TYSON STORMED
into the
Blue-Oconee household, narrowly escaping getting his head lobbed off by a raven-haired Hunter. He paused and glared down at the female who didn’t move her god sword from its place against his carotid.
“I take it you are here to see Harmony,” she said.
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
He narrowed his gaze at her. “I am here to see Harmony.”
She shook her head, her eyes narrowing just a bit, but it was enough.
He knocked the blade away from his throat and pinned the female to the wall.
“Power plays are for the normal Lycans that may shake at the mere sound of your husband’s footsteps, Mikkati, but no one has ever thought of me as normal.”
Instead of being cowed by his refusal, the Hunter laughed.
“You think I need my husband for backup?”
A sharp jab landed at the back of his knee, buckling it. A sharp object followed along the back of his calf.
Two sets of scurrying feet took off running around the corner when he hissed and turned on them.
“I heard you didn’t like kids—wait, sorry, correction—you hate them. I thought you should meet mine.” She shrugged out of his grasp. “I don’t bother with power plays, Rocky. Just giving you a reminder. This is my home, not yours. Now if you want, you can make yourself at home, but if you think to treat my kids like shit, I will kill you before you even see yours.”
Tyson stood to his full height and regarded the female in silence. “Your display of hospitality sucks.”
“I only waste efforts being hospitable on those I actually think will make enjoyable guests.” Shouting stole his reply, but Alexis just sighed. “Kids. Fun and exhausting. Come on, Asim. I’m sure you’re ready to get Harmony and the baby and leave.”
“I think I’ll stay the night.” He smothered a laugh when her steps faltered. “Just until Ronan makes sure they are good to go.”
“They are fine.” She turned to him. “I may not be a kick-ass doctor like Mikko Kyran or Ronan, but they’ve taken to training me as one of their nurses. I assisted Ronan in Harmony’s delivery. Of course you can stay until you think they are ready to go; just remember what I said.”
“I have no intention of treating your children in anyway less than they deserve. I don’t run out seeking children, but I won’t abuse their good natures because I’d rather be elsewhere.”
“Good.” She pointed down the hall to the right of the foyer. “First hallway on the left, third door on the left.” Another shout, followed by a masculine curse, stole her attention. “Let me get them before they piss Lykil off too much.”
“You let them play with Lykil?”
She laughed. “He insists. I don’t know how long that will last if Ary keeps insisting on biting him.”
Tyson hid the smile at the pride that lingered in the Hunter’s voice. The female had a weird way of protecting her children. He doubt that he would ever be comfortable with his kid was playing with Destruction. A pit of pissed off King Cobras sounded like a more appealing play date.
* * *
Tyson inched the door open, finding the room bathed in a soft yellow glow. He pushed the door wider, only to dodge a knife flying at his head.
“Asim?”
“Attack first, questions second, Harm?”
“Ronan and Alexis knock a certain way to let me know it’s them.”
He nodded and stepped into the room, pulling the knife from the wall.
“Who gave this to you?” he asked, studying the blackened steel with muted interest.
“Alexis. She said she understood and left it with me. The next time they came, they had the coded knocks so I would know that they were coming.”
He handed the knife back to her. “I’m here now.”
“I don’t know why.”
“You just had my daughter, Harmony. That’s reason enough.”
“How so? It isn’t like we have a relationship, and I haven’t gotten the chance to send you a photo.”
“Tiana said you lied to her.”
“About?”
“How you fell and hit your stomach. She didn’t want to get into with you at the moment—you needed medical attention more than she needed the truth—so she left it up to me to find out.” He looked her over, his gaze resting on her blanket covered middle. “And you will tell me what was worth covering up.”
“It’s nothing, Asim.”
“Bullshit, Harmony.”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine, I got scared okay. One of the guys came into the office and checked on me, and I freaked out.”
He narrowed his eyes. What she said was mostly true, but something was off.
A distinct knocking pattern ended his round of questions.
