, Zephyr.”
It takes me three tries to manage a “thank you.”
“No need for that,” Ry says. “No one messes with our family.”
He and Ronan say their goodbyes while tears stream down my cheeks. It’s over. It’s really over.
“Let it out, luv,” Ronan whispers in my ear, and I cry until there’s nothing left, safe in his arms.
* * *
Ronan
How could I have been so stupid? My misguided attempts to spare Zephyr pain backfired, and I pissed away two days of closeness sheneeded.
No more. I don’t know how much time we have together. Now that she’s free—truly free—she can go anywhere. Do anything. The idea that she’d stay here with me? It borders on ridiculous.
“I haven’t asked,” I say quietly. “What will you do now?”
“Do?” She turns to face me, one of her cheeks several shades of purple, and I try not to blame myself all over again.
“You could return to Italy. Or go to Canada. San Diego.” I can’t meet her gaze for fear of what I’ll find in her eyes. “Hawaii.”
“Do youwantme to go somewhere?” Her voice trembles. Shit.
Shock stiffens my shoulders, and I find the courage to look her in the eyes. “Zephyr, I love you. I want you here. With me. For good.” A single tear spills onto her cheek, and I dash it away with my thumb. “I should have told you when we found you. Or hell, before I let you walk into that house alone. But I wouldn’t blame you for hatin’ me.”
“Hating you?”
“For takin’ so long to get to you. For not bringin’ the rest of my team in sooner. For everythin’ they did to you.” I cup the back of her neck, one of the few places on her body that isn’t marred by a fresh wound. “You’re my everythin’, Zephyr. My family.”
It takes her several seconds to find her voice. Seconds I spend in abject terror until she offers me a wobbly smile. “And you’re mine. I love you, Ronan. The only place I want to be is with you.”
* * *
A week later,Zephyr’s recovered enough to come to Second Sight and meet the rest of the men and women I call family. Easing the brand new leather jacket from her shoulders, I drape it over my arm and open the door.
Thanks to online shopping and a rather large sum of money Wren and Ripperliberatedfrom the cartel’s various accounts, she has a whole new wardrobe appropriate for winter in Boston. The soft teal sweater matches her hair, and black jeans mold to her ass. She was giddy over the boots she called “barely practical” and said something under her breath about traction.
“Ronan!” Marjorie hustles around her desk and wraps her arms around me. “Welcome back.”
“Uh, thanks.” We’ve never hugged before and it takes me a minute to extricate myself and return my arm to Zephyr’s shoulders. “Marjorie, this is Zephyr.”
