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“I didn’t think Seanhada 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 gettingworse.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 beover?”

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.”

Harley didn’t look too pleased, but she nodded and wrapped her arm around Dylan’s shoulders.

I walked away until I was out of earshot but still had Harley and Dylan in my line of sight. I knew Sean and his lackeys wouldn’t show up again, not with so many enforcers around, but my dragon was still loath to take its eyes off them.

I scrolled through my contacts and pulled up a number I didn’t want to call. But I was running out of options and fast. The call connected after a few rings. “Ace?”

“Levi,” I said. “I need to speak to you about Sean.”

The wolf shifter on the other end huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, I figured. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to help you, though.”

I paused. “What do you mean?”

“I’m on Sean’s shit list,” Levi said. “He’s not telling me jack shit. Did he pull something today?”

I said nothing.