Page 126 of Ruthless Enforcer

Sadie shouts, “Holy fuck!”

Jake closes his eyes. “Jesus, Riot, can’t you moderate your fucking language?”

I look back at Harper—my wife. My beautiful, terrifying, impossible wife.

And our two babies.

Two.

I start laughing. I can’t help it. Something cracks wide open inside me, and suddenly I’m laughing and crying like a fucking lunatic. Harper barely gets her arms open before I grab her.

I bury my face against her neck. “Twins?” I whisper against her skin.

“Twins.” She hugs me tightly to her.

“Are you sure?” It’s too good to be true.

She chuckles. “Pretty sure the doctor can count.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“I thought you’d be happy.”

I pull back so fast she laughs. “Happy?” I kiss her, a big enthusiastic whopper of a kiss, before I pick her up and twirl her. “Baby, I am fucking ecstatic.”

Applause erupts around us. Someone whistles.

Gabriel says something about Bennett genes being a threat to civilization, and Hendricks agrees.

When I finally let my wife down, Mason claps me on the shoulder. Arms folded, Jake gives me a slow nod, the bastard looking at me like he’s been waiting years for me to get my shit together.

And for one strange second, standing in the middle of Blackthorn with Christmas lights glowing and kids screaming and my brothers surrounding me, everything goes quiet inside my head.

There was a time when the three of us measured a good day by whether everybody came back alive. We were good at surviving—fucking exceptional at it—but nobody ever taught us what came after.

Turns out we figured that part out ourselves.

I look around. At Jake and Emma. Mason and Lily. Hendricks and Mandy. Gabriel and Clara, their kid currently attempting to unwrap someone else’s presents.

And Harper. My wife.

Carrying our children.

We made it. Not home from the war, but past it, into this loud, ridiculous, beautiful life none of us knew enough to ask for.

Harper kisses my cheek. “Merry Christmas, Bennett.”

I look at the ultrasound again. Best fucking present I’ve ever gotten.

Still. I can’t help myself. I pull her closer. “You said this was my first present.”

Harper’s smile changes. Slow. Wicked. Exciting. And fuck if my pulse doesn’t kick up.

She rises onto her toes and whispers in my ear. “You’ll have to take my pants off to find the second one.”

Well. Christmas isn’t over yet. I hike my wife onto my shoulder. Laughing, she swats my ass as I strut out of the living room.

“Where is Uncle Luke taking Aunt Harper?” I hear Sadie ask.