Filed to story: Reclaimed Book by Roxie Ray
“Not ever,” Stephan growled. “And I’m changing this clan, day-by-day, to get us out of the crime world that Sean’s wrapped up in. I’ll have to handle him if I want this clan to go legitimate.”
There was that word again.
Handle. I said nothing.
“He’s going to escalate,” Stephan continued, “and I don’t want you and Dylan to get caught in the crossfire. I don’t know how long this will take. I don’t know when he will challenge me. I know he will, and I don’t want you or Dylan to be around to see that.”
“What’s going to happen?” I asked. “When he challenges you?”
Stephan turned and pressed a kiss to the crown of my head. “I don’t think I’ll be able to spare him this time.”
There was no anger in his voice, only deep resignation. I laced my fingers through his. At the same time, I wrapped my other arm around his waist, so we were tangled up as close as we could get.
“This isn’t how I wanted this to go,” Stephan said. “I’d hoped that one day, Hawk and I would be able to get through to Sean. To bring him back to us. I thought he’d accept that even though he wasn’t the alpha, he was still a part of this clan. This family.” Stephan heaved a sigh. “But he’s too far gone. There’s nothing left in his heart but hate.”
My heart shattered. I’d known it was bad, but I hadn’t known how much it was hurting Stephan. And there was nothing I could do but listen and hold him close.
“But I’m not going to let you, nor Dylan, get hurt because of this,” Stephan said. “You’ll be safe in Atlanta. I know some guys down there-I’ll make sure there’s someone around to keep an eye on you.”
“You don’t need to do that, Stephan, we’ll be okay.”
“It’ll make me feel better,” he said. “I can’t take care of Sean if I’m worried about you.”
I turned my head and pressed a kiss to the warm skin of his bare shoulder. “Okay.”
“Good,” he said. “Good. You’ll be safe in Atlanta.” It sounded like he was speaking to himself more than me. That resignation was back in his voice.
I pulled away enough to look up and catch his eyes. “It’s not forever, Stephan.”
That seemed to snap him out of his own head. His gaze dropped to mine. Gold still ringed his hazel irises. “It’s not forever,” he repeated in a low, serious voice. “I wouldn’t let it be, Harley. I’d follow you to the ends of the earth if that’s what it took. So no, it won’t be forever.”
“Just for now,” I said. “We’re taking it slow.”
He nodded. His eyes held a heavy sadness, like the losses he was envisioning had already happened. Brushing his thumb over my cheek, he leaned down and caught my lips in a kiss.
It was heated and slow. Stephan was savoring this kiss, like he was committing my lips and taste to memory. Like I was already halfway to Atlanta.
I felt his passion. His pain.
I wanted to be there for him. I wanted to tell him it’d all be okay in the end.
But part of me still quivered with fear. Striker had killed two men today. Stephan thought he might have to kill his brother.
What if something went wrong? What if he had to go back to prison? What if this time, it wasn’t for a few years, but for the rest of his life?
Breaking the kiss, I tucked my face into the crook of his neck and inhaled deeply. His skin was warm with sweat and still humming with shifter magic.
I wanted to be with him. I wanted to be with him forever.
But I didn’t want him to break my heart again.
ACE
“Heads up, Ace. We’ve got a walk-in.”
Hawk’s voice broke my focus. I exhaled hard into the undercarriage of Harley’s white rental SUV. I was repairing it myself, to make sure she wouldn’t get dinged at all for the damage on the rental.
It was a quiet day at the garage. We didn’t accept walk-ins, and everyone in Lakeview knew how booked we got. But Tank, who had good connections in the police force, gave me the heads-up about this last week.
I slid out from under the car and got to my feet. As I wiped my hands on the hem of my white Cole’s Garage shirt, I approached Chief Forest with a friendly smile on my face. “What can I do for you, boss?”
Forest smirked at me. “I need you to pause work for the day.”
“All right, any reason why?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.
Forest brandished a sheet of paper in my face. “We’ve got a warrant to search the place. Top to bottom.”
Sighing, I waved Forest and the rest of his lackeys into the garage. “We’ll stay out of your way, then. My office is unlocked, too.”
I turned the music off. “Take a break, guys,” I said to my employees. “Outside.” The four guys I had on shift today-not clan members, community members, all formerly incarcerated-shrugged and headed out of the garage.
I leaned against the back wall of the garage while the cops began to ransack the place. They moved through the garage like a tornado, throwing open toolboxes, opening car doors, and climbing the stairs to my office.
Hawk leaned on the wall next to me and crossed his arms over his chest. “They gonna find anything?”.
I shook my head. “Nope.”
Hawk shot me a sideways look, and I grinned.
“Good,” Hawk said. “Good. You know he’ll be looking everywhere.”
I watched Forest climb the stairs to my office, so angry it looked like steam was coming out of his ears. “Yeah, he’s still not over high school.”
“Well, we’re going to lose some money today with this bullshit going on,” Hawk muttered.
I nodded. Forest had been a scrawny nerd in high school, a year below Sean and me, and Sean had been a real dickhead to him. Now that Sean was out of the picture, all that anger had been turned on me. My stint in prison had only made it worse, and he’d made it his personal mission to get me back behind bars. Even though the Lakeview clan had done nothing but support the town, Forest hated that some of the money was dirty.
I clenched my jaw as Forest and his guys ruined the careful organization of my garage. After a certain point, they realized they weren’t going to find anything and instead focused on making my cleanup as difficult as possible. I didn’t even want to think about the state my office would be in after all of this.
It took nearly two hours, but finally, the cops gave up on finding anything connecting me to guns or drugs. Forest marched out of my office and stomped down the stairs.
Smiling, I pushed off the wall and met Forest in the middle of the trashed garage. “Find what you’re looking for?”
“You wipe that shit-eating grin off your face,” Forest snapped. “I know you’ve got some shit going on, and once I find out where you’re keeping your stash, it’s over for you.”
“I keep telling you, Forest, it’s all clean. You can look all you want, but you’re not gonna turn up a damn thing.”
“That’s bullshit. You’ve always been a liar. A criminal. You can’t help yourself. And once your little girlfriend realizes that, she’ll leave you in the dust like she did ten years ago.”
My dragon reared up with a speed I hadn’t felt in years. Anger animated me, and before I even realized what was happening, my fangs had dropped and I’d bared them in Forest’s face. Hawk grabbed my shoulder and jerked me back before I could maul him.
Forest’s eyes were wide, and the color had drained from his face. I wasn’t the type to lash out like that, and he knew it.
But you poke the dragon enough, and it bites back.
