39. Riley
I’m notsure what the noisy commotion that wakes me is all about, but it drags me kicking and screaming out of a sleep so deep it feels like being underwater. My body feels like lead and my heart is even heavier, and I swing my legs over the side of the… couch?
I blink groggily, but yeah. I’m not in my room, and breaking through the fog of sleep slowing down my thoughts feels like a bigger job than I can bear. At least, it does until I turn toward the deep voices of the three men who are starting to mean safety to me, who are starting to mean home.
They’re not alone, and my focus sharpens fast. “Chloe?”
I must be dreaming. But as I scramble off the couch I don’t remember lying down on, Maddoc carries her in and sets her on her feet in front of me, and dream or not, I don’t want to question it. I just want to wrap her in my arms and never let her go.
“Chloe,” I breathe out as I hug her tight, not even a little bit ashamed of the sob that escapes me once I finally feel her familiar shape in my arms.
It’s really her.
I’m wide awake.
Somehow, the Reapers brought her back to me.
I squeeze her tighter, and she leans heavily against me as she mumbles part of my name. “Ri...”
I frown and push her back, keeping a firm hold on her shoulders. Her voice is slurred and she looks pale, tired, and ragged as all fuck.
“What’s wrong?”
Her eyes well up, and she shakes her head, sagging into my arms again.
I rub her arms briskly. She’s here, and that should be all that matters, but she’s also cold and trembling and can barely stand.
I look at Maddoc sharply. “What did that piece of shit do to her?”
“She’ll be okay.”
That’s not an answer, and Maddoc’s eyes soften like he knows it.
“McKenna’s men drugged her,” he says. “Let’s get her upstairs. It’ll work its way out of her system once she gets some rest.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, already moving to do it.
Chloe stumbles, and Maddoc steps in to help.
“Not sure what exactly he gave her, but yeah, I’m pretty sure,” he says as we work together to get her up to my room. “I’ve seen shit like this before. They didn’t hurt her. She’ll be okay after a little sleep.”
Except she was on the streets, on her own, for way too fucking long.
“I can get Shane here tomorrow to check her out, princess,” Dante offers, as if he read my mind. He and Logan followed us into my room. He glances at Maddoc. “You okay with that, Madd?”
“’Course.”
“Okay,” Dante says, drawing the word out as I get Chloe settled in my bed. “So, you gonna tell us what went down now?”
I bristle for a second at his pissed-off tone, but then realize it’s not getting my sister back that he’s mad about. It’s that, since Dante is asking, Maddoc must have gone to get her on his own. The last thing I remember is going over the map with him after Logan and Dante had both gone upstairs for the night, and if I didn’t already know that the world they live in is way too dangerous for Maddoc to go up against West Point on his own, the fact that his shirt is soaked in blood now would be a dead giveaway.
But he did it anyway.
He did it for me.
“I thought of a place McKenna might have stashed her,” Maddoc says.
“Great,” Dante says, throwing his arms up. “And you didn’t wake us to go with you… why now?”
Maddoc doesn’t flinch. “I needed to check it out.”
“Where?” Logan asks, just as intense as Dante even though his anger is more contained than Dante’s.
Maddoc’s jaw clenches. “A West Point safe house.”
The three of them share a long look.
“It’s barely even in his territory,” Logan finally says, his voice flat. “McKenna’s a fucking idiot.”
“You’re a fucking idiot,” Dante says to Maddoc before he can respond to that. “Don’t do that shit again, yeah?” He jerks his chin toward the dried blood coating Maddoc’s throat. “Not without us.”
“I got her back.”
“Not the point.”
“I mean, it’s kind of the point,” I say, squeezing Maddoc’s arm with gratitude to break their stare off. “Thank you.” Then I smack him. “But I agree with Logan and Dante. You could have died!”
Maddoc captures my hand and holds onto it. “It’s just a scratch.”
“Logan?” I ask, my heart beating too fast as Maddoc’s beautiful Siberian Husky eyes hold me captive. “Is it?”
Logan came in with some first aid supplies, and he makes quick work of checking the bullet wound before giving a small shrug. “It just grazed him.”
“Does it need stitches?” I press.
“No,” Logan says with one of those almost-smiles of his as Maddoc—still holding on to my hand—slowly runs his thumb over the back of it. “No stitches required. He just needs to clean it up a little.”
”Okay,” I say, letting out a long breath. “Okay, then.”
Maddoc keeps ahold of my hand, continuing with those slow caresses to the back of it, as he gives his brothers the rundown on how he got my sister away from West Point.
“Are they going to try to come after her again?” I ask. “Will they come here?”
“No,” all three men say at the same time, their certainty settling my anxiety before it can bubble to the surface.
Most of it, at least.
“But they shot at you. They saw you. They’ll know it was us—you, that took her back.”
“Yeah,” Maddoc says, “but I’ve got Reapers all around the house now. Even if McKenna was stupid enough to try, we’re too heavily fortified for him to hit us here.”
“And McKenna is stupid,” Logan adds as he tidies up the first aid kit he used to check out Maddoc’s… scratch. “But he’ll also remember what The Six told him.”
Dante snorts in what sounds like agreement, crossing his arms over his chest. “Trying to take the head of the Reapers’ house by force? That fucker would bring down their wrath faster than he could blink.”
Chloe makes a small sound of distress, stealing my attention. She’s still asleep, just restless, and I smooth her hair back and adjust the covers as the men continue to go over the details of her rescue and all the measures they’ve put into place to keep her—to keep the both of us—safe.
After a while, they wish me good night and split up, each heading to his own room while I stay with Chloe. I definitely haven’t had enough sleep, but I’m not even remotely tempted to lay down with her. Instead, I sit next to her on the bed, watching her sleep for a while and letting all the relief, all the gratitude I feel knowing she’s finally here and safe, wash through me in gentle waves.
“We’re okay now,” I whisper, leaning in to kiss her forehead. I know there’s still shit we have to figure out with this inheritance of hers and that Austin McKenna isn’t going to just give up on this war he’s got going with the Reapers, but I still believe it’s true. I’ll make it true, but this time, I won’t have to do it on my own.
Chloe lets out a small sigh, her eyelids fluttering as she shifts position.
She doesn’t wake up, and I smile. Knowing she’s safe is everything… and it’s all thanks to Maddoc.
I get off the bed and don’t let myself stop to think as I head to his room.
I already thanked him. We both need our sleep. I’ve got no plan at all and when he opens to my soft knock—shirtless and with a damp, bloody cloth in his hand from finally cleaning the “scratch” on his neck—all I can do is stare at him.
He stares back, looking right into my soul, and when he slowly smiles, I realize I don’t need a plan.
Right now, I just need him.
I slide my hand up his chest and wrap it around the back of his neck, taking care around the angry red line West Point’s bullet left there as I go up on my toes. And then I take what I need… what I want.
I press my lips to his.