“Alena, I want to meet your dad while we’re home.”
Her eyes widen. “My dad? The one who’ll kill any man who touches me?”
The one who’s like a brother to me?
Yeah, it’ll get lethal.
“Yeah, I want him to know about us.” I take her other hand, clasping ours together. “Our worlds are so connected. It’s Fate, right? So let’s tell him about us so we can be together when we go home.”
Fear bends her brows. “God, I want to, and I don’t. I’m a grown woman and proud of the man I’m with—of you.” She squeezes my hands. “But in my dad’s eyes, no matter what I do, I’m forever fifteen, and he’ll be a royal dickhead to you, and I want to protect you. Punches are a real risk.”
No, they’re a certainty.
I step, toe-to-toe with her. “I’ll take a beating for you, Babygirl. Anyone else and I’ll fucking kill them for you. But for your father? I’ll take his rage until it passes.”
“Ironically”—hope and worry dance in her eyes—“you two are a lot alike, and that’s exactly why I know he won’t like you. You’re two alphas and too alpha.”
“He’ll get over it because...” I reach through her silky hair,pulling her dirty nose to meet mine. “Is it too soon to say that I can’t see my life without you?”
“No, uh… Say, say more,” she stammers, cutely killing me.
“You want me to say what I really want to say?”
Slowly, she blinks. “Yes.”
God, I hope that’s her answer to every question I plan to ask.
Softly, I kiss her, hot rocks forming in my throat. My heart, a silent volcano, roars awake, breaking open, finally able to express what I’ve been holding in for years. “I love you, Alena Allen.”
I have to choke back the rest with another deep kiss. My ultimate truth revealed threatens to liberate everything else I hide.
She whimpers over our lips, breathy with her whisper, “I love you, too, and I’m afraid.”
“Don’t be afraid.” I nuzzle her forehead. “I’ll fight for you, I swear. Your dad. Folks at home. Guys at work. Me and my love for you, Alena, we’re too damn big to beat, but I’ll quit my job if it makes yours easier and?—”
“No, don’t quit,” she rushes out. “Just promise…” Her lip trembles, eyes glistening. “Just promise me you’ll always come home. I can’t?—”
“I know.”Her mom.I cradle her head to my chest. “Even when I’m in the doghouse with you, I promise it’ll be right outside your door. I’m never leaving you.”
She wraps her arms around my waist, squeezing as I cling to my plan to fight for her.
I’ll wait until right after Zar’s initiation, when all the kings are together, and I’ll tell Nash. And Axel.
The rest of my brothers? Maybe they can stop a murder.
Holding Alena in my arms, we jump when a loud motorcycle pops, the sound of its pipes startling us before Wilder, on his Harley, curves around the bend.
The fucker even grins, waving at us as he revs past, taking the next hairpin turn up to his cabin, overlooking ours.
“He’s always so nice,” Alena murmurs.
“Uh-huh.”
No, he’s fucking infuriating. I told him not to ride his hog on the mountain, and all Wilder heard was a rule he was born to break.
I’m just thankful, he’ll break laws for me too. I have no proof, just another burning instinct.
I’ll need Wilder’s help one day when I break skulls for Alena.
