Mad Love (Slateview High 3)

“Fuck, Princess,” he said after a moment. “Everything Misael just said is true. We shouldn’t want this. By rights, we should make sure you stay as far away from us as possible.” At the look of panic that flared in my eyes, he caught my chin and leaned down to kiss me roughly. When he pulled back, a small smile curved his lips. “But I think we all know by now that’s never gonna fuckin’ happen. You’re ours. We’re yours. And we’ll burn down the whole world to protect you if we have to, but we’re not letting you go.”

“Even if I can only marry one of you?” I asked softly, my heart swelling in my chest.

“Will you love me less?”

“No!”

The word burst out of me, and Bishop’s smile stretched wider.

“Then I don’t give a fuck whose ring you wear.” Something in his expression shifted, a sort of possessiveness I’d never seen before. He shifted his grip on my hand, pressing my palm to my stomach with his larger one covering mine. “Besides, the thought of you pregnant with one of our babies? Of your belly round and beautiful with one of our little ones. Fuck.”

The last word came out as a groan, and he pressed his lips to mine as if he wanted to get started on making that happen right now.

My core clenched, and my stomach fluttered with excitement and nerves. I had always known I wanted children, but it’d been a vague wish, a dim idea with hazy details. But now, I could see it as clearly in my mind’s eye as anything tangible and real.

A little boy or girl with Bishop’s angular features, Misael’s caramel skin, or Kace’s moss-green eyes.

A baby that we would all love.

A child who would grow up more protected and cherished than any of us had.

When Bishop and I broke apart, I bit my lip, tasting him on my swollen, tingling skin. I nodded, and his smile grew impossibly wider. Then I turned to Kace, intent on getting an answer out of him too. I wouldn’t do this if any of the Lost Boys were opposed to it. I wouldn’t let something like this drive us apart.

But before I could pose the question to him, he hauled me into his arms and kissed me the same way he had back in the nurse’s office at Highland Park Academy. It was a kiss that said more than words ever could. A kiss that contained volumes.

But the one word it spoke louder than anything else was yes.

My hands clutched at his shoulders, and I felt Bishop and Misael close ranks around us as I drowned in Kace’s lips. Hands moved over me as three warm bodies surrounded me, and the truth of what this decision meant finally began to sink in.

I got to keep this.

I would never lose this.

The Lost Boys were mine.

Fully and completely mine.

Now that we’d made our decision, all I wanted to do was bask in it, to ignore the rest of the world and spend a week wrapped up in three strong pairs of arms.

But unfortunately, the real world refused to be put off.

After spending a few more minutes talking in low voices, the four of us headed back to my dad’s office, a united force with me at the center. The moment we stepped inside, I was sure everyone present knew what the answer would be. My father’s face stiffened, a look of anger and betrayal passing over his features. Claudio looked thoughtful, and Nathaniel seemed deeply pleased.

“It’s what we want,” Misael said seriously, his fingers tangling with mine as he spoke. “I want to marry Cora.”

“And I want to marry Misael,” I echoed, butterflies flapping wildly in my stomach.

“Good.” Nathaniel beamed. “It’s settled then.” He shot a glance at my father. “We’ll draw up the arrangements, and this will satisfy the favor you owe me. You will not cut Cora off as your heir or disavow her in any way, and you will not attempt to take the lives of her new husband or any of my men.”

My father’s nostrils flared, and his gaze shifted from Nathaniel to Claudio and back before he nodded. He might be a stubborn, heartless, and demanding man, but he wasn’t a stupid one. He’d clearly realized that he was out-matched and out-gunned. By tying my family to Claudio’s

, Nathaniel had effectively cut him off from buying any more help from Luke Carmine. Luke would see my father as an enemy now, possibly even a traitor, and he wouldn’t lift a finger to help him.

A flicker of something like sympathy rose in my heart.

In a way, I was using my dad the same way he’d been planning to use me. My wedding to Barrett would’ve been a political and economic arrangement, a business deal. I would’ve been stuck in a loveless, awful marriage for the rest of my life just so my father could benefit from it. But now, with my planned marriage to Misael, the tables were turned. The connections gained by this union wouldn’t benefit my dad at all. They would benefit Claudio and Misael, and by extension, me.

I could see Dad struggling against the inevitability of this, searching desperately for a way out of it like an animal in a cage. But there was no way out—no better option. He had been slowly painting himself into this corner ever since he had first contacted Luke Carmine, ever since he and Abraham Shaw had begun their game of betrayal and deceit. Everything my father had done was finally catching up to him, and as I considered that, the flame of sympathy in my chest sputtered out.