Page 47 of When Kings Fall

“Of course. Why not?”

“The four of us too?”

“Yeah.”

“And?”

“And it’s fine.”

“He’s just on board, just like that? Even with who I am? The connection I am to that dark time for you—and him?”

“He wants the best for me and he recognizes how you bring that to me, despite the rest. He’s accepted it. Easily, actually. Once we’re done with this mission, I have no doubt that he’ll want to meet you and all that jazz.”

“Wow,” she breathed in wonder.

Yeah, Levi and Colt’s fathers were a world away from mine.

Sometimes, I figured, you just had to create your own family when your own disappointed you and did nothing but hurt you.

And I had that with the three of them.

The sentiment of it actually took me over, just breaking loose from my usually emotionally tightly coiled state, and the next thing I knew, I was throwing my arms around Bree and nuzzling her hair. “Thank you, dark angel. Thank you.”

I could see Lev and Colt looking on absolutely stunned in my peripheral vision.

That was about right.

Things were changing for me.

I was changing.

And the hope of it actually outweighed any worry.

14

~Colton~

“Shit!” I cried as I watched Bree’s head snap to the side.

Because of me!

“I’m so fucking sorry, cutie, I—”

My words caught in my throat as she turned her head back and she licked blood out of the corner of her mouth.

Her eyes flamed.

Holy shit.

Before I could get a word out to finish my apology, or check that she was okay, despite the savage look in her eyes now present, she snagged my wrist, used the hold to jerk me to her with jarring force, then swept her leg at my knees. She hooked one, then wrenched at it and ripped my feet right out from under me.

I cried out and landed hard on my back on the makeshift gym floor.

She didn’t give me a chance to recover before she pounced on me and pinned my hands to my naked abs, and my legs with her knees.

“Damn, cutie,” I choked, resting my head back on the floor, as I laid there staring up at her and catching my breath.

It had turned out that the help she’d needed from me was to get her fighting skills back up to snuff because she was rusty.

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