Page 23 of This Wild Heart

Willa chewed on her bottom lip, then eventually shook her head.

“It means you know there might be a negative consequence, but the result still makes it worth it. You punched that kid, knowing you might get in trouble at school, right?”

Her eyes got this scary little gleam, and she nodded.

“Was he mean after that?”

“Nope. He ran away and cried when I tried to apologize the next time I was at school.”

I spread my arms out. “See? Calculated risk, and it paid off. Sometimes in football, you commit a penalty knowing it might draw a flag, but it’ll also disrupt the momentum.”

“Was marrying Anya a calculated risk?” she asked, eyes big and clear and absolutely gut-wrenching.

How oldwasthis kid?

From where he lay on the floor, Spike stared me down, the feline equivalent of a lie detector test, his tail flicking back and forth. I swallowed hard. “Yeah, I guess maybe it was.”

The door to the other room opened before Willa could say anything else, and when Isabel exited first, the little girl scooped up the cat and ran toward her mom. “I was gonna teach him how to punch in case Dad wanted to beat him up.”

Isabel closed her eyes briefly, exhaling a brief laugh. When she opened them again, she gave me an apologetic smile. “My husband promised there’d be no violence today.”

I nodded. “Appreciate that.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “But that doesn’t mean he’s not watching how this plays out. We all are,” she said lightly. “And when I tell you that Anya has a veritable army who’d be willing to destroy anyone who hurts her, I mean it.”

My chin notched up. “And was that army deployed when Max cheated on her?”

She quirked a dark eyebrow. “Why do you think he got traded from Washington within a day of the story breaking?” Her bone-chilling smile looked a whole helluva lot like her daughter. “Between my brother Logan as his coach and Emmett as his quarterback, that man wouldn’t have lasted a week at training camp. Thankfully, he was open to a trade with minimal persuasion.”

“Fair enough.” I held her gaze. “I have no intention of using Anya, and I certainly won’t hurt her. She’s safe with me, I promise.”

There was something about the way Isabel stared me down, like she’d stripped away all pretense, cut through all bullshit, and could see straight into my fucking soul. She and Spike made for a very effective team. “I’m glad to hear that.”

With a stilted smile, I stood and held up my water glass. “Where should I put this? I think I’m done.”

She reached forward and took it. “They’ll be out in a second. Just needed a father-daughter moment.”

I nodded. “Of course.”

Isabel disappeared into the kitchen to take care of the water glass, then returned, her arms crossed and face thoughtful. “Willa, why don’t you take the cat back to Anya’s room? She’s gonna need help packing up his things.”

“So the demon cat is…”

“Coming with you,” Isabel finished with a smile. “My husband insists.”

“I’m sure he does,” I muttered.

When Willa and the cat left the room, Isabel took a small step closer. “I love your sister, Adaline. She’s made Emmett very happy. And in turn, that makes the rest of us very happy. I know you come from a good family,” she said, only the slightest pause after she spoke, which was why I heard the unspokenbut.

I arched my eyebrow. “But don’t fuck this up,” I finished for her. Her smile was the only hint that I was right. “I have no plans to. There are enough people in my life who would kick my ass if I did.”

Isabel eyed me with a begrudging look of respect.

“I’m sorry about your father, by the way,” she said. “It sounds like he was an amazing man.”

Boom.

The breath caught in my throat, and my lungs swamped with heat. I breathed it out slowly and nodded. “Thank you. He was.”

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