Page 108 of The Oath We Take

I glance up at her, shellshocked for a moment. “For real?”

She nods. “I just want to start the rest of our life.”

“Now, there’s something to look forward to. We’ll get tested tomorrow.”

Ember tries hard to bite back her grin. “You know it’s usually about three months before you get pregnant, often it takes a year, and that’s assuming we can conceive because?—”

I shut her up by tugging her to me and kissing her. “I don’t care about the details. And just the idea of it is giving me another boner, so stop.”

Taking her hand, I lead her back into the bedroom.

“Do we have time for this?” she asks.

“As much as I’d love to do whatever thethisis you’re thinking about, I need to do this.”

The rug next to the bed is old. My grandmother weaved it herself on a loom she used to keep in the barn. It’s mostly the color of wheat just before the harvest but has flecks of blues and greens. I lift it and reveal the trapdoor built into the floorboards.

“Oh, what’s in there?” Ember asks.

I let her peer over my shoulder and see the emergency supplies. A set of panniers left permanently packed with everything I would need to disappear for two weeks. What she can’t see is that, inside them, is three thousand dollars in cash and weapons and ammunition.

Next to them are a variety of weapons. Some are necessity. I’m not fucking with a bear if one comes near the house. I’ll send a warning shot, but if it makes an aggressive move, then it’s about to become a pelt rug.

But the rest, all unregistered, are purely a precaution. Nobody has ever ventured this far onto our land to cause trouble, but I wasn’t gonna take the risk that someone, someday, might have reason to come looking.

I take a Glock out of its case and hand it to Ember. “This work for you?”

She takes it from me and handles it like a pro. “Dad’s had me firing handguns since I was seven years old. Of course, this works.”

I’ve never been more relieved that she’s handy with a weapon. “Hope you never need to fire it, but there is more ammo in there if you do. I might come back late, so don’t shoot me if I wake you up.”

“I’ll do my best.” The smile she gives me melts my heart all over again.

“Can’t believe I wasted all this time without you, Em. I’m sorry.”

She places the weapon on the side table and then grips both my biceps. Her hands are small but warm against my skin. “If it’s what it took to end up here, then it was meant to be. All that matters is we made it. Well, apart from the band of Bratva who seemingly have it in for this town, and my father, who seems to have it in for you.”

“But apart from that…”

She laughs. “There’s no problem we can’t tackle, Atom. Now go, do what you have to do.”

“What are you going to do?”

Ember touches my cheek gently. “I’m going to contact my father.”

“Don’t tell him about what we’ve learned. I need to figure out the right sequence to reveal what I know and who I tell, after I’ve spoken to Wraith.”

She shakes her head. “I won’t. He and I need to come to terms, because if we don’t, I might need to adjust to the fact I just lost my dad.”

33

EMBER

As I watch Atom ride away, I realize this is how my mom must have often felt.

That the club forces you to put it above everything else. And when the chips were down, I picked my father over her, because I picked my horse over her too. And while I love Lemmy with all my heart, I can see why it put a gap between us.

As a child, I didn’t see it. But as an adult, I do.

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