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“We ready?” He looks to me, then over at Lucas.
Lucas delivers a firm nod. “Absolutely.”
There’s an air of freedom about him as he walks hand in hand with Tia up the stairs. His shirt remains open. Free.
Like a weight has been lifted not only from his shoulders but his mind too.
What was once a permanent tension in his face has now been erased, and the darkness in his eyes seems lighter somehow as he smiles down at Tia with a softness I never knew existed in him.
I stride up the stairs behind them, leaving behind the dismembered corpse of a man who not only stole the innocence of others but stole their futures too.
Lucas took his future back and made it ours.
He glances at the hag on the floor, a sneer to his lips as he marches past her and out the front door.
“Took you guys a while.” Finn pushes off the side of the porch and throws his toothpick to the floor, then he scans over each of us before he releases a low whistle, and his eyes dance with jest. “You really are blood brothers now, huh?”
Jace scoffs. “Funny,” he says, with a monotone voice that makes me chuckle.
He jumps off the last step of the porch before spinning around to face the house, then stares back at it before turning to face Finn. “Can you burn it to the ground?”
The emotion in his voice is evident, and he does nothing to try and hide it.
Tia releases Lucas’s hand and hugs Jace from behind. His hands close over hers, and Finn watches the interaction between them. “Sure.” His lip curls up at the side. “I know just the guy. Got myself a little fire starter at home.” He winks as if we should know what he’s talking about, then spins on his heel, tugs his phone from his jacket pocket, and then gestures for us to follow him toward his car.
“You guys ready?” I ask as I face my family.
They turn at the same time, and as our gazes clash, we break out into a smile.
With a promise written on each of our faces.
A promise of brutal devotion.
Chapter
Thirty
TIA
We were silent on the way home, each lost in our own thoughts, each of us feeling like the heavy weight of the burden of our darkness slowly lifted.
My hands sit in my lap, coated in blood from the man who took so much from me and Lucas, and then the path created affected Jace, and inevitably, Cole along the way too.
Little did Cole know when he walked into that bar over a year ago that my heart belonged to others, it always would, even though I wasn’t aware of it at the time.
Our darkness forged our paths, and in it came the brutality of our love for one another. A love that isn’t understood by many but only makes us stronger, binding us and making us a force to be reckoned with.
The car turns into the underground parking lot, and Finn raises his hand to one of the STORM security guards.
At some point during the journey, I vaguely heard him say Jace could collect the girls from their house later, but I was too lost in my thoughts to consider when later might be and when they were taken to his and Angel’s home. It’s amazing to feel the trust and loyalty within their family becoming a part of mine too.
“Come on, baby, let’s get you cleaned up.” Jace lifts me from the back seat of the car into his arms and cradles me against his bare chest as if I’m broken. The truth is, as long as my girls and men are okay, I’m unbreakable. He places a tender kiss on my head, and I nestle into his neck as he walks us into the elevator, followed by Cole and Lucas.
Each of them painted in the blood of a monster, each of them depicting a dark avenger born in blood to protect me from the depths of hell, because there’s not a doubt in my mind if Lucas didn’t exist in that basement, I would have been a substitute. Martin was saving me as his ultimate prize, but I don’t doubt he’d have handed me over if the pressure was on to save himself.
He strides through the apartment and into his bedroom, both of my men follow behind him, he kicks open the bathroom door, then slides me down the front of his rigid body. His exposed chest red with blood creating a veil over his tattoos. I trace my finger over the name of our children, and my chest swells with pride, with appreciation at the lengths my men go to show their loyalty to us.
My fingers find his sharp jawline, and his breath comes out in a gentle hiss. His eyes transfixed on mine, filled with a power of love so strong it feels crippling somehow, and my breath hitches at the thought. The atmosphere around us is heavy, filled with a bloodthirsty strength, a sexual intoxication, a need.
