She was angry at Poppy for going with Oliver, but she was absolutely livid that the reason Poppy had tied herself to a man like her husband in the first place was because of their father and his damaged way of parenting. I could see a storm lurking there and figured I would just do my best when it finally crested. For now all I could do was hold her, tell her everything would be all right, and give Royal silent pleading looks over the top of Salem’s head as she held on to me and alternately cried and cussed out the world.

I was scared for Poppy as well. I had seen how unhinged her husband was up close and personal. The fact he had pulled a gun on two innocent women in broad daylight showed he didn’t care about repercussions or getting caught. He was zealously focused on claiming what he determined was his and that made Poppy less than human in his eyes. She was trapped in a car with an armed assailant that viewed her as nothing more than property. To him she was just a possession and people broke and destroyed their possessions all the time. I couldn’t think about it too hard or it made everything on the inside of me want to shut down and I couldn’t do that and take care of Salem like she needed me to.

I might not love Poppy the way I loved Salem, but she was still important to me. She still held a place in my history and in my heart and she was undoubtedly part of my ramshackle family. I had lost enough people I cared about in this lifetime. There was no way I was going to lose another.

I was sitting on the couch in Salem’s living room. It was early the next morning and she had just fallen asleep after pacing the floor for what seemed like endless hours. Even in her slumber she was whimpering and restless. I was rubbing my thumb absently around her temple in circles and staring sightlessly at the television. Across the bottom the ticker was running with the information to be on the lookout for Oliver and the sedan. It was absolutely surreal to see Poppy’s description there. It made it feel like she was a stranger, just one more unknown face that ended up in a bad situation. I hated that and hated that this was happening to her and to those that loved her.

Jimbo was curled up on the other side of me. He was getting too big to be allowed on the furniture but he hadn’t left Salem’s side since the police had cleared out and I think the poor guy was feeling bad he hadn’t been able to help. The dog’s big, golden eyes were locked on Salem as she murmured in her sleep and twitched. I reached out with my other hand and petted him on the top of his wide head.

“It’s okay, fella. It’s hard to keep your lady safe.” He blew out noise through his nose like he knew exactly what I was talking about and the tip of his tail flipped back and forth.

I looked down at Salem and saw that her brows were furrowed and that she had deep lines etched between the raven arches. I used my fingertip to smooth them out and sighed.

“It’s probably the worst time ever to tell you this, but I . .” She suddenly turned so that she was lying on her back and looking directly up at me. That endlessly black gaze had my past, my future, all my secrets, and every dream I had ever had in them. It was like looking into forever and knowing that she was always going to be there right at the center of it. “ . . . love you. I will love you unendingly and forever.”

Her long lashes swept down for just a moment and then lifted back up. Like stars in the night sky I could see her feelings for me twinkling up at me from the midnight depths.

“I love you, too. I couldn’t do this without you. You always made me stronger than I ever was alone. I’ve always needed a reason to stay; with you that has never been the case. With you staying is the only option I have because the only place I want to be is wherever you are at.”

That was the only thing I had ever wanted her to say to me. I bent down so I could kiss her softly. “It might have taken me a long-ass time to figure out the difference between first love and real love, but, Salem, there is nothing more real than what I feel for you.”

She was going to respond but her cell phone went off and we both went stiff and stared at each other with big, nervous eyes. I reached for the phone and winced a little when I saw that Royal’s was the number on the screen. I couldn’t believe my hands were actually shaking as I swiped across the screen to answer the call.

“Hello.”

“Rowdy?” Her voice was low and I could hear a lot of commotion in the background of wherever she was calling me from.

“Yeah, I’m with Salem. Do you have any news?”

Salem pulled herself up and clutched my free hand with both of her own. She was pale and her dark eyes looked like they were swallowing up her entire face. The fear shining out of them settled like a rock in my gut and made my chest twist with the need to be able to do something for her.

“Maybe I should talk to Salem.” Royal’s voice stayed steady and low but her words shook like an earthquake through my entire being.

My heart sank and my fingers curled around Salem’s hands reflexively. “I’ll just put you on speaker.”

“Okay.” She waited a second as I moved the phone away from my ear and held it between me and my girl after switching on the speaker.

“Go ahead, Royal.”

She sighed over the line and I heard sirens and commotion in the background. “First of all, Poppy is all right. She’s in an ambulance on the way to a hospital in Albuquerque.”

Salem made a noise and fell forward so that her forehead was resting on my shoulder. “Thank God.”

“Yeah. The State Patrol picked up on the alert for the car her husband was driving after he had already crossed the state border. It looks like he was headed back to Texas with her.”

“Figures.” I was relieved, but there was something about the way Royal was talking, the distant, professionally smooth recounting of events, that was off-putting. I could literally feel the other shoe waiting to drop.

“Umm . . . Poppy was in pretty bad shape when the cops finally got to her. I don’t know what the extent of the injuries is but I know it isn’t good.” I could tell she was glossing it over for Salem’s sake. Fat tears were glittering on Salem’s black lashes and I could tell she was reading between the lines as well.

