Page 241 of Allegiance

The spider had a web to keep spinning.

“Then, we connected the dots to Merry and Boone, who both were part of my world, and gifted to yours. I fell in love with Heath Leroux, who happens to be Jinx’s brother, and adopted him as mine.”

“And this connects to me how?” Dakota asked, amused.

“Heath works for the Crofts, who happen to be friends, and allowed me to connect with Rogue’s wife. I sent Jinx here to rehab, and because of a killer tied to Maura and me, a rabid Snake, and Eve’s need to protect Mamba, you were given a wife. You’re welcome. Seven degrees of separation.”

He snorted.

“You’re insane.”

“And this,” she said, pointing at them, “is all connected to me, by proxy, so you owe me one too.”

“Okay, I owe you,” he said, amused. He was in too good of a mood not to be.

“Anything I want?” she asked, smiling.

“Uh-oh,” Ethan said. “Run.”

He stared her in the eyes.

“YOU ARE NOT GETTING OUR BABY.”

She began laughing.

“Drats. Foiled again. Now, Hunters, there’s a surprise on your porch. Eat, drink, and be merry. And for the love of everything holy, do not wake me up! Unless it’s to tell me you’ve taken out Chevy!”

She winked at them.

“Blackhawks, out.”

The screen went black, and the call was officially over. Zayn headed to the front door and when he opened it, there were pizzas and boxes of coffee to go. On the one, there was a note.

‘The champagne is on me once you take care of business once and for all. EB.’

He carried it in, holding the door for the judge who ran out so fast, he nearly took Zayn out.

Someone was running for his life.

Once back inside, Zayn put the food down.

“Blackhawk delivered,” he said, smelling the food. There was nothing like a late-night wedding pizza break.

Maura opted to help the newlyweds out.

“You guys can head out and leave Violet with us, if you’d like,” Maura offered. “It’s your wedding night, and we have to work through our plans for the morning.”

Violet started giggling, knowing what would be going down later for her mom and Dakota.

From where he stood, Dakota grinned. Oh, there was time, but first...

“We’ll head out after dinner. We rushed the picnic. If it’s late, we’ll crash here. God knows you have space.”

That they did.

Jagger settled down next to his wife, enjoying how Dakota took the other couch and put one of his girls on each side of him as he grinned like an idiot.

That alone was worth a late night.