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Wind whipped against Tiikaan’s face as Bj?rn’s helicopter landed. Magnus leaned out the open door, pumping his fist in the air as a huge grin spread across his face.

“That’s your brother?” Merritt’s wide eyes and open mouth put a scowl on Tiikaan’s face.

He rolled his eyes at Magnus. “Brothers, actually. Why?”

“Are all your family that… exuberant?” She swallowed, and he wondered why she was nervous.

“Only when one of us almost dies.” He shrugged and smiled. “Since that’s like every other week… yeah.”

“Oh, dear.” She stepped into him and threaded her fingers through his. “This will take getting used to.”

He laughed, bringing their joined hands up and kissing the back of her fingers. “Don’t worry. I’ll guide you through it.”

Magnus jumped from the helicopter when it was a good eight feet off the ground and landed, running to them.

Merritt flinched and gasped. “Wow.”

“Show-off,” Tiikaan muttered.

Didn’t matter.

The relief that his family was here and Merritt was safe overrode his brother’s showboating.

He dashed to meet Magnus halfway. Stumbling backward as they collided in a bear hug, Tiikaan banded his arms around Magnus’ back and ignored the way his ribs burned.

“Don’t you ever do that again, man.” Magnus’ gruff voice and trembling arms blurred Tiikaan’s vision.

“Don’t plan on it.” He thumped Magnus’ back.

Magnus squeezed hard before stepping back, sniffing and brushing the back of his hand across his cheek. “You okay?”

Being the youngest two Rebels, Tiikaan and Magnus had always been close. But the display of emotion from his salty brother was unexpected.

“Yeah.” Tiikaan sniffed and cleared his throat. “We’re good.”

He turned to Merritt and held out his hand for her. “Magnus, this is Merritt Harland.”

Before she could take his hand, Magnus had her in a hug, her feet lifting off the ground. Her shocked eyes took up most of her face as she looked to Tiikaan for help. He clapped his brother on the shoulder, then pulled Merritt back to his side.

“Way to make an impression, dude.” Tiikaan shook his head, then looked down at Merritt. “I promise, we aren’t normally this?—”

He didn’t know how to describe Magnus’ behavior, so he just circled his hand toward his grinning brother.

“Don’t let him fool you, Merr.” Magnus pulled Tiikaan into a side hug. “Us Rebels are always a handful.”

“Don’t pull us all into your realm of normal.” Bj?rn hollered as he ran up to them.

“You mean my realm of awesomeness?” Magnus puffed out his chest, wagging his eyebrows for good measure.

Bj?rn just shook his head, stopping in front of Tiikaan, his expression so full of concern the back of Tiikaan’s throat tightened.

Bj?rn placed a hand on his shoulder. “You good?”

“Yeah.” Tiikaan’s voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. “Thanks for looking for us.”

“We never doubted you’d make it out.” Bj?rn pulled him into a hug, clapping hard on his back. “Though Mom’s been worried sick.”

Their confidence in him cracked something in his chest, and he had to swallow several times before he got the threat of tears under control. Maybe he wasn’t the screw up he’d always thought they saw him as.

“Yeah, you and Sunny definitely gave her more gray hairs.” Magnus thumped Tiikaan on the back. “Thanks for taking her attention off me, man. I appreciate it.”

“No problem.” Tiikaan laughed, then introduced Bj?rn to Merritt .

He also pulled her into a hug, though his wasn’t near as obnoxious as Magnus’. Guess if she wanted to stay together, she’d have to get used to the Rebel family’s form of love.

Over-the-top and loud.

After thanking Toad, they climbed into the helicopter.

Tiikaan checked Merritt’s buckle. Not that she needed him to, but he couldn’t help wanting to be sure she was safe. She wrapped his arm over her shoulders, leaned her head against him, and fell asleep before Toad’s cabin was out of sight.

Exhaustion pulled at him, but he couldn’t close his eyes.

“The family’s waiting for us in Barrow,” Magnus said over the headset. “Astryde has her trooper friends with her.”

