Chapter Fourteen
~ Danny ~
I followed Burke up the stairs, my hand caught in his like he was afraid I’d disappear if he let go. His knuckles were white, grip just this side of too tight. Something had changed since he’d come back from talking to Rawley in the barn.
When he’d first told me his brother was coming—this mysterious twin I’d never even heard him mention before today—his voice had been steady. Now, climbing these stairs, I could feel tremors running through him, tiny earthquakes traveling from his fingers to mine.
“Burke,” I said softly. “You’re scaring me a little.”
He glanced back, his green eyes catching the late afternoon light from the window on the landing. For a moment, he looked so haunted it made my chest ache.
“Sorry,” he said, his thumb finding my pulse point and tracing slow circles there. “I just... Sterling’s complicated.”
We reached the top of the stairs and moved down the hallway toward our bedroom.
The word still felt strange in my head—our bedroom, our home, our future.
After ten years of having nothing I could call my own, the possessive pronouns felt foreign on my tongue, like words from a language I was still learning.
Burke pushed the door open, then closed it behind us with a gentle click.
He didn’t let go of my hand, just led me to the edge of the bed where we both sat, the mattress dipping beneath our weight.
His thumb kept moving in those small, soothing circles, like he was trying to calm himself as much as me.
“Tell me about him,” I said, because sometimes the only way through fear was straight at it. “Your brother.”
Burke’s jaw tightened, a muscle jumping beneath the skin. “Sterling is... he’s like me, but not,” he began, eyes fixed on some middle distance. “We joined up together after high school. Both ended up in special forces. But where I stayed with the regular teams, Sterling went... somewhere else.”
The hesitation in his voice said more than his words. Somewhere else meant somewhere dark. Somewhere that didn’t officially exist.
“He’s good at what he does,” Burke continued. “The best, actually, but there’s a price for that kind of skill. Sterling’s paid it.”
I studied Burke’s face, seeing the worry etched around his eyes, the tension in his shoulders. “You’re nervous about him coming here.”
It wasn’t a question, but Burke nodded anyway, his free hand raking through his hair. “I’m not nervous about what he’ll do. I’m nervous about...” He trailed off, searching for words. “About what you’ll think of me, I guess. After you meet him.”
The admission caught me off guard. In all our time together, I’d never seen Burke care what anyone thought of him. It was one of the things I loved about him—his absolute certainty, his unwillingness to apologize for who he was or what he wanted.
“Why would meeting your brother change how I feel about you?” I asked, genuinely puzzled.
Burke’s eyes finally met mine, deep green and troubled. “Because he’s what I could have been,” he said simply. “What I almost was, before I got out. And sometimes...” He swallowed hard. “Sometimes I’m not sure there’s that much difference between us.”
I reached up with my free hand, touched his face gently.
The stubble on his jaw was rough against my palm, but I didn’t pull away.
“There’s all the difference in the world,” I said.
“You’re here, building a life. Building a family.
” My hand moved instinctively to my stomach, still flat but containing our future. “That’s who you are, Burke.”
He turned his face into my palm, pressed a kiss there. “He’s coming at three in the morning,” he said. “Landing in the north pasture. Rawley’s not thrilled, but he understands.”
“Does Sterling know?” I asked. “About...the baby?”
Burke nodded. “He knows everything. That’s what he does—knows things. Sees things. Finds things out.”
The way he said it made my skin prickle. “And you think he can help? With Dennis?”
“I know he can.” Burke’s voice was steady now, certain. “Sterling won’t let anything happen to you. To either of you.” His fingers brushed against my stomach, feather-light.
I took a deep breath, trying to sort through the tangle of emotions.
Part of me was terrified at the thought of another person becoming involved in this mess—especially someone who sounded as dangerous as Sterling.
But another part, the part that still jumped at shadows and flinched at loud noises, felt a wash of relief.
“He sounds scary,” I admitted.
Burke’s mouth quirked in a half-smile. “He is, but only to people who threaten what’s his.” His fingers laced through mine again. “And like it or not, that includes you now. You‘re family.”
Family. The word still hit me like a physical touch, warm and solid and so different from what that word had meant for most of my life.
