Broderick (Sabine Valley 2)

“Yeah. Sure.” I don’t look at Monroe, but I feel her watching us. She’s gone still, a predator scenting weakness. I clear my throat, hating how awkward things have suddenly gotten between us. “Tomorrow.”

Shiloh searches my face, gives me one last faint smile, and then she’s gone, weaving her way through the trucks and disappearing from sight. I turn toward the door, but Monroe is there, pressing herself to my chest and staring up into my eyes with a devious smile on her red, red lips. “Broderick Paine, you’ve been holding out on me. Who was that delicate little creature? She looks tasty.”

Alarm blares, and it’s everything I can do to keep it out of my tone. “She’s no one.” Better that Monroe believe that than literally anything else. Especially the actual truth.

Her smile widens, and her green eyes light up. She’s never looked more beautiful than she does in this moment. She’s never looked more dangerous, either. “We both know that’s not the truth. It looks to me like she’s everyone to you.” She presses her nails to my chest, a cat toying with its prey. “This is going to be even more fun than I expected.”

Gods alone know what Monroe considers fun.

I’m suddenly sure that I’m going to find out…and that Shiloh is going to bear the cost.

Chapter 2

Monroe

I’m so furious, I can barely think straight. The feast was going well enough, if a little boring, until the Paine brothers showed up and sent everyone into a tailspin. The sheer fucking audacity of their picks for Brides might make me admire them if I wasn’t among the number.

Not just me.

I turn away from Broderick and survey the warehouse the Paines brought us to. A giant room with doors lining the walls on either side of the massive one we drove through to get here. People have scattered like rats fleeing a sinking ship since we climbed out of the trucks, and I can’t find my sister or uncle among them. Winry. Damn it, I should have been thinking of her this whole time instead of needling Broderick Paine.

Winry isn’t like me. No amount of training and browbeating by our mother could hammer out the softness she carries. She’ll never be ruthless or cold or willing to cut down her enemies first and ask questions later. Why in the name of the gods did they pair her with Cohen Paine? Even a glimpse of him is enough to label him a stone-cold killer, just like me.

Better that she end up with someone like the man standing behind me, radiating impatience. Broderick might be the second-born Paine, but he doesn’t have the same cold ruthlessness that comes off some of his brothers in waves. “If your brother hurts my sister, I’ll skin him alive.”

Broderick stops short, looking at me like I’m a poisonous snake that just opened my mouth and spoke. “No one is going to be hurt. No one is going to be forced.”

“You say that, and yet your scary big brother just said to consummate the handfasting, no exceptions.”

“For fuck’s sake, Monroe.” He seems legitimately insulted. “There are half a dozen ways to consummate without having sex, and they have all night to figure out a way that won’t harm anyone. Give us some credit.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I will.” Will Winry do the smart thing and submit to get it over with? I think she will, but sometimes when she gets scared, she acts against her best interest. My chest gets tight at the thought, but I have too much control to let my worry show on my face. I smile up at Broderick, and his flinch makes me feel the tiniest bit better. “I don’t bluff. If Cohen harms Winry or scares her or makes her cry, I’m going to fucking gut him.” I doubt I can take the burly redhead in a fair fight, but I’ve never been in a fair fight in my life—at least outside of feast days.

“No one is going to hurt your sister.” Broderick narrows his pretty, blue eyes. Really, all of him is pretty. Most of the Paine brothers have a brutal edge to them, but he’s traditionally handsome with a strong jaw, sensual lips, and nice, high cheekbones. He’s kept his hair at a length just longer than a buzz cut, and it leaves his features in stark relief. Paired with his broad shoulders and strong body, it creates quite the image.

Sleeping with him is going to be no hardship.

Especially since he’s already shown he’s so easy to provoke.

“You’re not worried about your uncle?”

I almost laugh. As if my uncle isn’t one of the best warriors our faction has to offer. It doesn’t matter what his history with Ezekiel Paine is; he’ll handle himself tonight. “Jasper will be fine.” I tilt my head to the side, smiling widely and enjoying the way Broderick’s jaw clenches in response. I can do nothing to help my sister right now. Best to get this over with and find her in the morning. “Are you stalling, dear husband? If someone weren’t paying attention, they might think you’re scared of little old me.”