"S-She was so okay with shooting her, Storm," I said around a gulp. "What the hell are we going to do to—" Fix her? To make her better? Was she already too broken?
His jaw tensed, I felt it turn to obsidian against my cheek, as he stated, "I’ll talk to Stone. See if there isn’t something we can do in-house."
I swallowed. "Does she need to see more shrinks?"
"I don’t know, baby, I don’t know." He moved slightly, shifting so that he could rest his chin on the crown of my head. "We’ll work it out. She’s been fine so far. Maybe under pressure, that’s when things change."
"If she’d been a boy, you’d have been proud of her, wouldn’t you?"
He cringed. "Maybe."
"Then maybe, we shouldn’t worry?" I asked hopefully.
"I think we need to talk with Stone. See what she has to say, okay?"
I nodded. "You said something today…" I paused. "You said that you didn’t give a damn about whether Kendra lived or died even knowing who her dad is… Who was he?"
"Bear."
Both Rene and Rex had told me that Bear had cheated. He’d said that his parents’ relationship had come back stronger than before, and I’d seen for myself how tight they were, but I’d never learned that Bear had another kid.
Christ.
Kendra was Bear’s daughter?
"Are you okay?" Storm asked. "I know it must come as a shock."
I shook my head, but not wanting to dwell on this, even though I’d admit the idea of Kendra being Bear’s made my head spin, I muttered, "What next?"
"I’m going to take you both to the clubhouse, then I have business to attend to."
"With the sheriff?"
"No. There’ll be questions and interviews, but you don’t have to be scared. Two armed men with a grudge—that a dozen or more brothers are willing to swear on oath for—against me acting as their Prez, forced their way into our house. They shot our dog, who nearly died, and they were killed by me defending my family on my property." He squeezed me. "You’ve nothing to worry about where the law is concerned."
I released a shaky breath. "That should make me feel worse, not better."
His chuckle was soft, sad. "I’m sorry, sweetheart. This is why I always wanted you to stay separate from the MC, but… in this instance, there wasn’t much I could do…"
"Poor Jump and Darla," I whispered. "They died because of me."
"Because of me," he corrected gruffly. "Don’t you dare blame yourself. You’ve done nothing wrong."
I bit my lip. "Maybe we should live nearer to the clubhouse so other people won’t get hurt?"
"There are no houses near the clubhouse," he replied softly. "Unless we build them."
"I don’t want to live in that property again."
"Who could blame you?"
"I don’t want people to get hurt because of us. Paul… he should never have been a casualty of this. Never mind Darla." I swallowed. "Is their son okay?"
"Yeah, he’s staying with MC tonight."
Shakily, I nodded. "I don’t want to live in the clubhouse."
"I wouldn’t make you," he soothed. "I’ll figure something out, baby girl. I know you have no reason to trust me, but I promise you, I won’t let you down."
My brow puckered as I pulled back, his words hitting me hard. "Storm, do you know what resonated the most today?"
"What?" he asked cautiously, like he was waiting for me to kick him in the gut.
"How scared I was that you’d show up at the house, even as I knew you would."
"What?"
"I heard them talking about you. If you didn’t do what they wanted, they were going to kill you. Storm, in all the time I’ve known you, I’ve not seen you do anything the ‘normal’ way. You never do what anyone demands of you. But I knew, point blank, that you’d come.
"I trusted in you, and I prayed that you’d let me down because I knew that if you came to the house, you’d die. You’d die and I’d never—" I gritted my teeth and this time, it was me who raised my hands and cupped his jaw. "I love you. I love you and I need you and I want you to stay by my side.
"I need you not to die, Asher. I need you to stay with me for a very long time—"
His lips crashed against mine and I bit back, fighting him for control as I thrust my tongue into his mouth, needing him to know that I was as deep in this as he was.
Needing him to realize that he wasn’t alone anymore.
There was no more testing the waters, no more dipping my toes in to see if I could make this work.
He could have died today.
He could have died and I could have lost him, and what kind of a fucking world would that be without him in it?
While we kissed, he straightened up on his knees as his hand came back to cup my nape. Supporting me even as my hands moved around his chest, hugging him and holding him and feeling him and registering just how alive he was. How safe.
I thought about those bastards’ intentions, and I let out a sob.
"They were going to drug you," I rasped, pulling back and dropping my forehead against his. "They were gonna get you high and hooked and they were gonna make you do what they wanted and then they were gonna kill you."
He pressed a softer kiss to my lips, letting his mouth trail along my cheek, up to my eyebrow. He didn’t stop until he pressed another kiss to the center of my forehead.
"Sounds like they wanted more than to take back the club. Do you know what they wanted from me?"
"I heard them talking about Butch. He was the Old Prez, right?"
Storm hummed. "He was."
I gulped. "They mentioned something about the Rabid Wolves. About Butch having a deal with them."
"You know what deal? I’m sorry to ask, baby girl, but—"
I shook my head, silencing him. "I didn’t hear anything else, just them griping about Butch and the Rabid Wolves."
His eyes were narrowed, but before he could say another word, Cyan was there, running forward to slam into his back. "Dr. Ricardo says that he thinks Fraction will be fine. He lost a lot of blood but that he’s young and they managed to fix him."
The vet tutted. "I said that it was likely he’d make a full recovery, Cyan."
"That means he’ll be fine!" she argued.
"Likely is doctor speak for we don’t want to make you a promise that could be broken," I told her softly. "We’ll see how things are in the morning, honey." I got to my feet and said, "Thank you so much for all you’ve done."
He smiled at me, and because it seemed genuine, I believed that Fraction would live to pee on one of my rugs another day.
Relieved, even if I remained silent on the subject, I left Storm to deal with the bill as I grabbed a firm hold of Cyan’s hand and tugged her outside. Leaving the foil blanket behind because Storm had warmed me up from the inside out with that tender, possessive kiss.
As we made it outside, I blinked in surprise at how dark it was then turned to Cyan and said, "We’re going to stay at the clubhouse."