Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
This wasn’t where I thought my life would take me, but… we were here.
“When I pictured having kids, I always wished for a son I could rely on,” Henri said over his shoulder when we were in the hallway.
I glanced at my sidekick, and he looked up at me. I blew him a kiss.
“And when I wanted a partner, I thought I’d want one I could rely on,” Fluffy added.
“Seems to me you got both,” I told his back.
“Seems to me, I did,” he agreed as we made it to the front door. “A strong mate and a strong son who would come with me to face two pains in my ass.” Henri made a soft sound. “I wish you could sense how lucky I feel right now.”
“Yeah, you are,” I cheered him on, my heart almost bursting. He had a point. Here I was with my mate, my boy, and my uncle. “Just like we’re lucky to have you charging ahead with us too. Right, Dunky?”
“Yes.”
Ahead of Henri, Franklin glanced over his shoulder, a pleased expression on his face.
I caught the silhouette of Henri’s smile as he held the door for us. Shades of black and gray and blue filled the night, shadowing everything in its path. A car door slammed shut in the near distance.
“He’s close,” Henri murmured beside me. “Still near the gate for some reason.”
“Too close,” Franklin agreed, a pissy expression back on his features.
Henri’s hand took mine as we reached the edge of the parking lot.
That’s when he slowed down and stared toward the rows of cars just as I sensed werewolf magic approaching from the same direction he was focused in. Henri didn’t look at me as he lifted my hand and pressed his lips to the back of it, murmuring, “Give me one minute to deal with this once and for all.”
“We’ll wait,” I promised as he released my fingers right as a blond man appeared, heading straight and fast in the direction of the clubhouse. Someone was in a rush.
But he knew we were there, and his attention turned to us even as he kept moving, calling out, “Just here to get my shit, I’m not going to talk to your precious princess, Henri.” Dom’s tone was sarcastic. “I’m only here to—”
Henri moved like a lightning bolt.
He was beside me one moment, and in the next—faster than my eyes could follow—he was slamming up against Dominic’s chest, hand reaching for the other man’s throat, and Henri Blackrock lifted him up with a single hand so high, so fluidly, his booted feet dangled.
Duncan plopped down between my feet, and I didn’t need to see his face to know we were both gaping at the sheer unbelievable strength of the newest member of our family.
I’d known he was strong. Visually, it was obvious. And I’d seen him use a log as a javelin, and Dom had to be somewhere in the two-hundred-pound range, but Henri was holding him up like he was a stuffed animal.
His head was tipped up, Dom was that high off the ground, and Henri let out a snarl louder and more intimidating than anything I could have ever imagined.
Franklin whistled beside me.
“I forgave you for giving up Agnes. I tried to brush off you choosing to fight me over taking control of the ranch. I tried to forget about you trying to take something else that was mine.” Fluff’s voice was deep. “I might have been able to forgive you for being rude to her and your daughter. I would’ve eventually gotten over you leaving your responsibilities without a goddamn warning,” Henri sneered, lifting him up another inch or two higher as Dom finally started sputtering, like it had taken his body a second to realize what was going on. His fingers went to the ones wrapped around his throat, like he was trying to peel them off.
He gasped.
But Henri wasn’t even close to being done as his upper arm flexed, and I would’ve sworn he was squeezing his throat tighter. “But you just violated the one rule I can’t brush off. You put us at harm and let a stranger onto our land—”
“He’s… Ni… Nina…,” Dom gasped, still trying to pry Henri’s fingers off.
“I don’t give a shit who he is!” Henri roared. “You know the rules! And you’re lucky I have other things to deal with right now or I’d make you regret every bullshit word that’s ever come out of your mouth.”
“Hen… Henri!” the blond gasped even more faintly, slapping now, his eyes watering.
And Franklin, Dunky, and I stood there and watched.
Henri though, shook his hand like my boy shook his stuffed toys in his mouth, and said, “You think you could fight me? You think you would live afterward?” Henri didn’t laugh, but there was something dark in his voice…