Page 129

A claim.
The strength of that arm a band that I foolishly craved to fully wrap around me. Tie me in chains. All while I knew I needed to run.
“Everyone, I want you to meet Maci’s aunt. Emery.”
It was the first time I allowed myself to fully look at all of them.
River had risen, so darkly intimidating I would have stepped back if Kane hadn’t become a fortress behind me.
River had his arm casually slung around the waist of a blonde woman who’d come to stand at his side, her face beautiful and serene and full of joy.
A giant of a man sauntered up to Raven. Wholly formidable and covered in ink. Wearing an enormous, welcoming grin, though his piercing blue eyes seemed to be trying to cut right through me to see inside.
As if he should be the one wary of me when the lot of them looked like a pack of trouble.
Peril and affliction and an irrefutable threat.
Theo watched me with an amused smirk. Like he knew something I didn’t.
Undoubtedly, he did.
Kane started introductions. “As you probably heard, this is River.”
“Nice to meet you, Emery,” he said.
“Nice to meet you, too.” The words were thin.
“And this one right here is Charleigh, River’s fiancée.”
Charleigh was just as beautiful as Raven, but in an entirely different way. A soft innocence radiated from her as she stepped forward and smiled.
She reached both hands out for one of mine. Holding it gently as she whispered, “Hi, Emery. It’s so good to meet you.”
Emotion clawed through my consciousness, and some of the tension I’d had locked inside me unfurled.
“Charleigh,” I whispered in a hello.
Kane continued on, pointing at Raven. “And it seems you already have met this one right here, which isn’t a shocker considering she goes around befriending every person she meets.”
Playful affection laced Kane’s voice as he lifted his chin at her. “Raven is actually River’s little sister.”
There was no missing the resemblance.
Both with black hair and midnight eyes, their brows arching in nearly the exact same way.
“I can’t believe this,” she whispered, amazement in her voice. “There was something about you all that had me right here…” She splayed both palms over her chest. “And now…”
She clipped off as if she wasn’t sure she should release the joy.
“It’s a small world, I guess.”
“Or a small town.” She choked it around the happiness I could feel radiating from her.
The real kind.
Her sincerity clear.
Another rush of relief rolled through me.