Page 66 of Blood Red Rage

My stomach turned, this was our home. Our children's home, there should have been bicycles on that lawn, Layla's flowers, Sorcha complaining about somebody leaving boots near the door, Bryn laughing with the women, Runa reading beneath the tree.

Not armed guards, not bullet trajectories, not bloodshed waiting to happen. Draugr hadn't even brought the SUV to a complete stop before Viking opened the door.

"Viking!" Too late, he was gone. Lucien followed, then Volken. I stepped out last. Draugr killed the engine and looked at me across the roof.

"Roman." I stopped. "She's alive."

My jaw tightened. "I know."

"Remember it before you walk in there." I stared at the mansion, somewhere inside was my mate, my child. Alive, safe, terrified perhaps but alive.

I drew one breath, then another. My power settled, it didn’t disappear never that, it compressed, focused. The difference between an explosion and a blade. I looked at Draugr. "Find out who fired that shot."

His expression hardened. "Already working on it."

I started toward the doors, then stopped. "Draugr."

He looked at me. "When you find them..." I didn't finish, I didn't need to.

Draugr's pale eyes went cold. "I know."

Then I entered the mansion. I heard Viking before I saw him.

"Bryn!" His voice thundered through the halls.

"Sorcha!" Lucien shouted somewhere behind him.

Volken said nothing, he simply moved. Fast. Heading for Runa. And me? I could feel Layla, the bond pulled me through the mansion like a chain wrapped around my heart. She’s alive. Alive. Alive.

I followed it, down the corridor past guards, through reinforced doors toward the safe room. Ashen stood outside his body stiff, his eyes scanning everything. The moment he saw me, he stepped aside. I didn't speak; I couldn't. The door opened and there she was.

Layla.

On the floor with our child wrapped around her, her face lifted, our eyes met and just like that everything inside me stopped.

"Roman." One word, my name. She barely had time to stand before I had her in my arms, one hand went behind her head, the other wrapped around her waist. I pulled her against me so tightly she gasped, but I couldn't loosen my grip. I buried my face against her hair, her scent filled my lungs.

Alive. Warm. Mine.

Aleksander crowded around my legs, and I reached blindly for him too, dragging him into us until I had my entire world inside the circle of my arms.

Layla's hands touched my face. "Roman."

I opened my eyes and my heart skipped a beat, she looked shaken. That nearly ended my control. "Three inches," I whispered.

Her expression broke; a tear escaped the corner of her eye. "I know."

My forehead dropped against hers. "Three fucking inches, Layla." My voice was a deep growl of rage, of suppressed fury.

Her fingers curled around the back of my neck, the warmth of her touch rushing over me, calming my mind, warming the coldness that started to radiate from my very soul when I heard that the mansion had been breached.

"But it missed."

I shut my eyes.

"It missed," she repeated.

Behind me came another sound. A broken, furious breath. I looked over to see that Viking had found Bryn. She was in his arms, practically swallowed by him, his hands moving over her face, shoulders and body as if he needed physical confirmation that every part of her remained intact.