Page 106 of Rhett

“Nova King, will you marry me?”

“Yes.” Tears of joy filled my eyes as I peppered him with kisses. “Yes, Rhett Ward, Protector of the Ridge and my heart. I’ll marry you.”

“Thank you for coming into my life and completing me,” he whispered before kissing me tenderly.

Tears pricked my eyes. This man had no damn idea what he did to me.

It was still hard for me to believe the life I now had. Every morning, I woke up by his side, and every night, I went to bed in his arms. And every day, he showed me with actions and words just how much he loved and adored me.

Rhett was not only the love of my life, he was the Protector of my heart.

He rolled me over and stood, extending a hand to help me to my feet. “Come, my fated mate. Now we shift and run under the moonlight that Luna has provided for us.”

We both called to our inner beasts and shifted into our jaguars. Side by side, we stood. One tan jaguar and one black jaguar.

Run with me, Nova,he ordered, speaking into my mind.

Yes, my mate and Protector,I replied before taking off into the night with my mate and Protector by my side.

EPILOGUE

MACK

TWENTY-THREE YEARS AGO…

When Dad parked along the deserted dirt road, I silently mouthed to my middle brother, Buster,What the hell is going on?

I’d arrived home from my second job and hadn’t even stepped into our small trailer home when Dad had ordered me to get in his SUV because “We had family business to take care of.”

What family business was a mystery to me because I was the only member of the family who had a job, bringing in a paycheck. Everyone else in my family—Glen, Buster, and Dad—spent their days drinking BF Home Brew, watching television, or hanging out at the local shifters biker bar.

Buster shrugged, but I knew he was lying because his ears were now beet red—his tell that he wasn’t being truthful.

I peered around in search of landmarks or anything that could tell me where we were. There was nothing in the landscape besides grassland that expanded to the left and right of the road like the sea.

Nothing about being on an unfamiliar, deserted stretch of land in the middle of the night felt right. But I knew better than to pepper Dad with a bunch of questions—it would only piss him off and earn me a brutal ass-kicking.

Dad got out of the vehicle. We dutifully followed.

“Let me hear it!” Dad shouted while glaring at Glen and Buster, ignoring me as usual.

“How many times do we have to go over your plan, Dad?” Buster whined.

What plan?

Dad’s expression darkened. “As many times as I fucking want you to.”

“We’re not stupid,” Glen grouched.

“I beg to differ,” Dad snapped. “You three are so dumb that you can throw yourselves on the ground and miss.”

Glen snorted but replied, “When we get onto the Rossi pride territory, we kill the alphas first, then separate the lionesses from their cubs.”

“Then we kill the cubs,” Buster interjected robotically.

My shoulders stiffened.Fuck my life.

We’re taking over the Rossi pride?