Chapter Fifty-Four

When Lena walked into the lodge together with Dane, everyone instantly fell quiet and looked up. She got the distinct feeling the others had been talking about her.

God. Had she and Dane been too loud last night? Were they all judging her?

Despite the way the morning had started, it didn’t take long for the guilt to seep back in. This wasn’t the right time to start anything with a man. Especially a man who had his own demons to slay.

She and Dane were both in a horrible place, but that just made them need each other all the more. If nothing else, their pleasure had allowed her to get some sleep, so she felt alert this morning. She was able to think things through with more clarity, now that her mind had been stripped bare and allowed a moment to relax.

There were guns sitting on the dining table where everyone had gathered for breakfast, and she couldn’t help but notice Garrett moved his gun closer to his empty plate as she walked over to the table.

They still didn’t trust her. Probably for good reason. Her face heated as she remembered her actions from the evening before. Embarrassment made her throat tight.

She took a deep breath and said, “I want to apologize again for what I did yesterday.”

Colton wasn’t at the table, but he must have heard her through the opening that led to the kitchen where he was making breakfast with Samantha.

“No more apologies,” he said, pointing authoritatively at her with a spatula. “I’m fine, and I understand why you might have thought that was your only option.”

“I wasn’t really worried,” Angel said as she burped the baby. “You still had the safety on. If you had pulled the trigger, nothing would have happened.”

Lena’s jaw dropped in surprise. “Oh.” That should have made her feel better, but now she just felt more embarrassed.

“She should learn how to handle a gun,” Justin said with a grin. “We have time after breakfast. I’d be happy to show her.”

She was glad he wasn’t glaring any longer, but that grin looked like trouble.

“Good idea,” said Thorne.

Awesome. She barely ate anything. If she’d been nervous before, knowing she was going to be handling a firearm made it even worse.

Her lack of appetite gave her a chance to watch the camaraderie between Dane and the other members of Task Force Phoenix. They really were a family.

She knew blood and DNA didn’t dictate who qualified as family. Her in-laws, Denise and Alan Scott, had always felt more like real parents to her than her own. She hated that she had been keeping them out of this nightmare since the beginning. They probably thought she was avoiding them, or was attempting to cut Kenzie from their lives. No doubt, they’d been calling her old number, asking to see her.

But she wasn’t getting those calls since Viktor had taken her phone.

She would have been able to call them, but she didn’t know what she would say. She didn’t know how she would tell them their son had betrayed his child in the worst possible way.

She didn’t know how to explain how powerless she was.

Except, she wasn’t powerless anymore. The people in this room were ready to help her get Kenzie back. If they were successful, it would be easy to gloss over her lack of communication and beg Denise and Alan to forgive her.

But she had to get her daughter back first. Thankfully, the people here were committed to help with that.

And teaching her to shoot was a step in that direction.

Despite their offer to help, she knew she was still an outsider. And she was more and more certain the looks they threw her way had nothing to do with what had happened the night before, or her inadequacies when it came to firearms. This was something else.

There was a dire warning in their eyes as their gazes flicked between her and Dane.

Don’t hurt him, was practically written on their faces.

They could rest easy. Hurting Dane was the last thing she wanted to do. She wouldn’t be this close to finding her daughter if it weren’t for him.

Originally, she hadn’t wanted him to know about Kenzie, afraid he would use her story to punish her. But he hadn’t. Instead, he’d offered her compassion and understanding, as well as whatever new connection they’d made in bed together.

She had no idea what would happen next. She was too afraid to plan anything beyond that day. Not until Kenzie was safe. But she knew no matter what happened, she would always be grateful to the man with the warm, brown eyes sitting next to her.

She finished off her coffee and stood to go prepare for her firearms lesson, but before she made it away from the table her phone rang with the familiar happy ring tone.

Kenzie was calling.