Filed to story: Reclaimed Book by Roxie Ray
“I know,” I said.
“You’re something else, Harley Founty,” Hawk said. “If you weren’t a human, you’d be an alpha in your own right.”
“Damn right.” I wrapped my arm around Harley’s waist and pulled her to my side.
She laughed and kissed my cheek. “I don’t want to be an alpha. I’ve got the only alpha I need right here.”
That made my dragon preen with pleasure.
“So, what happens now?” Hawk asked.
“It’s not over until we have confirmation from Suri,” I said. “It’s best we keep laying low until then.”
“I’m going to see what Cassidy and Dylan are up to,” Harley said. “You good to finish lunch?”
“Of course.” I gave her a brief kiss before she went out onto the back deck. I knew she was giving Hawk and me some time alone to discuss what had happened, but before I could say anything, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
I pulled it out; there was an unfamiliar number on the screen. “Hello?” I answered.
“Ace.”
My blood ran cold. I hadn’t heard that voice in a long time, and I had hoped I would never hear it again. I put the phone on speaker and set it down on the counter. “Thames.”
“I’ve got some information for you,” the man growled.
“I’m listening.”
“Your brother hired me for a hit job. Asked me to put a call out for your head.”
“Interesting. And did you?”
“Not yet,” Thames said. “Sean promised me some premium property as payment, but he’s dragging his feet on the deposit. You know I don’t make any deals without a deposit.”
“So why, exactly, are you telling me this?” I asked.
“I’ve got new priorities,” Thames said.
Hawk and I exchanged a look at the slight waver in Thames’s voice. The Vahdat clan had obviously contacted him already. He wasn’t just antsy. He was scared.
“The deal’s garbage,” Thames continued. “And your brother’s a loose cannon. He’s got nothing left to lose. That’s the most dangerous man there is.” Thames snorted, pulling mucus into his throat, and then I heard the sound of him spitting. “There’s nothing for me in this state. Business is dead. I don’t want any involvement here. I won’t be in touch.”
The line went dead.
“In this state?” Hawk repeated. “He’s skipping out of the state entirely?”
“Sounds like it,” I said.
My phone pinged with a new text.
Suri: You’re welcome. You’ve got it from here.
Hawk grasped my shoulder and squeezed. “This won’t be easy. Just because Thames is out of the picture, that doesn’t mean Sean will just roll over. If anything, I’d bet Thames is right-he’ll be even more unpredictable than ever.”
“I know,” I said. “But God, I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that scumbag.”
“Me, too,” Hawk said. “I’ll call the enforcers. You go talk to your mate.”
I stepped out onto the back porch. I expected to find Striker and Dylan roughhousing or practicing their partial shifts while Harley and Cassidy supervised, as they often did, but they weren’t anywhere to be seen on the lawn. A bolt of anxiety zipped through me. “Harley?”
“Over here!” her voice called.
The anxiety dissipated as quickly as it had arrived. God, I was ready for all of this to be over so I could stop worrying whenever Harley and Dylan weren’t right in my line of sight. I walked down the steps and around the side of the house. A narrow stone walkway led from the gravel lot out front around the house to the backyard. The path had long, narrow flowerbeds on either side of it. When I was a kid, Mom had filled the beds with lush, colorful flowers of all kinds, so the path was like a little slice of paradise. It was always buzzing with bees and butterflies, and I remembered returning from school and running around the house to jump in the lake.
There hadn’t been any flowers in the beds in years. I’d been too busy as the alpha, and I’d let my mother’s hard work fade into dead old bushes and dense weeds.
“What are you doing?” I asked when I spotted all four of them on their hands and knees in the dirt.
“Dad, was this a garden?” Dylan was covered in dirt and had somehow even gotten it on his face.
“Yeah,” I said with a fond smile. “It was your grandmother’s. She loved tending this garden and growing as many differently colored flowers as she could.”
“I want to do that, too,” Dylan said with a huge smile. “I’m gonna dig out all the weeds and make this garden pretty again, the way Grandma kept it.”
“I think that’d make her really happy,” I said. “She’d be really proud of you.”
Dylan dug his hands back into the dirt with renewed determination. He bit the tip of his tongue between his teeth as he pulled the weeds up by their roots.
“And he’s making his aunt work hard, too!” Cassidy said in joking frustration.
Harley looked up and caught my eye with a curious raise of her eyebrows. I smiled at her, and she stepped closer to me. I always wanted to be close to her. I was drawn to her like a moon to the Earth. When she was within reach, I pulled her into my arms for a kiss. Dylan made a dramatic gagging sound. “Mom! Dad! We’re trying to work here.”
“All right, all right, I’m just going to steal your mom away for a minute,” I said. We stepped away from the gardening project and onto the deck together, and I leaned against the back railing and pulled her into my arms again.
“Everything okay?” she asked. “Did you hear from Suri?”
“Better than that,” I said. “Hawk’s calling the enforcers. We heard from Thames.”
“And…?”
“It’s done.” I leaned forward and kissed her cheeks, then her forehead, then her mouth. I couldn’t get enough of her, couldn’t stop touching her. “It’s done, Harley. Thames broke the deal. He’s even leaving the state. The Vahdat clan really put the fear of God into him.”
Harley frowned. “That’s it? Thames is just letting go?”
“He’s a sick man, but he’s not an idiot. He knows when he’s outmatched. No lives were lost. No one was hurt. He’s gone.”
The world would be a better place if Thames were out of the picture entirely. I had a feeling now that he was back on the Vahdat clan’s radar, if Thames wasn’t careful, that might happen sooner rather than later.
Harley exhaled. “I’m glad Suri didn’t put a hit out on him or anything. Then I wouldn’t be much better than Thames myself.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said warmly. “You did the right thing.”
The tightness in her posture eased. “Really?”
I nodded. “Of course. You were worried?”
