His eyes find her — red boots, dark hair, small body in motion — and he scans. Fast and precise and total. Looking for injury. Damage. Fear.
He doesn't find any.
His brow pulls together.
She's laughing. Chasing Kane across the yard with absolute focus, no hesitation, no fear.
I move to the fence.
His eyes come to me. Back to her. Back to me. The confusion is raw and unshielded — the dominant alpha who has been carrying something for a long time suddenly unable to locate the shape of it.
"RJ," I say.
Lumi comes up beside me.
"That's Alexandra," she says. Low and even. "She's four and a half. She’s playing with her fathers." A pause. "She's never been hurt, RJ. Look at her."
He looks.
Alexandra has caught up to Kane and is now attempting to retrieve the ball by sitting on his foot. Kane is making this easy for her. Kade watches with the expression of a man finding this extremely funny and losing the battle not to show it.
"She was never hurt," Lumi says. "Not by you. Not ever."
RJ makes a sound. Low and broken, like something tearing loose.
Tears start. Immediate. He doesn't move to stop them.
"I didn't hurt her." Barely audible.
Again.
"I didn't hurt her."
His hands close on the fence.
"I didn't hurt her."
Lumi stays beside me. She doesn't speak. She lets it move through him the way it needs to.
I look at Stone. He's already moving.
***
Stone take us through the building and into RJ’s fenced area from the inside. Kane and Kade clear the outer yard without being asked, taking Alexandra with them. She protests briefly about Wolfie and I toss it over the fence to her and she accepts this and allows herself to be redirected toward the ball.
Just us and the fenced yard and the cold and RJ on his knees by the fence with his hands still in the chain link and his head bowed.
I sit beside him on the ground. Not across from him. Not at a careful distance. Right beside him, my back against the fence, my shoulder against his arm, the cold coming up through my jeans.
He's still crying. Quietly now. Continuous.
I reach up and run my hand through his hair. Once. Slow.
He goes very still.
I do it again. His head drops toward me.
"Lumi told me," I say. "About the day it happened." I keep my hand moving through his hair, slow and steady. "You were at the healing center. Starting to talk again. Fully present. Trying."
