Page 17 of Marked

“Really?” My girl cocked her head to the side. “Because the way I remember it, you gave me an ultimatum. Choose between a life here with you or my hopes and dreams.”

“Let’s sit back down so your father and I can explain. This conversation should’ve happened years ago.”

Hesitantly, Lanie returned to my side while her mother resumed her position next to Percy. As soon as her ass hit the cushion, I laced our fingers together, placing them on my thigh. From the looks passing back and forth between her parents, whatever they were about to say wasn’t going to go over well.

“After Beth’s body was found, you were floundering. You’d completely withdrawn from life and disappeared inside yourself. A few weeks later, you came to us talking about going into law enforcement.” Iris inhaled deeply, blowing out the breath before she continued, “When you spoke about making a difference in the world, there was a light in your eyes we hadn’t seen in a long time, but you also looked conflicted.”

“I was,” Lanie confessed. “I didn’t want to leave home.”

Percy wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulders and picked up where she left off. “You were meant to do great things, Alaina, and you never would’ve accomplished them by staying here. In order for you to spread your wings, to soar above the clouds, we did the only thing we could think of. We gave you a nudge.”

She tensed. “A nudge? Are you fucking serious right now?”

Squeezing her hand, I yanked her attention away from the rapidly escalating situation. When those gorgeous eyes snapped to mine, my heart skidded to a halt over the amount of pain swirling within them. My fierce, take-no-prisoners Lanie was nearing the edge, but I wouldn’t let her fall.

“Take a beat before you say something you’ll regret,” I instructed.

She closed her eyes, taking more than a beat, allowing the seconds to stretch into awkward minutes. Finally, the tension left her body.

“All this time I thought I wasn’t welcome here. That's why I never came back…until now.”

“I’m sorry we made you feel that way. It was never our intention,” Iris sniffled.

“What changed?” her father questioned. “I mean, it really doesn’t matter. We’re just so happy to have you here again, even if it’s only for a short time.”

“I needed to know we’d be safe.”

“Safe?” Another male voice entered the fray. Obviously, we were far too distracted to hear the back door open and close. “What the hell is going on?”

The newcomer was as tall as Percy, maybe six two, with the same blond hair and mossy green eyes.

“LeeLee,” Lanie sighed, smiling for the first time since we arrived.

“Little Bit?”

Who the fuck was this guy?

4MASTER OF CONTROL

Lanie

God, I’d missed my brother. Sure, we spoke on the phone a couple times a year, but it wasn’t the same as seeing him face-to-face. Losing Leland had been equivalent to cutting off my left hand.

He hadn’t changed much physically in the years since I’d left. Where I took after Mom in the looks and height department, Lee was all Dad. His shoulder-length dark-blond hair and moss-green eyes turned heads wherever he went. I’m sure they still did.

I rolled my eyes, standing from the couch. “Can we dispense with the nickname, please? It’s not exactly accurate.”

“Never.” He closed the distance between us in two long steps, dragging me into his arms. “You’ll always be Little Bit to me,littlesister.”

“Only by four minutes.”

“This is your brother?” Noah questioned.

“Twin, actually,” Leland boasted, then grunted when I smacked his chest and backed out of his hold. “Now whothe hell are you?”

No one on my team, except Waverly, knew my brother and I were fraternal twins. It hadn’t been intentional, keeping that part a secret from the people who’d become my family, but no one would’ve understood the magnitude of losing Leland. It had been like losing my arm.

Now though, seeing the wounded expression plastered across Noah’s face, I knew how wrong it had been. He was my rock, one of my closest friends well before any ideas of romantic overtures came to fruition, yet I hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him the truth.

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