Page 37 of Stealing Cinder

His thumb strokes along my jaw. The callused pad drags over skin that still carries the ghost of Edgar's grip, and the gentleness of the contrast hollows my insides.

"Stay with me. We will figure it out while keeping you safe."

His dark brown eyes hold mine and the warmth in them is terrifying because I want to fall into it and never climb out.

"I foolishly thought I could handle this by myself, and tonight proved I was wrong. But I don't want anyone else getting hurt because of those two."

Samuel's chest expands on a long, slow breath. “It’s long past that now. There’s no other way than to end this with more violence.”

My heart tears in two directions. Forward, toward the justice I owe my father. Backward, toward the only man who has fought for me since the day I buried the last person who loved me.

I press my forehead against his collarbone and breathe him in. Cedar, black pepper, and the faint copper of dried blood. My father's killer is out there right now, wounded, furious, and assembling every resource he has to destroy what's left of my family.

And I just handed the only man willing to fight for us the permission to fight dirty.

God help Edgar. Because Samuel won't.

CHAPTER 11

SAMUEL

“Iguess we got the war none of us wanted after all.”

She runs her fingers over the silver just above my temple, returning a stray hair where it belongs. “Seems so. I’m sorry.”

I press my lips to the crown of her head and breathe her in. “None of this is your fault.”

The living room stretches silent around us. Floor-to-ceiling glass reflects the sleeping garden and our silhouettes back at us. Landscape lights paint the hedges silver-green beyond the windows. An enforcer's shadow moves along the eastern fence line and disappears.

Everything seems calm and normal.

Cinder shifts against me. Her fingers loosen on my forearm as she pulls away from me and straightens. Cold fills the space she leaves behind, fast and greedy, and I have to stop myself from pulling her back.

"I need to sit down." Her voice is thin. Wrung out.

I guide her to the leather sofa. She lowers herself onto the cushion and tucks her bare feet beneath her, pulling my bloodied shirt tighter around her shoulders. Her hand drifts to the swell of her belly and stays.

I pull my phone from my pocket. The first contact I pull up is my head of security.

Lock it down.

The second text is to my friends.

My friends file in through the side entrance off the kitchen, their energy filling the room like a shift in pressure. Oliver is first, light on his feet, already scanning the grounds through the glass. Bastian follows. Valerian brings up the rear.

Knowing these three, they were off in the kitchen making plans. "Gentlemen, what have you worked up?" I remain standing, positioning myself where I can see both Cinder's face and the door. Edgar will be at my front gate before long and I need to be prepared.

Oliver takes the opposite side of the couch from Cinder. "Our informants say he's hunkered down in the mansion. Licking his wounds and making calls. But he won't move tonight. My guess is he doesn't have the men for it after what we left behind. But that could change if he is willing to put money on the line."

Relief loosens the knot at the base of my skull. It buys us hours instead of minutes. Good.

Bastian catches my eye and tips his chin toward the corridor. A conversation for later, away from Cinder. I give a short nod. Whatever they've been assembling while I was talking to her can wait until she's settled.

Cinder's gaze moves between the men. Worry tightens the skin around her eyes and her bottom lip disappears between her teeth. She’s scared and worried. Her heart is too soft for my world, but there’s no turning back. Part of my soul screams to save her from the darkness that plagues us, but the selfish side of me refuses to ever let her out of my sight again. The last five months were torture. No, worse. I can take waterboarding and getting my nails pulled out. Fuck, that shit would be like a spa day if they throw in some electric shock therapy to loosen up the muscles.

But a single day without hearing her sweet voice, touching her. Feeling her warmth. It killed me slowly until I was pretty close to wanting death to find me.

So fuck Edgar. My soon-to-be-wife isn’t going anywhere and I will make sure she has the courage to go along with the lifestyle she’s stepped into.