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And that’s what they are now, my boys.

All but one.

I push the door all the way open and step inside, already preparing my ‘hi sweetie, don’t be mad I drugged you and restrained you for days, let’s be a family now’ speech, but Holden’s sitting up. Awake. Alert. Uncuffed.

What the hell?

I blink.

Then spot the empty cuff hanging from the bedpost.

Oh.

Right.

Forgot to reinforce those for the ex-military-grade survivalist I absolutely should’ve reinforced them for.

“Hi,” I say, chipper and unbothered as ever, even though I’m mentally calculating how fast I could scream for Brock if Holden lunges.

He doesn’t lunge. He just watches me.

Eyes like stormclouds over deep water. Cold. Assessing. And suddenly I feel like a rabbit that just hopped into a wolf den in nothing but a boyfriend shirt and good intentions.

“I was wondering when you’d come in,” he says, voice like smoke and gravel and midnight.

“I was giving you time to process,” I say, stepping farther into the room. “Also, I had a lot of laundry and an orgy of emotional bonding.”

His brow lifts. Just slightly.

I don’t think this man’s face does full expressions.

“Radio’s still on,” he says, nodding toward the static-drenched newsfeed droning low in the background. “Things are worse. They’re not hiding it anymore.”

I nod. “I know.”

His gaze drifts down my legs, slow and clinical. I should feel like a specimen, but somehow it makes my nipples tighten like he deserves to look. Like I’m not being objectified, I’m being appraised for value.

Which, let’s be real, is deeply romantic in end-times prepper logic.

“I’m not gonna ask why you picked me,” he says.

Oh good. We’re skipping the part where I list his muscles, his scars, and the way he tracks deer like he could track my orgasms by scent.

“But I know why I’m still here,” he continues. “Because you need someone who doesn’t hesitate. Who won’t flinch when it gets worse.”

“It’s already worse,” I say, softly.

He nods once. “Then you need me now.”

I smile. I can’t help it. “So that means you’re ready to join the team?”

He tilts his head. Just slightly.

Then says, deadpan, “And let’s not pretend there’s still any debate about who the daddy figure is in this family.”

My brain blue-screens. There is actual static behind my eyes.

Did he just…?