“I want to marry you,” he told her.
That had her propping her head up as she grinned down at him with a raised brow. “Are you asking me or telling me?”
Kane’s answering smile was full of mischief as he teased, “That depends on how you’d answer that question. Trust me, I’m Born, I’m not above kidnapping you and holding you captive in my evil lair until I convince you that we’re perfect for each other.”
Sophia let out a little chuckle. “Isn’t the dragon supposed to be the one to kidnap the princess – or prince in this case?”
Kane’s fingers laced through her hair and gently gripped the nape of her neck as he shook his head. “The fairytales got it wrong.”
“How so?” she asked, still grinning.
Kane’s expression turned serious, as he told her, “It wasn’t a dragon guarding a princess. She was a queen. And shewasthe dragon.”
Sophia’s eyes welled with tears though she was still smiling as she leaned down to kiss him. Against his lips, she whispered, “I love you, Kane Fletcher, and if you ask, my answer would be, yes.”
Kane closed his eyes with a dreamy smile. “Now I just need to figure out the best way to ask.” He yawned widely, adding, “Things like that should be memorable.”
A moment later, he was sound asleep.
∞∞∞
“Now that Evangeline is out of the picture,” Sophia said to Kane as she whipped the eggs with a whisk for the breakfast she was making him. It was nine o’clock at night rather than nine in the morning, Kane having slept the entire day away thanks to his injuries, but she was still determined to make him breakfast despite the hour. “We can focus on finding Kevin Thompson. I’m ready,” she quickly added, heading off any protest. “I’ve been working out, building my strength. I’m a fair shot with a gun, and I’ve even practiced tracking.”
Kane’s expression turned sheepish as he ducked his head and scratched the back of his neck. “Er… About that,” he cleared his throat.
Sophia stilled the whisk and Kane grimaced at the thought of disappointing her. Shit. Kevin Thompson washervengeance, her closure for what had been done to her, and he’d forgotten about that in his attempt to get Nicky out. He could have done things differently, there were millions of ways of incapacitating a body and he wished he had thought of at least one at the time so that he could have presented that rogue bastard to Sophia as a gift to exact her revenge.
“I, ah, already killed him.”
“Oh.”
The whisking resumed, though a bit more violently than her previous strokes he noted, and Kane winced. “I’m sorry, Sophia. He was with Evangeline –”
“There’s no reason to be sorry,” she cut in with a tight smile. “I mean, you told me right from the start that he was a target of yours, and you planned to take him down.”
He had said that, yes, but he had also agreed that should he find Kevin Thompson first, he’d bring him to Sophia to punish. Fuck. Rushing around the breakfast bar, he grabbed the bowl of extremely well-beaten eggs out of her hands and pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry. I fucked up. I wasn’t thinking.”
He both heard and felt Sophia take a deep breath and release it, then her arms came around him. “It’s okay,” she told him.
“It’s not okay. Tell me how I can make this up to you.”
Sophia shook her head. “He was the only one left.”
Kane grimaced. “I know. Shit. I know. I’m so sorry.”
Pulling away he let out a frustrated groan and ran his hands through his hair as he paced into the living room and back again. Stopping, his face brightened as he offered, “You can hunt Edward if you want. You won’t be able to kill him, of course, I like the guy too much to let you do that, but it could be fun to chase him. We’ll give him a twenty-four-hour head start and see how long he can elude your new tracking skills.”
Sophia’s laughter was a beacon in the dark and lifted the weight from his heart as she pointed out, “Edward’s probably not a good target. He’ll worry you’ll miss an appointment and turn himself over to us just to remind you.”
Kane let out a short bark of laughter. “You’re probably right.”
Her face sobered. “I need to see him.”
“Edward?” Kane asked hopefully.
“Kevin Thompson.”
He was afraid she was going to say that. But when he’d said he’d do anything to make it up to her, he meant it. Nodding, he said, “All right.”
