“What, baby?” Alec’s gaze gentled as he looked down at her.
“I’m not a Malone.”
Alec straightened and looked around him. “Looks to me like you are.”
“What did she say?” Butch asked.
“She doesn’t think she’s a Malone,” Alec told them just as they heard sirens approaching.
“Fuck, if you’re not a Malone, Mia, then how come we didn’t get to kill anyone?” Maddox asked sulkily.
“We didn’t even beat on any of these dicks ’cause we didn’t think you’d like it,” Beau added.
“We held back ’cause of you, Mia,” Jaret told her gently as he walked over and looked down at her. “We’re here because you’re a Malone and nobody fucks with the Malones.”
Warmth filled her. Tears entered her eyes as she looked around at them all. “I’m a Malone.”
“Hell yes, you are.” Alec cupped her face between his hands. “And as soon as you’re better, I’m making it official.”
“You did not just propose to her now.” The sheriff looked at him in shock. “You cannot ask someone to marry you when she’s just been kidnapped and beaten.”
“Of course not,” Alec told him. “I didn’t fucking ask at all.”
Jake shook his head. “All of you are insane.”
She just smiled at Alec. “I’m a fucking Malone.”
He leaned in and kissed her. “You are, baby. You definitely are.”
Epilogue
She was going to kill the bastards.
She’d just finished planting the last of the flowers and the place was starting to look presentable. It had taken her a long time to get over her trauma. And she wasn’t talking about her physical injuries. Things had gotten worse before they’d gotten better. Her screams during the night had been enough to wake the boys in the bunkhouse. Jaret and West had started sleeping in the house, so they could be close in case Alec needed them for anything.
At first, she’d been embarrassed by that. But they’d never treated her any differently than they had when she first moved there. They still flirted, up to a point. And, if they ever went past that point, Alec let them know, in no uncertain terms.
He’d let down a number of his shields. He now ate dinner with them each night. He watched games with his brothers sometimes. And he was killing it at poker night.
Slowly, but surely, with Molly’s help, and Alec’s love, she’d started to get the nightmares and panic attacks under control. The panic attacks had gone from three or four a day to twice a week, to where she hadn’t had one in weeks.
She’d slowly started making changes to the house. Slowly, because West didn’t react well to change. He’d bellowed for days when she’d painted one of the walls in the living room a dark blue. That had brought back old insecurities until everyone else had come to her defense. A shouting match had ensued, which somehow, she’d ended up in the middle of—having the time of her life.
They were starting to corrupt her.
Through it all, Alec had been by her side, loving her, caring for her, holding her through all the nightmares, and bringing her back to him when a panic attack gripped her.
He was everything.
And she’d never been happier in her life.
Except for right at that moment. Because she was going to commit murder. She’d just gone to fetch the hose to water her newly planted pansies when she came back to find them wrestling on the ground, trying to throw punches, each attempting to get the best of the other. She stood there, just glaring at them. Pair of idiots. Raid slammed his fist against Butch’s nose. Then Butch punched Raid in the side.
She was turning to go and get Alec, although, he’d probably just let them fight it out, when they rolled closer to her flower patch.
Oh, no, they didn’t! She’d spent far too long planting and tending to those flowers; no way were those idiots going to ruin them. Just as Raid rolled, squashing some of her newly planted pansies, she remembered the hose in her hand. Twisting the nozzle, she turned it to full throttle and aimed it at them.
They both came apart with yells loud enough to wake the dead. Men came running from all directions. And she just stared down at the two soaking wet men. One with blood dripping down his face, the other holding his side.