Unforgotten Family (An Ariel Kimber Novel Book 6)

by Mary Martel

  No one was taking either of them from me. I'd worked too damn hard to just get Romero here, and who the fuck did Adrian think he was to send me some stupid letter telling me I could keep the broken man as a freaking gift? I had told him a long time ago that you couldn't give people away to other people. Clearly he had not listened to me.

  I was going to make him listen to me or I was going to die trying. This bullshit with the Council kidnapping and abusing people whenever the mood struck them was getting old, and I planned on putting a stop to it if it was the last thing I did.

  I snatched the letter out of Dash's hands and angrily crumpled it up in my fist. I threw the wadded up paper to the floor and stomped on it with my boot.

  "When I have to go back there," I ground out between clenched teeth, "I’m kicking that fat man’s ass once and for all. I'm gonna kick all of their asses, then I'm gonna burn that stupid motel down to the ground."

  The twins grunted as they came up on each side. One of them each grabbed an arm and they picked me up, hauling me away from the stupid letter crumpled up in a mess on the floor.

  "You're not going anywhere," they said in unison, as they dragged me off between them toward the stairs that would lead me up to their joint bedroom.

  "Get back here with my daughter," Rain yelled after us.

  "Should we go with them?" I heard Simon ask his brother. "She usually gets into trouble with those two. They encourage it. She's only worse when she's with Tyson."

  I threw my head back and laughed hysterically.

  Holy shit.

  Tyson Alexander was worse than the Salt and Pepper twins. Who would have ever thought it?

  I laughed even harder, my entire body shaking with my hilarity. Both twins snorted in an attempt to cover up their laughter, but couldn't help it. Much like myself, they burst out laughing.

  Abel let go of my arm and he leaned into me and wrapped his arm around the small of my back. His hand landed on my hip and he gave a gentle squeeze. Addison let go of my arm and wrapped his around my shoulders, pulling not only myself into the warmth of his big body, but his brother who was attached to me closer to me.

  Trenton sighed, and the sound was so heavy and tired that it carried all the way across the room to where I stood between the twins. They'd stopped dragging me along after Simon had spoken and turned us around to face the rest of the guys.

  "No," Trenton said sounding tired. "We don't need to follow them. What we need to do is find some way to chip her. You know, like how people do with their pets so they can find them when they're lost. We need to figure out how to do that with Ariel, so that we can go and retrieve her every time she wanders off willingly into the hands of danger."

  "Excuse me?" I sputtered indignantly.

  "That's not a bad idea," Rain quipped. "I wish we'd been able to do something like that when she was a baby. It would have made our lives a whole lot easier and filled with remarkably less pain."

  My heart broke for my dad. Maybe a chip wasn't such a bad idea after all.

  "I'm only getting chipped if everyone else does!" I shot back.

  "Yeah," Rain grumbled under his breath. "That is definitely not going to work for me. I'm nobody’s goddamn pet."

  "Well, neither am I!" I shouted back at him.

  "The little guy could probably use one," Isobel commented, as she laid her hand on top of Baxter's head and ruffled his hair. The little boy jerked away from her as if her touch burned and quickly brushed his hand over his head, putting his hair back to rights. He glared at the woman and took a step away from her that put him closer to Rain.

  Isobel stared down at Baxter with a look of such tenderness and sadness in her eyes that my heart ached for her. I didn't know what was going on between the two of them, but seeing that look on Isobel's face let me know that whatever it was pained her greatly. It also showed me just how much she cared for the orphaned boy. I knew she'd taken to Rain, but until that moment I hadn't known just how much she'd taken to the boy as well. It was easy to understand why she liked Rain so much, he was her rescuer and she had some type of weird hero worship thing going on with him.

  Rain, on the other hand, seemed to avoid Isobel like she carried some kind of disease he'd catch simply just by being in the same room as her. I absolutely did not understand it, but I let them dance their stupid dance without interfering for fear of making it any worse on either of them.

