Page 97 of Tempting Her Dragons

“Are you giving up your lighter?” he asks.

“Are you giving up your rope?” I counter.

“I think we should trust in the bond and her,” he says.

“Yeah,” I say.

“We always wanted a big family. Seems like we have one now,” he sighs.

“I like them. We’re wild enough to fit right in,” I say.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Kingston

The voices whispering outside the house wake me. They are trying to be quiet but are failing. I push up to my elbow and look down to see Saphira rolling toward me.

“King, would you kill whoever is out there?” she asks, her voice serious. She is not a morning person, and I would rather sleep beside her for a few more hours.

“I will, Firefly,” I say, pushing the covers away.

“I’ll stay here while you do that,” Maverick mumbles, sliding his arm around her waist.

“Asshole,” I grumble and drop to the floor. I know who it is, and I can’t hurt them. Stepping into my jeans, I reluctantly leave the bedroom. I glare at the front door before I unlock and open it, my hand curved around it and the fingers of my free hand pressed to my hip.

“Oh, shit, did we wake you?” Mom says, smiling.

“We were going to wait out here until you got up,” Sally adds.

“We said we would call,” I remind them.

“They had a special at this fantastic diner,” Mom says, motioning to the pans of food scattered around the porch. I look at all the dishes, back to Sally and Mom, and then to the group gathered across the driveway.

“Someone said food,” River says.

“Of course, you couldn’t resist,” Bash says dryly.

“I came to see someone else getting the brunt of the interference,” Ryker says, twirling a knife in his palm. Serenity smacks him on the chest with her arm that isn’t holding their daughter.

“She’s our sister,” Laken simply says. Bishop nods.

“They hardly let me out without an argument,” Penny grumbles. “I’m just enjoying the fresh air.”

“Harmony insisted we come along,” Blue says, and Harmony’s eyes pop wide.

“Blue, really,” she says, her daughter’s legs bouncing off her hip.

“It’s true,” Jax mutters.

“I’m with the wolf,” James says. “I can always eat.”

“I remember this happening to me,” Micah says. “It’s becoming a tradition.” He smirks.

“Micah,” Daisy scolds. “I wanted to check on Saphira.”

“I was going to offer to dig into Rach’s background,” Quinn says. “I was going to wait until later, but Sally insisted we were invited.” He glares at Sally, and Stephanie squeezes his arm.

“There seem to be people missing,” I say, straight-faced.

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