“What else, Royal? Just lay it all out so we can work on getting to New Mexico as soon as possible.”

She sighed again and finally her cop persona cracked just a little. Her voice quivered just a little bit and there was just enough of a thread of emotion in it to turn her from her professional role into a friend.

“The husband didn’t go easily. The cops cornered him at a rest stop after a forty-five-minute car chase. He still had the gun.” She paused for a second and I froze as Salem’s nails dug into my skin hard enough to break the skin. “There was a standoff.”

“Shit.” It just slipped out but Salem nodded. It was like listening to our worst fears being played out.

“Yeah. He had the gun to Poppy’s head. He threatened to shoot her, threatened to shoot himself. The State Patrol called in a critical response team to negotiate the hostage situation. It’ll be all over the news within the next hour, I’m sure.”

Salem shook her head numbly back and forth like she could deny any of this had happened to her little sister.

“At the end of the day the SWAT team took preventative measures to mitigate the threat.”

Salem let go of her death grip on me and got to her feet. She looked exhausted and fragile, but as always there was that core of strength in her that just wouldn’t bend.

“What happened, Royal?”

“Oliver Martinez is dead.”

I let out a deep breath and shared a solemn look with Salem. “Good.”

“Yeah, well, at the end the hostage was rescued . . . but, Rowdy . . .” Her voice faded out and she had to clear her throat. “That poor girl went through hell. She had to witness someone she was married to die right in front of her. It doesn’t matter how much he might’ve hurt her, or how awful he was . . . that changes a person. She isn’t going to be the same after this experience.”

I pulled Salem to my chest in a one-armed hug as the tears finally escaped the trap of her feathery lashes. “Of course not, but we’ll take care of her and help her heal. It’s what this family does.”

“I know. She’s lucky to be part of the fold.”

“Thank you for the update, Royal.”

“Sure. If you need anything else let me know. I’ll text you the info I have for where they are taking her.”

Salem mumbled a thank-you that was lost in the fabric of my shirt as I ended the call and used both arms to squeeze her to me as tightly as I could.

“She’ll be okay. Poppy is a Cruz and you girls are fighters.”

She wrapped her arms around my waist and laid her cheek on the spot in my chest where my heart was thudding erratically from adrenaline and relief.

“Yeah, but a lifetime of fighting gets old after a while.” She pulled back and looked up at me, and I could see it, feel it, and smell it in the air. The storm had hit land and she was ready to level everything in her path. “It’s time for a knockout once and for all.”

All I could do was shrug my agreement. “Let’s go take care of your sister first.”

She moved away from me with a nod. “I love you and I love that you know what I have to do and aren’t freaking out about it.”

I was already on my phone looking at flights out of DIA to Albuquerque. Luckily it was a short flight and wouldn’t take us too long to get to Poppy’s side. I looked up from the screen and gave Salem a half grin.

“You’ll always have a little bit of gypsy in you, Salem. As long as you return to me, I’m willing to let you go wherever it is you want to go. I’ll be right here when you get back.”

I saw her bottom lip tremble at my words, and before I could hit send on the ridiculously expensive last-minute flight, she launched herself back at me and I had my arms full of quivering, shaking female. She grabbed my face in both of her hands and kissed me in a way that had forever laced all the way through it.

“Gypsies can see the future in their crystal ball, Rowdy. Do you wanna guess what I see in mine?”

“Us?”

She laughed just a little and kissed me again. “Definitely us. I’m gonna grab some stuff to take to Poppy and we need to figure out what to do with Jimbo since we’re both going and have no idea how long we’re going to be gone for.”

I had a plethora of people that I knew for a fact would ride to the rescue to help me out with the dog, but for some reason the first person I put a call in to was Sayer and it didn’t have anything to do with the fact she had a giant backyard.

Sayer, of course, told me she was dropping everything and headed over to get the dog. She was also genuinely overjoyed that Poppy was all right, but took a minute to quietly tell me that she had the names of several victims’ counselors that she could refer Poppy to when the time was right. Sayer was good people and remarkably understanding. The more I talked to her, the more that I let her in, the more I realized how proud I was to have the same blood as her running through my veins. I was happy that she wanted me to be part of her family and I was looking forward to introducing her to the rest of mine.

It only took half an hour for Sayer to show up and collect Jimbo. The girls hugged and more tears were shed as I hustled Salem out the door and we rushed to the airport. Both of us were jittery and anxious as we trudged through security and waited impatiently to board. Since neither of us had slept the night before, nodding off as soon as the plane hit cruising altitude was bound to happen, and when the wheels touched down and we both jerked awake, it was with the knowledge that someone we both loved was hurt, alone, and more than likely fundamentally changed by the recent tragedy she had just survived. It made the vibe between us heavy and thick, but we held on to one another and didn’t let go.