Page 104 of All In

“Give it some time. You’ll be able to see your family fall firsthand.”

I scoff, but it’s unintentional. “Bless has been working on that for at least the last twelve years. I wish you luck, but I won’t be holding my breath. They deserve to pay for all they’ve done?—”

“They do,” Ranger agrees. “I won’t lie and say it’ll be an overnight process, but Braxton is the first piece of deconstructing their puzzle.” I can’t see him disappear down the hallway, but I can hear his booted feet as they stomp toward the basement access doors.

My head hangs.

It’s a lovely thought, but there’s that old saying about counting chickens before they hatch.

“There you are.” Laken’s voice jolts me out of my half-drunk musings. “You weren’t in the room Ranger told me you were staying in, and I panicked.” She sounds so indignant that I chuckle.

I migrated to the breakfast nook a while ago.

I shove away my glass.

To be fair, it’s been empty for quite some time. “Where’s your bonded alpha?”

“Tanner is asleep. Ranger is…” She comes closer until she’s standing at my side. “Doing whatever it is he does in the basement.”

My eyes rake down each side of her throat until I spot the new bondmark.

My gut drops.

I hoped she was including him out of obligation, but apparently not.

“Exactly how much do you know about your husband?” I ask, flashing her a viciously cutting smile. “Have you seen the basement? There are actual cells. No one is joking when they call it a torture dungeon.”

“Okay, well, no one is perfect,” she says, grimacing. “Sorry, my bond with Ranger is fresh, and my instincts are very protective of that right now.”

“So, are you here to dismiss me?”

“What? No.” She plants her hands on her hips. “But I have a question.”

My head tilts as I study her curvy frame in one of their T-shirts. I stretch back in the uncomfortable wooden kitchen chair, and my hair falls around my face. She’s beautiful, there’s no denying that, but she’s now bonded a second alpha, and my feelings are officially hurt.

“All right, get on with it.”

“Eww, I don’t know if I want to now,” she mutters.

I laugh, grabbing her hips. “You better stop. Ask me.”

She climbs into my lap, and her face tilts up to mine.

She’s so close.

I missed her sexy little ass more than I can explain.

Her hands land on my chest as she squints at me. “Why do I keep having extremely vivid sex dreams about you?”

I bark a laugh, obviously more intoxicated than I should be for this conversation.

“I’m serious, Locke,” she grumbles. “You said we needed to talk about that night at Will’s penthouse. I went to bed thinking about that and woke up dreaming you were fucking me against the kitchen wall.”

“Mmm, is that right?” I muse, stretching to transfer the glass and bottle to one of the free chairs.

“What did you need to tell me about that night?” she counters, frowning as I lift her and lay her down on the table. “What are you doing?”

“Reminding you,” I growl, crawling over her outstretched body. “You never should have forgotten the first time.”

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