Tiikaan nodded and held Merritt closer. Her uncle’s confidence that he wouldn’t get caught nagged at Tiikaan. It was their word against his, and from what Merritt said, her uncle’s connections went all the way to D.C.

**

Merritt trembled as they waited in the hotel’s back office for the go-ahead from the troopers.

Tiikaan grabbed Merritt, pulled her to his side, and whispered in her ear. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

She nodded, not able to form a response around the lump of dread in her throat .

Could she confront Nolan after what he’d done?

She bit her lower lip so hard she tasted blood.

Tiikaan pressed a kiss to her neck. Scorching heat filled her cheeks as she darted her gaze to his entire family waiting in the office with them, as well as a few troopers and his friend, Declan. She elbowed him, hoping the quick shake of her head gave him the signal to knock it off.

He just laughed and kissed her on the temple. She closed her eyes and let the warmth of his arms pulling her against him push some of the tension aside.

The chaotic voices of so many people talking had her wondering if all the Rebel get-togethers were like that.

Bj?rn and Magnus’ exuberant greeting at the cabin was overwhelming enough, but to have the entire Rebel gang waiting at the Barrow airport had had Merritt almost wishing a bear would walk across the tarmac to cause a distraction.

But when Katie Rebel had pulled Merritt into her arms, tears running down her face as she’d thanked God for bringing the two of them home to her, Merritt knew any amount of overwhelm would be worth being a part of the Rebel family.

Their love was just too big not to be sucked in.

“Ready?” Astryde’s question snapped Merritt’s eyes open.

No, she wasn’t.

But she probably never would be.

“Let’s get this over with.” She straightened her shoulders.

Part of her wanted to pull the frigid, ice queen protection back on. Slipping into that role would make what was about to happen so much easier to handle.

Tiikaan took her hand and squeezed. “You’ve got this.”

She gripped his hand and nodded. Hiding behind the facade wasn’t an option for her anymore.

Strength wasn’t calculating and cold like she’d assumed.

No.

True strength was honoring your beliefs and convictions, protecting those around you, and doing your best to leave the world better than when you entered.

Her father had done that.

She’d just been too blinded by her own hurt from him marrying Joni to see it.

Her father’s legacy no longer suffocated her.

And she wouldn’t allow Nolan to take any more from her than he already had.

Pushing through the office door, she strode confidently toward the meeting room Nolan was holding the press conference in. His voice reached her before she saw him, his words fueling her anger.

“Merritt was the daughter I never had.” Nolan’s voice cracked, and Merritt rolled her eyes.

Press crowded in the chairs filling the room, and cameras lined the back of the room. Her uncle stood behind a podium with the Harland Global Resources emblem hanging from it. The picture of her, her dad, and Nolan propped on an easel behind him made her blood boil .

“My brother and Merritt will forever leave a hole in my heart and in HGR.”

Oh, please.

“Really?” Merritt stepped into the room and crossed her arms. “Because before you tried to kill me, you clearly said Dad and I were detrimental to you getting rich.”

The cameras and reporters swiveled to her. Satisfaction tingled over her like the rush of a river as Nolan’s skin paled and he stumbled backward.

“Merritt?” Silas gasped her name, and she couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed her stepfamily standing off to the side of Nolan.

Silas pressed the back of his hand to his mouth, his head shaking as his eyes went glassy.

“How… how—” Nolan stuttered, pulling her attention back to her uncle.

“Because I think you deserve to know the truth before you rot in jail for the rest of your life, I’m going to answer the insipid question.” Merritt smirked, loving the surge of power throwing his own words back at him gave her.

Tiikaan stifled a laugh and whispered behind her, “So awesome.”

Buoyed by his support and the support she felt from his family behind her, she stepped farther into the room.

“You shouldn’t have counted me for dead so fast. You should know us Harlands are tenacious when it comes to getting what we want. And, well, I wanted to live more than you wanted me dead. ”

“That’s not?—”

“You aren’t going to undermine and steal Dad’s legacy,” she cut him off. “His integrity and vision will no longer be tainted by you.”

