Page 72 of Property of Crypt Keeper

Then Zara laughed too. And for a moment… just a moment… everything felt strangely normal.

Which was exactly how Gideon found us.

The front door opened. Boots sounded on the floor. I looked up.

Mako was heading to the bar.

But Gideon. There he stood. Dirty. Tired. Concern written across his face. Then his eyes landed on us.

Zara sitting behind me, still working on my braid.

Me sitting cross-legged on the couch, allowing it.

The silence that followed was immediate. Dangerous.

For him anyway. Because Gideon looked like he wanted to laugh. Very badly.

“Do not,” I warned.

His mouth twitched. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Liar.

Complete liar.

Zara pointed at me. “She’s bad with children.”

“Zara,” I chastised, deeply offended, as if she was saying I was cruel to her.

“You are,” she insisted. Then she matter-of-factly continued, “But it’s okay. You don’t have any children of your own to practice with. One day you’ll be better.”

Gideon’s shoulders shook once. Just once.

The bastard.

Then his gaze softened. Not at me. At both of us. And something shifted in his expression. Something warm. Something that made my chest tighten unexpectedly.

For one terrifying second, it felt like we were already a family.

And something told me neither of us was ready for that thought.

18

CRYPT KEEPER

Fucking hell, I wasn’t expecting to walk into that. Honestly, I don’t know what I was expecting. Certainly not Katalina sitting rigidly on the couch like she was enduring medieval torture while Zara sat behind her, tiny fingers working through a section of her dark hair.

The sight stopped me cold.

Katalina looked up. Our eyes met. Her expression went dark, and her gaze immediately narrowed. “Do not.”

She didn’t need to say it. I knew exactly what her warning meant, and I bit the inside of my cheek. Hard.

Because I wanted to. God, I wanted to. The terrifying demon assassin looked one sarcastic comment away from murdering someone while a five-year-old braided her hair.

It was absurd, yet beautiful. Also, somehow strangely perfect.

My wolf immediately melted into a useless puddle. Mate. Child. Protect.