Page 42 of The Warrior's Salvation

She lifts her head and looks at me, eyes shining. “Marrying Elvin is not what I want. I want you. I want this.”

Her eyes draw up over my chest to look at my face, and I pause. I brush my thumb across her cheek, slow, steady, feeling the way her breath catches under my hand. She’s watching me now, fully locked in, like she’s waiting for something heavier.

“I need you to understand something before this goes any further,” I say. “I’m not the man your father wanted for you. I’m not clean. I don’t play by rules that protect anyone outside this circle.”

Her expression doesn’t change. I go on.

“I’ve put men in the ground. I’ve buried secrets and covered blood. I’ve lied, stolen, threatened, and worse—for my family, for the people who matter. That’s the life I was raised in. It’s the life I still choose. And if you’re with me, it means you’re in that world too.”

She stays silent, but there’s no fear in her eyes. No hesitation. Just the steady weight of her love pressing back against every ugly truth I lay down.

“I know who you are, Lochlan.”

“I don’t think you do,” I say. “Not all of it.”

“I do,” she says. “I knew before you walked through my door tonight. I knew the night I let you touch me for the first time. I knew what kind of man I was choosing. And I chose you anyway.”

I breathe that in. Let it settle.

“All I care about now,” she says, voice low, “is that my father is safe. And that this baby is safe. That I am.”

I close my eyes for half a second, then look at her again. There’s no part of her I want more than this—the honesty, the steel under the softness, the way she trusts me with her fear.

“No one touches you,” I say. “Not ever again. Not while I’m breathing.”

She nods, but I see the last piece of uncertainty still flickering behind her eyes. I lean in, hold her face in both hands, and say it again.

“You’re mine. And I will kill for you if I have to.”

Her eyes don’t waver. “I know.”

I run my hand down the side of her arm again before I move. The sheets shift as I sit up. She doesn’t reach for me, but her eyes stay on me the whole time. I find my shirt at the foot of the bed and pull it on. The adrenaline’s back, slow at first, but rising. My hands are steady now, my mind clear. Everything else can wait. The Doyles can’t.

Evie watches me dress without asking where I’m going. She already knows. I sit at the edge of the bed and reach for my boots. “I need you to stay here.” She doesn’t argue, but she doesn’t look away, either. “They won’t stop,” I say. “Not after tonight. Not after I laid hands on one of theirs. Someone’s going to answer for what he did to you.”

She pulls the blanket tighter across her chest, not because she’s cold. “You’re going to kill him?"

I look over my shoulder, meet her eyes. “I am."

She doesn’t respond, but I see the coldness in her gaze, the way she approves silently, though she will never say it. Then, I finish lacing my boots, stand, and cross back to her. I bend, kiss her forehead, then linger there, breathing her in for one last second.

“You stay put. No going out. No taking calls. No opening the fucking door unless it’s me or someone I send. Promise me.”

She nods. “I promise.”

I kiss her again, harder this time, then head for the door. And when I leave, I leave with one thing in my blood. War.

29

EVIE

Lying on the bed watching Lochlan leave brings physical pain to my chest. I know what he's going to do and I don't know how to justify that sort of violence. But I also know I'm never going to change him. It's why he spelled it all out for me, that he's a criminal and a violent man, and that will never change. It's why he gave me the choice to back away now, but I can't. I don't want to.

My father is just like Lochlan, probably into deeper crimes than the ones I know about and probably not the least bit ashamed of it. It all makes sense now, the way he kept me at arm's length from his businesses for so long, the way he shelters me and tries to control my actions. He's been keeping things from me to keep me safe. It's honorable, but ignorant. His entire life is wrapped up in sin, and like Lochlan and the sins of his past, it's catching up with him.

I push myself off the bed, struggle to my dresser to pull out some clothing. If Lochlan can go hunt down men who want to harm my father and murder them in cold blood to protect my family, then I have to grow up and stop putting off the hard conversation I need to have with my mother. I don't know if she knows about Da's criminal involvement, but I don't like secrets, and I'm not going to let her walk around in the dark about this or anything else. I have to tell her everything.

After sliding into some yoga pants and a T-shirt, I tie my hair up into a knot and shove my feet into my slippers. Loch asked me to stay here unless he sends someone to me, but I can't keep that promise right now. Besides, I'm not going out, just to speak to Mum in the main house where she's probably busy cooking or reading.

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