CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Three consecutive messages stir me from my dreamless sleep.

It's the middle of the night, seeing how dark it is outside.

Dark, but not pitch black. The city's lights permeate through the windows of our bedroom. Enough for me to steal another minute to watch the two people next to me before I turn to my phone.

Carter and Amara are so calm. At peace. He spoons her from behind, his arm hugging her torso possessively. His black hair is a mess. Her lips are swollen from the abuse of our harsh kisses.

And while his eyelids lie heavily on his gray eyes, hers aren't. As if she feels me staring, she blinks. Stirs awake. Her deep browns focus, then narrow at me. Mesmerizing me. Stealing my sanity right from under me.

"Killian?" Amara murmurs, her voice thick with sleep. "Everything okay?"

Her whispered question reminds me of my phone.

No, I don't think everything's okay. Phone calls and texts from Voltage this late are reserved for emergencies. There are work emails which I'm used to. Which I'm happy for at times because of my strange sleeping habits.

Phone calls and messages are different.

Our staff is allowed to call me anytime. Our members aren't.

The one who called me in the middle of the night to complain about room service lost his two front teeth. The cry-baby money launderer from room 3112 and his teeth became an urban legend. No one's done it since.

No one's doing it now. Something's wrong with the hotel.

"Everything's fine," I lie.

She hums when I kiss her forehead. Presses her palm to my cheek when my lips linger on her warm skin a moment longer.

The only other woman I kissed this way was Carter's mom. Not out of the kind of love I have for Carter and Amara.

It was her pain that burned me. A woman holding a newborn on a street corner. One would have to be a monster to ignore her. To not want to give her a sense of normalcy.

Compassion. That was why I kissed Joelle's forehead. It meant nothing. Kissing Amara's and Carter's means everything.

"Your beard tickles." She giggles but doesn't pull back.

I don't either. Even in her sleepy state, even hushed, Amara's giggles sound a touch psychotic. Her adorable kind of weirdness makes life less complicated. Less dark. The sun shines through every now and again around her.

Love seeps through the clouds and washes over Carter and me.

"Are you saying you don't like it?"

"No." Her whisper is harsh, her fingernails biting into my cheek so I won't move an inch. "Mine."

Another message from my phone cuts through my way-too-emotional thoughts.

"You lied." Amara lets go of me, her attention drifting behind my back to the nightstand. "There is something."

"No." Technically, I'm not lying.

Wherever she's concerned, everything's okay. Always will be. Carter and I will make sure of that.

"Go back to sleep, beautiful girl."

After a few minutes of stroking her hair, she falls back asleep. I slip out of the bed and grab my phone.

Five missed calls from Luna that I didn't hear. Four messages. A curse slips past my lips. By the time I fell asleep, I was exhausted. I've been knocked out for two hours and now this mess.

I don't even know what it is, but I know it's a fucking mess.

My pulse speeds up as I press my thumb to the screen to unlock the phone and read.

Luna: Boss, you up? It's important. As in code fucking red.

Luna: The night shift called up to my room. There's been a security breach. Christopher shot one of our men, Michael. He's inside Voltage.

Luna: Killian, please, he's threatening them. Got his gun aimed at one of them. Saying he won't leave without talking to you. I'm physically blocking Julien from going down there and confronting him. He can't face this asshole by himself. Please pick up.

Luna: Killian? Please?

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Me: I'm on it.

I get dressed at record breaking speed. Next, I stalk over to Carter's side, shaking his shoulder subtly. His eyes snap open, wide awake and ready for violence.

"What's up?" He sits up, throwing his feet to the floor.

Amara twists to face us. Another word, another noise, or the light from my phone shining in Amara's face, and she'll be up again.

I signal him with my thumb to step outside, mouthing one word. Voltage.

Faster than I did, he pulls on his boxers and pants. We're in our socks and shoes, throwing our shirts on, not wasting time lingering here and buttoning them. We can do it while we walk out of the room. We need to do it on the way.

"Luna called." Silently, I close the door behind us. "And texted. Jesus fuck."

"What?" Carter smooths back his bed hair, buttoning up.

"Boroughs."

