Life After War

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Reunited

"Time's about up," Kenn muttered, pausing at the intersection. He stilled, sensing movement nearby, but didn't react.

If Angela and Brady were close, he couldn't change that, but he could split them up. It sucked that she had made it this far. For a brief second, he considered leaving her here but knew it was only delaying the inevitable. He had Charlie, the only reason she'd come, but more than that, he couldn't let go. She was his.

Kenn sighed unhappily, not caring about the patches of red weeds growing along the rusty, barbed wire fencing, or the two-headed water moccasin that was slithering across the ground near his muddy, steel-toed boots. The only question that mattered was, did he still want her? There was a strong claim, and they had a deal he had told her would never be broken, but did he want a life with her?

No, Kenn answered himself, not knowing how much he would come to regret handling things based on that decision.

If Angela joined Safe Haven, Adrian would find out what he had been hiding. The rage flared to life at that thought, as it always did when someone might be a challenge for the blond man's attention.

When the snake slithered closer, Kenn drew and threw his knife as his jealous, furious mind replaying the kiss.

His K-BAR drove into the snake's thick, brown neck, pinning it to the dusty ground. The reptile was dead before the blade had stopped vibrating and Kenn retrieved the sharp knife.

He sheathed it and strode around the corner, now eager to get it on. Angela had forgotten who she belonged to and he couldn't wait to remind her.

2

He's here. Kenny's here!

Footsteps crunched behind her, and Angela's hand dropped to her gun as her gaze found Marc in the barn's moldy doorway.

Marc snapped his mouth shut on the warning that would have been too late, realizing he knew the Marine now striding determinedly down the middle of the street—and not just from their time together on the base. The cold glower of ownership he threw Marc's way said this was her man. The piper was here, and it was time to pay.

Kenn stopped a few feet away, wishing she would pull the gun so he could kill them both and claim self-defense to Adrian.

"Kenny?"

He knew the joy spreading across her expression wasn't for him. It faded fast.

"You're alone."

Kenn glared. "I've come to get you."

Her brow wrinkled, and he noted a flare of anger that was unexpected. She should be scared.

"Little late for that now," Angela pointed out, able to feel him trying to control himself. Would he end it all right here? Marc was silently telling her to duck, that he would do the rest.

Angela didn't retreat from Kenn's thunderous visage, waiting for fate to determine who would live and who would die.

Kenn hated her new confidence, and his sarcasm hid a note of unease when she didn't blink, didn't take her hand from the gun on her hip. "You have no welcome for me?"

"Of course, I do," she hesitated, and then added, "We've been apart a long time."

The breeze gusted, sending her hair flying wildly, and Kenn was glad to detect her wary glance as he noted it. She wasn't allowed to have it down in public. It was another transgression to be held accountable for.

"Show me you are glad to see me," he ordered.

Angela stepped into his waiting arms with a heavy heart. Could she tolerate, endure a little (six years!) longer, so no one else would get hurt? Could she give in?