The run was painful, and by the time they got back to the cabin, most of them were throwing up. Tyler gave them water and instructed them to sip, not gulp. Lorenzo watched them all panting and cheerfully asked, “Ready for combatives?”

There were groans and Jensen looked up. “Can’t we have a few minutes to catch our breath?”

Dimitri pointed out, “The bad guy will not wait for you.”

“Come on, little ones.” Stefan seemed gleeful. He and Jordan had essentially adopted all of their kids’ friends and partners and everyone considered themselves one big family — thus, lots of ‘uncles’ and Jordan and Stefan were the granddads.

Jensen stood and looked down at his grandfather. “Little ones?”

“You’ll only fall harder.”

“You’re on.”

Stefan stripped off his shirt and flexed his pectoral muscles. He smiled when the grandkids’ jaws dropped.

“Wow, Grandpa. You’re ripped!” Joshua looked at his grandfather.

Justin laughed. “I’d tell you to take it easy on your grandfather, but it’s actually him I need to warn to take it easy on you.”

“What?” Jensen turned to his father, and Stefan swiped his feet out from underneath him, smiling.

He crouched down by Jensen and taunted, “Grandpa, one; Jensen, zip.”

“Oh, it’s on!”

“Good. That’s what I like to hear.”

Hunter arched a brow at the others. “That didn’t sound good.”

Jensen couldn’t take Stefan down no matter how hard he tried. He came at him in all different directions, and just when he thought he would finally get him, his grandpa would sidestep his move and Jensen would again be either flat on his back or worse — eating dirt.

“Next!” Stefan called.

Nico finally came out and sat at the table with Heath and Caleb. They watched as Landon jumped in the circle with Stefan and was promptly flat on his back with a blade at his throat.

“Rule number one: Do not ever turn your back on your opponent.” Stefan held his hand out to Landon.

Lorenzo and Tanner were circling each other and Lorenzo smiled. Tanner ran at him and slid between his legs, coming up behind him and grasping him around the throat. Lorenzo flipped him over and put his boot over Tanner’s throat.

“Always take the time to study his moves. You must understand his body language.” Lorenzo pulled Tanner up. “Very good, Tanner.”

“How was that good?” Tanner rubbed his throat.

“I did not see that coming.”

At lunchtime, the boys finally got a break. Bruised and tired, most of them sprawled out on the deck, pouring water on their faces. Nico rubbed Tanner’s shoulder and smiled when he leaned back into him with a loud sigh. “Sore?”

“Oh, God, where should I start?”

“Can’t… move.” Evan closed his eyes.

“Oh, come on guys! I was just getting warmed up.” Stefan bounced up and down.

“Jesus, Grandpa.” Hunter sighed.

Jordan chuckled, taking Stefan into his arms. “You are seriously loving this.”

“I am.” Stefan turned to his namesake grandson. “Hey, little me!”

“Yep. You wanna piece of this?”

“Bring it, bitch.” Stefan winked at him.

“Bitch?” Little Stefan cocked an eyebrow.

The kids gathered to watch their grandfather and Stefan going at each other. The older man moved to take out his grandson, and Stefan did a back handspring out of the way, landing on his feet, arms out.

“Come on.” Stefan smiled. “You gotta be faster than that, Gramps!”

“Gramps? I prefer ‘bitch’ to that!” Stefan charged his grandson.

They were on the ground, and Stefan maneuvered his legs around his grandson’s neck, squeezing. Jordan crouched down, looking at him. “I think you’re done.”

“Give!” Stefan felt the pressure leaving his neck and sat up, coughing. “Damn, Grandpa.”

Stefan hugged him hard. “You’re good; I’m better.”

“Yeah, you are,” Stefan agreed.

Vince asked his son, “Nik, you ready for some more?”

“I am a Markov.”

Everyone watched father and son in the ring. Nik was circling Vince as he had been taught, watching every little body movement for signs of impending attack. Vince performed a high kick, just missing his son’s jaw. Nik caught his Pops’ foot, spinning him around. Vince rolled away on the ground and hopped back up.

“Impressive.” Vince nodded.

