Page 102 of Allegiant

I eye my brothers. “How did you get them all here?”

“A code yellow? Whatever it was had everyone dropping everything and appearing.”

I grin. That has to have been Harley’s idea. I owe him for making this happen. “Fucking amazing.”

“It is. They all love you, too. When I told them what this was for, none of them left. They all chose to stay.”

That makes my chest tighten and the room sway under my feet. I guess I always objectively knew that my brothers have my back, but it’s nice to see it in person.

“Did you see it? Did you see my moves?” Harley asks.

I try to pretend I’m not excited that he’s enjoyed himself. That they all seem to have.

“They’re harder than they look,” Harley continues. “You should have seen Matthias when he first got here. He swore the first ten minutes. And well, annoyingly, Wylder is damn good at this, even if he is a little stiff.”

“So is Samson,” Rowan says, much too sweetly, making me lean over and kiss him deeply. He’s breathless when I pull away. “I can tell how much you love it. How much it loves you.”

I blink and turn my gaze away, my eyes stinging slightly.

“Aw, you crying?” Harley teases.

Rowan scolds him immediately. “He can cry if he wants to, but I bet he’s just happy. Happy you put in some effort to learn something he loves.”

I turn back to stare at him, this wonderful, perfect creature.

And I wonder how I got so lucky.

How I’m going to make him stay.

Rowan and I get barely an hour together before I’m dragged away. Again.

This time, I’m happy to leave him, but only because Wylder messaged me the reason.

Neo has a lead on Adam’s killer.

I leave Rowan with Harley, shooting him a warning glance to behave. My brother smirks, but nods. He might like fucking with me, but he knows where the boundaries are.

I hope.

Neo’s evidence isn’t enough. He’s pinned it down to three possible suspects, but after the fuckup with initially blaming it on Rowan, I’m not taking any chances. I need firm evidence before we proceed.

Thankfully, my brothers all agree.

I remember to bring up the chief of police and remind my brothers how the force ignored both Adam’s and Rowan’s pleas for help. Thankfully, Wylder’s already on top of it, with a dinner scheduled with him the following week.

After that, I suspect they’ll be taking everything more seriously.

When we’re finally done, I seek out my little dancer. His laughter rings out through the lobby, and I follow it like a moth to a flame.

The house seems brighter these days, and I don’t think it has anything to do with Neo and Wylder’s renovations.

I think it’s all Rowan.

I find him in the kitchen with Harley, both of them rolling dough between their hands. Rowan is still laughing, a smear of flour over his cheek.

“I swear to god,” Harley says. “Neo bought a horse, and it pooped in one of Wylder’s shoes.”

“It did not.”