Page 32 of Fortress of the Brave

“My babies!” she cries, throwing her arms around the both of them.

Ma doesn’t care. Her kids are everything. I can’t help but smile.

Aleksi Petrov and his two heavies, Dimitri and Maxim, whom Angelo invited in, stand in the doorway. As if setting foot inside the room will cause it to come down on their heads.

“If anything would have happened to any of you, so help me God!” Ma declares. Then tells everyone she needs to get to the kitchen and starts counting how many heads there are to feed.

I can’t focus, so I turn my attention to the one woman I need to see.

She stands holding her arms, rubbing them like she’s cold. I shrug out of my jacket, quickly making sure it’s not covered in blood.

“Here,” I say.

“Thank you.” She takes it out of my hand, and I palm the back of my neck.

“It feels better to be in here than out there,” I say, suddenly feeling nervous. I can shoot people dead, but I can’t speak to a woman I’m interested in. One who I work with and see every day.What the fuck is wrong with me?

“Are you alright?” she whispers. “That seemed pretty intense.”

I give her a lopsided smile. “You knew when you joined this family that we don’t do anything by halves.”

She shakes her head, but I can see the resolve in her eyes. “You’re all very brave.”

“I don’t know about that. Insane, maybe.”

“That too.” She slides her arms into my jacket, and I watch her with undiluted fascination.Jesus Christ, she’s beautiful. I notice again how her eyes look like rare emeralds against her pale skin, they just shine…

“…never a dull moment around here…” she’s saying as I focus back on her words.

“We should go get some food.”

Suddenly, Sloane’s little dog, Charlie, runs up to me and gives me a lick on the leg. Mia giggles as I turn and look down at him, but before I can crouch down and give him a pat, Mia scoops him up into her arms, laughing as he starts to lick her face.

In the six months since I’ve known her, I’ve never seen her laugh before. Smile, yes, but laugh, no. I’m even more transfixed when she starts cooing baby voices at him. He laps up all the attention.

My fingers twitch, and I resist the urge to touch her.

“Charlie!” she shrieks when he wags his tail and tries to roll around in her arms. She sets him down on the floor, and he tears off, running around the space to find his next victim.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Dante,” she says gently. Touching me on the wrist and giving it a squeeze.

I look down at her hand as my heart thuds in my chest. Her fingers are like fire in the spots she touches, burning my skin, marking me.

I shouldn’t feel the sense of thrill that runs through me from one touch of her fingertips.

I shouldn’t feel anything at all.

I don’t see Mia as fragile or weak. That’s the thing, maybe at the beginning when I didn’t know any better, but not now.

Other than my ma, I see her as the bravest woman I know.

Who the fuck is Mia Michaelson?I need to know.

I suppose I could have gotten to know her better in the months that have led to this point, but I’ve been too chicken shit to step up. I’ve been giving her space, but now I’m done.

With my mouth dry and unable to form coherent sentences, I say. “I was worried about you.”

She blinks a few times, and then I realize what I just said.

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