“Come in,” Harmony said, a relieved warble making her words more chipper than necessary.
Alexis walked in carrying a squirming, crying infant.
“I thought Asim Tyson would like to meet his daughter,” she said. She glanced between them and paused. “Or I can come back.”
“Give her here,” Tyson said.
“Do you even know how to hold a baby?” Harmony asked.
“I may not have a fondness for babies, but that doesn’t mean I am incapable of taking care of them.”
Alexis handed him the baby, who instantly stopped crying after looking up at his hesitant stare.
“Well, apparently she likes you.”
“She trusts me.” He met Alexis’ scrutinizing eyes. “She knows that I won’t let anything happen to her.”
He turned his attention back to his daughter. Her eyes were narrowed little slits, inspecting him with her mother’s blue-gray eyes.
Tyson stared at her scrunched up features and tried to digest the wave of paternal aggression that washed over his soul. His daughter was in for a hell of a time with him as her father.
She would never have to worry about someone bringing her undo harm.
“Tyson?” Harmony called to him, his thoughts having quickly turned to violence.
“Yeah.”
“Can I see her?”
He reluctantly released his daughter to her mother’s waiting arms and frowned when he glanced around and saw that Alexis was no longer in the room.
“Where did Mikkati Alexis go?”
“She left somewhere around the time you glared in her direction.”
“Shit.”
Harmony laughed. “She said you looked like Kyran did the first time he grabbed hold of her when she took off into the surrounding woods. Alexis said he spent the next ten minutes muttering violent things children should never hear. Sexiest thing ever. At least that’s what Alexis thinks.”
He raked his eyes over her, but she was focused wholly on their daughter.
“And what do you think?”
“About your willingness to cause violence in the name of protecting your child? I’m confused and turned on.”
He smiled. “Careful, Harm. I might think you like me.”
“Don’t push it, Asim. It’s biological, mating shit. Females like men who are willing to protect what is theirs. Seeing a man nurture a child is almost a guaranteed panty-dropper.”
“You’re holding my daughter.”
“Point?”
“Watch your mouth.”
She laughed, but nodded in agreement. “Agreed. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to feed her before she starts getting mad.”
She wanted him to leave, so when he relaxed against the nearby sink, she glared at him.
“What in the—?” She bit off her curse. “What are you doing?”
“Letting you feed her.”
“And you’re still here because?”
“I’ve seen more of you than what you’re about to put in her mouth.”
She sputtered a reply, but cautiously untied her gown and placed their daughter to her breast.
Harmony tried to ignore his presence and focused on running her fingers lightly along their daughter’s soft black curls.
Eventually she grew tired of squirming under his hooded gaze and glared at him. “Can you stop that?”
“What?”
“Staring at me like that. It’s hard to see this as it’s meant to be with you looking at me like you want to… have sex.”
“That’s not what I’m thinking about.”
“It isn’t?”
“No. Believe it or not, some men have the occasional thought above their waist. It doesn’t happen often, but it does.”
“What were you thinking about?”
“You, the mother of my child, feeding my daughter. I was thinking that no one would ever offer you harm and survive the encounter so long as I draw breath. That is what I was thinking about.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, Harmony, that you are mine. Period.”
“That sounds so romantic,” she said, the sarcasm dripping from her words.
“I will never be a romantic, Harmony. The chance to be that man was stolen from me.”
Her features clouded over, and she turned her focus onto their daughter, who had suckled herself to sleep.
The silence stretched between them as Harmony removed her breast from the baby’s mouth and retied her gown. She burped and rocked her until the baby became an obvious weight in her arms.
“Can you bring me the bassinet?”
Tyson did as she asked, taking the baby and placing her gently in the cheery, polka-dotted bassinet.
“I’m going to get some sleep.”
“When you get up tomorrow, I’m going to take you back to Tiana’s until I handle the Challenge to my reign.”
“And afterwards?”
