Page 1 of Her Chosen Protector

P R O L O GU E

Asher Thorne didn’t flinch at the distinctive sound of a grease gun being fired. The shots came at an even cadence as he tramped up the soggy, muddy logging trail toward his older brother’s cabin. As he got closer the shots began to fire more rapidly until they were soon just one ceaseless, incessant noise.

“You’re going to start a fire,” he shouted as he looked over the chaos in the clearing in front of the cabin.

“It’s raining.” Law’s voice was low, but Asher heard him even over the rain and gunfire. His baby brother had massacred eight spruce trees by Asher’s count—the branches, boughs, and needles were strewn everywhere. Lawson continued to shoot at one tall tree as he leaned his hip against the porch rail of the cabin. His strength made it easy for him to spray the gun forward and back, finally felling another tree.

“Is this making you feel any better?” Ash asked.

“Maybe. I haven’t decided.” His words were coated with bitterness.

Asher swung his duffel off his shoulder and walked past his brother up the stairs into Xavier’s cabin. It had been their brother’s sanctuary. The furnishings were sparse, but when Xavier needed a chance to unwind after a mission, this is where he always ended up. Ash had never understood the appeal of the ass-end of Manitoba, Canada. It wasn’t surprising that after his death he and Law had ended up here, trying to figure out what had been going on in Xave’s head.

The shooting finally stopped, and the stomp of Law’s boots sounded on the stairs right before the door slammed open.

“What the fuck was he thinking?” Law yelled into the small space.

Asher didn’t answer. Law must have been here a while, since there was already a fire going in the woodstove. Ash checked the contents in the pan on top of the stove.

“Don’t ignore me.”

“You’re tough to ignore,” Asher said mildly as he stirred the pea soup. Law hated the stuff, but it had been Xavier’s favorite. Asher really wasn’t surprised that his little brother was eating the stuff. It was basic instinct to do anything to feel closer to a deceased loved one, no matter how mad you were at them. Asher found a chipped bowl and a tin mug and ladled some of the soup. He placed it on the solid pine table that Xavier had built.

“Sit down,” he commanded his brother as he pushed out a chair for him with his foot. Law fished out two spoons from a drawer and handed one to Asher then sat. They ate in silence. When his brother picked up his bowl and sucked down the last of its contents with a loud slurp, Asher felt something shift inside his chest. For just a moment, his pain lifted.

Law set down his bowl and looked up, showing a sign of life. “It used to annoy the shit out of Maman when Xavier would do that.”

“Yeah, it cracked me up that even when he was well over six feet tall, she’d still whap him on the shoulder with her wooden spoon.”

“It was the only thing he ever did wrong in her eyes,” Law said. “He was such a suck-up.”

They both smiled. It felt good. For one blessed moment, it felt good. Then Law took a deep breath and blew it out slowly through his nose.

“How could he let her down so badly? How could he let us down? He was Delta for fuck’s sake!”

The bowl flew across the room before crashing against the log wall. Law was out of his seat, the chair on the floor, as he grabbed the hot pan off the stove and threw that against the opposite wall, a green spray of pea soup following in its wake.

“Why?” he bellowed. “Goddamn you, Xave. I still needed you!”

Asher felt his heart breaking. It was an actual physical pain in his chest.

Unshed tears glittered in Law’s eyes as he turned to Ash. “Why didn’t he come to us? What could have been so bad that he couldn’t have come to us?”

The pain in his chest tripled in size. It was the same question Asher had been asking himself since the day he’d heard about Xavier’s suicide. How could he have failed his big brother so badly?

“How could he have done this to Maman?” Law cried out. He stood there, his chest heaving, his arms stretched out from his body, his hands fisted. “How is she surviving this?”

“She doesn’t know,” Ash whispered as he cautiously walked over to stand in front of his large brother.

“You didn’t tell her that Xavier killed himself?” Law whispered.

Asher shook his head. “Since she’s over in Belgium, and you were on a mission, they notified me first. I told her. I said he died during a training exercise.”

Law gripped his shoulder. “Thank God you did that. I talked to her, but she was so broken up, we never discussed how he died.” Law’s fingers clenched tighter. “We just talked about Xavier, ya’

know? Hell, half the time she was talking French so fast I couldn’t understand her.”

Ash had understood every word she’d said. He’d talked to her in French for hours. First, she’d lost dad, and now Xavier. He had to get her to the States.