The Finish Line (The Ravenhood, #3)

by Kate Stewart

With us, looking is love, fighting is love, fucking is love, and even now, while we muddle through our collective but distinctly different fears, it’s love.

“No matter how we came to be, we were and still are. You stole my heart, and you let me love you with it, and you made damn sure I knew where its home was.”

Trying to reason with love is fucking pointless. It doesn’t care about your reasons, right or wrong. Love has no regard for circumstance, nor does it give a fuck what state it puts you in. It’s a relentless and unforgiving emotion that will never let you lie to yourself.

“We’re going to be together. Today, tomorrow, and the day after, Cecelia.”

“I’m not leaving you. Not today, not tomorrow, and not the day after. Hell will freeze over. I’ll eat a McRib first.”

“You’ve always been mine. I’ve had protective eyes on you since you were eleven years old, Cecelia, no matter how I felt about you. Maybe I deserved the hell those weeks were not knowing, but there will never be a time in your life you’re not under my protection. I failed you once, and I’ll do everything in my fucking power not to fail you again. Believe me, by the time I arrived yesterday, I made every effort to make sure you had no one but me coming for you.”

“I will kill anyone who threatens you. Anyone. I will fucking end them, Cecelia. I won’t think twice, and I won’t lose sleep over it.”

My wife, my sole purpose.

“They, in their infinite wisdom. Who knows what’s true for everyone. I’m a selfish man, and I make no apologies for that when it comes to you. I will fiercely love any bébé we make with all of my heart and soul, but my heart extends past its limits for you and only you because you grew that extension, Trésor. It’s yours, and it belongs only to you.”

only the ring on her finger symbolizing a promise I’ll keep beyond every last beat of my heart.

“Have to say, Pup. Motherhood agrees with you. You’ve never looked so beautiful. Can I hold her?”

“Shit, she’s got me already,” he says, “love at first sight. Just like her mother did so many years ago. Your uncle would’ve been just as screwed,” he tells Celine and chuckles, “as was your father the minute he saw your mother.”

“I saw him,” I murmur. “In my dream, I finally saw Dom. I saw him so clearly, Tobias. He was at complete peace.”

“Ever heard the saying ‘careful what you wish for’. Look around, Tobias, you’ve manifested your entire life. The brotherhood, this place, us. You dreamed a thousand dreams, and a thousand things happened. Why should the growth of your family be any different? But we’re stopping at our son,”

“I just have a strong feeling,” I tell him, knowing it’s my last secret with Dom. One I intend to keep.

I’ve always loved every side of Tobias, but my Frenchman, as a father, is hands over fist my favorite version.

“Dream a thousand dreams, Mon Trésor, and together, we’ll make a thousand things happen.”