Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 125037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Ezekiel turned his cool, penetrating gaze first on Rubin and then on Diego with far too much speculation. “Seems to me, Rubin, you’re a bit upset at Diego. At first glance, it doesn’t make sense, not when he was defending his woman. You have a closer call than it appears, Diego? You hurt and haven’t said anything?”
A direct question from Ezekiel. He was family. He’d saved their lives numerous times. Diego felt intensely loyal to Ezekiel, but more than that, he respected him. Just the fact that he asked Diego, not Rubin, made Diego admire him all the more. He wasn’t putting Rubin in the position of having to choose between snitching on Diego or lying to Ezekiel.
“Had a couple of minor wounds, but nothing I couldn’t handle,” Diego said.
The floor trembled again, and the walls contracted. He was pissing off Rubin again. He knew his brother’s anger wasn’t about the couple of near misses. It was the fact that he’d risked his life when he had such a rare and valuable gift. Diego had always insisted Rubin be guarded, to the point that Rubin rebelled. All that time, Diego had known he was capable of psychic surgery, but he hadn’t volunteered the information, and worse, he’d put himself in dangerous situations time after time.
He has the right to be angry with you, Diego, Leila said. The feel of her was gentle in his mind. Not accusing, simply pointing out that he hadn’t been fair to his brother.
I’m aware. Rubin deserved better. He couldn’t bring his mind to believe the things his brother had said to him. No matter how long he contemplated Rubin’s declaration, his mind rejected every word.
“You have something you need to tell me, Diego?” Ezekiel didn’t take those amber-colored eyes from Diego’s face.
Rubin’s voice always got lower, softer, when he was at his most lethal. Ezekiel’s soft voice developed a low growl in it. That alone could shake a grown man.
He can reduce me to a fourteen-year-old, he explained to Leila. That voice and that stare of his used to not only keep us safe from outsiders trying to mess with us, but it heralded a beatdown because we’d screwed up.
Diego had a sense of humor about it. He was grown. A lethal predator, and yet there he was, with his two older brothers trying to reduce him to a kid again—and succeeding.
Actually, you haven’t caved, Diego. They might be attempting to intimidate you into revealing things you would rather not, but they haven’t succeeded.
Ezekiel didn’t let up for a moment. Those strangely colored eyes never left Diego’s.
I think he’s attempting to melt off your face, Leila whispered into his mind.
Diego had to work to keep from laughing. That wouldn’t do at all in the face of Ezekiel’s clear threat.
The door leading from the mudroom banged loudly, and a man sauntered in, his arms filled with canvas bags Diego recognized as the ones Wyatt Fontenot’s grandmother, Nonny, used. Instantly, the familiar aroma of Cajun fare filled the house.
Mordichai Fortunes turned his head directly toward Diego as he moved past him to enter the space that was the kitchen. Their eyes met, and Mordichai winked at him. It was all Diego could do not to burst into laughter.
Who is that?
Mordichai, one of Ezekiel’s brothers. He just saved my ass from his brother’s wrath, just the way we used to when we were kids. We would divert Ezekiel’s attention with distraction.
So he heard the entire conversation? Is that what you’re saying?
Yep, he was somewhere in the house. His brother Malichai is bound to be around as well.
Rubin was on his feet, following Mordichai into the kitchen. “What did you bring?”
“Nonny worried I’d starve,” Mordichai announced. “She sent everything you can imagine.”
Malichai and Mordichai are always starving, Diego told Leila. Mordichai still puts away the food. Nothing is safe around him. We all give him a hard time. And he doesn’t have an ounce of fat on him. How he manages that, I have no idea.
Mordichai was an inch shorter than Ezekiel, had extremely thick dark hair and the same golden eyes as his older brother. That trait ran in the family. He was very muscular, his arms and chest carrying heavy muscle, tapering to narrow hips and strong legs. Mordichai was the Fortunes brother who smiled the most and had a great sense of humor. The problem was, when he smiled, he showed his perfect teeth, but the smile had never once, that Diego could remember, reached his eyes.
Over the years, Diego and Rubin had noticed that Ezekiel took more care in how he spoke to Mordichai. And Nonny, who was welcoming and good to all of them, seemed to take special care with Mordichai. Diego was extremely fond of the man, but that didn’t mean he knew him. Mordichai had his secrets, just like they all did.