Page 53 of Ranger's Oath
Sadie leans into me, stage whispering loud enough for the whole table. “If anyone’s getting muzzled around here, it should be you, Gage. Preferably by me.”
The table erupts. My ears heat, but I lean in close enough for only her to hear. “Careful what you offer, sweetheart. I’ll hold you to it.”
Her eyes flash, and she licks a drop of wine from her lip with a deliberate slowness that twists my gut. She knows exactly how to play this game.
Across the table, Kari rolls her eyes at the two of us. “Do you ever stop?”
“Not planning on it,” Sadie answers, smug. She steals my fork and eats the last of my steak, then sets the fork back down like nothing happened.
Dalton groans. “Why do we even bother? We used to terrify people. Now the lot of you have the lot of us wrapped around your fingers.”
“Funny,” Gideon drawls. “Says the man who can’t walk past my sister without checking if she needs anything.”
Kari tilts her head, sweet as sin. “That’s because he loves me.”
Dalton doesn’t argue. He just shrugs, one big hand on her thigh under the table, the look in his eyes promising a reckoning later. Kari blushes but doesn’t look away.
It’s domestic. It’s ridiculous. It’s perfect.
After dinner, we sprawl on the porch, the air heavy with heat and crickets. The women claim the rocking chairs, glasses of wine in hand, while we stand near the railing, trading quiet updates about security sweeps. But it never stays serious for long.
“Remember when you thought she’d be safer without knowing anything?” Gideon nudges me with his elbow, voice pitched low. “How’s that working out for you?”
I glance at Sadie, who’s laughing with Cassidy, firelight painting her skin in gold. “She’s trouble,” I admit. “But she’s mine.”
Gideon snorts. “We noticed.”
Sadie turns, catching me staring. Her smile is wicked, promise and challenge tangled together. My chest tightens with the same hunger that’s been there since the moment we met, only now it’s sharpened by months of battles fought side by side, secrets unearthed, and nights that burned too hot to forget.
Later, when the laughter dies down and the porch empties, she finds me leaning against the railing. Her hand slides intomine without asking. “Six months ago, I didn’t know if I’d survive a week,” she murmurs. “Now look at us.”
I kiss her knuckles, slowly. “Now look at us.”
The night wraps around us, full of warmth, danger kept at bay, and the knowledge that whatever comes next, we’ll meet it together—Rangers, wolves, mates, family. There are still cases pending, still bad men out there who think they can hide from us, and tomorrow we’ll hunt them. But tonight belongs to love and laughter, and the reminder that this is what makes the fight worth it.
For the first time in years, I believe in forever.