Nikolai walked slowly around his father, each watching the other. Vince blocked his son’s punch and got him into a strangle hold, his one arm around his neck, the other at the top of his head.

“Now, this right here is where I snap your neck and the lights go out for you.” Vince let go.

“I want to learn that.” Ryan stood.

Justin instructed, “Four more hours of this and then we start bright and early again in the morning. I suggest you sleep tonight. You’ll be mountain climbing in the morning and learning to rappel off the side.”

“I’ll be your instructor for that,” Tyler informed them.

“Let’s get to it.” Dominic rubbed his hands together.

“Oh good! I got here just in time for the fun shit!” Sergio called out.

“Sergio!” Tanner ran at him.

Sergio laughed as Tanner plowed into him. He hugged him hard and then the rest of them tackled him. Sergio was huge. Stefan was certain Marco and Antonio’s adopted son got bigger every time he saw him. He had been in Panama when the latest mission had gone down, and Marco had told him he had been upset that he missed all the fun.

Sergio checked out Nico. “Stings a bit, huh?”

“Hell, yeah, it did.” Nico shook Sergio’s hand. “You get one?”

Sergio stripped his shirt off. He had three tattoos on his chest as well as the one on his bicep. Nico saw two bullet scars — one on his right bicep, the other on his side. “Went through and through.”

Jensen’s jaw was hanging down and Hunter smacked him. “Stop it,” he whispered.

“About now you’re thinking, ‘Why isn’t he gay?’ ” Sergio teased.

“I was,” Tanner agreed.

Nico turned on him. “What?”

“I was thinking it too.” Colin grinned.

“I wasn’t.”

Sergio pouted. “I’m hurt, Nik.”

“Ah, well.” Nikolai hugged him.

“Well.” Sergio clapped his hands together. “Who’s first?”

Stefan chuckled when all the kids shook their heads. “I’ll take you, Sergio.”

“Yeah, no thanks, Grandpa.” Sergio smiled. “Who’s hungry?”

Everyone laughed as they all ran into the house. Sergio stood close to Stefan. Stefan put his arm around the young man and they walked back toward the house. “Tell me about Panama.”

Morning came way too early for some of them. The ten-mile run ended at the top of a mountain. Hunter and Jensen set up their gear. Hunter got into his harness and set up the rest of the equipment. Jensen grabbed the rope and put it around his waist, watching Hunter prepare to rappel down.

“Be careful.”

As soon as Hunter dropped off the side, Jensen heard a loud crack. The rock with the hook in it had split it in half, and now Jensen was the only thing holding Hunter’s full weight. The momentum pulled him flat onto his stomach and dragged him across the slick snow.

“Fuck! Help us!” Jensen screamed as he watched the edge getting closer and closer. He brought his feet up, then brought his boots down hard in the snow. It stopped him temporarily, and he looked over to see Hunter swinging back and forth, trying to get a hold of anything he could.

Tyler was a half-mile away with Tanner, Landon, and Joshua when they heard the yelling.

“Shit, go!” They all took off at full speed.

 

“Let me go, Jensen,” Hunter called. “You’re sliding with me! We don’t both have to die!”

The rope had burned Jensen’s hand as it whipped through it so quickly. Jensen closed his eyes and bit through the pain, wrapping the rope around his hand more tightly as it bit into his skin. “I’m not letting you go! If you go, I go!”

“Jensen!”

Suddenly, Jensen felt hands on his ankles pulling him back from the edge, and then Joshua was over him. He knelt down and grabbed the rope from him. “Let it go Jensen; I’ve got him.”

“I can’t. I think it’s burned into my hand.”

Brett had shown up, and once they got Hunter back up, the doctor checked out Jensen’s hands. The rope had burned into the flesh; Brett locked eyes with Jensen. “Close your eyes.”

Hunter knelt beside him and pulled his face toward him. “Look at me.”

Cool liquid sloshed over Jensen’s hand and then there was pain so intense his eyes watered. He let out a loud wail.

 

Back at the campsite, Justin whirled around. “That’s my son!”

