Page 129 of My Pleasure

Ewan leaned down. “Feel better?”

Hunter held up his hands, and his brothers helped him to stand. “My head is clearer.”

Graham looked relieved. “Good, let’s go check on mother and father.”

Hunter felt a rush of fear again.

“Easy there,” Ewan said.

“I can still see them on the floor. Kiera, the kids, Ma and Dad.” He shook his head. “Ma and Dad are supposed to be invincible you know?”

Graham put a hand on top of his head. “I would take that from you if I could, baby brother.”

“I need to check on them.” Hunter stood straighter.

“What a coincidence, we want to meet our new sister too,” Ewan joked.

Hunter looked over to his parents’ house. Augustus and Rory were waiting for them. They had stayed knowing that Graham and Ewan would be distracted taking care of him. Next to them, his entire unit and unit commander also waited.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

He felt movement to his left, then ducked as Graham went to hit him again.

Aiden laughed. “We’ve all been there, Hunter. If you can’t lean on your family and your unit brothers, then what’s the point?”

Hunter looked at his commander in shock. “You too sir?”

Aiden smiled ruefully. “After the attack that took my first Alpha unit. It was my brother who did to me, exactly what your brother did for you.”

“Adair?” Graham guessed.

Aiden shook his head. “Adam.” He winced. “All that medical training, he knew exactly where to hit.” He looked Hunter in the eye. “As crazy as it sounds, we sometimes have to be reminded we aren’t gods. There was nothing you could have done and that isn’t your fault.”

Hunter looked away. “What was the point of those dreams if they didn’t help?”

Hunter was thumped from both directions, practically ricocheting off his brothers’ hands from one side to the other. “Ow!”

Aiden smiled. “Did you ever stop to think that the dream wasn’t for you to save her, but to help her to save herself?”

Hunter looked at his commander. “Kiera held up her hand, with pride on her face and said, ‘I saved us.’. She used her new magic to save them. What if I hadn’t been waiting outside her home to see her? What if we had missed discovering her magic by even one day?”

The men stared. If they looked at it that way, the dream had made a difference.

Aiden rubbed the back of his neck. “Our mates don’t need us to stand in front of them all the time.” He stopped when the men around him laughed at the irony of him being the one to say that. He cleared his throat. “For the most part Meryn just needs me to be there for her to fall back to. My strength let’s her do what she needs to do.”

“Because you’ll maul anyone who hurts her,” Zev teased.

“As he should,” Konstantine chided.

Hunter began to feel better. Did he wish he could have been there to rip her uncle apart? Yes. But, he was no longer trapped by the suffocating feeling of failure. He had helped her save herself, even if it was in a small way. He smiled wide at them. “My mate is seriously awesome.”

“There’s that goofy smile,” Graham said, sounding relieved.

“Come on, I want to introduce you,” he said, leading them back to the Nu estate.

It’s like he told his mate. He knew he wasn’t the smartest or the strongest, but he would do anything and everything to be perfect for her and their family.

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