Family had been fists and fear and walking on eggshells.
Now it was this—Burke’s hand in mine, the baby growing inside me, and apparently, a deadly operative who’d cross states to keep us safe.
“Twelve hours,” I said, the reality of it settling in. “And he’ll be here.”
Burke nodded, his thumb resuming those slow circles on the back of my hand. “I’ll be with you the whole time. He‘s... intense, but he’s not dangerous. Not to you.”
Something in Burke’s voice shifted as he said it—deepened, roughened around the edges. I looked up and found his eyes had darkened, pupils expanding until only a thin ring of green remained. The change was subtle but unmistakable, like watching a storm roll in across open water.
His scent changed too, the familiar notes of cedar and leather suddenly sharper, more potent.
My omega senses responded instantly, a flush of heat spreading across my skin as my body recognized what was happening.
Burke’s alpha instincts were surging, triggered by some combination of protectiveness and need that I could almost taste in the air between us.
“Burke?” My voice sounded strange to my own ears, higher and breathier than normal.
He didn’t answer with words. Instead, his hand came up to cup the back of my neck, fingers threading through my hair. The touch was gentle but insistent, drawing me closer until our foreheads touched.
For a moment, we just breathed the same air, his exhales becoming my inhales, the rhythm synchronizing until it felt like we shared one set of lungs.
Then his mouth found mine, and gentle was gone.
The kiss was hungry, demanding, a claiming that sent shivers down my spine.
His lips pressed hard against mine, coaxing them open, his tongue sliding inside to taste and explore.
I melted against him, my body yielding instinctively to his alpha demand, my own scent rising to meet his in the small space between our bodies.
I’d thought I knew every variation of Burke’s kisses by now—from the gentle pecks he left on my forehead in the morning to the deep, slow explorations we shared in bed at night.
But this was something new. Something primal and desperate, like he was trying to imprint himself on me, to mark me so thoroughly that no one—not Dennis, not the world—could ever doubt who I belonged to.
My hands fisted in his shirt, pulling him closer, my head tilting to give him better access. A soft sound escaped me, half-moan, half-whimper, and Burke growled in response—an actual growl that vibrated from his chest into mine.
“Mine,” he murmured against my lips, the word more breath than voice. “Mine to protect. Mine to keep safe.”
I nodded, unable to form words as his hands began to move, tracing paths of fire down my sides, across my back, up under my shirt to find bare skin.
Each touch sent jolts of electricity through me, my body responding with a surge of warmth between my legs, slick and ready in that uniquely omega way that still surprised me with its intensity.
“Yes,” I managed, though I wasn’t sure what I was agreeing to. Yes to his touch, yes to his claim, yes to whatever came next. Just... yes.
Burke’s hands moved with purpose, stripping away my shirt before I could catch my breath from that kiss. His fingers were steady despite the urgency I could feel vibrating through him, each movement efficient and determined.
He didn’t fumble with buttons or struggle with fabric—this was Burke in mission mode, focused entirely on the objective. But instead of clearing rooms or securing perimeters, his mission was me, and I surrendered willingly to his capable hands.
My own fingers weren’t nearly as coordinated.
I fumbled with his belt, the leather slipping through my trembling fingers.
Burke gently pushed my hands away, taking care of it himself while I watched, mesmerized by the controlled power in every movement.
He shed his clothes with military precision—shirt, boots, jeans, boxers—until he stood naked before me, all lean muscle and tanned skin.
His scent hit me like a physical force—pure alpha, undiluted and intense. It filled my nostrils, coated my tongue, seemed to seep into my very pores until I was dizzy with it. My omega biology responded instantly, a rush of heat flooding my core, my skin prickling with heightened sensitivity.
“God, you smell good,” I whispered, the words escaping before I could catch them.
A slow smile spread across Burke’s face, predatory and tender all at once. “That’s all for you,” he said, his voice dropping an octave. “Only ever for you.”
He helped me with the rest of my clothes, his rough hands gentle against my skin as he slid my jeans down my legs, his thumbs tracing the sensitive hollows behind my knees.
When I was as naked as he was, he guided me onto the bed with firm pressure on my hips, lowering me until my back pressed against the cool sheets.