Page 160 of Breaker

Viper

One Week Ago, November, Age 32

Our father’s impending arrivalhangs over us like a black cloud. Heavy. Dark. Ominous.

My fingers curl around my mask in my hand, absently tugging at the material. We’re here because we failed as much as we succeed. Sure, we got Delilah on our side, but we did more than he asked. And less too.

I lean back in the chair, stretching my legs out, wondering how the fuck we’ve ended up here. What began as a mission to collect intel morphed over the years into an obsession. None of us suspected when we first sat in the park that day, howour lives would slowly begin to revolve around our enemies two daughters.

Though none of us should be surprised. Least of all Father.

The fact that he kept us secluded, trained us to be a unit, provided just enough affection to keep us leashed and following his every command, then instructed us to follow two women for four years is laughable. What did he expect? Of course we’d care. Of course we’d become fixated on them, risking the entire mission to have them for ourselves.

For all of us, because that’s what we do.

We are a unit. A team. What one does, we all do.

And we all wanted the woman we were eventually told to take, train, and ruin. We wanted Cora too. That was a problem Reaper fixed. He took her. But when it came time to follow through with Fallon’s orders, none of us could do it. Ruining them, training them, harming them would be like ripping each other apart. We’ve already lost so much.

It was time we earned something beautiful.

We’re about to lose that too.

“Where is she?” Reaper barks out, storming into the library, pulling his mask over his head as he approaches. He stops in front of me, leaning down to snatch my mask from my hands and toss it at my face. His oh-so-sweet way of telling me to put it on.

Fallon, not Father is coming so we need to be in uniform.

“Which one?” I pull my mask on, not liking the tense energy coming off Reap.

He glares at me, then stalks to the window looking out like Fallon will suddenly appear before he’s ready.

He hates it when father visits. He always gets tense, nearly coming apart at the seams whenever Father is here. This house has become out sanctuary, our place to rest. Our home. Something we’ve never had before.

Every time fallon steps foot through the door, he invades it like a virus, tainting our safe place.

“Where the fuck is Striker?” he asks, so irritated that my back straightens. I’m already miserable, guilt eating at my gut like flies, that Reaper’s dark mood sets my teeth on edge.

I know why Fallon’s coming and it’s not to make us suffer for defying him. Or maybe it is. We kept Cora, refusing to respond to his message after he told us to prep her for the return. Instead, we fucked her and promised to protect her.

Fucking idiots.

We all know how Fallon works.

He’s coming here to take her back and there’s not a fucking thing we can do to stop him.

“What’s going on?” Cora’s sweet voice cuts through my thoughts, and my attention snaps to her in the doorway.

I swear my heart stops. Her red hair, and her adorable face framed with fiery ringlets, escaping her low ponytail have filled my dreams for years. She’s wearing a pretty creamy dress with little blue flowers that makes me want to cut it away from her body. Breaker loves those dresses, and I have to admit they flatter her tiny, sexy little body that looks, feels, tastes, like she was put on this planet to drive me absolutely wild. The urge to pick her up and hide her away makes my hand twitch. When her emerald green eyes meet mine, I can’t help but take in a deep breath, all the tension leaving as those eyes move over me.

Her eyes aren’t just green. Like her they’re vibrant, the color a rich hue that can only be found in my homeland. She’s just as lush, just as breathtaking as the landscape of my childhood.

Fallon thinks he removed it from me, but try as he might, he’ll never take away the memories. He may have stripped Breaker of his heritage, refusing to acknowledge it just as he did with Striker, who can barely function if his past breaks throughto his present, but those rolling hills, the deep colors of damp earth and tall grass are imbedded in my soul. Scotland lives in my bones.

“There you are,” Reaper growls, jarring me from my thoughts.

He marches forward, shoulder’s bunched, his entire demeanor as sharp as a blade. The fact she doesn’t shrink back from him curls my lip into a smile. I stifle my chuckle by biting my cheek. So tiny, but that sass in her, fuck, it makes my cock hard.

Just being near her seems to calm Reaper, some that stiff feral energy leaving him the closer he gets. Reaper pulls a glove off and holds out his hand, motioning for her to come to him as he walks toward her. “Come here, Baby Girl.”