Dale was on point. I knew that. Logic told me maybe Gin had seen something. That had to be her screaming. Kane had mumbled something to me before I came upstairs about Dale taking first watch, with Gin keeping him company. A half thought-of joke ran through my mind about them together, alone, but everything save for that scream got squashed. I found the Glock in the bedside table where I’d left it and moved away from the bed.

“Stay here,” I told Cara, frowning when she only stared back at me. She was defiant. Stubborn. She didn’t like anyone telling her what to do, but there was real fear on her face just then. She was terrified. “Baby, please,” I said, kissing her forehead. “If you were ever gonna listen to me, now is the time. Don’t fucking leave this room, okay?”

The nod was quick. Something I didn’t buy in the least, but there was no time to demand a pinkie promise from my wife. The thundering of feet was loud, and I needed to find out what the hell was waiting for me downstairs.

“Shit gets sideways, you fucking hide, Cara. I mean it.”

“Kiel…” she started, the sharp, desperate tone of her voice stopping me. Cara held her breath, blanket pulled up across her chest as I glanced back at her. “I…I love you too.”

Half a second was all I could spare, but her expression and the tone of her voice had me stuck where I stood. I’d waited a long time to hear that from her again. It was here now, but there was no time to enjoy it. Instead, I nodded, forcing myself to step toward the door before I answered her. The need to touch her nearly overwhelmed me, but I managed to keep myself in check. “I know you do, baby.” And then I shot out of the door.

The hall was pitch-black and silent. The rustling feet I’d heard seconds before had quieted, and now there was nothing moving in the cabin.

Not even the gust of storm wind from an hour before was rushing anymore. It was as if the world had gone silent. As if everything—the heavy tree limbs, the manic wind, the running water from the creek outside, the crowing wildlife, the mountain itself had all decided to hold its breath and wait for whatever inevitability was about to happen.

It didn’t fill me with comfort. Fear leveled up inside me, like bricks against a flimsy gate. All the anxiety, worry, and dread inside me crashed together.

But then the memory shot through me again—Cara underneath me, her entire body shaking like a Chihuahua stuck in a rainstorm as bullets rang out over our heads. Then the image of her open to me minutes before, letting me love her and take her and giving me everything she had, eradicated that worry.

It squashed the dread.

In its place came anger and the burning itch to lay flat the playing field.

I would not let Vinnie take what was mine.

What would always be mine.

I wouldn’t let anyone keep her from me ever again.

There were no creaks or noises on the steps as I took them. No movement down in the living room as I descended the stairs, but I caught a shadow moving across from me, something looming and stiff. I gripped the gun tighter, flipping off the safety as I aimed it toward the shadow.

The shadow danced against the full, bright moon, and I squeezed the handle of my Glock, aiming with my hand held out, ready to shoot as I tilted toward the corner of the wall. But I found only Gin huddled against the back of the sofa, knees to her chest as she cupped her face in her hands.

“Dale…” I heard. The whisper was soft, pained, but echoed across the kitchen when Gin spoke it. The woman was fierce on a good day. She was a licensed contractor used to the bullshit women working in a male-dominated field usually got. But Gin held her own most of the time, from what Kane had mentioned, showing the boys how it was done. She was not a woman who scared easily. But that tone had me second-guessing whose voice I heard.

“Please, not Dale…no.”

She jolted but stayed silent when I darted to her, holding my fingers over her mouth before she could scream.

“Where?” I whispered, shoulder to shoulder with her when something rustled outside. The sound was muffled by the glass doors, but I could still make out the thud of moving bodies.

“Dale heard something.” Gin’s voice was low, raspy, and she leaned toward my ear as she spoke. “He went out to the balcony and saw…something or someone. He…he screamed at me to get inside and lock the doors.” She wiped her wet face as though she was irritated she cried but continued. “I’d just gotten the lock bolted when I saw two assholes tackle him to the ground. I was going to run up and get Kane, but then…” She nodded, and when I followed her gaze, my stomach sank.

I immediately darted toward the kitchen, only to be stopped when my brother’s look held me back. Kane was slumped against the kitchen island and had one of Vinnie’s assholes in a headlock. The man wasn’t giving up and fought hard, making weak attempts to twist away from my brother, angling his elbow up to jab at Kane’s ribs, but that move was deflected quick. Kane was large and flexible with the asshole around the neck. His long legs locked around the guy’s thighs, squeezing him tight.

Another step and Kane glared at me, shaking his head. “Mine,” he wheezed, and I backed off, getting distracted by the tussle when another thump of noise sounded on the other side of the glass doors.