  "Stop treating me like I'm a baby." Baxter pouted adorably. "I don't know why I have to repeat myself and tell you this all the time, but you don't get it. Just stop."

  He swiped his hand down his pant leg as if it had germs attached to it because she'd touched his hair and he had afterwards. I covered my mouth with my hand and giggled at the disgruntled little boy.

  I looked around the room and couldn't help but smile happily at the occupants as I practically leaned on the twins with all my body weight. Neither of them minded, but instead pulled me in closer to their large bodies. Their heat enveloped me and I practically melted right there on the spot.

  These people, all of these crazy people, they were my family through and through.

  We'd grown larger over the past six months, gaining first Trenton and Simon, then Baxter, then Isobel, and now we had Romero. But before all of them, Rain had come to us, he'd come for me.

  We weren't all wild and loving and happy and carefree. No, we were a whole lot of other things, but there was definitely love there under our skin.

  As I looked around the room taking them all in, pride filled me up from the inside out. Every single one of them looked like they were willing to fight, bleed, and die for their family.

  And I was right there with them because, in the end, it was only family and love that mattered.

  Epilogue

  Ariel Kimber

  I Fucking Hate Flying

  "Are you sure about this?" Quinton asked me for what felt like the hundredth freaking time.

  I sighed and rubbed my tired eyes. "No. But we're doing this anyway. It's the safest thing I could think of for them."

  Quinton took hold of my hand and weaved our fingers together. I blinked back tears at the sight of our scars lining up side by side. Yes, we were a matching pair now. I'd never felt more at home in all my life. A sense of belonging filled me up inside and plugged some of the holes in my heart.

  He squeezed my hand gently. "Your dad is going to be so pissed. At the both of us. I'll get the worst of it though."

  Rain wasn't the only one who was going to be madder than hell at the two of us.

  "We're going to war," I reminded Quinton harshly. "We have people to protect, and in order to keep them safe, we need them as far away from us as they can get and out of the line of fire. With them near we're vulnerable and weak and they could be used against us at any second. They have to go. You know this as well as I do. What the others think at the moment doesn't matter, so long as everyone we love is safe."

  Safety being the most important thing here. He knew that, so the fact he kept questioning me let me know just how nervous and uncomfortable he was with this situation we now found ourselves in.

  Poor Quinton.

  I had a feeling he'd never had to put up with these kinds of feelings before I came along and blew up his whole life. Now it was a regular occurrence for the man. I'd apologize if I thought I were entirely to blame for the whole thing, but I knew I wasn't. Maybe I was just being stubborn, but he loved me anyway.

  Quinton drew our linked hands into his lap and rested them on his hard thigh. Our hands jostled with each bounce of his knee. Which was constant. I eyed his leg and pursed my lips. I had been far too occupied with the thoughts in my head and staring out the window to notice it before now.

  "Are you sure you're okay?" I asked quietly. "You're not having second thoughts about doing this with me, are you? If you don't trust me, then there's no point in us doing this, and we'll just go back home and have to figure out something else."

  I did not want to do any of
that, but I would if it was what he really wanted. But he shouldn't have agreed to come along if he didn't trust me. And if he didn't trust me, then I was going to leave his ass as soon as we landed, because we were past that in our relationship and I would not be putting up with any of that bullshit coming from him.

  "I fucking hate flying," he muttered in an angry, hostile tone. "The whole thing is out of my control and that terrifies me. Not to mention I know that when we do get home, the twins are going to look at us as if we betrayed them for a few days because we flew without them. You'd think they'd be afraid to fly, but nope, that's not the case. They're afraid for the people they love to fly without them. I don't understand it, but then again I don't try to understand half the shit that goes on with those two. It would drive me insane to try and figure them out, so I don't even try."

  I gaped at him.

  Did he just confess to me that he was afraid of flying?

