Page 110 of Oathbreaker

But…

It’s Christmas. His first Christmas with us as a family, with him as a father, with him as a member of a growing family.

So yeah, he’s putting in the time.

And I love him for it.

He just…needs to chill.

I’ll remind him of that tomorrow. Tonight, I’m going to enjoy the fact that Frankie’s as tuckered out as him and read my book.

So I do exactly that.

Staying up far too late, but fully stuck in that just-one-more-chapter mode, it’s not until well after midnight that I put my Kindle aside and start to turn off the light?—

“No!”

I jerk, eyes flying to Colt. He’s asleep, his brows pulled tightly together. “Honey?” I ask quietly.

“No!” he says again, this time paired with a flinch, his big body thrashing on the bed. “Don’t!”

He’s having a nightmare.

I reach over, settle my hand on his arm, and?—

Gasp as I’m suddenly on my back, my arm twisted above my head, his fingers wrapped so tightly around my wrist pain ripples up my arm.

“Colt,” I say. “It’s me, baby. It’s?—”

His eyes are open but unfocused and his grip tightens.

Going so tight I whimper in pain.

He stills.

Then he’s releasing me, horror rippling across his face. “Fuck, Briar,” he says immediately rolling off me. “Fuck, I’m so sorry.” He sits up, hands going to either side of his head, gripping his hair so tightly I worry he might pull it out by the roots. Then he turns his gaze back to mine. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. You have to believe me. You?—”

I sit up, shifting so I’m sitting behind him. He hesitates then reaches out for my hand, carefully lifting it and pressing his lips to the reddened marks on my wrist.

“It’s okay,” I say. “I’m okay.”

“I hurt you.”

“Colt,” I say. “Stop. You were having a nightmare. It’s okay. We’ll be okay.”

He shakes his head.

“But we do need to talk about it, honey.” Because he’s been having too many of them. Because this one was worse than the rest. Because he won’t be able to sleep beside me if he’s worried he’s going to hurt me. “And we need to find a way to make them stop.”

He exhales. “I should be over this shit. I’m home safe. I have everything I ever dreamed of.”

“And that makes it even scarier.” I slide his fingers through mine. “Knowing how good it can be, knowing how precious it is. Knowing what living without it is like.”

His throat works before he whispers on a rasp, “Yeah.”

“Do you love me?”

His eyes lock onto mine. “God, yes, Briar.”