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Ronan, who was driving the van, leaned his head out the window.

“Hurry the fuck up.”

Ronan’s dark hair was tousled, longer on the top than the sides now. When I first met him back when he had infiltrated the resort I had lived in, he had an enticing green streak through the very top. That had long since grown out, but I had been on the lookout for green dye.

Nostalgia purposes, of course.

When he saw me looking, he flashed me a cheeky smile and a wink, and my own lips reflexively turned up. He had that way about him, a way of innately demanding attention from anyone who looked directly at him.

It was just one of the many reasons why I loved him.

I blew him a kiss, and he pretended to catch it. Fallon flickered his eyes between the two of us before rolling them. Still, he was smiling.

According to Tamson, I was the only person alive who could make Fallon smile like that. He took broody to an extreme. I once said that Fallon made brooding sexy...and that resulted with multiple eyerolls from the rest of the guys. They justwishedthey could brood and grunt like Fallon.

Shielding my eyes from the blinding sun, I looked at the modest building we had decided to raid. It had once been a restaurant, but the glass was littered on the sidewalk and paint was beginning to peel. The entire face of the building had been ravaged by atrocious storms and vandalism. Still, it had been an oasis after five hours of futile searching. The kitchen was, surprisingly, still fully stocked. It was one of the few places that hadn’t been completely ransacked.

While most of the food was spoiled, we did happen to come across numerous gallons of water and canned goods.

I hadn’t been invited to go on this trip. My husbands were...protective, to put it mildly. They much preferred me hidden away behind impenetrable fortresses. Unfortunately for them, the rest of our team was on a separate mission a few towns over, and no one wanted me to be left alone.

I tried to tell them I was perfectly capable of protecting myself - after all, I wasn’t nicknamed the Ball Crunching Bitch for nothing - but the guys were stubborn.

“Princess…” Ronan pinched the bridge of his nose. “No one calls you the Ball Crunching Bitch.”

“Stop listening to my thoughts,” I countered, moving to sit on a crate.

“Then stop speaking your thoughts out loud.”

To prove that I was a badass, I grabbed my dagger out of its sheath and began to absently pick at my nails with the sharp blade. I had seen Asher do this once or twice before, and he was the epitome of badass.

“You’re going to cut yourself, Baby,” Fallon said, swiping the blade out of my hand before I could even blink. He eyed me disapprovingly, and I squirmed, feeling properly chastised.

“I just want to be of use.” I knew I was whining, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. They had been treating me with kid’s gloves ever since The Announcement. And yes, that was meant to be in all capital letters.

“Don’t fucking pout,” Fallon warned. When I continued to stare at him, he scowled, running a hand through his disheveled light brown hair. “I said don’t fucking pout.”

“Is Kitten giving you the face?” Ryder ran up beside Fallon, casually dropping his elbow onto the other man’s shoulder.

“What face?” I questioned.

“The face that makes us want to start wars for you,” Ryder said casually.

“The pouting face!” Asher called from where he was cleanly slicing off the last Rager’s head.

“I don’t make...pouty faces.” I scrunched my nose.

“You’re making it now,” countered Ryder with a small smirk.

I tentatively reached a hand up to feel my lips. They were, in fact, pursed into a perfectly pouty frown. Whoops.

I smoothed my expression into one of impassivity.

“No pouty face,” I deadpanned. While Ryder threw back his head in laughter, Fallon merely quirked a brow. I met his hooded stare defiantly, not pouting like a boss. “I want to be helpful.”

“You know why you can’t,” he said. It was always the same argument with him. Every. Single. Freaking. Time. He was beginning to sound like a broken record.

“I just don’t understand why I’m always kept shielded. I know how the world works. I know it better than anyone. You guys have always been protective, but ever since The Announcement, you haven’t even let me out of your sight. One of these days I’m going to sneak out, and you’ll only have yourself to blame.”