Epilogue
Blade
My woman had dessert in front of her, and we’d almost made it all the way through our first Sunday dinner with Church unscathed.
Then she fucking blindsided me.
Smiling sweetly at my brother, Lioness asked the wrong goddamn question of the last fucking person I wanted her to have intel from. “How did you two wind up with Blade and Church as call signs?”
“No way.” Church grinned, then threw me a look I knew too well. “You never told her about this?” He turned on his stool to face my woman. “He didn’t—”
“You tell her, and I’ll fucking kill you.”
The prick laughed. “I’m already dead.” He grabbed a cookie off the plate I’d given her.
Yanking a knife from the butcher block, leaning across the kitchen island, I used the blade to shove her plate away from Church as I glared at the motherfucker. “Hers. Not yours.”
The oven timer rang, and the prick smiled at my woman as he tipped his head toward me. “Did you know that before guns, knives were his first love?”
“Keep it up, motherfucker,” I warned, grabbing the second batch of cookies out of the oven.
Same as he’d always been, Church didn’t fucking listen. “Did he tell you he used to surf? Or about the day I followed him to a sweet spot that was going off?”
“You keep talking, you’re gonna have more than a dead problem.” I flipped the knife in my hand. Church would know what it meant.
Lioness looked between us, then gave her attention to my traitor of a brother. “Please tell me, because he won’t.”
Church raised an eyebrow at me. “Why haven’t you told her?”
I glared at him.
A slow grin spread across his face, and he looked back at Lioness. “Well, Georgia Lynn Lyons, turns out, waves weren’t the only epic thing that happened that day I followed my big brother.”
I threw the knife.
The tip speared his shirt sleeve before embedding into the wooden back of the kitchen stool.
My woman gasped, and Church chuckled.
Lioness looked at me with her mouth open. “That’s why you’re called Blade? You throw knives ?”
“He can,” my asshole brother answered. “But his real talent lies in what he can do with the blade.”
I reached for another knife. “I won’t miss next time.”
Church smirked as he grabbed the handle of the blade pinning his shirt to the stool. “You didn’t this time.” He pulled the knife out and tossed it on the island countertop. “But go ahead, do your worst. This is my story as much as it’s yours.”
“No, it’s not, and she doesn’t need to hear it.” My shit already scared her, and I hadn’t even taken one assignment with Church yet. I didn’t need more fucking ammo in her head.
“Of course she needs to hear it.” Church whipped out his megawatt smile. “That shit was legendary .”
“No, it fucking wasn’t. I was fifteen.” Hotheaded and pissed off, I’d done shit that could’ve gotten us both killed. Or worse, arrested.
Lioness looked at me wide-eyed. “You could throw knives like that when you were fifteen years old?”
I said, “No” the same time Church said, “Yep.”
My woman looked between us again, but then she gave me those amber brown eyes and used the one fucking word from her I had no power against. “Please?”
Jesus fucking Christ , this woman.
“Oh, come on.” Church draped an arm around my woman’s shoulders. “How can you say no to that?”
“You looking to lose that arm?”
Church dropped all humor. “Just wanna tell my story. Your woman wants to hear it.”
“Oh my God.” She looked up at Church. “You say woman too? Is that, like, an Emrik brothers’ thing?”
I said, “Yes” as Church said, “No.”
The lying prick. “It’s what our old man called our mother.” When he was around long enough to be good to her. Some shit stuck. Some shit was a matter of respect. Most of what I’d learned from my old man, I ignored. But telling it like it was to a good woman—that I’d fucking paid attention to.
“Not all the time,” Church countered.
Before he went down a path I wasn’t gonna allow in front of my Lioness, I chose the lesser of two evils. “Get your fucking arm off my woman and tell your goddamn story. Then you’re leaving.” I was done with his ass.
Church winked at my woman, dropped his arm, then launched into his bullshit. “We were kids. Or I was. Eleven years old to Blade’s fifteen going on fifty. In case you were wondering, he was never a kid. He’s always been like this.” Church chuckled. “Anyway, we had weather coming in, and there was supposed to be an epic swell. When I saw Blade grab his surfboard as we left for school, I knew he was gonna skip. So I grabbed my board and followed him at a distance. When we got to the beach, the sets were already going off. The lineup on the back was packed with surfers.”
“Territorial fucks,” I muttered, remembering that day. “Wrap it up.”
