Page 64

Then Draugr looked at the others. "All of you let’s leave now." Nobody argued. The meeting was over. Money could burn, territories could fall, every empire we'd built could collapse tonight and none of us would have given a fuck.

Our women were home, our children were home and someone had fired into that home. There was nothing left to discuss.

Draugr drove. There wasn't even a conversation about it as he was the only one among us without a mate waiting at the mansion. The only one whose instincts weren't currently screaming loudly enough to drown out reason. I sat in the passenger seat, Viking, Lucien and Volken were behind us. The second SUV carried our men.

"Faster," Viking suddenly growled but Draugr ignored him.

"Draugr."

"We're already doing one-fifty."

"Then do two."

"And wrap us around a fucking tree?" Draugr snapped. "Brilliant. Your mate will be delighted when your corpse arrives home."

Viking snarled. I turned slightly to look over my shoulder at him. "Control it."

His eyes met mine. Red. Feral. The berserker was close, too close. "I left her there." His voice had changed, gone was the arrogance, the aggression and what remained was fear. Pure and simple. "I fucking left her there."

"She had guards," Draugr said.

"Didn't stop the bullet."

Nobody answered that because just a few days earlier another bullet had found Bryn. We all knew what Viking was remembering. The airport, her blood on his hands, her body going limp, his roar, three of us trying to restrain him while my power had been the only thing capable of finally putting him down.

Now someone had fired at her again, maybe not directly but she'd been in that room. "She was just shot," Viking mutters, almost to himself. "She'd only just started feeling safe." His hands curled against his thighs. "Fuck." His head dropped. "I finally got her to stop looking over her shoulder."

The berserker pushed through his scent, violence and fear twisting together. Draugr glanced at him through the mirror.

"Viking." Draugr calls but there is no response. "Bryn is alive."

Viking's head lifted. "Say it." His nostrils flared.

"Bryn is alive."

"Again."

"She's alive."

Draugr nodded. "Hold onto that."

Viking turned toward the window, but I saw his reflection, saw what my brother was fighting. He was berating himself, punishing himself. He'd done the same thing after the airport. He believed being her mate meant nothing should ever reach her, not bullets, not fear, not pain. Impossible standards, but I understood them because I was thinking exactly the same thing about Layla.

I should have been there, that thought wouldn't leave. I should have been home, If I'd been home, she wouldn't have been sitting near that window. If I'd been home, maybe I would have sensed the shooter. If I'd been home…

"Stop." Draugr's voice.

I looked at him. "You too."

My eyes narrowed, he knew, of course he fucking knew. "You weren't there," I said.

"No."

"You don't understand."

Something moved behind his eyes, so quickly I almost missed it. "No," he said quietly. "I don't."

Silence filled the SUV, then he tightened his hands around the steering wheel. "But I understand all four of my brothers are about one wrong thought away from losing their fucking shit, and somebody needs to keep you level until we get home."