Filed to story: Reclaimed Book by Roxie Ray
He nodded.
“What about Mom?” I asked. “Will she be safe?”
“She will be now,” Steph said. “I’ll keep some guys on her.”
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered. “It never ends. Why the hell would they come for my mom? I know we have our issues, but she’s not a part of this.”
“Hey.” Steph reached out and tucked my hair behind my ears.
I looked up and met his gaze. The angry gold had dissipated, leaving behind the beautiful specks I could only see when I was this close.
“They’re scrambling,” Steph said. “They’re running out of options. Both Sean and Forrest. Everything’s going to be okay. I promise you this is almost over.”
“Ugh.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him close, pressing my face into his chest. “I hope you’re right.”
He kissed my temple. “Trust me.”
“I do,” I whispered. “I just don’t trust them.”
He hummed in agreement and rubbed his hand up and down my back. “I know. Let’s get home.”
I nodded, then climbed onto his bike behind him and put the spare helmet on. I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist, savoring the secure feeling of the purring bike beneath me and Steph’s strong back against my chest. I felt safe as we pulled away from the police station, but I couldn’t stop the sinking feeling in my gut.
Whatever happened… I knew it wouldn’t go smoothly.
ACE
It was after dinner when Hawk finally returned to the clubhouse. Harley was at the house with Dylan and Cassidy, and I’d promised not to be gone too long. She deserved to know what had happened with her mom, but I needed to talk to Hawk about it in private first.
It was a relaxed night at the clubhouse, with a few members shooting pool and Tammy behind the bar. Hawk dropped into the stool next to me and let out a tired sigh.
“So what’d you find out?” I asked.
Hawk rubbed his temples. “Those guys were definitely paid off.”
“Paid off? What do you mean?”
“I mean, they didn’t tell me a damn thing,” Hawk said. “It’s obvious they saw something, but they wouldn’t say what. They only confirmed that Liz Founty was there, but they were cagey about everything else.”
Honestly, that was all the confirmation I needed. “So something happened.”
“Definitely. It looks like Forrest is using Liz to try to lure out Harley, probably on Sean’s advice.”
My dragon snarled and surged even closer to the surface. He hadn’t backed off at all, really, not since I pulled up to the police station and saw Forrest peering out of the window like the little creep he was. My mate was being targeted from all sides. Whenever we had one threat under control, a new one appeared. I felt like I was playing whack-a-mole, knocking out threats as they arose. Running after Sean and Forrest, instead of striking them down.
My dragon was losing his patience with that.
He wanted me to protect my mate, no matter the cost. My dragon didn’t think about the future. My dragon thought about immediate dangers, immediate solutions. He wanted me to track down Sean and Forrest and tear them apart.
“Hey, stop that.” Tammy swatted my hand with a dish rag. “Didn’t you just get the bar refinished?”
“Shit.” I hadn’t realized my claws were out. I withdrew them, leaving eight deep marks in the shining wood. “Sorry, Tammy.”
“Don’t apologize to me, you paid for it,” she said. “That dragon’s getting pissed, huh?”
“Understatement,” Hawk said. “Mine is, too.”
I resisted the urge to bare my teeth in confirmation. Tammy slid me a beer, then went back to the other end of the bar to serve the guys drinking between rounds of pool.
If my dragon was this close to the surface, Sean’s had to be even worse. He was an alpha without a clan. He didn’t have dragons to keep him in check. He was getting more impulsive, following his dragon’s instincts, and not his human ones. Soon he’d be completely out of control.
Worse, he’d be feral.
“I’m sick of chasing after them,” I growled.
“Me too,” Hawk said. “But you know we can’t just attack, no matter how much we want.”
“It’d be the easier solution, though,” I said. My dragon agreed, snapping his jaws internally. “But if we went that route, we’d both end up in prison.”
“Yep. Especially if Forrest is working with Sean. Forget due process.”
“How deep do you think Forrest’s vendetta runs?” I asked. “I thought he just wanted to throw me back in prison, but could it be more than that?”
“I don’t know,” Hawk said. “Sean can be… convincing. Even though he’s crazy and pathetic, he’s still an alpha. He hasn’t screwed Forrest over yet, so Forrest still might buy what he’s selling.”
“The honeymoon stage,” I murmured. That was how Sean got guys to work with him. He lured them in with an alpha’s natural charm and lots of pie-in-the-sky promises, but he could never follow through.
“It gets worse,” Hawk said.
“How the fuck could this get worse?” I blinked at Hawk. I felt like nothing could surprise me anymore.
“The guys working at the bar didn’t tell me anything, but the customers did.”
“They saw Liz get drugged?”
“Not exactly,” Hawk said. “But Forrest was there the night before last. Before Liz showed up.”
“Okay…”
“Keep your dragon down when I tell you this.”
“Just tell me.”
“He was there with Blakely.”
“Jesus Christ!” I slammed the side of my fist against the bar, hard enough to rattle the pints at the other end. My claws were back out, digging into my palms.
“Apparently they looked pretty cozy together,” Hawk said.
“This is bad.”
“And unexpected,” Hawk agreed. “I honestly didn’t think she’d ever get over you. Especially not after you saved her life.”
“Don’t remind me.” I glanced down at the red marks on my palms, then withdrew my claws again. “I don’t think she’s gotten over me at all. She’s never liked Forrest. She’s using Forrest to get back at me. Helping him, somehow.”
