Page 123 of All In

If something happened to one of my guys while trying to save her…

I don’t even want to think about it. A broken bond is agony. There are physical and mental aspects.

Now that I know I’m carrying a baby, it changes everything. There’s an entire human being counting on me to make the hard choices to keep them safe.

My chest feels tight and my eyes ache, but my mind is made up.

“There’s something else we need to discuss. I spoke to Bless.” Locke tucks my hair behind my ear, running his thumb over my cheek. “She needs assistance getting two of her informants out of New York.”

“The woman with a relationship with Avan?” Ranger asks, referencing Locke’s younger brother.

“Correct,” Locke agrees. “She and her daughter. Also, her sister. Bless is on her way back to New York, but she hasn’t been able to reach her. It won’t be safe for Bless or any of her team to make contact, because it needs to be done in person.”

Ranger hums. “That is a problem. You know, I think this might be the perfect opportunity for Maverick and Gunner to redeem themselves.”

I almost chuckle.

They really did scare the hell out of me, but Karma is awesome. Not that we’ve gotten to know each other well, but they’re actually really chill, and it’s easy to see they’re good guys.

“Just tell them to leave the masks at home this time,” I say, holding back a laugh.

We hear nothing for the next few days. Maverick and Gunner leave to handle the mission to make contact with the women Bless is worried about. And I drive Ranger crazy with questions approximately every two hours, but Lyra is good at disappearing when she wants to.

I know it’s bothering him. It’s impossible to miss his frustration and concern in the bond. She’s been here before, and I have some irrational hope that she’ll show up at the fence, demanding to be let in, but so far, there’s been no contact whatsoever.

Ranger made it clear that he has the tech guy watching to see if her phone is turned on, and he’s also monitoring my old phone number in case she calls it from a different number.

There’s not much we can do but wait.

Locke sleeps with his head on my thigh as I lie with my back against Tanner’s chest on the long end of the sectional sofa. Karma is on our right, and she’s belly up, getting tummy scratches from Tanner, who must be distracted with the movie because his left hand is in Locke’s long hair, massaging his scalp.

It’s ridiculously cute.

The whole thing feels seriously domestic, but I’m a little sad that Ranger is sitting in one of the club chairs, rather than snuggled up next to us. It’s also complicated by the fact that I know he’s still anxious about my sister. He takes the world onto his shoulders.

I look up at Tanner, and he bends to give me a kiss. He’s always playful and teasing in a way that’s hard to ignore, but I feel like Ranger needs some extra attention at the moment.

I carefully lift Locke’s head out of my lap, and he ends up on Tanner’s thigh.

Karma grunts as I move, but she immediately snuggles closer to Tanner.

I sway my way to stand in front of Ranger and quirk an eyebrow. He slowly unfolds his crossed arms and stretches out his exceptionally long legs. The bottom of his short-sleeve T-shirt pulls up, showing several inches of tanned abs.

God.

He really is a beautiful man.

And so cocky, while also being thoughtful and attentive. I’m not sure if he really is just different for me, or if everyone judges him unfairly, but either way, he has my whole heart.

His veiny hands run down his jeans as he waits, and it’s very hard not to melt.

He has no right being that sexy.

I climb right into his lap, facing him as he wraps those long arms around me.

“Please stop stressing,” I whisper close to his ear. “Have you heard anything about where our marriage certificate stands?”

He nods. “The legal certificate hasn’t been issued, so Merrick was able to swap out your old identity for the new one of Laken Stevens. The next step is new documents for you and Locke. We’ll need to have new photographs taken for both of you. That will be easy enough, though.”

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