When she finally loosens her hold and shifts back, she almost looks like herself. Or she would if I didn’t know her well enough by now to see the fine tremor in her hands as she fixes her hair. She clears her throat. “Well, that’s one way to start the day.”

“She’s going to kill Broderick.” She didn’t have to speak the threat explicitly for it to be clear. Just like she didn’t have to voice the direct threat against me. If Aisling kills Broderick… No force in Sabine Valley will stop Abel from razing the Amazon faction to the ground. I can’t even blame him for that; I’m feeling particularly murderous right now, too. Coming back to this city, embroiling ourselves in the power games and political bullshit… How am I supposed to see it as anything other than a mistake if this is the cost?

Home isn’t a place, it’s the people you surround yourself with. The ones you choose. Maybe the Paine brothers don’t realize that, maybe they never would have chosen to return to Sabine Valley if they had. I’ve never asked.

It doesn’t matter.

We’ve come too far now. After Lammas, if Abel and the others buckle, they’ll bring the entire Raider faction down with them. They were hunted after they were driven out of Sabine Valley the first time, but it’s nothing compared to what will happen if they run again. Now both Amazon and Mystic leaders know exactly what kind of threat Abel Paine and his brothers can bring to the fore. They’ll do whatever it takes to ensure they never get another chance.

No, we have no choice.

We have to see this through.

Chapter 20

Broderick

I spend the day training with Donovan, Ezekiel, and Cohen. Or, to be more accurate, checking in on those three. I like to check in with my brothers at least once every couple of days normally, but things have gone sideways since returning to Sabine Valley. I know Abel’s doing fine. Cohen, too. But the others? Impossible to say.

Tomorrow, I’ll search out Gabriel and Finnegan and make sure they’re holding up fine, too.

I’m quickly coming to realize that nothing is the same as it was. No one is perfectly okay, and my brothers are fighting their own battles, even if they’re not overt about it. I wipe the sweat from my forehead and glance at the twins.

Donovan and Ezekiel couldn’t be more opposite if they tried. Oh, they are damn near identical and favor the same dapper style, constantly overdressing for everything. But that’s where the similarities end. The sweet kid Ezekiel used to be burned away over the last near-decade, leaving the monster he is now. He’s our monster, but I’m aware enough to call a spade a spade.