“Dale!” Gin screamed when the man in question was thrown against the glass, ducking as one beefy asshole swung at him. He could handle himself but didn’t need to.

“Go!” I yelled at Gin, jerking my head toward the stairs. “Stay with Cara and…”

“Kane?” I heard over my shoulder. It never fucking failed. Always something. Always a threat when there shouldn’t have been one. Kane should have left me to this. But then I’d have been left on my own with only my scared wife to back me up. I squashed the regret and darted toward a terrified-looking Kit as she came into the kitchen. “What…”

“Kiel!” my brother called.

I took it for the warning it was, pulling both Gin and Kit out of the room and hustling them up the stairs. “Stay here. Don’t come down for anything.” I knocked against the door, and Cara opened it wide, ushering in Kit and Gin. “Do not leave this room.”

“But Kane…” Kit tried, and my headshake kept her quiet.

“You feel threatened, you run. Back stairs on the other side of the landing,” I reminded Kit.

The cabin had been renovated when we bought it, but Kane hadn’t wanted to take out the stairs in case of some dumb-luck emergency. Didn’t figure he was thinking of a mafia attack.

“There’s a shed about a hundred feet on the other side of the creek,” I told them. “Get in there and stay put until we come for you, but do not leave unless you have to.”

“Kane…” Kit tried again, glancing at Gin when the redhead grabbed her arm. “And Dale…”

“I’ll figure out what’s going on, don’t worry.” I spared one last look at my wife, then at the other women before I started down the stairs. “Lock the door,” I called behind me and didn’t exhale until I heard the door shut and the lock engage.

The noise in the kitchen had gone quiet by the time I jogged back down the stairs, holding my breath over how my brother was faring. I spotted him, pushing the unconscious body of the bastard he’d been fighting on his stomach. Kane snapped up straight, shoulders tight when I hit the last step. He immediately shot a look toward the door upstairs before he glanced at me. I wondered for a second how much blame he laid at my feet. I’d asked for help. I’d brought trouble back home with me, but Kane had welcomed it. He’d brought his people around it willingly. But the guilt felt like a weight hanging around my neck.

“Kane…”

“They’ll be fine,” my brother said, slapping my shoulder before another thump of noise sounded. Dale threw one of Vinnie’s assholes against the glass. “These motherfuckers though…”

“Come on,” I told him, running toward the glass doors.

A lot happened at once. So much that I only caught half of what went down. The noise, the lick of frigid air that hit my arms and the back of my neck, the tumble of bodies all got jumbled inside my head the second I led my brother out of the cabin and onto the balcony.

Dale clocked the biggest of the two assholes who staggered around him, and fleetingly, I thought I’d underestimated what a badass the man was. But then Kane met another guy shooting right for us. I spotted Vinnie climbing the steps, and everything around me, the people who were fighting because of me, all paused.

“Motherfucker,” I growled as Vinnie landed on the deck. I forgot the Glock in my hand long enough that when Vinnie came at me, his own gun aimed, I managed to deflect him, slamming my piece against his arm.

“Bastardo!” he shouted as his gun flew across the deck. I caught his meaning and ignored it, ducking when he took a swing at me.

The asshole was lithe. Quicker than me and when he doubled back, taking another swing, he moved fast enough that he caught my chin. My head snapped back, and I wobbled against the glass door. It flew open, and Vinnie charged at my middle, catching me off guard, sacking me like a linebacker. We crashed inside, landing on the small side table next to the sofa.

Outside, I heard Dale screaming at whoever he fought and Kane trading licks with the two bodyguards that seemed to still be standing. But Vinnie scrambled over me, and I refocused, pushing him off me as we both shoved to our feet.

“You take what’s mine, sì? Take what’s owed me?” he said, his accent thick, barely audible as he panted.

“Nothing here is yours, asshole.” He came at me, and I smiled, jerking to the side to land a fist right at the bastard’s rib.

He whined, crying out in pain just as Dale and Kane staggered through the door, both gathering up the guns that had fallen in the tussles on the balcony. It only took a second of distraction before hell came rushing forward.

Kane leaned against the wall, breaths heavy, and Dale stood straight, alert, right next to me, stuffing one of the guns in his hands into his waistband as Vinnie bent over, clutching himself.

“You good?” I asked them, getting nods in return, and then Vinnie straightened, darting forward to grab the gun in Dale’s hand.

The asshole laughed, stepping back as he aimed the gun between me and Dale.

“Calm down,” I told Vinnie, but the man looked wired, a little desperate. He didn’t seem able to do anything but curse under his breath, words I knew were insults but couldn’t identify. “Vinnie…”

“Fuck you, Kaino,” he spat, squeezing the trigger.