Mick (The A'rouk Brothers Book 1) by Serena Simpson

change.” Ash gave her a tender kiss before sending her upstairs.
    “Who do you think provided the ship killer?”
    Mick stared at the screen before answering. “The Patron.”
    “That’s what I was thinking.”
    “You realize I’m going to kill him.”
    Ash tensed, “What gives you the right to kill him?”
    “Right now, you and Brook are just collateral damage or loose ends. The one he is after is Jaz and it’s time for him to realize that coming after the mates of the Created is a death sentence.”
    “I should have killed him when I had the chance,” Ash said.
    “You gave him a chance to live, Ash. It was his choice what to do with that chance and he chose to throw it away now I will end him.”
    Ash nodded. The patron needed to die, but he wasn’t sure if Mick would get to him before he did. Either way, he would be dead.
    “What now?” Jaz asked as she and Brook entered the room. They dressed in dark jeans; courtsey of a shopping trip Brook had taken them on. Both wore a long sleeved tee looking like they might be twins.
    “Why are they after me like this?” Jaz looked up at Mick expecting an answer.
    “The patron hates to lose; since he couldn’t have Brook he set his eyes on you. I don’t know why the Clone Council is so determined to kill you, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to let them succeed.” He pulled her close for a moment.
    Brook reached into her back pocket and pulled out a slender tablet and took a picture of the four of them. She looked at Ash, and her face crumpled.
    “What’s wrong?” He was at her side in a moment.
    “The pictures of your family. It will all be gone, destroyed.” Tears came to her eyes as she thought of all the memento’s Ash had of his life over the last few centuries.
    “They’re just pictures. Yes, I will miss them, but I have the memories of a life lived well stored in my heart. As long as you survive along with Mick and Jaz, everything will be fine.”
    Brook clutched him closer and sniffed. Every reason she fell in love with him was highlighted in that one second, and she wondered again what she did to deserve him.
    They all turned and watched as the attackers wrestled the ship killer into place.
    “Shouldn’t we be leaving?” Jaz turned to look up at Mick.
    “The ship killer can tell you how many people are in range just before it goes off. So we want it to register our heat signatures just before it fires, meaning we will have to move fast. Go to the living room, I will call out when its time.”
    “Ash,” Brook clutched at his shirt not wanting to leave him.
    “I’ll be right behind you, I promise.” She gave him a tight hug and followed Jaz into the living room.
    Mick ran his hand over the seam of the rug next to the wall until he was tugging back a floor panel they had never noticed before. He took the bags and tossed them down waiting for Ash to tell them to go.
    “Now!” Ash hollered from the other room.
    Mick jumped down the hole landing on his feet. Ash ran into the room picked up Brook and dropped her into Mick’s arms. He repeated the action with Jaz giving them just a minute to clear the space before he jumped down. The house reverberated with the first blast.
    Ash handed Jaz and Brook lights that he had stashed so they could see and led them quickly away from the hole as bits of the house began to fall over them.
    “You should have hired a housekeeper to come down here and clean once a month,” Brook said in a low voice. The cobwebs were thick, and she kept batting them away as the smell of dust and mildew assaulted her nose. She was thankful that she had something to focus on instead of the fear trying to incapacitate her.
    “Next house I’ll make sure the escape tunnel has a self-cleaning feature.”
    “I’m with Brook,” Jaz tossed in. “Escape tunnels need to be clean.”
    Ash looked at Mick to see him smiling. They knew the women were complaining about the conditions to distract themselves and keep