“You will come to live with me.”
“Why?”
“Because that is what I want.”
“What about what I want?
He shrugged. “You can get what you want in the safety of my compound. Unless you want to leave my daughter in my care and go live your life. I can’t guarantee that your request to leave will be granted, but my daughter will live with me.”
She mumbled something unintelligent and rolled away from him.
He knew she wouldn’t be happy with the prospect of living with him, but she’d come to accept it. He wasn’t going to give her the choice to leave him again.
ARRIVING AT TIANA’S COMPOUND
should have relaxed her somewhat, but the closer they came, the more agitated Harmony became. She peered into the car seat and tried to smile down at her softly gurgling daughter. Tyson wanted to name her after his great-grandmother, Raina, which had been fine by her. She didn’t have too many thoughts about names in general. Her own mother had a rather unremarkable name and history, whereas his great-grandmother was a renowned warrior in her time.
Harmony tried to hide her racing heartbeat from Tyson, but he seemed hyper aware of her.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t think I’m ready to be back here.”
He parked the car just in front of the door and turned to face her.
“You’ll only be staying here temporarily. I’m going to take care of your sister today, but you aren’t staying here indefinitely.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I have the official Challenge happening next week. Once I get rid of that little prick, you’re moving in with me.”
“Why in the hell would I do that?”
“Do you want to be safe?”
“Are you doing your job as Asim?”
He growled. “Yes”
“Then I should be safe enough.”
“Safe enough isn’t good enough for my—” He swallowed the rest of the words, turning his glare at some unknown irritation out of the windshield.
“Your what? Your child and her mother?”
“Yes.”
She stared at him, knowing that wasn’t what he wanted to say, but if the angry tick of his jaw was any indication, she knew she shouldn’t push the conversation. She had her own reality to deal with without having to deal with whatever realization had pissed him off.
“I’m tired, and I’m sure that you have somewhere to be.”
She followed Tyson into the house as he carried Raina in her car seat up to the room. While he settled Raina into her bassinet, Harmony went into her adjoining bathroom to change into her sweats and a nursing top.
* * *
Tyson managed to get Raina into a new diaper despite her clothes being unnecessarily difficult. Why they thought baby clothes needed all those damn buttons was beyond him.
He placed his sleeping daughter in the crib and settled on the bed to wait for Harmony to finish changing clothes. He needed to make it perfectly clear that she was going to live with him following the challenge.
Tyson heard an odd crinkle under Harmony’s pillow as he reclined against them. He tossed aside the pillow, snatching up a manila envelope lying underneath. After briefly considering her privacy, he opened the envelope to discover the photos of Harmony and her sisters in their cages. He studied their soulless eyes, noting the way the condition they were in.
His growl started low, but gradually grew louder as he shuffled through the degrading photos. Each sister wore a colored leather collar with “Bitch” stamped into the strap. Someone thought they were funny. More importantly, someone had personally delivered the photos to Harmony.
Harmony entered the room as Raina was starting to cry, which immediately ceased his vocal agitation. As she soothed their crying daughter, Harmony turned a wary gaze to him.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re pissed off, so what is it? A love letter from a potential –”
He cut her off with a growl. “Who is your master?”
She blanched and wrapped her arms tighter around Raina.
Tyson off the photos on the bed and opened his arms to her. “Come here.”
“I can’t.”
“Come. Here.”
She met his intense gaze and stepped into his arms. He held both of his girls in his embrace and tried will himself to calm down. It took all of his effort to shift his thoughts from violence to being the caretaker he was supposed to be in this moment.
“I…” she started.
“So long as I’m breathing no one will bring you harm.”
She shook her head, burying her face in Raina’s soft curls. “Master plans on taking us both.”
“Both?”
“Raina and I.”
His grip tightened. “The fuck he will.”
“You can’t stop him; you don’t even know what his name is.”
“That doesn’t matter. I will keep you safe.”