“Yeah, they were,” Church agreed. “For an hour.” He shook his head. “Bottom line, I paddled out and pissed off seven locals who burned me on a heavy. They drove me toward a jagged cliff until I wiped out and was rag dolling. Submerged, my head slammed into the rocks like a fucking wrecking ball. I wasn’t sure I was gonna surface. Then Blade was yanking me up and swimming me in. When he dumped me on the sand, my head was bleeding all over the fucking place, so I didn’t catch how pissed off he was until he grabbed his knife and headed back out.” Church smiled at my woman. “Without his board.”
Fucking Christ. “That’s enough.”
“No!” Lioness looked at me wide-eyed again. “I want to hear the rest.”
Church shrugged. “The woman has spoken.”
I glanced pointedly at my watch.
Church sped it up. “Blade dove under the surf and disappeared. Next thing I saw was the first of the seven surfers get yanked off his thruster. Then Blade was on the guy’s board, cutting the leash before he paddled to the next guy. Within minutes, every one of those fuckers was crawling ashore with their cut leashes hanging from their ankles and their boards washing up in pieces.”
I was done. “You’re leaving.”
Church stood. “Best part?”
“Don’t fucking do it,” I warned.
My brother grinned like the twisted fuck he was. “All seven of them had a cross cut into their backs, right through their wetsuits.”
“ Oh my God. ” Lioness looked at me. “You stabbed all seven?”
I held my goddamn breath, waiting to see if she’d put this shit together with Detroit.
“He didn’t stab them,” Church corrected. “He carved those motherfuckers up !”
Eyes wide, but not with fear or disgust, she didn’t seem to make the connection.
I fucking exhaled.
Church kept fucking talking. “What did you say to them when you walked out of the surf holding that Ontario Mark 3 Dad gave you?” The prick rubbed his chin like he had to think about it. “Oh yeah.” He cocked two fingers at me. “You said, and I quote, ‘ You better fucking find religion now, motherfuckers. Because the next time me or my brother see you, we’re taking you to church.’ ”
Lioness’s wide-eyed shock held.
Church grinned. “The whole walk home, Blade held his knife while I bled like a stuck pig. The next day, it was all over base.” He pointed at me. “Blade.” He tapped his chest. “Church.” He winked at my woman. “Been an evening, Georgia Lynn Lyons. One I won’t forget.”
“Can you please tell me what happened to Reena?” she blurted.
I’d been waiting for that question all night, and I was about to warn Church he better fucking tread lightly when he beat me to it.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have any answers for you. All I can say is that letting the past go is never a bad thing. And I apologize for the stealth attack on your cell at the laundromat. You can blame me for rerouting your calls. I’m not at liberty to discuss any details, but there was no malicious intent.”
My woman didn’t miss a beat. “Were you going to marry her?”
“Who?” Church asked like he didn’t know exactly who the fuck she meant.
“Reena.”
“What makes you think I was involved with someone named Reena?” Not giving her any room to drag this out, Church tipped his chin. “Good night.” Turning, he aimed for the front hall.
I followed.
He paused at the door, then glanced back before looking me dead in the eye with lethal seriousness. “Don’t fuck that up, brother.”
“Considering I have to go do damage control because of you, don’t fucking give me relationship advice.”
“She’s head over ass for you. She deserved to know.”
“Why? So you could fuck with more people’s lives?” I was still pissed at him, which was why I hadn’t agreed to shit yet. But Phoenix was right about one thing. Church would be safer with me on his six.
“No.” My brother’s gaze drifted to the kitchen. Then he focused back on me. “So she knows you protect the people you love at all cost.” He reached for the door. “See you around. Or not. Till Valhalla.” He walked out.
“Till Valhalla,” I muttered, shutting the door.
“Is he gone?”
I turned.
Pink socks, black leggings, white T-shirt stretched over her tits, fuzzy pink cardigan hanging open, dark wavy hair everywhere, my woman nervously looked up at me.
“Yeah. He’s gone.”
“Are you okay?”
I watched my Lioness. Looking for signs of fear, disgust, mistrust—any damn thing that I’d need to triage before I fucked her. But the woman was just looking at me.
“Depends,” I hedged.
“On what?”
“You.”
She stared at me for a beat too long. Then she stepped forward, wrapped her arms around me, and tucked in against my chest. “I love how you love.”
I fucking stood there.
Then I gripped a fistful of her hair, yanked her head back, and slammed my mouth over hers.
Lioness
He kissed me.
Like a SEAL on a mission, like a man in love, he kissed me with the force of a Valhalla warrior.
Then he did what he did best.
He moved like lightning.
My body was airborne, my leggings were yanked halfway down, and my back was landing on the couch as he came down on top of me. With his giant, hard cock already out and in his hand, he didn’t waste time.
He thrust into me.
We both groaned.
Me louder than him, because I always was.
He made me louder.
