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It’s peaceful. Better than fighting or running drugs or living under Anex’s omnipresent rule.

“What’s your best life look like, Elon?” she asks suddenly.

I think about it, but the answer is elusive. Finally, I say, “I thought I’d live forever in Serendee. Working for Anex and Rex. There was no mate in the picture, not for us. Not until you came along, and I didn’t think that would last either. I thought my Enlightenment would come from doing everything Anex asked of me, including what he asked me to do to you. But now I understand how so much of what he expected of me was wrong.” My eyes flick to hers. “How could that not include you?”

“Because in the end we chose each other.”

I shake my head, blinking back the emotion I can’t seem to hold back. “I just want to be a good man for you, Imogene, and I don’t know if I know how to do that.”

She pulls back, removing her arms and gives me a glare. “You’re fucking with me, right?”

I laugh. I can’t help it. Swear words sound so weird coming out of her pretty mouth. “No.”

“Baby, you’ve always been good to me,” she says. “Even back when we were kids, playing on that merry-go-round, being the big older kid that watched out for the rest of us.” She presses her hands to my cheeks. “You saved me on the street the night of my Ordering. Those guys wouldn’t have stopped.”

“That wasn’t just me—”

“No, you were the one that walked me home, made sure I was safe.” Her hands lower to my chest. “You taught me how to be Rex’s ideal mate and lover, and you saved me from that backwoods farmer at his vegetable stand.”

She doesn’t know what happened after that—when we went back for him.

“And you came back to Serendee for me after being Banished. Nothing has stopped you from being good to me, from taking care of me no matter what obstacle.”

“None of this was supposed to happen, Imogene. I think that’s why I’m struggling. And what if he comes back? What then?”

She sighs, exasperated with my questions, but it doesn’t stop her from answering. “If we peel apart what Anex taught us, that there’s only one path, a path he laid for us, then the possibilities are endless. There is no supposed to be, it just is what it is. And what this is… well, I love you. So much. And I’m just grateful I don’t have to hide it.”

My heart thuds, from how beautiful and smart she is. How did that happen? We were supposed to educate and train her, but this girl didn’t need it. She’s always been leaps ahead of us. I press a kiss to her neck and whisper in her ear, “I’d show you right now how good I can be to you, but Mallory is watching.”

“Then take me back to the cabin and show me there?’

I kiss her, capturing her mouth in mine, making sure she knows how much I love her—want her—but she knows. It’s in my bones, the way I look at her, the way I get hard every time I’m near her.

I help her off the rock, wrapping her legs around my waist and carry her in the direction of the cabin.

“Is this necessary?” she asks, grinding into my waist.

“Your legs are too short.” I can’t wait to get the clothes off my woman. “And it makes you walk too slow.”

I press another kiss to her neck too distracted to process the branch snapping in the distance. I do look up at the crack that follows, a zing cutting through the air by my ear. I drop Imogene to the ground, covering her body with my own as another bullet flew past.

“Mallory!” I shout, but I hear his footsteps pounding off the porch. I look down at her, “Baby are you okay?”

“Y-yes,” she nods. “What was that?”

Kane appears from the opposite direction and I push Imogene at him, snagging the gun off his belt in the process. “Get her back in the house.”

“Elon—” he starts, realizing what I’ve done.

“Elon, no!” Imogene shouts.

Rex runs across the yard, shirtless, body worn from chopping wood. I pin my gaze to his. “Get her inside. I’m going to deal with this.”

He nods, pulling her back to the cabin and knowing she’s safe with him, I load the chamber. Making a mad dash into the woods, I press my back into the nearest tree. Bullets land, spraying shards of bark everywhere.

I knew Anex would come for us—forher.

And there’s no fucking way in hell I’m going to let him have her.