“Why, you little?—”

Silas’ punch to Nolan’s face snapped his head back and shut off his words. He shook his head, weaving like he was off-balance.

“Nolan Harland, you’re under arrest for the attempted murder of Merritt Harland and Tiikaan Rebel, and for the murder of Clayton Harland.” Astryde’s trooper friend took out her handcuffs and walked down the aisle between the chairs of reporters.

Rachel gasped, and Joni stumbled against her daughter, her face white.

“Do you have any idea who I am?” Nolan gripped the podium to steady himself, his face blotched red with anger.

The trooper’s partner followed behind her with his firearm drawn and pointed down.

The trooper in charge continued over Nolan’s talking. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.”

She stopped in front of him and cocked her head. “Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?”

Tiikaan’s hand soothed across Merritt’s lower back, resting on her hip. She leaned into him. Her uncle could fight all he wanted, but she’d never stop until he paid for murdering her dad.

A shriek pulled her attention away from Nolan to the troopers confronting Joni.

“Joni Harland, you’re under arrest for accessory to the murder of Clayton Harland.”

“What?” Her shrill voice filled the room. “No. It was all Nolan. I didn’t have anything to do with that.”

“Mother? How could you?” Rachel covered her face, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed.

The room exploded into chaos as reporters shot questions at Nolan, Merritt, and Joni. Joni continued her shrieking as the troopers cuffed her, spewing Nolan’s dirty secrets faster than a drill striking oil.

Nolan’s frigid calm as he speared Merritt with a hateful glare tore her heart out of her chest.

How could the man she loved and trusted be so evil?

As the troopers led Nolan and Joni out of the room and the reporters shouted questions, Silas pushed his way through the crowd.

“Merritt!” He broke free and rushed to her.

She tensed, and Tiikaan’s hand tightened on her waist. In her periphery, several of the Rebels stepped up next to her.

“Thank God, Merritt.” Silas wrapped her in a hug, his shoulders shaking as he buried his face in her neck and cried. “I thought I’d lost you, too.”

He held her tight, apologizing for being a jealous jerk and not noticing Nolan’s actions. She sobbed as she forgave him, her heart soaring at the brotherly love pouring from him .

Why had they let so much come between them?

Silas pulled back and wiped his face on his sleeve. He turned to Tiikaan and held out his hand.

“I can’t thank you enough for saving Merritt.”

When Tiikaan took it, Silas pulled him into a hug and thumped Tiikaan’s back. Man, how she’d missed this side of her brother.

“Burgers and brats at the Burrow Bachelor Bunk!” Declan hollered. “Let’s get the heck out of here.”

Several of the Rebel men groaned. Astryde rolled her eyes.

Magnus clapped Declan on the back and turned him to the exit. “Dude, you really need to stop calling your place that.”

Tiikaan’s dad and mom introduced themselves to Silas, inviting him to join the family. Katie even gathered a crying Rachel to her and led her from the chaos.

Hopefully, Katie could convince Rachel to join them. Merritt would have to talk with Rachel. They’d never been close, but maybe that could change, too.

Tiikaan draped an arm over Merritt’s shoulders as they trailed his family from the hotel. “You doing okay?”

Her gaze darted from her brother chatting solemnly with Tiikaan’s dad to his brother Magnus shaking his head at something Declan was saying while carrying a sleeping boy to Tiikaan’s other siblings.

“I’m heartbroken.” She leaned into Tiikaan as they walked. “But for the first time in forever, I’m also hopeful. And happy. Very, very happy.”

He stopped her, his thumb rubbing across her cheek. “I’m glad. ”

She pushed onto her toes, wrapped her arms tightly around him, and kissed him. The hoots and whistles from his brothers heated her cheeks to scorching, but she didn’t care.

Giving the Rebel in her arms a shot had been the best decision of her life.