Page 18 of Flawed Revenge

“They’d never hurt her. Ever. I know it’s hard for you to believe that, given how you met them, but I want to explain. All of it. I swear I never wanted to hurt you. I’ll tell you everything. I know it won't make it all better, I can't undo what I did, or erase the pain I caused, but at least you’ll understand the whys. You’ll know that I never stopped loving you, and that I've regretted what I did every day since.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him it didn't matter, that he was right, and the whys wouldn't undo the pain, but Kate had to believe that Leo would be a match, that the bone marrow transplant would save her daughter’s life, which meant that Leo would be part of both their lives going forward. If she was going to have to deal with this man for the rest of her life, then for her daughter’s sake, it would be nice to move past some of the hostility.

But the reality was, nothing Leo could tell her would make her stop hating him.

Nothing.

Chapter

Six

March 15th

3:59 A.M.

She was seconds away from bolting.

Lion was painfully aware of that as he nodded at Voodoo and Indigo, who had come down as soon as he called. The couple headed into the bedroom where Ariella was once again fast asleep, and he could see from the look on Kate’s face that she wasn't comfortable with this arrangement at all.

Of course, he understood that, given his past with her, and what had happened when she arrived, she didn't trust a single one of them. Maybe she was okay with—or at least accepting of—letting him wander the grounds with their daughter, at least they had a past that was more good than bad, but she didn't have anything at all to fall back on when it came to the others.

Didn't matter that none of them would ever hurt a child. Or that Voodoo in particular had always been a healer and never enjoyed hurting anyone. It was going to take time, but they didn't have time. Mrs. Gardner was still out there, still a potential threat, and Ariella wasn't going to get any better until they found out if he was a match and she got her bone marrow transplant. Maybe not even then.

“How about you put on your coat and some shoes, and I take you outside to the same spot I showed Ariella,” Lion suggested, nodding to the coat and boots he’d told her to grab before they left the bedroom, which Kate was still holding clutched tightly in her hands.

“You want me to go outside and leave her?” she asked incredulously.

“You're not leaving her,” he said gently. “You're trusting her to family.”

“They’re not my family,” she immediately shot back.

“They are.” Although he contradicted her, he tried to do it softly, knowing why she didn't think it, but it was true nonetheless.

While he would never stop loving or caring about his parents and his little sister, he’d had to leave all of them behind after the experimental drug program turned into a disaster. In their place, he’d built a new family. This family, Steel, Dragon, Blade, Voodoo, and Thunder. Now that family had grown to include Rose, Cassandra, Whitney, Indigo, and Maya. These people would move heaven and earth for his girls. All he had to do was find a way to convince Kate of that fact.

“They’re my family, and you and Ariella are mine, which makes you both family too.”

“We’re not yours.” Kate huffed, but at least she set the shoes down and shoved her feet into them, which he considered to be a win.

When she straightened, Lion took a leap of faith, backing his girl up against the wall, making her gasp. Fear danced in her blue eyes, but there was something else there too. Anger of course, but also arousal. Despite the fact that she hated him, and he had no doubt that she did, her body still craved his as badly as his craved hers.

Lifting a hand, he swept it down her hair, and then feathered his fingertips across her neck, letting them rest above where her pulse was fluttering wildly in the hollow of her neck. The tip of her tongue darted out to brush across her bottom lip, and he groaned, taking a step closer, blocking her in, letting his much larger body press against hers.

“You have no idea what you do to me, do you, Katie-Bear?”

“Don’t call me that,” she snapped, but there was no heat to her words.

“Think whatever you want, but make no mistake about it, you’re mine, you’ve always been mine, and you’ll always be mine.” Before he could talk himself out of hit, Lion leaned down to whisper his lips across hers.

Then he straightened, took her coat from her hands, turned her around and eased her arms into it, then grabbed her hand and began to lead her through the house. She came somewhat reluctantly, but they were doing this. It was time he explained himself, begged for forgiveness, and prayed that by some miracle they might come out the other side together again. Or at the very least, with an understanding that the past couldn’t be changed, but that didn't mean he didn't wish it could be with every breath he took.

The silence was tense but not necessarily uncomfortable as they headed out into the night. Dawn hadn't yet come, but he knew the way to his rock without needing the light to see. Even if he hadn't been there a thousand times over the last six years they’d lived there, his enhanced ability meant he could see basically as well in the dark as he could in the light.

“Pretty,” Kate said softly when they reached the tiny clearing. “It’s like a fairy ring. I can see why you like this spot.”

“It reminds me of you,” he told her as he guided her down to sit on the rock and then took a seat beside her. The rock was really only big enough for one person, so with both of them squeezed onto it they were touching from hip to knee. The feel of her body against his gave him the courage to tell her everything without holding back. Kate was only the second person he’d shared this space with, the first being Ariella, although Monique Kerr, the fiancée of Charlie teams Jax Holloway, had found it herself while she was staying there, and he’d let her seek from it the same comfort it gave him.

“You can't be saying things like that, Leo. We’re not together anymore,” Kate said with a sad sigh.