Chapter Twelve

Tempest

" A re you okay, baby?" Dalton asks, slipping his arms around me from behind as I stare out into the dark backyard, thinking.

It's been hours since Triton was carted off to jail. He'll be there for a while, but my mind has been in turmoil all day.

I sigh, turning to burrow into Dalton's solid chest. "I'm okay," I murmur, even though I'm anything but. My heart physically hurts. So does my head, my eyes, even my eyelashes. I guess crying all day will do that to you.

His lips brush the top of my head. "You're thinking about your cousin," he murmurs, reading me like no one else can.

"Yes," I admit in a pained whisper. "I just wish…" Pulling back, I tilt my face up to him, struggling to make sense of it all. "I don't understand why he didn't just tell me he was in trouble. I could have helped him without all of this."

Dalton cups my cheek, his hazel eyes soft as he gazes down at me. "Because disappointing you felt like the worst of a bunch of shit options to him," he murmurs. "He cares about you."

"Not enough." My traitorous bottom lip trembles.

He pulls me back into his arms, breathing me in. "I'm going to pay off his debts."

"You don't owe him that, Dalton," I protest. "He tried to shoot you today."

"I know," he says quietly. "But he didn't try to shoot you."

I glance up at him and see the powerful current of emotion in his eyes.

"He had every opportunity, but he didn't take it. That's why I'm doing it, baby." He presses his forehead against mine, exhaling a soft breath. "I'm doing it because you're here right now, safe in my arms. That's worth any cost, Tempest."

"Dalton," I whisper, overwhelmed by the depths of his devotion. "I'll always be here, safe in your arms. You know how I know?"

He cocks his head to the side, studying me intently, waiting for me to continue.

"Because I know you," I tell him, my voice ringing with certainty. "You love me enough to keep me right here."

"No." He shakes his head, his mouth descending on mine. He hovers there, his lips a breath from mine. "I love you more than that, Tempest. I love you enough to believe you'll always be right here."

I sob against his lips, melting into him as the sweet conviction in his voice registers. He means it. For the first time, he isn't afraid of losing me, terrified that I'll be ripped from his arms and his life like his parents were because of something he's done or said. For once, that fear has been replaced by faith. In me, in us. In himself .

He knows I'm not going anywhere.

And I'm not. Not now, not ever. I'm his—his wife, his future. Wrecked and consumed by him, body and soul.