Filed to story: Reclaimed Book by Roxie Ray
Dylan plopped into a cushy seat near the pharmacist’s counter and curled up with his game. I handed my prescription to the pharmacist, and he nodded and said it’d be a few minutes, so I stood off to the side to wait and pulled out my phone.
Me
: I can’t believe I almost forgot my birth control.
This whole situation has my head in such a mess.
Cassidy: I can.
You subconsciously want another one, don’t you?! Btw, that job I sent you has a good maternity leave policy…
She followed that up with a few laughing emojis and devil ones, too.
I smiled down at my phone. I’d always told Cassidy I was a one-and-done type of mom. I’d never even thought about having more kids-I’d never met a man I’d want to have kids with. So, I’d been diligent about taking my birth control, even when I wasn’t dating. It was easier to keep taking it.
But somehow, in Lakeview, it had slipped my mind. And when Stephan had mentioned having another, there was a tiny part of me that considered it. Even this morning, I’d thought… What if I simply let it lapse? Rolled the dice and saw what happened?
Of course, I wasn’t going to do something so impulsive and irresponsible. I wasn’t twenty anymore. But I’d thought about it.
I glanced over at Dylan. He was still curled up in the chair, focused on his game. I imagined a little girl, identical to Bella, tugging at his arm for his attention. Another little shifter blowing smoke out of her nostrils. Dylan as a teenager, asking me to show him how to install the car seat in his first car… Dylan, in his twenties, meeting his sister’s first boyfriend and scaring the life out of him…
I was typing out my response to Cassidy when another customer came to stand next to me. I shuffled slightly to the side.
“Wow,” a familiar-yet-unfamiliar voice said. “He really does look like a mirror image.”
I looked up, then took a stumbling step closer to Dylan’s chair and farther away from the strange man. The strange man who wasn’t so strange. It was unnerving to look at him: tall, broad-shouldered, with messy blond hair, a stubbly beard, and hazel eyes. He was the spitting image of Stephan. At a quick glance, I would’ve thought he was Stephan, if not for the ugly, raised pink scar jutting over his right eye.
“Sean,” I whispered. I regained my footing and angled my body so I stood between Dylan and Sean. Dylan twisted in his chair and looked up. I grabbed his shoulder and squeezed hard before Dylan could say anything, and to my surprise, Dylan stayed quiet. I wondered what his dragon sensed about Sean.
I didn’t have super-senses like shifters, but even I could feel the anger radiating off Sean like a stench. His fists were clenched at his sides, and his hazel eyes were flecked with a burnished gold, though not nearly as bright and shining as Stephan’s.
Stephan had told me he was dangerous. I had believed him, but it was different than seeing it up close.
“That’s right,” Sean growled. “Surprised to see you out on the town all by yourself, girly. Especially when my brother has made himself so many enemies.” He grinned, showing his sharp canines. I couldn’t tell if they were his fangs, or if his human teeth were simply that sharp. “Seems irresponsible for an alpha to leave his mate so defenseless.”
“What?” I glanced anxiously around the pharmacy. “I’m not alone.
The enforcers?-“
“Oh, is that who that was?” His grin widened. It was clear he knew exactly who had been following us. “You should tell Stephan to choose someone a little stronger to look out for you.”
My heart dropped to my feet.
Sean narrowed his eyes, then peered over my shoulder at Dylan. “You know, it’d be a shame if your little dragon got involved.”
Dylan shuddered under my touch, and I tightened my hold on his shoulder. “You stay the hell away from my son,” I snarled, as if I were a dragon myself.
“Miss Founty?” the pharmacist asked from behind the counter. He had his hand on the phone behind the counter. “Your prescription. Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine,” Sean answered for me. He took a step back and threw a friendly smile at the pharmacist. “I’ve got to run. But you might want to tell Stephan he’s got an enforcer to tend to.”
Sean stormed out of the pharmacy. My knees nearly gave out as relief crashed over me. I turned toward Dylan, and he scrambled off the chair and hugged me hard. He was shaking. Or was that me? My hands quivered as I called Stephan.
ACE
“What the hell happened? Where’s Harley?” I leaped off my bike and ran to the dark Jeep parked at the edge of the parking lot, where Striker was crouched next to Tank.
“I’m fine,” Tank muttered. “Thanks for asking.” He had an ice pack on his head, and he’d have a nasty black eye tomorrow.
“Sean and a few of his guys jumped him,” Striker said.
“I didn’t think Sean had a few guys,” I snarled.
“Looks like things might be changing. Harley’s over by her car with Hawk.” Striker stood and pointed across the parking lot. Harley’s sedan was parked right in front of the pharmacy, and Hawk leaned against the trunk.
I left my bike where it was and sprinted across the parking lot, my heart racing. Hawk stepped aside as soon as I approached. “She’s all right,” he said. “I’ll go check in with the others.”
“Thanks.” Guilt gnawed at me. I should’ve been here first. I’d let Hawk leave our meeting early, and I’d lingered to thank all the guys involved in our new liquor investment.
I shouldn’t have trusted anyone else to take care of her. I should’ve known better. “Harley?”
She was sitting in the driver’s seat with the heels of her hands pressed into her eyes. She jumped when I approached, and then her expression softened. She stepped out of the car and closed the door behind her. In the backseat, Dylan was sprawled out with his video game.
“Harley,” I said again. I brushed the auburn hair off her forehead, then tucked another lock behind her ear. “Are you okay? I came as quickly as I could.”
“We’re okay,” she said. She glanced over her shoulder at Dylan. “I think so, at least.”
“What happened?” I asked. I pulled her into my arms, hungry for more closeness. Though she said she was okay, my dragon wasn’t convinced.
“Sean just… showed up.”
My dragon growled at the mention of Sean’s name. What the hell was he thinking, showing up in Lakeview? Was he following Harley?
“He threatened us,” Harley said quietly. “Not just me. Dylan. He-he said that you had a lot of enemies. And that someone might hurt Dylan. To get back at you.”
That made the smoke rise in the back of my throat.
“Harley-“
She thumped the side of her fist on my chest, then pulled away enough to look up at my face. Her eyebrows were pulled together, her lips raw where she’d bitten them, and her face was pale. “Don’t tell me it won’t happen. How can I believe that? You keep telling me you’ll handle it, that we’re safe, and stuff like this keeps happening. And it keeps getting worse. First, Blakely nearly killed me, and now Sean himself is ambushing me? Steph, this… I can’t go on like this. When is it going to be over?”
My heart dropped into my stomach. The guilt worsened, making me nauseous. The worst part was that I knew she was right. I’d been kicking the can down the road. Trying to figure out where Sean was posted up. Trying to find out what was wrong with him. Trying to get my legitimate businesses up and running so we could finally get out of our illegal businesses. But while I was trying to set things up, Sean was eagerly looking to knock them down.
Sean wasn’t waiting. I couldn’t wait, either.
The problem was that I didn’t know if I was ready to do what had to be done.
“Mom?” Dylan asked from inside the car. “Hey, can we-oh, Dad’s here!”
Dylan scrambled out of the backseat and wriggled in between me and Harley. “Hey, bud,” I said quietly. “You all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Dylan said. “That guy looked a lot like you. But my dragon didn’t like him at all.”
“Your dragon has good sense,” I said. I squeezed both him and Harley close, then stepped away. “Let me make a quick call. I’ll be right back.”