No, he turned me into the animal he now called me by.
Every kiss, every thrust, every orgasm—he took me to new heights and made me feel like a lioness. I loved him so deeply, I didn’t know how I had lived without him.
Gripping his arms, my legs trapped in my half-pulled-down leggings, I angled my hips up to meet his blissful assault as he drove into me, stretching me beyond reason. I could never figure out how he fit inside me—how we fit, period—but we did, like two pieces whose rough edges lined up perfectly.
My body made room for him, and his heart made room for me.
“I love you.” I loved him so, so much.
“Woman.” He thrust deep and stilled. “Your period was last week. You stopped the pill.”
I smiled. “I did.”
“We good? You good?” His expression and his tone were so serious, I almost, almost forgot he was inside me and we both still had our clothes on.
I reached up and coasted my fingers over the shadow of growth on his jaw. I knew he didn’t like affection in that way, but I needed to touch him. “I’m good, Blade.” This man was Haakon to me. I’d looked up the meaning behind his name, and it truly fit him. If we had a son, I wanted to name him after his father.
But this Valhalla warrior was also Blade to me.
Weeks ago, I saw what he’d done to Henry’s chest. I’d never mentioned it because I hadn’t understood it at the time. But if I was being honest, after the shock of seeing someone have a giant cross carved into their chest, I was shamefully glad. It’d felt like retribution.
And now that I knew the story of how he had gotten the name Blade, what that act meant to him, I loved him more.
Blade didn’t love with words.
He loved with protection and his own brand of justice, and he was merciless in both.
“ Lioness ,” his deep voice rumbled quietly with reverence as he pressed his forehead to mine.
Shivering at the way he said the term of endearment, I traced his full bottom lip. “I think we need to keep the Emrik SEAL legacy going.”
His growl was more grunt as he reared back, then drove deep into me. “Now I want daughters.”
I gasped at the full length of him seated inside me, but then I grinned. “No, you don’t. You want little Blade hellions that you can teach how to shoot and follow you on your insane runs.”
“Fuck that. I’m putting sass-mouthed mini lioness cubs in you, woman. Then the only thing I have to worry about is shooting every motherfucker who shows up to date them.”
My laugh was cut short by the first hard thrust as he began driving into me with purpose.
“Quick and dirty, woman.” His thumb landed on my clit, and he relentlessly circled. “You’re coming now and taking my seed. Then I’m showing you something before I spend the rest of the night fucking you.”
I barely heard the last of his words before my entire core convulsed around him. My orgasm shattered through every nerve of my body as his hot release pumped and pumped deep inside me.
Groaning with mind-bending pleasure, inhaling the intoxicating scent that was all Blade, I was still spineless and lost in aftershocks when he pulled out.
Gripping his arms, I protested. “No, no, no. Not yet. Come back.”
Unceremoniously yanking my leggings back up, then pulling me to a standing position, he kept his penetrating gaze locked on me as he zipped his pants.
“Now that’s just mean.” I reached for his cock. “And the shortest fuck in the history of fucks. I feel cheated. And your legacy is making a mess inside my leggings.”
Gripping my wrist before I could palm him, he didn’t so much as blink. “Mission focused, woman. Come on.” He pulled me toward the garage.
“Oh my God, for real?”
In true Blade fashion, he didn’t reply.
He opened the door to the pitch-dark garage, grabbed me around the waist, then lifted me down the few steps before setting me back on my feet and turning on the light.
My mouth dropped.
The Vette.
Except it wasn’t dusty with flat tires and looking like shit.
It was shiny and perfect and looked like it’d just come off the showroom floor.
“ Oh my God .” Emotions welled, and I looked at my Valhalla warrior. “How did you…. When did you…?” Then I was launching myself at him. “Thank you, thank you! ”
He caught me with both arms and gave me a rare full embrace. “She’s running good. You can take her out when the snow melts.”
I pulled back to smile at him. “Maybe I can take her out now. Just a short spin up and down the driveway.”
“Woman, I know your version of taking a vehicle out for a short spin . Not happening.” He dropped his arm, grabbed my left hand, and rubbed hard against my fingers before placing my palm on his chest. Then he took my face and went completely still like only a SEAL could do.
It took less than a second.
I felt the weight of what he’d slid on my finger, and I looked.
A radiant, emerald cut, pale pink diamond on a gold band that perfectly fit my finger. Tears of joy fell, and I looked up at the man I loved beyond measure.
“ Blade ,” I whispered.
“You and me, full throttle. Marrying you, woman.”
My Valhalla warrior kissed me.
THANK YOU!
Thank you so much for reading BLADE!