Audrey's jaw firmed. "Come after my kid or my family, and I'll kill you, Mother. I promise."

Piper smiled. d.a.m.n, she liked her new friends.

Nate tugged Audrey away. "Enough, baby. Let's forget about her and the past."

"Good plan." Jory typed away, and the screen disappeared. "No offense, Aud, but that woman is bat-s.h.i.t crazy."

Audrey chuckled. "Yeah. I know."

Matt leaned back. "We need to find any other soldiers created by the commander and Madison before the PROTECT people get to them."

Jory nodded. "I'll send directives to our computer center in California and get our soldiers on it. They're regrouping after the fight at the compound, but it looks good. Several injuries for us, but no deaths."

Matt leaned back and smiled. "We trained them well."

Jory nodded. "We'll start investigating PROTECT and hunting down any soldiers or brothers we might have out there." He slid the computer away. "For today, let's just enjoy the moment. We're not going to die anytime soon."

Shane lifted his b.l.o.o.d.y Mary from across the room near the kids. "To not dying."

The cheer went up, the idea somber but the sentiment almost gleeful.

Piper shoved curly hair off her head. If she didn't get Jory alone to discuss their possible future, her head was going to explode. They had to have a future. "The eggs were great. What now?"

Wade took his empty plate to the sink. "Um, I saw a bunch of baseball stuff in the back room."

Grandpop Jim nodded. "I bought that stuff off the Internet for when the baby comes." His dark eyebrows wiggled. "We should try it all out now."

"We have never played sports." Kyle hopped up. "When we watched shows about families, they played baseball outside together. Even the vampire families."

Matt rubbed his chin. "Well, I guess we could."

Jory scratched his arm. "Um, okay."

Piper frowned. "Why don't you guys want to play baseball?"

The Dean brothers all shifted in their seats, but n.o.body spoke.

Earl patted his belly, and his eyes widened. "You don't know how to play baseball?"

Shane shrugged. "We never really had time to learn."

Piper gasped. "What did you do for fun as kids?"

"Put together missiles?" Matt asked.

"Practiced grappling and hand-to-hand," Nate mused.

"Threw knives." Shane nodded.

"Hacked into the Kremlin," Jory said.

Piper glanced around. That was crazy. She'd never met anybody who hadn't played baseball at least once. Her heart broke a little, and she glanced at the women in the room. "Ladies?"

Josie shook her head. "Grew up in foster care with no money for sports. I've never played."

Audrey patted her still flat belly. "Boarding school. No getting dirty or playing outside-except for tennis."

Holy c.r.a.p. Piper rounded on Laney. "Please tell me-"

"Nope." The graceful woman shook her head. "I was a lab nerd and played with chemicals for fun. No real sports."

This was unbelievable. Piper stood up. She owed her mother for giving her a wonderful childhood. "I played softball for eight years."

Her mom threw her ap.r.o.n on the counter. "I coached for several of those years."

Earl gave Grandpop Jim a hand to help him up. "I played baseball."

"Me, too." Grandpop Jim's eyes sparkled. "I guess it's time to teach these kids how to play."

"You cannot just create your own baseball rules," Piper muttered, plucking a string from the bedspread. She'd already showered after the vigorous game and had left Jory to help clean up.

He emerged from the attached bathroom, hair wet, broad chest damp. A fresh bandage covered his side. A towel hung loosely at his hip.

Her mouth went dry.

He grinned. "Why not?"

"Because. The rules are the rules, and the Piper Carry doesn't get you more points." He'd tossed her over a shoulder and jogged around the bases while the boys had chased him, declaring that if he touched home plate, he got two points. "You've played baseball once. No new rules."

He shrugged and grinned. "Shane liked the rule."

"Because he was on your team." Piper rolled her eyes. "Nate hated the rule."

"Only because he couldn't pick up Audrey and run around. She'd puke all over him." Jory leaned against the door frame, muscled arms crossed. "Now do you want to tell me what's wrong?"

The way he looked at her. Gentle determination and patient amus.e.m.e.nt. It ticked her off. "No." She lifted her chin.

His cheek creased. "Yes. Spit it out, Piper."

"We haven't known each other very long, and we jumped right into this." She wet her lips, not missing the flare of interest in his gaze.

"The circ.u.mstances surrounding us make time lines irrelevant. Together we've been through more in the last week than most couples get in a lifetime."

But what did that mean? Did he want to date? Have s.e.x? Work on a life? "Okay."

"You love me, Piper."

She stilled, her head jerking up. "You are so arrogant." Although he was right, and she did love him. But how was he so sure?

"No." He shook his head, losing his smile. "Well, not in this case. I'm just sure."