  My mouth dropped open as I looked around the space we were in. We were in a freaking airplane, for goodness’ sake. A plane he'd chartered to take us across the country because he'd insisted we not fly commercial like normal people when he could afford to charter a plane for just our party. He'd told me that was what he always did when any of the guys traveled, and if he thought they'd get more use out of it, he'd just buy his own plane, but for now he didn't see the need. Never once did he think to mention the small little fact he was afraid to fly.

  Un-freaking-believable.

  And so very Uncle Quinton.

  Men. Sheesh.

  My shoulders shook with laughter I tried to suppress. I snorted and held my free hand up to my nose and mouth, attempting to cover up the noise. I turned my face toward the window and hunched my shoulders as I choked on silent laughter.

  I'd thought he'd been so nice when he offered me the window seat. What a gentleman, giving up the view for little ole me, a sweet gesture on his part. He came off as a brash asshole most of the time, but he usually did sweet really well when it came to me, and half the time I never even had to ask for it. This time he'd been covering his own ass.

  "This isn't funny," he hissed at me. He tugged on my hand and dragged me back toward him. The view disappeared as my body slid into him and my head whipped around so I could glare at him. He let go of my hand and his arms went around me, landing on my hip. He lifted me up and placed me in his lap.

  "There," he muttered, still sounding pissy. "That makes the whole thing so much better."

  I shifted on his lap. My legs went over the armrest and I placed my feet on the seat I'd just been evacuated from. My arms slid around Quinton's shoulders and I ran my nails up the back of his neck and into his hair.

  "You should have said something to me before we got on the plane," I chided. He expected me to tell him everything, but then went and kept things from me like it wasn't hypocritical of him in the slightest. "There's no shame in admitting your fears to the girl you love. Tit for tat and all of that."

  He rolled his eyes. "I like it that you think I'm hot and manly. It hurts my image for you to know all of my fears."

  Now it was me who had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. Hot and manly, I was so sure.

  "Get a room, you two," Isobel snapped at us from down the aisle.

  I growled in frustration under my breath as I pulled away from Quinton and sat back in my own seat. I loved, Isobel, truly, I did. But she was getting on my damn last nerve. I even understood why she was so upset with me at the moment, and I still wanted to smack her upside the head.

  "You let Romero stay behind, but I wasn't allowed to." She pouted, miserable. "That's so far from being fair it isn't even funny."

  She was absolutely right. I'd already wasted my breath arguing about it with her in the car, though, and I had no intention of doing it again on a fucking plane. Quinton, however, hadn't argued the first time around, he'd stayed out of it. Unlucky for Isobel, he'd decided he was done staying out of it and letting the girls duke it out.

  Quinton turned in his seat to face her as his hand went to my thigh.

  "You're being a bitch," he told her. "And I've had about enough of it."

  She sputtered in outrage and her face immediately turned an alarming shade of red. "How dare you call me a bitch," she hissed at him. "After everything I've been through, how fucking dare you."

  I wanted to comment that her language was inappropriate to use in front of Baxter, but kept my mouth shut. Quinton had started it by calling her a bitch, after all, and I didn't want to chastise him because I felt like he'd spoken the truth. Though, he could have worded it better.

  "I only call it like it see it," he shot back. "When you stop acting like an ungrateful bitch, then I'll stop calling you one."

  Oh dear.

  This was not going well at all.

  "It's because of Ariel that you're no longer down in that hole. And it's because of Rain that you didn't drown in there. They both risked a great deal to get you out of there. Can you even imagine what it would have done to Ariel if her father had been caught going to get you? After everything they've gone through apart, and everything he's done to get her back... He risks it all every day by having you in his home."

  I swallowed painfully past the lump of emotion taking root in my throat. I hadn't thought of it that way before, but he was absolutely right. Not that I would change anything, because Isobel had become family to me and to Rain, and even before that going to get her had been the right thing to do. There'd been no question in my mind and certainly not in Rain's. Leaving her there hadn't been an option for either of us.