The radio was making static and then Brett’s voice broke through. “We had a problem. Jensen and Hunter are on their way back down. Tell Reece to get all the equipment out.”

“What the fuck happened?” Justin picked up the radio.

“Jensen has some pretty bad rope burns to his hand. Left a very long opening in it.”

“Is he all right?”

“He will be. He needs to be sedated, for sure.”

“I’m on my way.”

They got Jensen settled in the back bedroom, and sedated him so Reece could go to work. Hunter had to look away when they opened up Jensen’s hand. Once Reece had cleaned it out thoroughly, double-checking that he had gotten all the roper fiber bits, he stitched it up and wrapped it.

“He’ll be okay.” Justin hugged Hunter.

“He wouldn’t let go. He said if I went, he went.”

“He loves you, Hunter. Why don’t you go sit with him?”

Hunter went into the room and lay down next to Jensen. Roman stood at the door with Justin, watching their kids. He smiled and took Justin’s hand. “I’ll never be able to thank him enough.”

“He wasn’t going anywhere without Hunter.”

“Sounds like you, babe.” Brett came up next to them.

“I just hope there’s no permanent damage. I did the best I could and I didn’t detect any nerve damage.” Reece smiled, looking at Hunter and Jensen together.

“When did we get an MRI and X-ray machine?” Brett cocked an eyebrow at Roman.

“We live out in the middle of nowhere, babe. If we can afford all the fancy gadgets to keep out intruders, what makes you think we can’t afford anything else we need?”

“Noted.”

 

Hunter ran his fingers softly over Jensen’s face. He had almost died and Jensen had almost gone with him. If anything, being able to look into Jensen’s eyes before his death had kept him calm. He nestled into Jensen’s side and Jensen’s arm came over him immediately. It had always been that way with them, the instinct to protect each other. “I love you, Jensen. I always will,” Hunter whispered.

Tanner stood in the doorway and sensed Damon come up next to him. He motioned for them to leave. They walked outside onto the deck and Tanner looked up at the sky.

“He’s always loved him.”

“Why don’t they talk to each other?” Tanner turned to his brother.

“I don’t know.” Damon sighed.

“Another school year is starting soon. You should make a move on Lily.”

“Maybe.” Damon ran a hand through his hair.

“Let’s hope this year is different.”

Everyone had gone to bed, and Nico sat on the deck, watching the northern lights. He knew he was being stupid, but when Tanner had seen Sergio… the look on his face threatened Nico. How stupid was that?

“Hey.” Sergio sat down.

“Hey.”

“He’s in love with you, Nico.”

Nico jerked around. “What?”

“You have no reason to feel jealous. Tanner loves you.”

“Who said I was jealous?”

“Your face did. It’s okay. I know I’m hot.” Sergio ran an exaggeratedly slow hand through his hair.

Nico couldn’t help it. He laughed. “Pfft… asshole.”

“That’s what they tell me.”

Nico studied him. They had a lot in common in some ways, both of them beaten and abused as children, but Nico hadn’t been through what Sergio had — sexual predators. “How have you been?”

“Pretty good, I guess. My dads are worried I don’t have a girlfriend. I told him I already had sex, but I don’t think that’s what he wanted to hear.”

“I can’t even imagine…” Nico trailed off. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, don’t be like that. I’ve been through therapy. I think it would do you some good, find out why you are so scared of being with Tanner.”

“I’m not scared —” Nico started.

“Uh huh. Look. Tanner is in love with you, and if I were gay, I would be all up on his ass.” Sergio smiled at the look on Nico’s face. “Bothers you, huh? Think about what would happen if he actually had a boyfriend. Someone else kissing your Tanner —”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Nico laughed.

Sergio leaned forward. “The last thing you want is to watch the love of your life with someone else. Just ask Stefan how that feels.” Stefan had loved Phoebe Greystone since she was born. Several instances as teenagers during which she accused him of cheating on her when he hadn’t had separated them. But he still loved her.

“Thanks, Sergio.”

“I do what I can. ’Night, Nico.”

“ ’Night.” Nico watched him walk into the house and sat back. The thought of someone else with Tanner was enough to make his stomach turn. “Shit.”