"How?" she whispered. Yeah, the guy had her heart. But how did he know?

"I can see it." An odd vulnerability filtered through his stormy eyes. "One of those extra abilities I have? I can see beneath the surface... things I shouldn't be able to see."

"Love?" She tilted her head, her heart thumping, her mind whirling. "What does love look like?"

"A wisp of color." He stretched his neck, his gaze remaining on her. "At first, when I was young, I wasn't sure what I was seeing from my brothers for each other. But when Nate fell in love with Audrey years ago, I saw it and I knew."

"Nate and Audrey knew each other years ago?" Piper grabbed on to the one fact to focus.

Jory grinned. "Yes. You have a lot of family history to catch up on."

Now that sounded promising. "Does love look the same on, ah, everybody?"

"No. Different colors, or maybe different frequencies." He shrugged. "Masculine and feminine energies always look different."

She stood and faced him. "What does my love look like?"

His gaze softened. Warmed. "All encompa.s.sing and bright. Full of heat and determination. All mine."

Well then. She swallowed. "I'm stubborn. Sometimes reckless."

"I'm overbearing and sometimes possessive." He shrugged. "We all have issues. I like yours."

Man, he just wanted to own her heart, didn't he? She paused.

He faltered. "Um, we should talk about the fact that I killed the commander." The vulnerability darkening Jory's eyes hurt to see.

Piper shook her head. "There's nothing to talk about, and it isn't anything that's standing between us. I didn't know him, much less care for him, although I wanted to badly. You? I care about. You did what you had to do, and I'm with you." Saying the words released something in her. She was with him and would remain so. "Can you see your love underneath your surface?"

"Yep. Darker and more dangerous than yours. Protective and possessive. An absolute." He pushed away from the wall and reached for her arms. "Mine's tinged with your light now and has been since the first time I kissed you. No matter what, green eyes. You live here." He patted his chest over his heart. "I love you, Piper."

She faltered. "I've never trusted a man before."

"I know."

She lifted her chin. "I trust you." Moving where she wanted, she stood flush against his chest. "I love you, Jory." Stretching up on her toes, she slid her mouth against his. Life was too d.a.m.n short for uncertainty or taking things slow.

A sound of welcome rumbled up from his chest. A sound of home.

He tugged her into him, a haven of warmth and safety. And electricity. Taking over the kiss, he delved deep, giving her everything she could ever want. Home. Security. Love.

Life was good... and they now had time to live it.

CHAPTER.

31.

SHANE DEAN SHOOK water from his wet hair and crossed into the bedroom, his heart thumping hard in a second. Josie sat cross-legged on the bed, her face scrubbed fresh in the shower they'd just shared. He'd taken her twice, and now, seeing her there, he hardened again.

"You're gorgeous, Angel," he said.

She rolled her pretty eyes. "You're insatiable."

"Yep. So are you." He tuned his extra senses into the sounds of the house, relaxing when everything came back familiar.

"Is Mattie okay?" Josie asked.

Shane rubbed his chin. "Yeah. He and Laney are chatting it up in their bedroom." Shane's hearing was strong enough when he wanted that he could actually listen in on their conversation, but he gave them their s.p.a.ce. "Discovering we might have other brothers out there hit Matt hard. We'll have to track down the lead and see if it's true."

"What about you?"

He shrugged. "I'll get worried when we find out if the file was true or just Madison messing with us."

Josie nodded and rubbed a bruise on her arm. "The kids had fun playing ball."

"So did you." He reached her and studied the bruise. "But you got hurt." d.a.m.n it. How had he let her get bruised?

She rolled her eyes. Again. "It's a small bruise from sliding into second. You're just mad you didn't get me out."

Truth be told, he'd fumbled on purpose because she'd been so d.a.m.n cute sliding. "You were too fast for me."

"Right." She smiled up at him-his perfect, stubborn, beautiful angel. "Having the kill chips out is so surreal, I'm not sure what to do with myself now."

He chuckled. She knew better than to open herself up like that. So he set a knee on the bed and flattened himself over her, careful not to squish her. "Well, I'll see what I can come up with."

Her pretty blue eyes sparkled, and she slid her hands over his bare shoulders. "You know what I meant."

He did. Having the chips out didn't even seem real to him yet. Having a house full of grandparents and kids didn't seem real, either. "You know how much I love you, right?"

Her smile softened, and her eyes darkened. "I do know. I love you, too." Amus.e.m.e.nt curved her lips. "According to Grandpop Jim, we're the only ones here not living in sin."

Shane chuckled. "We're an old married couple, are we?"

"Sure." She wiggled her b.u.t.t in a way that enticed him. "Do you think we're safe here?"