Filed to story: Reclaimed Book by Roxie Ray
She blinked hard, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “Okay. I’ll come to you. I promise.”
Her skin was warm and soft beneath my fingers. Again my dragon rumbled his insistence, his desire. He urged me to pull her close and kiss her until the worries melted away. But not now when Dylan was so keyed up and attuned to everything. One sound from his mom and he’d come storming down the stairs.
I ran my fingers down the side of her neck, then squeezed her nape in gentle reassurance. “What can I help with for dinner? You’ve been doing all the cooking.”
“It’s the least I can do,” she said. “But you can chop up the peppers for a salad if you want.”
I pulled out the bell peppers from the fridge and began to dice them. “How’s my kitchen compare to yours in Atlanta?”
She laughed. “It’s bigger, that’s for sure. But I got used to cooking in small spaces over the years. My dad’s kitchen was tiny.”
“You stayed with your dad?”
“Mm-hmm.” She turned her attention to the mashed potatoes on the stove. “He helped me raise Dylan while I was finishing up college. I don’t know what I would’ve done without him. But even then, I liked to do a lot of the cooking for the three of us. Dad always did the cleanup, so I could get a jump on my studying.”
It didn’t surprise me to hear that Liz Founty hadn’t played much of a role in Dylan’s life. Harley had probably wanted to get as far away from Lakeview and her mom as she possibly could.
“Staying with Dad helped me save up the money I needed to get my own place in Atlanta. I didn’t want to have to move Dylan around, bouncing from apartment to apartment… We have a little house. Dad helped with that, too. He left us some money. So, the kitchen is really small, but it’s all the space we need.”
“Your father passed away?”
Her smile faltered a little. “Yeah, a few years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m glad that Dylan got to spend a lot of time with him as he was growing up.”
“I know what it’s like to lose a parent,” I said. “I lost my dad a few years ago, too. It’s never easy.”
She looked up. “I’m sorry for you, too.”
“I was lucky enough to have him for a long time,” I said. “And it wasn’t a surprise, which made it easier. We were prepared. He lived a good, long life, and his heart flame went out when it was ready.”
“He was a good man,” she said. “I never really knew him, but I remember how much everyone respected him.”
Dad had been at the end of his life when Harley first came to Lakeview. He’d spent his time seeing clan members in private. I was preparing to step into the role of alpha. I sometimes wondered if he had lived a little longer, if he’d been around to keep me from getting cocky about the money in the drug trade… I couldn’t allow myself to walk that looping path of regret. I scooped the diced bell peppers into the salad bowl. “He was. I wish Dylan could’ve met him.”
She reached over and touched my forearm. “He has you, now. You’ll have to tell him the stories.”
I stared into the bowl at the scattered bits of bell pepper and swallowed down a sudden surge of anger and grief. If Blakely hadn’t interfered, maybe Dylan could’ve had a chance to meet my father, even though I’d been in prison. It was yet another thing she’d taken from my son and from me.
“Your dad was the alpha before you, wasn’t he?” Harley asked. “The same way Dylan could one day be clan alpha?”
I cleared my throat. “Yes. An alpha child traditionally takes over the role. Usually, the firstborn is an alpha, so it should have been Hawk, but the alpha gene skipped over him. Sean and I are somewhat of a unique circumstance. Twins, both alphas.”
Her eyebrows knit together slightly. “I seem to remember you telling me that Sean was older than you, right?”
“Right. By a few minutes.”
“But you’re the alpha.” I saw the pieces click together in her mind. “Oh, I bet he doesn’t like that.”
“That’s an understatement,” I said. “It’s the reason he abandoned the clan. My father chose me as the next alpha, because he saw I was stronger and more responsible than Sean. At the end of my father’s life, he entrusted me with the clan, because he didn’t trust Sean to lead us well.
“Sean felt like he had been denied his birthright. Before we even had time to bury my father, he challenged me for the role. He nearly lost his eye for his trouble.”
“Jesus,” Harley murmured.
“The clan has flourished under my leadership, and that’s only pissing Sean off more. He hates me. He hates this clan. He wants to be the alpha, but only to take it away from me. He doesn’t actually care about any of the Lakeview dragons.” I started chopping the carrots for the salad, using maybe a little too much force as I drove the blade into the cutting board. “His interference has made it complicated for me to legitimize our businesses. That’s why I was at the clubhouse this morning-dealing with some rumors before I went to the garage.”
“And that’s what all those meetings have been about?” Harley asked.
“Yes. I’ve been looking for a way to move the clan out of our dirtier businesses, but Sean’s influence is making it nearly impossible. He knows too much. He’s unpredictable.”
“Because if you go legit, that’s another win for Lakeview,” Harley said. “He won’t be able to make money off you? Or what?”
“He won’t be able to threaten me.” I set the knife down and leaned back against the counter, crossing my arms over my chest. “That night, when I got locked up… Blakely didn’t know a damn thing about the shipment I got caught with. She was a hangaround, but she didn’t know the details of clan business. She couldn’t have tipped off the feds. Nor would she want to.”
“You think Sean?-“
“He wanted me out of the picture. He thought that if I was locked up, he’d be able to swoop in and claim the clan himself.”
“Why couldn’t he?”
“Because he underestimated my clan,” I said with a small smile. “Hawk and Striker ran the day-to-day affairs while I was gone, and I did what I could from behind bars. During that first year, Sean showed up to Lakeview to take control of the clan, and he was run out of town. He’d thought the clan would be eager to follow a new alpha-that they’d think my imprisonment was proof I wasn’t fit to be the alpha. So, he figured it’d be easy for him to take control. He wasn’t prepared for the clan to do everything but laugh in his face.”
“Seriously? He thought the dragons would just roll over?”
I snorted. “Ridiculous, isn’t it?”
“I see why your dad chose you to be the alpha,” Harley said with a little smirk.
My dragon purred at her approval. “My clan members made it clear the only way he would ever be alpha would be to challenge me and defeat me. So, since then, Sean has been threatening to do exactly that.”
“But he’s failed once, hasn’t he?”
“He has. And that only makes him angrier. He’s been humiliated more than once. And that makes him unpredictable. He’s dangerous, Harley. He always has been, but now… It’s getting out of control.”
Harley pulled the brussels sprouts out of the oven, her brow furrowed in thought. “Does he have his own clan? Or is he totally rogue?”
“He’s got a small crew,” I said. “I wouldn’t really call them a clan. Three followers at the most, and then his watchdog-a wolf.”
Harley gasped. “A dragon and a wolf working together?”
“He’s just as unhinged as Sean is,” I said. “He’s caused problems for the clan even without Sean’s instruction.”
“Great,” Harley muttered. “Even more to worry about.”
I stepped closer to Harley and put my hands on her waist, tugging her close to me. I brushed the hair off her forehead and held her gaze steadily. “I’m not telling you all this because I want you to be afraid. I want you to understand why I’ve been taking precautions.”
“Like the panic buttons?”
I huffed a small laugh. “Yeah. Like that. You don’t need to be afraid because we’re taking all of these precautions. The whole Lakeview clan is looking out for you and Dylan. But I do need you to stay alert. If you see Sean, or if anyone suspicious approaches you, I need you to tell me.”
“Anyone suspicious? How will I know?” She dropped her gaze and hooked her fingers into my beltloops. It was a gesture of closeness, comfort, and my dragon preened with delight.
