Page 31 of His Paradise

Alec crosses his arms, looking Grayson over with a slow scowl. Under scrutiny, he stands taller, and drops his head in respect. Markus snorts, “You’ll fit in if you drop the bow. Aden might act like a princess but you don’t have to curtsy to us.” Grayson chuckles, enjoying me being the butt of a joke.

My phone beeps, saving Alec. It’s the front gate and my guard is waving frantically at the camera. I see my sister leaning over Jared in the front seat to chew the poor guy's head off.

“Let them through before she hurts you.” I warn him, watching with amusement as she flips the camera off, their car speeding down the driveway.

“Nina, you and the ladies take the kids to the other room.” I cross my arms, leaning my hip against the counter and Markus sucks a breath through his teeth, dragging his thumb across his throat to signal that I'm screwed.

“Because what, us women aren’t useful in your big man plans?” Isabelle snarks, her fists perched on her hips exactly as Amelia had before. I see where she gets her attitude from.

“We are going to be helping in other ways,” Nina steps forward, looking to me for support and I nod for her to keep going. “Olivia and Isabelle, you’re going to help me get into their cameras, and we’re going to screw up their weapon shipments that they’ve got coming. Then we can hack into their cameras, it’ll give them the upper hand. It’s going to take a while.” She says, motioning them to follow her. Alec grips Isabelle, muttering in her ear as Markus slaps her ass. Their very open displays of affection are normal for most of us, but even Grayson looks uncomfortable and Olivia’s face is bright red.

Percy has a look of longing in his eyes as he watches their interaction, his gaze cutting to Olivia before he rubs a hand across his forehead, as if he can scrub away the exhaustion. He and Grayson’s attraction to the same woman is obvious. The both of them seeing two men, brothers at that, happily sharing the same woman could do one of two things. Inspire or create a rivalry. If I were a betting man, I’d say it’s the latter of the two.

Jared walks in with his arm around Luna, keeping his body slightly in front of hers as he immediately assesses the two new men sitting in my kitchen.

“Why do you weirdos always have your little business tug circles in the dining room, yet you never set any snacks out?” Luna grumbles, limping past me as she heads towards the cabinets.

“Make yourself at home,” I wave a hand. “Suck my dick.” Luna says, walking past me with a bag of doritos. The bag Jared asked me to make sure we had on hand, because her cravings were do or die. She happily carries her snack hoard to the table, struggling against the jar of pickles before Jared pops them open, opening her cheese sticks as well.

“Say a fucking word, I dare you.” She points her fork at each of us, juice dripping from the half of a pickle left as she chomps onto her cheese stick.

“You’re an abomination,” Markus has a horrified look on his face as he stares at her in mock fear. Jared’s head snaps in his direction, and I ready myself to break up a fight.

“She’s just biting chunks off of it, not even peeling it.” Percy covers his mouth as he watches.

“It’s string cheese, Luna. Can’t you at least try to act civilized?” Alec shakes his head, amusement in his eyes. Jared coughs to cover his laugh as she takes another massive bite, drinking her pickle juice and munching on a chip. Nina had some wild cravings too, so I can’t say I’m fazed. Grayson has been slowly stepping back, until he’s against the wall and effectively out of our bubble. I remember the way Nina looked at me, with pride and love for me showing the man some mercy.

“If you run, I’ll shoot you in the ankle.” I warn him and he grins, shaking his head as some tension bleeds away. I clap my hands, getting everyone's attention as I step closer.

“We have a plan.” I say, glancing at Alec. He nods once, coming to stand next to me as we fill everyone in on the hazardous, but potentially effective, plan.

Luna and Jared are chest to chest, and I can’t decide who I should be backing at this point. Jared looks at me, and I can see the fear he hides so well as it claws its way to the surface. My sister is going to be pissed.

“Luna, you will stay here and help protect the kids. End of discussion.” I say. Alec agrees, which sends her over the edge as the rest of us begin packing our weapons into the waiting cars.

“I’m meant to be on the field, and you swore that you’d treat me like an equal.” She throws her hands up.

“I sure as fuck did. But I didn’t make that deal with them,” I point to her stomach and she crosses her arms, only getting more angry.

“You can handle yourself Lunatic, and nobody is trying to say otherwise, but you’re not back to one hundred percent. Our daughter needs you to have just an ounce of self preservation, dammit.” Jared huffs, checking his gun before pressing it into her hands as he leans to push his forehead against hers. “I can’t lose you or her.”

“A girl, huh? That’s exciting, bud. Welcome to the happiest and scariest time of your life. Fatherhood.” Markus grins, whistling to himself as he comes outside with the women on his tail. Luna gives a small smile, her hand dropping to cover Jared’s as he rubs her lower stomach. Nina bumps her hip against mine, Leo immediately reaches his hand out to grab for me.

“I’ll be with you the entire time, Aden.” She promises. I hate seeing her so afraid, concerned for my safety more than her own.

“You’re always with me, Nina.”

“Come back to us in one piece.” She demands more than pleads as my hand brushes her hair away from her face. “I will always come back to you, Nina. You are my home.” I kiss her forehead, then Leo’s before I turn to leave.

“If any of you die, I’ll spit on your damn corpse.” Luna warns us all, tucking Jared’s gun into her waistband. The bravado is an act, and I can see the way she bites her lip as we climb into the cars.

“I’ll name this baby after one of my exes if you die.” Isabelle calls out, grinning like a fool as Alec rolls down the window and gives her a murderous glare. “You’ll pay for that comment later, Darling.” He grits out. She blows a kiss, winking at the brothers who share the same look of rage. Olivia is silent, watching with fear as Percy refuses to meet her eyes when climbing into another vehicle. Grayson looks pissed that I made him stay behind as well, but if things go to shit, I want somebody I trust here to get them somewhere safe.

Chapter twenty-seven

Nina

My fingers fly across the keyboard as Isabelle leans close to watch my movement. It used to bother and make me nervous when people gawked over my shoulder, but not anymore. Aden always reminds me that I should be proud of my hard work and knack for this. Luna’s sitting on the floor watching Leo on his playmat, handing him his pacifier everytime he pops it from his mouth and throws it.

---