"It is now." I kiss her shoulder. "Tristan will teach you. He’s got more patience than me."
"I think I can handle that." She interlaces her fingers with mine. "Shane? Is it always going to be like this? The danger? The watching?"
I tighten my grip. I could lie to her. But I don't lie to my woman. "Yeah. This is the life, Bee. Quiet today. Loud tomorrow. But you’re behind the patch now. You got four Gunnar brothers, two cousins, and a whole club standing between you and the world."
The door to the bedroom creaks. We freeze.
"Daddy? Bianca?"
Maddie’s voice. Sleepy and confused.
I pull the sheet up over Bianca’s nakedness, shielding her. "In here, Mads," I call out.
The door pushes open. Maddie stands there in her pink pajamas, rubbing her eyes. She looks at us—me shirtless, Bianca buried in the sheets, the room smelling like musk—and she looks relieved.
"Are you guys fighting?" she asks, eyeing the tossed pillows.
Bianca laughs, a genuine, bright sound chasing the last shadows out of the corners. "No, sweetie. Not fighting. Just... talking."
"Loud talking," I mutter. Bianca elbows me in the ribs under the covers.
Maddie pads across the room and climbs onto the foot of the bed. "Are you staying, Bianca? Like, forever?"
I answer before she can.
"She stays," I say, looking at my daughter. "She’s not going anywhere, Mads. She belongs here."
Maddie beams, a gap-toothed smile breaking my heart and healing it all at once. "Good. Because I need pancakes, and Daddy burns them."
Bianca chuckles, shifting to sit up, holding the sheet to her chest. She leans back against me, head resting on my shoulder. "Pancakes sound good."
I look at them. My daughter, safe and smiling. My woman, marked and claimed. The monster inside me, the one prowling the perimeter and craving violence, settles down.
I remain the Sergeant at Arms. I remain the man who breaks bones and buries bodies to keep this mountain safe. But looking at the sunlight filtering through the curtains, I realize I’m something else, too.
Home.
"Alright," I say, swatting Bianca’s hip through the sheet. "Everybody up. Pancakes. Then I gotta go to the club."
"Can I come?" Maddie asks.
"Not today, peanut. You and Bianca are gonna hang out here. Maybe start planning that garden you wanted."
Maddie cheers and bounces off the bed, running for the door. "I'm gonna get the syrup!"
I turn my head, pressing my forehead against Bianca’s temple. "You okay?"
She turns in my arms, cupping my face. Her thumb brushes over the scar on my cheek, the one that usually makes people look away. She looks right at it, then leans in and kisses it.
"I'm perfect," she whispers. "I love you, Shane."
The words hang in the air, heavy and absolute. My chest tightens, a painful, expanding sensation. "I love you," I rasp.
She grins, wicked and bright. She releases me, sliding out of bed and grabbing my shirt from the floor. She pulls it on. Watching her dress in my clothes, watching her claim my space just as thoroughly as I claimed her body, I know one thing for sure.
The eastern cliffs can keep their secrets. The town can keep its judgments.
I have this. God help the man who tries to take it from me.
