Colters' Promise (Colters' Legacy #4)(27)

She laughed. “No, I can honestly say that no one in my family has ever accused me of being anything but flighty and free-spirited. Wise doesn’t exactly fit in there anywhere.”

He kissed her temple and squeezed her tight again. “You’re my everything, dolcezza. And where you fit is right here with me. Always.”

“Then don’t hold back,” she begged. “I need you, Max. I need your dominance, your strength. Your control. I need that structure. It centers me. It reminds me that I have a place in this world. With you.”

He let his hands slide down to the bands circling her wrists. The bands he’d placed there as a symbol of his ownership. To him, they were more important than their wedding rings. They meant more. They went deeper.

“Never take these off,” he said quietly. “I couldn’t bear it.”

She extended both wrists, holding them upward in supplication. “I’m yours, Max. I don’t want to ever be anything else. I’ll never take them off unless you ask me to.”

He leaned forward, finding her lips in the sweetest of kisses. “Good, because I’m never going to ask.”

CHAPTER 12

HOLLY awoke in the middle of the night shivering, and the ache in her lower side had intensified to a fiery pain that wasn’t alleviated by movement. Ryan lay sleeping beside her, but no one was on her other side. Adam and Ethan had evidently taken to their own beds instead of crashing in the common bedroom tonight.

She pushed to the vacant side, careful not to awaken Ryan. Her feet hit the cold floor and she shivered as another chill overtook her. Fire splintered through her side and she hunched over, grabbing for the edge of the bed to steady herself. Nausea welled in her throat and she swallowed hard against the urge to vomit.

She managed to stagger into the kitchen, and she opened the medicine cabinet to get some ibuprofen. After shaking out four pills, she returned the bottle and started toward the cabinet for a glass.

Pain assaulted her, spearing through her, robbing her of breath. She fell, hitting the floor with a thud, driving the air from her lungs in a painful rush. She lay there, balled into a fetal position, afraid to move because the pain was so horrific.

Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

“Ryan,” she called weakly. “Adam? Ethan?”

Darkness hovered on the fringes. She fought unconsciousness as the pain intensified. She heard a distant sound, tried to call out again, but the blackness swirled until she was dizzy with it.

RYAN awoke, a frown turning his lips downward. It was automatic to reach for Holly, a habit he hadn’t broken in over thirty years. But she wasn’t there. Something had awakened him. His name. He could swear he’d heard her call.

Throwing aside the covers, he hurried out of bed and into the hall. No lights were on in the house and it was silent. The fire had long since died out in the living room and only a few glowing embers remained.

“Holly?” he called.

Something like dread pitted his stomach and clutched at his throat. He hadn’t checked his brothers’ bedrooms because he’d just known that wasn’t where she was. After surveying the living room, he walked toward the kitchen and damn near tripped over her before he’d gotten far.

His heart bottomed out. He dropped to his knees, yelling her name hoarsely. She was in a tiny ball, knees drawn up as if she were in unimaginable pain. Her skin was hot and dry to the touch. He immediately felt for a pulse, relieved to find a steady rhythm against his fingers.

“Adam! Ethan!” he roared. “Get in here!”

Gently, he collected Holly in his arms, unsure of what to do. He only knew he wasn’t leaving her lying on the cold floor.

Not ten seconds later, his brothers ran down the hall and appeared in the kitchen.

“What happened?” Adam barked.

Ethan crowded into Ryan, his hands going to Holly’s face and then her neck, frantic, just as Ryan had been to feel the reassuring pulse pattern.

“What’s wrong with her?” Ethan demanded.

“I woke up when I thought I heard her call for me. She was gone and so I got up and found her on the floor,” Ryan said grimly. “Get the keys. We have to get her to the hospital.”

His words sent his brothers in different directions. Ethan grabbed a blanket and tossed it over her as Ryan headed for the door. Adam sprinted toward the bedroom and returned a moment later, dressed and holding the keys to the SUV.

“Get me some damn clothes,” Ryan bit out in Ethan’s direction. “You can change on the way and I’ll get dressed when we get there.”

He wasn’t about to let Holly go long enough to rectify his current mode of undress.

FOUR hours later, the three brothers paced around the waiting room, edgy, silent, worried sick. The doors burst open and their children rushed in, their faces white, eyes filled with fear.

Adam immediately went into protective mode. His wife was in surgery and he was scared out of his mind, but he didn’t want his sons and his daughter to be as afraid as he was.

“Daddy,” Callie said, rushing into his arms. “What’s wrong with Mama? What happened?”

Adam crushed her to him and held on a long moment while his sons went to stand by their other two dads. Lily stood back with Max, but she looked no less concerned than everyone else.

Adam pulled away from Callie and motioned his brood into one of the smaller side rooms usually reserved for the doctor to speak to the family. When everyone was pushed inside, he took a deep breath and glanced over at his brothers.