Page 59 of Blood Red Rage

Runa finally took pity on me. "Nobody cares, Bryn. It's normal here."

"Normal?" I stared at her. "There were guards outside our bedroom!"

Sorcha snorted. "Trust me, they were probably trying very hard not to listen."

I buried my face in my hands never wanting to see Luka, Nico or Kosta’s face again. Viking hadn't mentioned that little detail. I was going to murder him.

Then Sorcha asked, far too casually, "So how big is he?"

I inhaled at precisely the wrong moment. Air went down the wrong pipe and I started coughing. Runa immediately dissolved into laughter, even Layla lost whatever composure she'd been clinging to.

"SORCHA!"

"What?" she demanded innocently.

"You cannot ask people that!"

"Why not?"

"Because you just can't!"

She tilted her head. "You're blushing again."

"I'm choking!"

"While blushing." I grabbed a cushion and threw it at her. She caught it, laughing.

"You are horrible."

"And you're avoiding the question."

"There will be no answer!"

Runa wiped tears from her eyes. "Leave the poor woman alone."

"Thank you."

Runa paused. Then added, "Although Viking is exceptionally tall, so statistically..."

"RUNA!"

That finished them. All three dissolved into helpless laughter, and against every expectation I'd had when I first arrived here, I joined them. I laughed until my stomach hurt, until tears gathered in my eyes, until the strange tension I'd carried since the shooting finally loosened.

For a few precious minutes, I wasn't Viking Dragic's human mate, I wasn't the woman someone had tried to kill, I wasn't trying to understand vampires or bonds or blood or an uncle who apparently wanted all of us dead. I was just Bryn.

Sitting with women who were rapidly beginning to feel like friends, maybe even family. The thought had barely formed when the window exploded.

CRACK.

The sound was deafening, as glass burst inward. Layla jerked sideways as something struck the wall behind her with a violent snap. For half a second, nobody moved. My ears rang, my brain refused to understand what had happened. Then I saw the hole in the wall, it was barely inches from Layla's head. A bullet. And then everything erupted.

"DOWN!" one of the men shouted.

Luka hit me from the side, throwing his body between me and the windows as Ivan that seemed to appear from nowhere surged toward Sorcha.

Gideon grabbed Layla around the waist and dragged her to the floor.

Runa screamed as Nico pulled her to safety. "The children!"