Page 69 of Wrath's Nightingale

Wrath nods. “I loved sharing a room with Saber and Decker. Honestly, we had a lot of bonding time. Willow always found excuses to sleep in our room. She was devastated when we all joined the marines.”

“She still looks at you three like you hung the moon. I feel sorry for the man she dates?”

“Why’s that?”

“First, he’ll have to live up to you three. Then he’ll have to survive you.”

“Good point.”

Chapter 43

Wrath

Dinner was amazing. We have a large paper bag with handles filled with left overs including a sampling of desserts. Millie had the cheesecake with strawberry and chocolate sauce. I swear if she moaned over one more bite; I was going to bend her over the table and take her there. Or throw her over my shoulder caveman style and take her to the nearest bathroom.

After paying and leaving a generous tip, we head toward the entrance. Kloie gets my attention and nods toward the hall. I divert us in that direction. At the end of the hall, she opens a door and motions us inside. I lead my wife inside. It’s an office.

Kloie closes the door behind us.

“I saw Aaron or his identical twin. He came in about twenty minutes ago. Took a table, then slipped out when I went to get your to-go containers a few minutes ago.”

“Thank you, Kloie. Did you give Chief a heads up?”

“Yes, a few minutes ago.”

“Thank you. One more thing. Trade our bag out for a bag of empties. Better yet, scraps.”

“I’ll be right back. I’ll stow your stuff in the fridge until after shift. I’ll bring them to the compound.”

“Thanks,” Millie says.

“You bet.”

I squeeze Millie’s fingers. Kloie hurries out of the room. She comes back a few minutes later with a bag of scraps boxed up to look like leftovers.

I take the bag and we head down the hall and outside.

“Hey, Nightingale. Do you want me to flag down a taxi? I know you’re stuffed,” I say, pretending to look for a taxi. I scan the block. Millie stumbles against me and giggles.

“I think I had one too many Long Island iced teas,” she says, slurring her words a little. “Can we walk?”

“Sure, we can, baby.”

“The sled is this way,” I say, leading us in the wrong direction.

Millie giggles, and I chuckle as we make our way down the block. Something ahead and to the left catches my attention. I grab Millie and slam her against the wall and bring my mouth down on hers in a brief but scorching kiss. When I pull back, I whisper, “We’re about to have company.”

“I can’t wait to get home either, baby. I want you in the worst way,” she purrs.

Three of them come out of the shadows. Millie surprises me, going after one of them before they go after her. Two charge me, one of them has a knife. I slam my head into the first one’s nose, surprising him. I grab him by the front of his shirt and shove him toward the second guy.

The guy with the knife gets around thug one and comes after me. I dodge a few slashes before placing a well-aimed kick to his knee. He screams. His knee buckles. He drops the knife and I quickly kick it out of the way. I turn my attention to the first guy. He’s still on the ground, clutching the wound his buddy inflicted on him.

With both incapacitated, I seek out my wife. My jaw drops open as I watch her dodge a blow intended for her head. She comes up with the bag of leftovers and hits her attacker over the head. He grabs his face, and she kicks him in the balls. Guy goes down like a sack of potatoes, moaning in pain.

The thud of heavy boots has me pulling my piece. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see Trinity and Knight running down the sidewalk in our direction.

“Three more up the block. We took care of them,” Trinity says.

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