Chapter 17

Ramon POV

I woke to the unsettling sensation of being watched. My eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the morning light filtering through the heavy curtains, only to find myself staring into a pair of intense green eyes barely inches from my face.

Ollie was perched on the edge of the bed, his small body perfectly still except for the slight tilt of his head as he studied me with the kind of focus usually reserved for fascinating insects or particularly complex puzzles.

I jerked back instinctively, startled by his proximity and the calculating look in his five-year-old eyes.

“Why are you sleeping and holding my brother?” he asked matter-of-factly, his voice carrying none of the sleepy confusion I would have expected from a child who’d presumably just woken up.

I looked down and felt my breath catch. Lake was indeed in my arms, his body curved against my side, one hand fisted in the fabric of my sleep shirt. His face was peaceful in sleep, the ever-pr