He grinned, nipping at her lower lip.
She walked into the adjacent room, the one they'd made into a nursery, and picked up the light of her life. Tempest stopped whining when she saw Amara, pouting instead at being kept waiting.
"Apologies, your highness," Amara cooed, picking her up and placing her on her hip, the weight super familiar now. She sat down on the rocking chair, pulling the strap of her gown down and exposing her nipple. Her daughter lurched towards it, and Amara winced as she clamped down, suckling hard and drawing out the milk as it let down for her. They were slowly weaning her and switching to the bottle during the day, but she got very fussy in the morning if she didn't get her meal straight from the source.
A movement made her look up to see her gorgeous shirtless husband leaning against the doorway, arms folded over his chest, watching both his girls with a supremely satisfied look on his face. She switched breasts expertly, moving Tempest around to the other side, leaving one wet and exposed. Dante strode in, leaned down, and slashed his mouth over hers, ravaging her lips while pinching her freed nipple, making her gasp.
He straightened, licking a drop of milk from his thumb, staring into her eyes. "Fucking sexy."
Swoon.
Turning, he left to go and get ready for the day, the massive dragon tattoo breathing fire across his back rippling with the motion of his hips, and sighed with contentment. He was the onefucking sexy.
When she was done feeding Tempest, she quickly got ready for the day and left out her scarf. She'd started leaving it out of her attire more and more, letting her scars out, a lot more confident in her skin than she had ever been. Maybe it was becoming a mother. Maybe it was the love of a good man. Maybe it was being Dr. Maroni. She didn't know, but as she got ready and headed out, her mother coming in to take Tempest for the morning, she went straight to the tree.
Her little Serenity was growing strong right next to the gazebo. She touched the leaves once and said the words she did every morning.
"Mama loves you." Somehow, speaking the words and caring for the tree herself had begun to scab the wound of her loss. Though it would never heal fully, this was hers and Dante's way of filling it up with gold.
Amara lingered, getting her mind ready for the day, before returning inside the mansion.
As she moved toward the driveway, the door to the study caught her eye. She stopped in her tracks. Dante either went to his studio or to work out in the mornings first. Since Alpha was there, her bets were on the two men fighting like boys. His study only opened when he came down after taking his shower. So the fact that the door was slightly ajar sent an alarm going through her.
On quiet feet, which was slightly absurd with her heels, she padded over to the door and peeked inside, looking to see if anyone was there.
It was empty. Pushing the door open wider, she entered the room that had once intimidated her, now looking like a daycare office, and ran her eyes through everything. Nothing looked out of place. Had Dante forgotten to lock it? She doubted that, but nothing else explained it. Satisfied that nothing was amiss, she turned to leave when something on the desk caught her eye. Tilting her head to the side, she walked over to it, picking up what looked like a polaroid.
The moment the image registered, the photo fell from her hand.
Shaking, she bent down and picked it up, staring at it again. Xavier—her biological father and perpetrator—lay dead on a table in a pool of his own blood. It was a gory picture, one she couldn't imagine Dante just leaving out in the open for anyone to find. No. Someone had broken it and left it there for them. A threat? Information? She didn't know, but she turned on her heels and power-walked to the outside building where the men trained with each other.
Seeing her walk out like that, with a mission and heels on the grass, some of the men outside called for Dante.
Her husband ran out immediately, skin glistening with sweat and brows lowered with concern.
"What happened?" he asked, jogging over to where she was, meeting her halfway.
Amara thrust the photograph at him. "I found this on the desk. Someone broke in, Dante."
His jaw tightened as he called for one of the main security guys. "I want every fucking surveillance camera from last night. Now!"
The men scattered, running to complete the task. A break-in was a big breach in security, something none of them took lightly.
Alpha came up behind her husband, taking the photograph. Dante explained who it was, and she saw his single eye train on her. It wasn't that she was sad. She had zero affection for the asshole. But she was concerned, both for their security and for her old friend, Vin, since Xavier had been the one to take him and place him undercover.
"What do you think has happened to him?" Amara mused out loud as they stood there.
Dante's face was grim. "I think we should prepare for the worst, Amara."
A shaky breath left her, and her eyes shuddered close. She didn't want to imagine the worst. She wanted to believe that her Vinnie was doing intense work undercover and not underground somewhere without any of them knowing. He had always been such a good friend to her. She needed him to come back safely.
Dante wrapped his arm around her, tugging her close to his side as she wondered when they would finally find some answers.