Page 1 of Renard's Deliverance

PROLOGUE

Alec Malone was a scary son-of-a-bitch.

Opal definitely didn’t want to get on his bad side.

Unfortunately for her, he was frowning as she entered his office.

“Opal,” he said, gesturing to the chairs in front of his desk. “Take a seat.”

She knew an order when she heard it and instantly wanted to do the opposite. When was she going to learn to just do what people wanted?

It would make her life so much easier.

But no matter how many times Stefan had tried to beat the lesson into her, she just kept failing.

She raised her chin.

“Please, Opal,” he said in a soft but firm voice. His dominance was solid but not overwhelming.

Or mean.

Well, hell.

She was sitting before she could stop herself. “I don’t know how you do that.”

His lips twitched. “Lots of practice. I did help raise my brother.”

“They were raised?” she queried.

Alec shrugged. “They’re all alive. They’re good men. They might have been a bit wild in their time, but they’ve calmed down. Mostly.”

“How much bail or restitution money have you had to shell out over the years?”

“I should be a billionaire by now,” he said with a straight face.

Damn it.

That’s why she liked this man. She hadn’t thought she would. She’d worried he might be like Stefan. Full of himself. Power hungry. A king who saw everyone around him as peasants.

But she’d seen the way he stared at his wife. The gentleness he showed her and their son.

How his hand would drift to Mia’s belly, which was round with baby number two.

How he had doted on Ryleigh since he’d discovered that she was his sister.

Yep, Opal had wanted to remain wary and detached. It was safer that way. If you cared, you could be hurt.

It was bad enough that she cared about Lilac, Ryleigh, and Kye. They were weaknesses and she’d kill anyone who tried to harm them.

But they were hers.

Although, they didn’t need her as much anymore. They had this big family now. So now it was time to think about what she was going to do with her life.

“Ryleigh told me that you’ve been talking about moving out,” Alec said.

She raised her chin. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about renting an apartment. I can’t stay here forever. The drive to work is taking too long.”

Sure.

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