Page 49 of Truthfinder’s Promise

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Jensen was prepared for the punch. Dom had that look on his face, even if Jensen didn’t know exactly what had put it there. He thought about taking the hit—sometimes it was better to just let Dom get it out—but he’d taken too much pain lately to take it from someone close to him.

He blocked, driving Dom’s arm up and then lunging in to shove him back.

“Nice to see you, too,” he bit out. He and his cousin’s relationship had been a little rocky for the last couple years, for reasons Dom had never bothered to discuss with him. But whatever it was, Jensen didn’t think he deserved a punch to the face after everything he’d just told them he’d been through. Granted, he’d glossed over the worst parts, but the subtext was readable.

“Well?” he prompted when Dom continued to stare at him, fists clenched.

“What is that in there?” Dom jerked his head at the house.

“You’ll have to be more specific. The house? The interior decorating? The—”

“Her.”

“Meredith?”

Dom’s lip wrinkled. “You throw Serenity away like she’s trash because she wanted a life with you, and then two months later you’re gone. Nobody knows where you are. We don’t hear from you again, and when Ren convinces us to come track you here because she still cares about you, for some dipshit reason, we find you married to an Aspecter?”

Jensen bit his lip on an instinctually rude response. There’d been a whole lot of Serenity in Dom’s speech.

“You didn’t hear from me because I was locked in a damn basement. I didn’t have enough strength to shift human until this morning and no, I didn’t call because I wasn’t leaving without Natalie, and as long as it was just me here it was my risk to take.”

“You weren’t locked in a basement the first month you were down here. You toss Ren over and go screw the first thing you could find?”

It was official. This had absolutely nothing to do with him. And his cousin was still as fucking self-absorbed as ever. “You got a self-righteous stick up your ass or are you just in love with my ex?”

Dom’s nostrils flared like a horse that had just run a three minute mile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really? Half the damn words out of your mouth have been Ren this, Ren that. You think I did her so wrong? She and I are both adults, Cuz. We wanted different things. Not that it’s any of your damn business, but she told me to either marry her and give her a couple kids, or get out of the way so someone else could.

“Not my fault if I couldn’t make the choice she wanted. And I hate to break it to you, man, but your two years of pent-up aggression over a woman you never bothered to tell anyone you liked is about the least important thing on my mind right now.

“Take a walk and cool off. Don’t come back until you can remember that what matters right now is the fact that my sister—who is just a kid—is still in the hands of some asshole who wants to sell her to the highest bidder, and all Meredith has to do with that is that she wants to stop it from happening.”

The muscles in Dom’s neck strained. “That an order?”

“Yeah, it’s an order.” For a tense moment, Jensen didn’t know if Dom would follow it. Then he gave a jerky nod and headed down the path to the gardens. “And Dom?” His cousin paused. “You may all think I married Meredith to protect her, and it’s true. But she is my wife. Touch her, disrespect her, and you answer to me.”

As Dom resumed walking, the bushes to Jensen’s right rustled and Hel popped out. He wished he could say he was surprised to see her, but Hel had been eavesdropping on everything and everyone since before she’d understood the meaning of the word.

She brushed dead leaves off her jeans. “It is so hot when you men do that whole, touch-my-woman-and-die spiel.” Her nose wrinkled. “Or it would be hot, if I weren’t related to you by all but blood.” She grinned, launched herself forward, and caught him around the middle in a bear hug. “For the record, I am happy you’re alive and not missing your teeth or eyes.”

Hel always said the most random, weird shit. He hugged her tight. “I missed you too, kid. Why would I be missing teeth and eyes?”

“You can’t keep calling me kid just because I’m younger than you. And everyone knows that’s how you torture people. Pulling out teeth and stuff.”

He grunted. He knew he should make himself make a joke in response, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“Shit,” Hel said, “that was really insensitive. I always say the wrong thing, you know I always say the wrong thing.”

“Don’t worry about it, kid.”

She pushed back and looked at him, her brown eyes worried. “You okay? I mean, I know you’re not okay, but like…” She trailed off.

“I’m okay for now. I’ll figure the rest of it out later.” He turned to the house. “I need to go explain to Meredith about the whole married thing.”

Hel looked at him, horrified. “You didn’t tell her she was marrying you?” She smacked him on the chest. “Jensen! You can’t go around marrying women without their consent. It’s wrong. And damn it, I’m sorry I hit you.”