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Even though it was the only solution she could see, she didn’t know what was more terrifying: Reiver’s heinous threat, or the fact that it made both Malcolm and Thane slowly disarm and set their guns down on the ground.

“Now back up. Keep moving until I tell you to stop.”

They obeyed, both Breed males’ eyes simmering with amber fire. “Let them go,” Malcolm growled. “Goddamn it, you sick fuck … let them go.”

Reiver chuckled. “As you wish.”

The fist in Danika’s hair loosened and suddenly she was pitching forward, a violent shove with a force so punishing she felt as if she were flying. Malcolm moved in a flash of motion, catching her before she fell.

But Reiver wasn’t finished yet.

Danika sensed her child in danger even before Reiver sent Connor airborne. She swung her head around and there he was—her baby, her heart itself—flung aloft like a rag doll as Reiver pivoted, then vanished into the night to mak c nias othere his escape.

Danika screamed as she stared up at her helpless child, her chest exploding in abject terror.

* * *

Malcolm jolted into action.

With a running vault, he leapt to catch Connor in midair, bringing him down safely in the cradle of his arms. Danika was on her knees, holding her face in her hands and shaking as Thane stood nearby, making a feeble attempt to console her.

“Dani,” Mal murmured. “Danika, it’s all right. Connor is safe.”

She lifted her tearstained face and sucked in a hitching sob as she took the crying baby out of his hands. “Oh, Mal.” She wrapped one arm around his neck, pulling him into her embrace along with her precious child. “Malcolm, thank you. Thank you for saving my son. You saved us.”

He kissed her brow and hugged her close, never loving her more than in those terrifying moments when he thought he might lose her to Reiver’s fury. “It’s all right,” he assured her. “You’re both safe now. But you have to get out of here.”

He helped her to her feet. However, inside he knew he couldn’t go with her. Not yet. Not after what Reiver had done here tonight.

Thane, the guard who was no guard at all, gave Mal a grim look. “Reiver won’t get far. Neither will his cronies. The Agency is aware of what was going down here tonight. My squad will be here any minute, if they’re not waiting outside right now to round everyone up.”

Malcolm gave a slow shake of his head. He couldn’t trust anyone else to finish this. Not after everything he’d been through. He couldn’t rest for a moment thinking Reiver or his murderous colleagues were still walking free, able to hurt more innocent people.

Able to hurt Danika or Connor, the two people who mattered more to him than anything else in his life.

He looked at Dani, his heart squeezing with a love so profound it rocked him. As determined as he was to see Reiver dead, there was only one thing that could keep him from pursuing that goal now. Danika could stop him. With a word, a tear, a pleading look.

But she held his gaze with a steady courage. A faith that humbled him, even as it gave him new resolve.

His strong, beautiful female.

His Breedmate, once this was finally over.

He knew what her courage right now cost her. It was written in her haunted blue eyes as she gave him a subtle nod of permission, of stoic understanding.

Malcolm gathered her close and brushed his mouth against hers in an unrushed kiss. “I have to finish this.”

Her reply was quiet but resolved. “I know.”

It was a struggle t c a ght="0em"o let her go, but he released her and glanced to Thane. “Keep her safe. I’m counting on you.”

The other Breed male gave him a solemn nod. “You have my word.”

Mal couldn’t take his eyes off Danika. She held his gaze, her own unwavering, as proud and stalwart as the regal Nordic princess she truly was. “Go and finish this, Malcolm. Then come back to me, and never leave me again.”

Epilogue

He came back to Danika two nights later, haggard and worn, but the most welcome sight she’d ever seen. She opened the door