hovered at his side as he carefully rose to a standing position. “You deserve a life with your loved ones. So do I. So does your father. Protect your family, protect humans, protect the realm. The rest will fall into place.”
“Direct—Leo.” She struggled to rise.
“Don’t get up on my account. Ransom’s gotta be briefed soon. I have a few more therapy sessions so me and these legs can play nice together without crutches, and then I have a vacation to get to.” His eyes warmed as he glanced at Millie. “It’s about a century too late.”
Happiness for them bloomed in her chest until she thought she’d either melt or burst, she wasn’t sure which. Boone walked them out, leaving her with Papa.
“I’m sorry. For everything.” I’m sorry. She’d gotten to say those two words to those who needed to hear it from her the most. The weight of the realms slipped off her shoulders.
Papa squatted in front of her, his pale blue eyes brimming with warmth. “It’s not you and me anymore, kid. I should’ve told the director when I first rescued you, but you were tinier than even this little angel.”
She sniffled and Arik wiggled. Unconditional love infused Ransom’s gaze.
“He doesn’t have wings,” she said. The fear had been there until her big ultrasound, and the residual anxiety had ridden her until Arik’s birth.
The corner of Papa’s mouth lifted. “Well, if little fangs come in, I know a guy.”
She laughed, but her gaze strayed to Boone as he entered the room. His easy smile at the joke relaxed her. Boone had been a rock, but they anticipated a childhood that might have some surprises.
“You want to hold him?” she asked her father.
Papa grinned. “I thought you’d never ask.”
In his crib, Arik struck his superhero pose—one chubby arm flung out to the side, the rest of him swaddled up. Boone soaked it in.
He’d never thought . . .
A kid. He was a father again. The baby smells. The cries. The tiny teething rings and onesies . . . he thought it’d hurt. That he’d remember all he’d lost when Adam was killed.
But the memories flooded him. The happy ones he hadn’t let himself think about. How he and Phoebe had wandered around like zombies, not knowing their ass from their head, but managing to get an infant to the toddler phase to preschool. Adam’s first day of school and his mile-a-minute chatter after school.
Arik and Sierra were not only a gift that gave him a family again, they’d given him his old family back. The stuff he’d kept in storage was in the garage of their new house. Adam’s picture hung on the wall next to Arik’s.
Behind him, Sierra had her arms crossed over that ugly pea-green shirt. She claimed she didn’t care if it got covered in spit-up. That shirt could go through a nuclear war and be the only article of clothing to survive.
“Hey,” he whispered. “Think he’ll sleep the whole night again?”
She smiled. “I hope he at least sleeps through my shower.”
They left the room and he closed the door behind them. Sierra went down the hall to the bathroom and he followed. It’d been an emotional day. Leo and Millie. Ransom. Boone couldn’t have wished for a better end to the day.
Sierra was grateful to have a home to raise Arik and to be able to help her kind against Daemon once again. But Boone had never thought the dark cloud that hung over her would go away. He knew when she got quiet and she stared too hard at nothing, her regrets were eating at her.
She would always feel a level of responsibility for what had happened, including her own birth, but having that part of her life back, a chance to make amends, would be the difference between surviving and living.
Sierra turned into the bathroom and ripped off her shirt. She tossed it into the laundry basket by the door. Catching a glimpse of him, she spun.
As always, the view of her without a shirt left him speechless. Her rounded breasts jiggled over the top of her nursing bra. They were tender. He would stay away from them until she gave him full clearance, but damn—he could stare at those globes all day.
Blood rushed to his dick and he didn’t bother to hide the bulge in his pants. “Remember when I walked in on you changing at the safe house? I thought I was such a pervert, lusting after a woman who might be delusional and was pregnant with another man’s kid. But I wanted you.”
She brushed her hands down her rounded belly. “What about now?”
Arik had made it look like she ate basketballs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Her abs weren’t visible and Boone didn’t care if they ever were. He drifted closer, shutting the door behind him. He planned to make some noise and the more closed doors between them and the baby, the better. “You’re my favorite meal.”
A smile played on her lips. He closed the distance between them and captured her soft lips. She sighed into him, and he thanked the universe yet again for the day he’d found his fallen angel.
__________
Can Harlowe hunt down Sandeen? And what will happen when she does? The answers are in Warrior Fire.
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About the Author
Marie Johnston lives in the upper-Midwest with her husband, four kids, and an old cat. Deciding to trade in her lab coat for a laptop, she’s writing down all the tales she’s been making up in her head for years. An avid reader of paranormal romance, these are the stories hanging out and waiting to be told between the demands of work, home, and the endless chauffeuring that comes with children.
Also by Marie Johnston
Angel Fire
Wicked Fire
Demon Fire
Warrior Fire
The Sigma Menace:
Fever Claim (Book 1)
Primal Claim (Book 2)
True Claim (Book 3)
Reclaim (Book 3.5)
Lawful Claim (Book 4)
Pure Claim (Book 5)