Page 51 of Master Vidar & Vali

“Your Rose is a very smart lady, and she’s right, I need to speak with you about the safe house.” I sat down on one of the stools while he made my coffee in his space-age coffee maker, like the one at the safe house.

“Let me guess. You guys want it for the three of you.”

I was genuinely shocked.

“Rose?”

He nodded and laughed. “Yep. It’s yours, you know you don’t even have to ask.”

He slid my mug across the counter without spilling a drop.

“Show off.”

“Well, I don’t do a lot really well, Lincoln, so I have to celebrate the small victories in life.”

“Now we both know that’s a lie, you do at least three things well.” He laughed and tossed a tea towel at me. “Seriously, man, thank you. I figured it wouldn’t be a problem, but as I recall, you paid cash for that one. Are you sure we can’t pay you for it?”

“Consider it a wedding gift.”

“Who’s getting married?” Colin entered the kitchen, looking ten years younger.

“We are. Anyone who can make you look like you were dipped in a vat of anti-aging gel deserves a big fat wedding ring, a contract, a collar and any other thing she desires.”

“Hooyah!” Gabriel cried.

“Hooyah!” Colin and I repeated.

The call was to a different type of battle, one in which there would be no casualties, not to say there wouldn’t be wounds along the way, but this was a battle played by our rules and one in which we could all win. One in which I was happy, and so was Colin. At long last, we were in a good place and I believed we could have our happy ending like Gabriel, Noah and Erik had.

Epilogue

Colin

Lincoln and I had no friends outside of G&H and the clubs, so making the guest list was easy. I looked out at the small crowd here to witness our double ceremony, taking stock of those in attendance from the safety of my hiding place.

Attendees mingled, and as my eye roved the small pockets of friends, it made me happy to see all the smiles. Our friends and comrades were here to celebrate the union of Linc, Zara and I. It turned out, taking the leap from just a collaring ceremony to a wedding that involved a ring and a collar was easier than I’d imagined.

After we’d dropped to one knee and proposed, a teary-eyed Zara screamed “Yes!” practically dancing on her toes in excitement. The three of us had gone out that day and found her ring and our bands and picked a date less than a month away for the double ceremony.

Zara, Rose and Mari took over the arrangements and, with a lot of help, had turned Asgard into the finest location for a BDSM wedding. Zara had wanted to get married at the safehouse, but Lincoln and I had used the excuse of repairs still being underway. The truth was, along with the repairs, we’d had a few other changes put in and planned on surprising her with them after the ceremony.

Then she would be our wife. I’d been repeating that word in my head all morning—wife. Never in a million years did I think I’d ever say mine and wife in the same sentence yet here I was marrying the woman of my dreams with my best friend at my side. Zara was ours for always and my recently healed heart thumped with the joy of it all.

I spotted my brother and Mari speaking with Rafe and Astrid. Although Rafe wasn’t paying attention, his eye was on another guest. I wondered if the confirmed bachelor was working on his next play partner or if he was seriously interested in the fair-skinned brunette standing beside Astrid, who looked vaguely familiar.

Legally, Zara would only be marrying me, but with the insanely intricate paperwork the lawyers had come up with, we would all have the rights afforded to spouses and that was enough for us. Maybe someday the laws would catch up to the times and we could do this again.

Erik, Noah and Gabriel stood together, and not too far away from them, Raia and Shelby were laughing at something Dottie was saying. I smirked as I imagined what she would be sharing. Dottie and Raia had been roommates and it was Dottie who had brought Raia to the interview at Midgard which is how she and Erik met. I’d heard from Rafe that cupid’s arrow had hit Master Thor square in the chest and he’d fallen for the woman instantly.

Dottie finished her story and her eyes traveled to a group of men that included Brody and the recently injured Donovan, Carson and Bryce. All four men were in training to be mission leaders and I couldn't have been prouder. We’d served a year with Brody and knew him to be a man with a dark past whospoke little but demanded a 110 percent from himself and those he worked with. I could almost hear Dottie’s thoughts as she weighed and measured the men as potential partners.

Rose got everyone’s attention and asked them to take their seats. Gabriel disappeared, probably to join Zara as she had asked him to give her away. Erik was officiating the ceremony and neither Linc nor I had felt the need to have a best man when we were each other’s best men, but Rose had insisted that we each have one to witness the documentation, so I chose my brother and Linc chose Jared. There was a certain poetry of them being best friends and Linc and I being best friends. Watching the pair move up to the beautiful arbor that had been built especially for our ceremony warmed my heart, and I found myself hating Jared a little less. The man had done us a solid when he shared the intel that gave us the Albanians’ location. I watched as he said something to Declan, probably some smart-ass comment that had my brother smiling.

We hadn’t seen our bride since yesterday and neither of us had slept well last night without her to soothe our nightly demons. She’d stayed with the ladies in the private suites upstairs. She’d kept her dress a secret and all we knew was Mari had brought it in from one of her fashion houses in Milan.

I felt Linc move in beside me. “Are you ready, brother?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be; is everything set for later?”

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