Page 120 of Thorns of Deceit

FORTY-FIVE

AIDEN

Raven made me so fucking proud.

When everything went down and we found ourselves fighting off twenty men, she’d remained my primary concern. We knew our chances were slim, so I instructed my brothers to fall back and take Raven with them.

I’d anticipated an ambush. We weren’t walking into a trap—we were walking into a counterstrike.

That’s why I brought in Blackhawk Security, the extraction team on standby, armed and ready to pull us out if my instincts were right. They were. My brothers managed to slip through our enemy’s fingers too.

My wife and I would have escaped too, but she was hit in the back of her head. I wanted to murder the bastard, but I rushed to catch her right before her head could hit the rough floor, and then I shouted at my brothers to run.

Now we just had to ensure that Raven survived until they all came back and leveled this fucking castle to the ground.

But my wife had taken matters into her own hands, and it was going even better than I hoped.

“I don’t see your men rushing to do what I said,” Raven said, her voice cold. But I knew her well enough by now to detect the tremor beneath her words. “Want another bullet, Duncan?”

“Untie that bastard,” he rushed to say.

The moment my hands were unbound, I reached for my wife’s gun and aimed it at the three guards, shooting them dead on the spot.

Then I turned to Duncan and drawled, smiling coldly, “You fucked up, Duncan. You had a chance to be an ally, but you had to go and be a lunatic and hurt my mother-in-law.”

“Now, you’ll die,” Raven added.

“My men will never let you get away with this,” he gritted. “You’ll die right along with me.”

“If you’re dead and gone, my death will be worth it,” I said darkly, but my heart clenched hearing Raven’s whimper.

Panic flared in Duncan’s face and he scrambled for the door like the coward he was. Shooting erupted and smoke engulfed one side of the room. Ignoring the commotion, I threw myself onto Raven and we tumbled to the ground.

“Stay down,” I whispered in her ear, hovering over her. “I got you.”

Bullets whizzed through the air and chaos closed in around us. I kept my hands on her head, my mouth next to hers, doing my best to reassure her.

“You’re good,” I murmured. “You’re safe.”

More gunshots followed, and she shook with a sob. “I’m scared.”

“I got you,mo cuishle.” I scooped her into my arms and crawled us a few feet over, tucking her under the bed, desperate to keep her somewhat sheltered and ignoring my instinct to fight. My brothers, River, Astor, and Darius would handle it.

“I don’t want our baby to die.” Her voice shook and she gripped my shirt, her eyes darting around. “I don’t want to die here.”

“We are getting out of this place. Alive,” I vowed, pressing my lips on hers. “All of us, including your mom.”

River collided with one of Duncan’s men, a whirlwind of rage and motion, the fight raw and primal. My brothers were less visceral in their methods, choosing bullets while dispatching the enemy with the cold efficiency of experience.

In the distance, the rhythmic bursts of gunfire told me Darius and Astor were holding their ground, keeping the tide from turning.

And amid it all, Duncan cowered in the safety of shadows, watching his men die for his pride, his cowardice, and his mess. He had built this storm, and now he couldn’t even stand in the rain.

I itched to join the fight, to kill all the bastards who even contemplated hurting my wife, but her safety took priority.

“Aiden.” Her voice was drowned out by the gunfight.

“Yes, my love?”