Page 37 of Seizing Control: Part Two

“Same time tomorrow, Laz?” Layla asks as we exit the above-ground building into the dark night. “I’ll follow you out here, and we’ll try to get Hunter started on the tech side of things. If you sit in on it, you might even learn how to do more than enter unencryption codes.”

I’m too tired to argue so I let her snarky comment pass without argument. “Sounds like a plan.”

With his first day done, I imagine Hunter will remain at the facility until he’s passed out as a certified solider. Like mine, his training will take months. While it will never end, there will come a time when he’ll be allowed out into the real world without constant supervision.

I’m already dreading that day.

The last thing I wanted for him is to be bonded to an institution that won’t appreciate his unique qualities unless they’ll benefit the organisation. Joining the Adjudicator’s curia is a lifeline commitment, akin to patching-in to the Shamrocks, and the rules dictating us are even stricter than the MC’s constitution. I’m not sure if Hunter fully understands what he’s signed up for, but I will admit that he didn’t baulk at anything we put him through today.

“Can you do me a solid?” I ask the woman walking next to me.

“Sure,” Layla replies, unlocking her convertible.

“Find out why Hunter left the club, and how he got out with the skin on his back intact.”

“It’s top of my list already.”

I offer Layla a salute, then pour my weary body into the driver’s seat of my G-Wagon. For the first time since Venom died, I don’t find myself annoyed at being forced to use a cage to get around. I’m tired. Sore. Braindead from all the thinking I’ve done.

If I was on my Harley right now, I’d end up spread over the bitumen like roadkill.

As it is, I’m half asleep when I pull into my garage.

Checking my surroundings, I lower the roller door. Once it’s down, I activate the security system and enter my house. It crosses my mind to have a shower and clean up before I seek out Lily, since the quick one I managed after jiujitsu was barely sufficient, but I don’t have the strength to resist the call of my siren.

I need her.

“I’m going in,” I tell Layla. ‘Clear the way.”

“So predictable,” her voice crackles through the earpiece seconds later. “Your entrance is clear.”

As I’m climbing the stairs in Lily’s house, Sander’s bedroom door opens. An irate blonde emerges. I melt into the shadows, holding my breath when Lily’s twin emerges after her from the same room. When Nadia locks the door to bar his entrance, Sander knocks. Silence is the only response he receives. There’s a hangdog air about him when he finally retreats back to his own side of the hallway.

This middle of the night drama is another reason why I need to get Lily out of this house.

She needs peace and quiet.

Space to enjoy being a mother.

Time alone with me once the kids are asleep.

The fact that it will reduce her connection to Slash is purely a bonus...

Once I’m certain the coast is clear, I finish reach the top of the stairs, then sidle into Lily’s room. Her domain is dimly lit, and she’s perched in a rocking chair feeding Garrett. My movements are silent, ninja-like, as I pull out my phone and snap of photos of her.

The contentment in her expression.

The sight of Garrett, only a couple months old, resting comfortably on her rounded belly.

Her generous chest acting as a pillow for his head while she holds his bottle.

It’s a sight that will remain etched in my mind for an eternity.

Lily has always been stunning.

Every part of her sculpted in a way that meets all my preferences.

Yet seeing her like this, serenely maternal, elevates her to another realm of beauty.

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