Page 46 of Ruin

He laughed, and I released my mate to embrace my brother. “It’s good to see you, man.”

“Yeah, you too; now that it’s really you. Berith, as you, was a real dickhead.”

“How did you know it wasn’t me?”

He shrugged. “He spoke to Ember like a piece of shit. You’d never do that, no matter what had happened to you. Zander figured it out as soon as you were back here. I spoke to him about it and he said he had a plan.”

“Alex?” asked Ember.

Owen ignored Stone’s low growl. “Yeah, Alex said Zander didn’t want us there when he sent Berith back to Hell. He knew the Halo would do something to him, but he didn’t want to risk our lives too.”

I swallowed my regret for Zander and my anger at how Berith had treated my mate. My fists curled at the memories Prime supplied. “Yeah, I’d never treat Ember like that,” I murmured under my breath, glad Zander and Owen knew me so well.

Ember wandered across the cave to Selina and took the baby for a cuddle. Half demons. I could only wonder how Berith hoped to control them. He couldn’t control Zander; but maybe he had found a way. The baby let out a little wail and my stomach clenched, my heart jumping at the sight of my mate with a baby in her arms. She cooed and rocked the little thing until it stopped crying. I swallowed the ache in my throat. I’d never even considered having a family of my own, but the thought of having a little one with my Firecracker burrowed into my soul, and I already knew that thought wouldn’t let me go.

She smiled at me, and I smiled back.

“We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.” Owen distracted me from staring at Ember.

“Yeah. You got an ops room?”

“Sure do. This way, boss.”

“Ember! We need to go.”

She nodded and placed a kiss on the baby’s forehead, passing it back before coming and taking my hand. It seemed so natural, so I accepted her offering, surprised and pleased she’d do such a thing. Ember had always wanted to prove her independence and strength. Holding hands wasn’t something either of us would have done with anyone else. But this was different,wewere different.

I followed Owen across the compound, taking in the people, the way they were organised, the equipment, and the firepower of the guards that patrolled the perimeter. It was an expensive operation.

I winced as we passed through some kind of acoustic barrier, squeezing Ember’s hand when she winced, but the discomfort soon passed. Owen opened the door of a large, ground level cabin and we stepped inside.

“Connor!” Drake’s face lit up as he strode towards me. His palm slapped against my forearm, his fingers gripping me, and I gripped him just as hard. He pulled me in for a bro’ hug, but laughed out loud when he saw I hadn’t let go of Ember. “Hey, Em. You a bit happier now you’ve got him back?”

Ember smiled. “I am.” She twisted her hand from my grip. “Now I get to say a proper hello and thank you.” And she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him. He kept a wary eye on me, and it didn’t last long, even so, claws pushed through my nail beds.

Drake carefully put Ember away from him and took a step away, his hands raised.

Ember turned and smiled reassuringly, before raising on her tiptoes and kissing my cheek. “Connor, you’re the only one that I’m interested in, you know that.”

“I do.” I released a long slow breath. Maybe being out with her so soon wasn’t such a good idea. I’d waited so long for Ember that I was having problems controlling my need and possessiveness. “Just—please, don’t push me, love.” I couldn’t help my voice being a low growl. Grinding my teeth, I made myself turn away from her, instead of pulling her into me. “How did you fund this camp, Drake?”

Drake smiled, but a shadow crossed his eyes. I didn’t comment. Getting all of this had come with a high cost for my brother.

“I pulled in a lot of favours—and had to agree to some terms which means we have the company of a group of asshole mercs to deal with.”

“Why? What are they doing here?”

“They’re here on the request of my business partner.”

“Your business partner? I didn’t think you had a partner.”

“I didn’t, but this guy bought my company from the SBI. In order to get any rights back to it, even though it was taken illegally, I had to agree to certains terms from him. It was that or not get back here with all the equipment and manpower we need to end Berith.”

“What are the terms, Drake?”

Drake leaned on the table, his hands flat, and hung his head. “It doesn’t matter. My lawyers are working on a way to get them nullified. My company was seized illegally.”

“Brother? Tell me.” I infused my voice with command and even as powerful as Drake was, he couldn’t ignore it.

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