Understanding shines in his eyes. I can see it, even through the blood spatter on his glasses. “No, we didn’t. You’re ours now.Mine. I’ll always come for you. I’ll always choose you.”
“Wait.” I grab Ansel’s wrist. “You have to stop the email!”
“Already done,” Ansel says soothingly. “I took control of the security system and blocked his servers as soon as I tracked you all to this building. There hasn’t been a leak.”
“Oh, thank fuck.” I let my head fall onto Wylder’s shoulder. “I can’t believe you risked everything for me.”
“I can. Best decision I ever made.”
Another sob shudders through me. Might be a while before I can find a way to make them stop. I’ll probably need to play a prank on Wylder and then have him fuck me silly until I feel more normal. “It was so reckless. What if it’d sent?”
His fingers pry my face back and grab my chin in a fierce hold. “Nothing is worth losing you. Nothing. You got that?”
I swallow a couple of times. “I love you. You know that, right?”
A smile blooms across his lips. “I know, brat. And I love you too.”
“I mean, I guessed that, given you were prepared to be outed for patricide.”
“About that,” Samson says grimly. “We need to have a chat about this when we get home.”
Wylder sighs. “Yes. I suppose we do.”
“And the betting pool as well,” Cade adds unhelpfully. “I think I won.”
“Terrible timing, Titan,” Ansel says.
After a few moments, they all drift away, clearing up any evidence that we were ever here. Wylder doesn’t move though, just continues kneeling between my thighs, his hand in my hair.
“I’m sorry,” I say quietly, still feeling bereft. “I know you didn’t want your secret out there, and now it is. It’s all my fault.”
“How did you work that one out?”
“Because I should’ve known it was a trap,” I say heavily. “I should’ve seen the signs.”
“We all should’ve seen them. Us more so than you, given our training.”
“Still feel like it’s my fault.”
“But it isn’t.” He silences any further arguments with a kiss. “And I won’t hear another word on the matter, okay? I don’t give a shit that my brothers know now. The whole world can learn about it if it means keeping you alive, because you come above everything and everyone else for me. Understand?”
And I’m crying again. Not out of sadness. Out of the pure, overwhelming love that’s filling me. I don’t know how to process it. I’ve never had this before, never experienced it.
Love. Such a complicated, all-consuming thing.
Fortunately, Wylder seems to know exactly what I need.
He pulls me onto his lap and holds me tight.
We stay there for a long time, Wylder willingly letting the others take the lead on looking after us.
While he looks after me.
29
WYLDER
Everyone is showered, fucked, and fed, and now we’re all in my office having a drink. It’s much needed after everything.