The one word has Carter's lip curling in disgust. The voice reverberating from his chest is that of a rabid beast. We're protective as fuck. Will stop at nothing to take care of what's ours. Our hotel. Each other. Our girl.

Ever since that day at Voltage, Carter has insisted on going after Christopher. Killing him for how he treated Amara. Hiding his body where no one would ever find him.

I contemplated it. No, that's hardly accurate.

I wanted him to bleed. Have been craving to stand over his corpse. Spit on it.

Still, I decided against it.

That was Christopher's first offense. We beat him up. Revoked his membership. We couldn't risk making him disappear. It would've been way too obvious.

Fingers would've been pointed at us. Questions would've been raised.

They wouldn't wonder what Amara meant to us anymore.

They'd know.

That rationalization stopped Carter from slaughtering Christopher.

Hadstopped him. In past tense.

Why couldn't the dumbass hitman just let it go?

Too late for that.

Christopher Boroughs is a dead man.

Carter keeps reeling at my side while I relay Luna's messages to him. We talk as we descend the steps, ignoring the smell of sex and sweat and a particular jasmine scent in the apartment.

We need to protect the hotel. Our status in the violent world we're a part of. Otherwise, we won't have many more nights like this one. We won't have each other.

We'll be stripped of anything, including our lives.

Unacceptable.

"He needs to be put down." Carter shrugs into his jacket. His statement is plain. Final.

Couldn't agree more. "He will."

Carter picks up the keys I dropped on the floor earlier this evening. He scoops Cyclone off the floor.

Then he straightens and turns to me. His eyes are as murderous as his grin. "Tonight."

My phone vibrates in my hand.

"Luna."

"Killian." She sounds horrified. Horrified and relieved.

Carter moves closer and I put her on speakerphone. Murderous energy vibrates from him to me.

"We're on our way." My fingers lift to Carter's neck, squeezing him.

He groans quietly.

"No need."

The roaring of my blood in my ears is loud. So loud that I think I'm not hearing her well. "What the fuck do you mean no need?"

"You said Christopher is there. In our hotel." Each word Carter says comes out harsher than the former. "He killed one of ours. He's threatening our staff. He's not getting away with it."

Carter grabs the phone. "Is he there, Luna? Threatening you?"

"No and no." She sighs. "Christopher's gone, Carter. He left. I sent three men, and I woke up two of our detectives to go after him, but he's not here."

"What?" My gaze shoots to Carter. He's equally confused.

"He said he had a better idea on how to torture you both." Her pause becomes a full stop as silence fills the line.

"Out with it," I quip.

Luna sucks in a breath. "He asked to forward you a message. That you two better be looking over your shoulders. He's coming for you."

"Motherfucker." Carter spins on his heel, breaking our contact.

Any threat that's ever been issued to either one of us had made Carter laugh. I've always been the pissed-off one.

Neither of us is amused tonight. A man was murdered. Our girl's in danger.

"You called Max?" Carter's finger hovers over the screen, ready to call our main detective.

"I have. He's on it. So are our cleaners. I'm sending someone to inform Michael's family and will deposit the risk funds in their bank account. No need for you to come."

My eyes drag over to the second floor. I don't see blond hair peeking out. No muffin or Killie.

Amara is sound asleep in our bed, undisturbed by the shit we're dealing with.

My heart's grateful for the closed door that blocks Amara from listening in on this.

We have this. We have her.

But the days of her staying in the dark are over. We can't afford to have her running around the hotel or the city. Telling her to stay away or having someone on her twenty-four/seven will raise her suspicions.

We owe her the truth.

Carter has to get how wrong he is about her. She won't leave us for anything. I saw it in her eyes. And if she tries, we'll just lock her here until she embraces our lifestyle.

We're not letting her go.

I put this conversation off with him for later. Once we've done some serious damage control.

"Anything else, Luna?"

"Christopher asked to make sure that you know he's coming for your perfect little family." She pauses. I wait. "That by the time he's done, no one will remember you or Carter ever existed."

"We'll see about that." I seethe.

"What are you going to do?"

"We'll get on it this morning. We're going to find him."

Carter and I look at each other. Our furious glares clash, setting the living room on fire.

"Then we're going to make him regret the day he was born."