Page 45 of At Their Mercy: Part I

Shay slipped his hand into mine, and it was insane how swiftly that little gesture removed tension from my shoulders and neck.

I let out a breath and threaded our fingers together.

“I’ll take care of you as soon as we get out of here,” he murmured.

“You always take care of me.” I pressed a kiss to his temple.

He peered up at me with a cheeky smile. “I scratch your back, you scratch up mine.”

Reese let out a laugh, and I couldn’t help but chuckle too. That was funny.

Noa must’ve overheard Shay, ’cause he inched closer to KC and asked, “Can I take care of you, Daddy?”

KC hugged his boy to him, already relying a lot on his cane. “You’ve been the best boy I could ask for all day, as it is. Now I wanna see you unleash the brat.”

“Before the ceremony?” Lucian asked pointedly.

“Submission accomplished!” Noa hollered. “Brat mode activated!” The boy took off.

KC grinned. “Yup. Don’t worry.”

Lucian worried.

“Wait for me, Noa!” Jordan ran past us to catch up.

All the guests rounded the pool area, with the Carters and Kit leading the way. Then when we reached the chairs, everyone was properly drenched from the rain.

With perfect timing, thunder rumbled in the distance—but that was actually fine with me. As long as the thunder moved closer, its presence meant it wouldn’t be a lengthy ceremony.

We found seats somewhere in the middle, and we ended up having Ash and Nathan behind us. Their new partner James too, with an extra seat saved for Jordan, who was huddled up with the brats near the makeshift altar.

Greer had built it. Just plywood, maybe five inches high, and painted black. Reese had wanted to help, but Greer had witnessed my brother’s skills in the past. Without clear-cut instructions and someone watching him, like when we built the cabins, Reese improvised until he had just enough material left to make a half-shitty paddle.

The brats scattered eventually to take their seats, and Colt and Lucas joined Kit on the low platform.

It was comical, and everyone felt it. Guests shared grins and shook their heads in amusement as their finest attire got washed by the weather. Colt smiled and gave Lucas a big kiss.

“Yo, Damien!” Noa called out. “We’ll talk later about that thing!”

What thing?

Kit grinned and gave him two thumbs up.

I looked around at the brats.

Hm.

Shay was smiling too.

“We want to thank you all so much for being here today,” Lucas started by saying. “I suppose if we’re tying our brat to us, we should have the brattiest weather too.” He got some cheers for that. Lucas chuckled before he released a breath and gave Colt a smile. “Yesterday, I was fortunate to marry one of the two loves of my life. It was a beautiful day. Colt cried.”

I grinned.

“Pfft, so did you, Daddy,” Kit huffed.

Corey laughed harder than anyone else. “We need a sign that says Kit Damien is the funniest brat ever!”

I lifted my brows. That might be an exaggeration.