about asking for things, but emotionally, she was sensitive to nuances.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?” Amelie smoothed her hand over the surprisingly black hair on her daughter’s head. Neither she nor Roan had black hair in their family tree.
“Do you think my daddy will come back to keep the bad man away from me?”
Amelie’s hand stilled. After today, she should have expected this question yet felt wholly unprepared how to answer.
“He doesn’t have to stay if his work is busy,” Fleur rushed to add.
Work was the excuse she and Scarlett used once Fleur was old enough to understand about having a mommy and a daddy as her friends did. Leaning over to kiss the top of her daughter’s head, Amelie thought long and hard on what to say. She finally settled on, “I think if he could, he would.”
It was the best answer she could think of. Lying to Fleur didn’t sit well with her but the truth was too much for a child her age to understand. How did you explain that a parent who was supposed to take care of you had tried to kill you before you were born?
Besides, if Fleur let the truth slip to the wrong person, they could end up homeless. Fleur nuzzled closer against Amelie, voice drowsy as she said, “He’ll come.”
Her fictitious daddy or Roan? Neither boded well for Amelie.
Chapter 6
“Saedra’s been hinting around for a while and I’ve finally located a place I think will work.”
Sulen leaned back in his seat and eyed Garik across the table in the night club. He should have known there was more to his fellow assassin wanting to meet in such a noisy venue. The music alone had him cringing. “She wants a place to raise a family?”
Garik nodded and shoved his untouched drink aside. The dark interior of the corner they occupied couldn’t hide his grimace. “I’ve put her off long enough since I ended my contract with the Guild.”
Smiling, Sulen held up his bottled drink. Like Garik, he was leery of consuming unpackaged food and drink they didn’t witness being prepared. “She has you by the balls.”
Garik’s upper lip curled in a snarl as he snapped, “She’s pregnant, idiot.”
Liquid spilled on the table as Sulen slammed his drink down. “You’re shitting me?! That’s...great...bad?”
It was no secret Garik’s bonded mate wanted kids and Garik had been hesitant to take the next step in their relationship out of fear until he could end his commitment to the Guild. At first, the agreement to wait a few months hadn’t been an issue but it had been four years since Garik ended his role as a lone assassin.
Clearly, Saedra had grown impatient and now wanted to start their family. Moving to a place geared toward a peaceful, relaxed community made perfect sense. With its regimented structure and high rise buildings, this place didn’t feel like a home and even Sulen knew that.
“It’s...good. Unnerving,” Garik admitted.
Sulen understood. Both of them had committed to their life as assassins and until Garik bonded, Sulen never thought beyond what he’d do if he ever left the Guild. As Gerelins, it was almost coded in their genetics to seek out a bond mate.
“I need you to go there first and make sure it would work for us.”
The words came out of nowhere. Sulen blinked and wondered if he’d consumed too much alcohol though he was only on his second drink. “What?”
“I can’t leave Saedra and I don’t want her going and getting her hopes up if it’s not what I need.”
The explanation made sense in a way. Except. “How am I supposed to know what you need?”
They were peers, not close friends. Sulen wasn’t sure Garik had any friends. Just hundreds of favors owed because the former assassin was one of the best to have ever done what they did.
And walked away from it all without a backward glance. For love. Sulen still found that hard to believe.
“I need you to see if it’s a safe and secure place. Make sure that the information I’ve received is accurate before I get Saedra excited about moving there. Going myself isn’t an option since I refuse to leave Saedra alone.”
If Garik got information saying the place was safe from one of his contacts, Sulen was willing to bet the place was more than good enough for a newborn baby with an over the top soon-to-be overprotective father.
“Where?” he asked, taking a healthy drink as he tried to imagine the dark-haired man across from him cradling a baby. The