Page 94 of We Will Rise

It’s been two months since she and Crew were taken, and I don’t think she’s been down here at all in that time, so why would she be down here now?

I push the door open and find her sitting in the middle of the bed with a contemplative look on her face.

“There you are,” I say.

Her eyes look up to meet mine, and a smile tugs at her lips. “Hey.”

“What are you doing in here?”

“Thinking.”

“About?”

“About how wild this year has been. It’s only August, and I feel like it’s been years since I woke up in here between you and Bishop. It doesn’t even feel like I’m living the same life.”

I cross the room and crawl up onto the bed beside her, immediately plucking her off the mattress and resting her in my lap. “It’s been a big year,” I agree.

Her watery eyes look up into mine, and my chest clenches at the sight of her pain, but it’s not just that, it’s happiness too. The emotions swirling around in her gaze are more than I can comprehend as someone who turned mine off for so many years, but I hold her tight against me and press a kiss to the top of her head.

“You know, when Charles shot me and I thought I was going to die, my life didn’t flash before my eyes. It was all the things I never got the chance to do that filled my mind in those final moments before I lost consciousness.” A single tear rolls down her cheek, and I swipe it away with my thumb.

“But now you get the chance to do all those things.”

“I do,” she agrees. “I don’t think that’s fully sunk in yet.”

I consider her words for a moment before making a decision I probably shouldn’t make alone. I lift her off the bed and throw her over my shoulder, careful not to put too much pressure on her scars. They’re completely closed over but are still a little tender to touch.

“Kovu!” She giggles. “What are you doing?”

I don’t answer her, instead, I jog out of the room and head toward the stairs, taking them two at a time up to Crew’s office.

I burst through the door, and find him and Bishop stacking books into boxes, their eyes flicking up to meet mine with raised brows.

“What are you doing?” Kaos growls from behind me. “You could hurt her!”

“He’s not hurting me,” Camilla assures him. “But he is confusing the hell out of me. What are we doing up here?”

“Let’s do it now,” I say, looking straight at Crew because I know he’s the one that’s going to make the final call.

He flicks his gaze to each of us, and when we each grin at him, he nods. “Put her down before you hurt her.”

I do as I’m told, but tug Camilla against my side and bury my face in her hair. I thought I was obsessed with her before, but after having to face the very real possibility of living my life without her, it’s become infinitely worse.

Crew reaches into his drawer before pausing. “Close your eyes, Little Menace.”

CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

CAMILLA

My breath catches in my throat as I do as I’m told, my eyes fluttering closed as I lean against Kovu’s warm body.

It may be hot as sin outside, but these men love their air conditioning, and it may as well be the arctic in here. Hopefully the estate’s system can live up to this one because otherwise there might be riots.

There’s movement around me, and Kovu presses a kiss to the top of my head before he pulls away, leaving me standing in the middle of the room, alone, with my eyes closed. This better not be some kind of prank.

“Open,” Crew rumbles, and when I do, my legs give way beneath me.

In front of me are all four of my men on one knee, and nestled in Crew’s hands is a ring box housing the biggest fucking diamond I’ve ever seen in my life, and it’s not until I’m at eye level with it that I realize that it’s not just any diamond. It’s a pink one.

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