Filed to story: Reclaimed Book by Roxie Ray
My heart cracked in two. Could I really blame her? She’d seen me drunk in bed with Blakely. It had been a fucked-up setup from Tori and Blakely to try to break my relationship with Harley, but Harley didn’t know that. Before I’d had a chance to explain it to her, Sean had kidnapped her.
No wonder she wanted nothing to do with me.
Now wasn’t the time to explain either. If Harley kept running, Sean would take to the skies. He’d catch her again, and this time, he wouldn’t let her live.
I couldn’t take that risk.
I launched forward and raced toward Harley. Her eyes widened, and she cut to the side, trying to avoid me, but I was faster. I caught her by her trim waist and pulled her close to my body.
For a brief moment, Harley went completely lax against me. It was like her entire body exhaled, grateful to be held and supported by me. My heart soared at the gesture.
But it was only a moment. She seemed to come back to her senses, thrashing against my hold. “Let me go. I’m getting the hell out of here!”
“Damn right you are,” I growled. “But not on foot.”
“Screw you. You don’t get to tell me what I’m doing.”
“I’ll explain everything,” I said in her ear. “It’s not safe here. Just trust me.”
“I can’t.” Her voice broke on the word, like it hurt her to say it as much as it hurt me to hear it.
“Ace!” Sean roared.
Harley shuddered. Her terror only enraged my dragon more. As much as I wanted to tell her the truth-the full truth-this was not the time or place. I had to deal with my brother first.
“Get in the car.” With my arm still snug around her waist, I hurried her over to my Cadillac, keeping my body between her and Sean’s dragons. Hawk and Rome were doing a good job holding them back, but it was only a matter of time. She climbed into the backseat, looking exhausted and dazed.
“Please don’t run off again. Please. Sean will find you. Just stay here. It’ll all be over soon.”
Her eyes met mine, and she nodded. It wasn’t trust I saw there, but resignation.
“Get that bitch!” Sean roared. “Now!”
I closed the car door and marched up through the gate onto Sean’s property.
Sean’s rage crackled in the air, but it was nothing compared to my dragon’s fury. “Stand down,” I barked. “Unless all of you want to die right where you are.”
The commotion fell still. Hawk had one of the goons, a young-looking kid with a sleeve tattoo, in his grip. Rome had the other goon, an older guy, in a headlock. Sean had been lurking in the doorway, the coward, but when I spoke, he stepped out.
He looked awful. He’d lost weight, so his cheekbones jutted out of his face, and his hands twitched at his sides. The scar over his eye was red and inflamed, and his clothes were sweat-stained and tattered.
“I should kill you right fucking now,” Sean snarled. “You call yourself an alpha? You’re a liar and a fraud. We made a deal. The clan for the woman. It’s never enough for you, huh? You have to have everything.” Then Sean scowled at Hawk and Rome, too. “And you two went along with it. Guess an alpha’s word means nothing to you.”
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you? Having another reason to hate me?” I held up the manila folder with a scowl. “I’m a man of my word, Sean. You know that. I have the papers to sign the clan over to you right here.”
Sean’s eyes widened. He stared at the manila folder like a kid being tempted with an ice cream cone.
“You’re the one who couldn’t hold up your end of the deal. Why would I sign the clan over to you when you don’t have anything to offer me in return?” I glanced back at the Cadillac. “You underestimated my mate. She didn’t need me to rescue her.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Sean hissed. “I know you two planned this.”
“How the hell would we have done that? You think fated mates are telepathic or something?”
Sean’s frown deepened. Shit, maybe he did think that.
“She bested you, and now I’m taking her home. To my clan.” I gripped the folder and ripped it cleanly in half. Both my dragon and I were relieved-even though it was part of the plan, handing over the clan to Sean would’ve been beyond painful. Now, I had my mate back, and I hadn’t put my clan at risk.
The older goon in Rome’s headlock pushed ineffectively at the young enforcer’s arm. “You can still take Lakeview, Sean!” the guy shouted. “Challenge that asshole!”
I glowered at my brother. “Sure can. If you want Lakeview so bad, take it from me. Take it right now.”
Sean bared his teeth. His dragon flashed behind his eyes, and his fangs lengthened.
I bared my teeth right back.
Challenge me.
Do it. My dragon could feel his, right at the surface. Familiar, yet so unfamiliar. If he challenged me, I could end this right now, just as I’d planned.
Sean clenched his twitching hands into fists and took a small step back.
I growled at him, and Sean suddenly broke eye contact, his gaze dropping to the ground in submission.
He was afraid.
Hawk dropped the kid he had pinned, and Rome shoved the other goon back, too. “This is over,” Hawk snapped. “We’re taking Harley back to Lakeview.”
I took a step forward, rage still bubbling inside me.
Who the fuck cared that he hadn’t issued a challenge? He’d still kidnapped my mate. Threatened my clan. Threatened my son. Suddenly, I didn’t give a shit about who Sean had been before. This dragon was no longer my brother. This dragon was nothing but a threat, and if I didn’t end it now, he would keep terrorizing me. Keep terrorizing us.
My alpha hungered to protect my clan. Protect my mate.
Even if that meant killing Sean right now.
“Ace.” Hawk strode to my side and squeezed my shoulder. “You know we’ve got your back, but you said you wanted to do this with honor.”
Honor.
A challenge was honorable.
Mauling my brother in front of my mate was not.
My dragon’s rage lowered to a simmer. My human senses came more to the forefront, and I remembered what Hawk had said. How afraid he’d been-how he thought challenging Sean would change me and awaken something dark inside me.
If challenging him didn’t, murdering him in cold blood definitely would.
I bared my fangs at Sean one last time. “If you really think you can take Lakeview from me-like a man, not a coward-then you know where to find me.”
I turned my back to Sean and strode back to our cars. That was a true show of disrespect. I didn’t even fear him enough to keep my eyes on him.
It wasn’t over, but for now, I had my mate and my clan. When Sean came to challenge me for the role of alpha, I’d be ready to take him down for good.
I opened the back door of my Cadillac and slid into the backseat.