He loosened his grip and stepped away from her. He suspected they both needed the space, him more so than her. His anger, no matter how tamped down it appeared, was threatening to boil over every time he’d glance down at the top of Raina’s head.
“I need to deal with some business. Relax. I’ll be back later.”
She nodded and glanced at the bed where he had tossed the pictures. Silently, he grabbed them and walked out of the room. He had pictures to burn and a broken Hafiz to lay to rest.
What he wouldn’t give for peace.
* * *
Tyson ventured downstairs to find Tiana. He found his Admeri reclined on her couch watching brain-dead TV. He tossed the pictures on the coffee table and pointed angrily at them.
“When did you get these?”
Tiana sat up and grabbed the pictures. Tyson watch carefully as her features descended from an annoyed scowl to outright anger.
“Where the hell did you find these?”
“In Harmony’s room under her pillow.”
“The only photos that I know of are the same ones that I took to you in Florida. I don’t know how she got these. They must’ve came when I was gone.”
“The only ones here while you were gone were Stacy and Trent, right?”
“Yeah. You don’t really suspect either of them do you?”
“Trent is definitely off my list of suspects. Stacy, while he is a Rocky, is a complete ass. Still, I can’t necessarily say that he would do this. A Rocky isn’t the type to subjugate their own kind. Besides, if he were found out, he must be taken to Mikko to be judged. Stacy is a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them.”
“That’s true. We need to ask them if anybody delivered a package while we were gone. You know as well as I do that my security system is top notch. One of them had to put it in her room.”
“We’ll figure that out later. Now, what exactly has been going on with her sister?”
“Since you’ve been here, nothing much. It’s like she knows. However, before your arrival, she was angry. Really, angry is an understatement. She raged at any and everything. Nothing makes her happy. If I try to feed her, she rattles her cage and jumps at me. I’m not scared of her, but I know that she wishes harm to Harmony.”
“You said she attacks, correct?”
“She tries. Harmony is no slouch; she is vicious if she wants to be. Whatever these girls of been through, it is the worst of the worst, and they have no qualms whatsoever about fighting each other. My primary concern right now is the baby. Her sister seemed to get more aggressive as Harmony’s pregnancy advanced. Now that the baby’s here, I worry that her sister will try to attack the baby. I can’t be everywhere at any moment so we need to do something.”
“I’ll handle it. Do you have somewhere where we can perform her Passing?”
“I can get something together. I’ll handle that while you deal with her sister.”
Tyson nodded and left the room to go find Carol. After all the girls had been through, he hated the idea of having to kill her, but the safety of his child came before anyone else.
* * *
Following the Passing for Carol, Tyson took Harmony out to the wooded area and led her through some basic fighting poses that would help her disarm an opponent larger than her.
She was an abnormally quick study, her eyes keen on his every movement. He regarded it with pride, because she looked at him like prey. If he were any other Lycan he would wonder how dead she wished him to be and if she had any intention of acting on it, but he knew better. Harmony wanted a lot of things, but his death wasn’t one of them. She was resilient, but he doubted that she had what it took to survive the misery of the Longing.
She may not think he was aware of his status as her Soul’s Mate, but Tiana had been keeping a close watch on her mood. When Tiana kept mentioning key behaviors, he knew what Harmony so willingly hid from him. Even if he never saw her soul, he would not relegate her to journey the same path he currently walked, not when there was another option. He was an ass, but even he drew the line somewhere.
After he taught her how to disarm a potential enemy, he shifted his focus to weapons, in particular a 9mm that he intended on leaving with her once he left to answer the Challenge. Again, she surprised him with how fast she caught on. Though she shrugged off his praise, he could tell that she was glad that he found her ability to absorb instructions pleasing.
Tyson stayed with Harmony for another two days before he packed up his things and left. Before leaving, he made sure to remind Harmony that she would be moving in with him following the completion of the Challenge. She still balked at the idea but seemed finally resigned to her fate by the time he left.