Page 43 of Dark Reunion

Dean didn’t wait for the next verbal grenade, he turned his back on his father, addressing the guards. “Go, before they decide to return, we need to be ready for another wave.”

The jumped back into action, cleaning up the mess Carlos had created. Dean didn’t bother to give his father the satisfaction of a backward glance. No, he dismissed Carlos and showed real strength, something these guards were not used to seeing.

Soon…very soon, he was going to strip his father of everything and do the one thing that would crush not just his body but his soul. He was going to hand everything over to Alvarez.

It was hours later when Dean finally returned to his bedroom, with the stink of smoke still in his hair, and blood on his clothes. Yasmine stood inside, Isabella in her arms, the twins pressed against her legs, wide-eyed.

She scanned him, bloodstains, split knuckles, eyes a little wild, and whispered, “You showed them today. They saw who you are.”

“Yes…it may be a real turning point. At least one more step,” he murmured. “That’s all it takes for them to follow me instead of him.”

Dean removed the guns, making them safe, and walked over to the closet to place them on the top shelf away from his children’s reach. Stripping the ruined clothes, he put on track pants and walked out. He pressed his forehead to Yasmine’s for one brief second, then ruffled the hair on his boys’ heads.

“What are you two still doing awake?”

“We couldn’t sleep, it was too scary,” Tate answered.

“Nothing to be scared about, you were well protected in here.” Dean crouched and looked them in the eyes.

“Not for us, for you,” Aiden whispered, tears in his eyes.

Dean opened his arms, and they gripped him in a hard hug, their little bodies shaking as they cried.

“You don’t need to worry about me. I will always come back to you.” Taking a few minutes to get them settled in their bed, he kissed their heads goodnight.

Walking back to his room and his amazing wife, he cupped her face and felt the slight tremble in her body.

“You too. I will always come back to you,” Dean whispered.

“I love you,” Yasmine inhaled, taking her first full breath as a large tear slipped free and slid down her cheek.

“I love you, forever. Get some rest, I need to shower and get this grime off me, but I’m taking tomorrow off to spend with you and the kids, fuck Carlos,” he snarled, and Yasmine kissed his lips softly.

He helped get Isabella and Andrés settled, then tucked Yasmine in before he walked into the bathroom and closed the door. Glancing at the mirror, he realized no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t pretend he wasn’t a killer…he was a reaper, a bringer of death, and he’d collected a month’s worth of souls tonight.

Maybe he really was what his father had always wanted, what he had dreamed he’d become, but he would never be the tip of the spear for that man again. The next time Dean killed it would be his father’s blood that dripped between his fingers.