  "The threat is ten times worse now and you damn well know it. We've got our work cut out for us keeping Rain hidden, we can't hide you and Baxter as well and make sure you're not only hidden but safe on top of that. And I know you're angry and pissed off. It's okay to feel that way, and I'm not about to tell you your feelings are wrong. Hell, were I in your shoes, I'd feel the same damn way. You want vengeance and you want to watch as the entire Council burns for their wrongs against you. I. Fucking. Get. It."

  "Then why—"

  "I'm not done speaking. Don't interrupt me."

  I flinched at his harsh tone.

  Quinton had had enough of her bullshit—and probably mine too. Sorry, Isobel, but you're catching heat for me. Then again... #sorrynotsorry—and he wasn't going to take any more of it. This was the Quinton we all knew and either loved or loved to hate. Me, personally, I loved him, but every now and then I wanted to punch him in the throat. Not all relationships could be perfect though, so whatever.

  "You're a liability and keeping you around could potentially put my family in danger. We're not doing that. Besides, I think you might just be a little unstable. Tyson told me about the brownies that you tried to drug Rain with. We can't have that around us right now. Also, it doesn't hurt that someone from the family needs to stay with Baxter and make sure he's safe. Right now, that's your job and I hope it's one you take seriously, because if you fuck it up and something happens to that little boy, the time you spent in that hole is going to look like a fucking vacation at a five star resort when I get through with you."

  "Quinton," I hissed. Threatening her wasn't the right way to go about this. Jesus, he was nuts.

  Wait a minute... "Did you say she tried to drug Rain?"

  What in the actual fuck was he talking about?

  I turned on Isobel and my nostrils flared. "Did you try to drug my father?" I asked in a cold, hard voice that I had never used with the woman before. I'd never had a need to and, honestly, never thought I would.

  If she tried to hurt Rain... I couldn't even finish the thought, that was how horrible it was.

  "They were pot brownies!" Isobel exploded. She threw her hands up in the air in a show of frustration. "I wasn't trying to hurt him, just loosen him up a bit. I would never hurt Rain. I love him. He's become my family, my protector, and my very best friend. Though, if you asked him, he would probably deny all of it except for the family part."


  She ran a shaky hand through her dark hair, pushing it back from her face. She tucked the loose strands behind her ears and began blinking rapidly.

  I didn't want to see her cry, Isobel was the strongest woman I knew. She'd gone through so much and had seemed so strong despite it. Now she was crumbling under the weight of her emotions because... because why? She had feelings for Rain and he didn't reciprocate them?

  That made her crazy and as unstable as Quinton claimed her to be.

  "Did you try to date rape my dad?"

  "What?" she exclaimed, her face turning an alarming shade of red. "Of course not!"

  The tears started to fall, but I didn't have it in me to feel sorry for her anymore. Maybe she wasn't the right person to stay with Baxter right now in order to keep him safe. Not if she was this kind of a psycho.

  Baxter might not have been my blood, but Rain thought of him as a son and that was good enough for me. He was my little brother now, and I would do anything for him. If anything happened to him there was no telling what either Rain or myself would do, but I could tell you right now it wouldn't be pretty and the person responsible for it would suffer greatly.

  "I would never hurt Rain," Isobel insisted urgently. "I love him. I would never do anything to hurt him. He saved me. I wouldn't have actually let him eat one of the brownies, okay?"

  No, it was not okay. Not in the slightest. Isobel had broken my trust and I would never look at her the same again.

  She blanched and her hand went to her mouth. "I don't feel so good." She scrambled up out of her seat and raced toward the back of the plane where I knew the bathroom to be.

  "She doesn't want anyone to know that she loves Rain," Baxter said, speaking up for the first time since getting on the plane. "I'm pretty sure she's in love with him too. My mom told me there was a difference between loving someone and being in love with them. I don't think she'd ever actually hurt him, she's just confused and scared."