Sel squeezed my shoulder. “Give her time. She’ll realize that some bonds are worth any price. Holly felt the same and look at us now.”
They were incredibly happy. All of my brothers were with their mates.
I would be too. I had to trust in the fates.
I watched as she laughed again, the sound wrapping around my heart like a caress. “I can’t imagine my life without her now.”
“You won’t have to.” Sel’sconfidence boosted my own. “The fates don’t make mistakes when it comes to mating bonds.”
As the sun slowly set, my brothers departed one by one, heading to their assigned positions. Each one paused to knuckle both mine and Riley’s shoulders before leaving. With each touch, her smile grew a little brighter.
When they were gone, Riley joined me at the monitoring station, her shoulder pressing against my arm as we studied the screens.
“Everyone’s in position,” she finally said, gesturing to the map display where green dots pulsed at strategic points around the property.
I nodded, checking each location against my mental map. “Now we wait.”
She turned to face me, her expression serious. “Dungar, if this goes wrong?—”
“It won’t.” I caught her hand, squeezing it. “We’ve accounted for every variable, every possibility.”
“You can’t predict everything.” A hint of her old fear crept into her voice. “If someone gets hurt because of me?—”
“Stop.” I framed her face with my hands. “Whatever happens tonight, we face it together. That’s what the mark means, Riley. We’re stronger together than apart.”
She leaned into my touch, her eyes closing. “I want to believe that.”
“Then believe it.” I pressed my forehead against hers. “Trust me. Trust us.”
I wanted to tell her I loved her, that she’d become thecenter of my carefully ordered universe, that without her, all my systems and structures would be meaningless. But the words caught in my throat. Not yet. Not until she was ready to hear them, ready to believe them without fear shadowing her eyes.
Instead, I kissed her, pouring everything I couldn’t say into the press of my lips against hers. Her arms wound around my neck, her body melting against mine as if it belonged there. And it did.Shedid.
A beep from the monitor broke us apart. The motion sensor at the northern perimeter had been triggered.
“It’s starting,” Riley said, straightening her uniform shirt.
I nodded, reaching for the radio. “Brothers, be advised. We have movement at the north access point. Maintain positions and await further instructions.”
Riley and I leaned closer to the screen, watching for what might come next.
Her hand found mine under the desk, our fingers intertwining.
Chapter 24
Riley
The security monitor’s blue light cast Dungar’s face in sharp relief, highlighting the strong line of his jaw and the intensity in his dark eyes. We sat together in the dimly lit command center, the soft hum of equipment providing a backdrop to the tension crackling between us.
“Movement at checkpoint four,” I said, tapping the screen where a shadow shifted near the northern perimeter fence. “Still coming closer.”
Dungar nodded, his fingers dancing across the keyboard as he took notes and coordinated with his brothers. “Ruugar confirms visual contact.” His voice remained calm, but I could feel the coiled energy in his frame, like a predator preparing to pounce.
The walkie-talkie crackled. “A solitary figure approaching from the north access road,” Tark reported, his voice low. “They’re carrying a big dark case.”
On the thermal imaging camera, the heat signatureof the intruder glowed orange against the cool blue background, moving toward the luminook pens.
“They’re keeping their face down,” I noted as the figure passed beneath one of our hidden cameras. “And their jacket is bulky enough to disguise body type.”
