Corinne went very quiet next to Hunter, as though not trusting her own eyes and afraid the boy was just an illusion that could shatter if she so much as breathed. Nathan stared at them. "I don't have anywhere to go."
"Yes, you do," Hunter replied.
He held out his hand.
It took a long moment before the boy made any move whatsoever. Then, with a faint nod, he reached up and clasped Hunter's hand, stepping up into the truck. Beside him now, Hunter heard Corinne's lungs expel a soft, shaky sigh. Her pulse was pounding, beating as hard as a drum, her blood racing so hard he could feel her excitement - her hope - in his own veins. But she held herself back, doing everything in her power to resist throwing her arms around her child in relief and elation.
She stood unmoving, waiting, watching her beloved son slowly make his way over to her first.
"Is everything you said true?" he asked her.
She nodded, tears overflowing her eyes. "Everything."
Hunter removed his coat and draped it over the boy's soaked shoulders. Nathan glanced over at him, still not entirely certain of them. "If I go with you, where will you take me?"
"Home," Hunter answered.
He glanced at Corinne then, understanding in just that moment how powerful the word truly was.
Home.
It struck him with the same staggering force as a weapon hammered out of steel, as unbreakable as a diamond, as steady as a mountain.
Home.
It was something neither he nor this lethal teenage assassin had ever known. Something they both had found in the beautiful woman who had somehow, miraculously, opened her gentle, stalwart heart to both of them.
Hunter put his arm around her slender shoulders, gazing at her with all the love that was overflowing in his own heart. He leaned in close to her and whispered for her ears alone: "Thank you for bringing me home."
Chapter Thirty-four
Are you going to pace all morning, Lucan? Some rest would do you good, you know."
Gabrielle patted the empty spot beside her on the massive bed in their quarters at the compound. It was midmorning according to the clock on the nightstand, but he had been on his feet nonstop since the day before.
Too many fires to put out. Too many lives resting in his hands - not the least of which being the infant son newly born to Dante and Tess.
And then there was Sterling Chase, currently cooling his heels under lockdown in the infirmary. Lucan and the rest of the Order had been on high alert since he'd shown up on the estate grounds more than twenty-four hours ago, bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds and sporting a rather massive target on his ass.
The news stations were still having a field day with the eyewitness sketch they'd obtained of him. It was being played on every broadcast - local, national, and cable - and had been a permanent fixture on the various Internet news sites since the incident at the senator's party took place. Lucan wondered just how long it would take for the heat on Chase from human law enforcement to subside.
Not good, that the Order was harboring an individual wanted by several local police entities and the goddamned feds as well.
As pissed as he was at Chase not only for letting Dragos get away but also for getting himself shot and ID'd in the process, he had to admit it had been a good thing - a bloody admirable hunch - that had put Chase at the senator's party. Regardless of his personal issues of late, Chase's instincts had been solid, and royal fuck-up on the execution notwithstanding, his public disruption had managed to thwart whatever Dragos had up his sleeve. And there had been something going on, Lucan was certain of that. The conniving son of a bitch sure hadn't been there for the canapes and conversation.
He hated to consider what Dragos might have intended, considering the fact that some of the United States's top government officials had been in attendance. Lucan walked another hard track in the rug. "Something big is about to blow. I can feel it in my bones, Gabrielle. Some shit is about to go down, and unless I get my hands around it quick, it's going to explode not just in my face, but in everyone else's too."
"Come here," she said, frowning now as she threw back the sheet and comforter to make room beside her naked body on the bed. She was gorgeous, and too tempting to resist, despite the gravity of his thoughts. "You're doing all you can," she told him as he settled in next to her.
"We'll figure this out. All of us, together. You are not alone in this, Lucan."
He felt himself relax as she spoke, his troubles seeming to ease just by the fact that she was near. It was a power she had over him that never ceased to amaze him. "How did I ever manage to convince you to be my mate?"
Her soft laugh vibrated against his ear where it rested on her breast. "There was kissing involved, if I recall. Maybe even some kicking and screaming. On your part, primarily."
He pulled back and stared darkly into her eyes. "I don't kick, and I most definitely never scream."
"Maybe not," she conceded, a wry smile tugging at her full lips. "But you didn't go down easy, you have to at least admit that much."