Page 27

Five Years Later

“ W hy did we move to this godforsaken state?” Silas barked out as he tossed the body into the back of their car in their garage, before wiping his brow.

“We’re going to have to move soon if you all keep going around killing everybody,” Hawk chimed in from the doorway, his arms crossed.

“He was a child predator!” Ashmine whisper-yelled, softly shutting the trunk of the car. “He kept coming by our house.”

Silas stroked her back soothingly with one hand, his other moving up to caress her swollen stomach.

Ace laughed to himself. Silas hadn’t been joking about wanting a family. But after the first, after how hard it had been on Ashmine’s body, Silas had told her no more.

Ace loved that she never listened to them; it was why she had brought them all together again after all.

Ashmine was pregnant with their third child now, nearly eight months along, and she had just killed a man. Ace smiled fondly at Ashmine. She was just as chaotic as ever, except now she had more to be protective over.

Ashmine was right though; they lived in the middle of nowhere in Florida, there was no reason for the man to continue coming by their land. Every time with a different excuse. Ashmine’s suspicions guided her to look into the stranger. She learned of his prior arrests, and it pushed her to take matters into her own hands.

“You were supposed to call us before you had him over,” Hawk chastised, still standing in the doorway that led to the main part of their home. To where their two children slept soundly upstairs.

“Where is Lily?” Ashmine asked. “Is she still asleep?”

Hawk grumbled, “Yes, I kept the little ones entertained and tucked them into bed.”

“Good.” Ashmine leaned back further into Silas’s arms before turning to Ace. She quirked her lips at him. “I’m sorry I meant for them both to be gone, but when he came again, when I saw him outside of our windows so late at night, I knew I couldn’t keep waiting for him to make his move. I sensed he was nearing the end of his hunt.”

Ace shrugged his shoulder. She had gone off script, but he could understand. The man deserved to be put down. “No one will look for him here, and if they do, I will ensure there is nothing to find.”

Ashmine shrugged out of Silas’s arms before launching herself at Ace.

“You know I love you? And how you’re always on board with my crazy plans.”

“I love you too, silly girl.” Ace chuckled as he rubbed the tip of his nose against hers. Soaking in her warmth, her love, her affection. She was everything he had ever wanted.

His eyes flashed to Hawk, to the puzzle piece he proudly wore, to Silas’s dangling around his neck, to Ashmine’s on her wrist. He felt the weight of the one wrapped around his wrist, too.

Over ten years ago, a young girl fell into their lives, wriggling her way into their hearts, branding herself into their very souls. It had taken time, understanding, and one sadistic night to work out the kinks, but since they had, Ace wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Ace squeezed the woman tighter to him. The mother of his children, his very purpose for living, the reason their family had found each other again.

Ash mine .