Page 44 of Shadow

“I wantusto marry her,” he said. “Commit to her in blood. In tears. In our brand of violence as we take every single twisted motherfucker out of this world and rule the Underground as it’s meant to be. When it’s time, we’ll put babies inside her.”

“Dante, man, that’s a lot of kids.” I winced, thinking that if she got her way, there would be six of us. Six kids? I wasn’t so sure I was on the same train of thought as he was. It sounded…messy. I could barely handle us most days.

“I’m not saying what you think I’m saying.” He sighed. “When we all decide it’s time, we just do it. It doesn’t matter who the father is. The kid will belong to all of us.”

I nodded. I could be down to do that. “Well, it’s a long way off, so it doesn’t matter.”

“I’ve just been thinking about it a lot lately.” His green eyes raked over my face. “I never wanted kids before; I’d like one now, though. Today, even.” He let out a soft, sad laugh.

“What’s going on with you?” I asked, frowning at him. He wasn’t himself.

“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I guess I keep thinking about how we could lose her. I couldn’t lose her to anyone if she had one of our kids inside her. Especially mine.” He reached into his shirt pocket and brought out a joint. Wordlessly, I flipped open the lid on my lighter and lit the joint for him, watching as he took a deep inhale before blowing it out.

“I wouldn’t fucking let her leave with my kid,” he continued. “Even if I had to chain her sexy ass to my bed to keep her.”

“She’s not leaving us,” I said gently. “We’ve been over this.”

“I know.” He took another hit. “I think we both know shit is about to get bad, Asher. The moment this Sin and Cady shit hits the fan, we’re going to be grappling for a ledge to cling to. Maybe a kid is that ledge.”

I shook my head. “It’s not, man. She’s not going anywhere. We’re not going anywhere. It may get rough for a minute, but we love each other and have fought way too goddamn hard to let anything change that.”

He was quiet for a moment.

“I’d kill my old man without a second thought if he tried to take my blood from me. A family. I don’t give a shit if it’s you who gets knocked up. If he tries to take what’s ours, I will kill him. Fuck waiting it out and planning. I’d lose my fucking mind.”

I said nothing, knowing he wasn’t lying. He really was falling.

“Hey.” Cady’s soft voice carried through the room as she stepped inside.

I gave her a smile. “Hey. I was going to call you down in a few minutes. Are you ready to go?”

She glanced at Church, who stared back at her with a hard look on his face.

“Yeah. Um, I was thinking I’d just ride with you if that’s OK. I don’t want to drive on my own.”

I raised my brows at her. “You don’t? You’ve been begging for weeks to drive one of the sleds.”

She looked to her feet, her voice soft. “I don’t really trust myself on one right now.”

I glanced quickly at Church, who got to his feet and approached her. He stopped in front of her and reached out. She stared up at him as he tilted her chin upward.

“Did you tell Sirena you were leaving for the evening?”

“No,” she whispered. “She was painting, and I didn’t want to disturb her.”

I watched as Church continued to stare down at her. He had me on edge.

“Sin returns home tomorrow,” he said.

“I-I know,” she answered, her bottom lip wobbling.

“Don’t fuck this up, Claws. If my girl has a single fucking tear fall from her eye, it’ll be your ass who pays. Got it?”

She nodded, a tear slipping down her cheek.

“Church, it’s not her fault,” I said softly, getting to my feet. I looked at Cady. “It’s not your fault what happened between you and Sin.”

She let out a soft sob and came to me. I stared at Church as she buried her face in my chest and clung to me.

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