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I made it back in record time and hurried into the house. Dylan, Cassidy, and Striker were still gone—flying, I assumed—and Steph was waiting for me in the kitchen. I rushed across the house and all but fell into his arms. He laughed and spun me in a slow circle before kissing me. “How’d it go?”

I tipped my forehead against his shoulder with a sigh. “As good as it could’ve, I guess. I think Blakely’s still pretty damn delusional, but at least she knows now that she can’t push me around.”

“Damn right,” Steph said with a grin. “That’s my girl.”

He gave me another searing kiss, and I wound my arms around his neck.

“It’s different now,” Steph said.

“Why’s that?” I asked against his lips.

“Because this time, I’m never letting you go.”

“Back at you,” I said with a smile.

37

ACE

Three days after my meeting with Castille, I received the confirmation I had requested: a recording of Castille’s conversation with Sean, and a screenshot of the returned bank transfer.

On the call, Sean sounded both blindsided and furious. Clearly he’d been counting on Castille’s guns and was running out of options to rebuild his joke of a clan. Castille, to his credit, gave Sean zero indication ofwhyhe’d canceled the deal. He just said it was over, let Sean rant himself into a frenzy, then hung up.

I was relaxing on the back porch of my home, about to message Castille back with my acknowledgment and thanks, when my phone rang.

“I wondered when I would hear from you,” I said coolly into the phone.

“You’re going behind my back,” Sean snarled into the phone. “You’re fucking with my sources.”

“What are you talking about? Start from the beginning, brother.”

“Don’t patronize me,” Sean said with a growl. “Meet me. Tonight. At the north side of the lake.”

“Gladly,” I said, ending the call without waiting for a response.

“Who was that?” Dylan asked as he hurried up the stairs to the back deck, tossing a baseball from hand to hand.

“Were you eavesdropping?” I asked my son with a playful quirk of my eyebrows.

“I can’t help it,” Dylan said. “Ever since I shifted, my ears have gotten crazy good. I can hear birds all the way up in the tops of the trees.”

“I know, I know, I’m just messing around. Here, come sit down next to me.”

Dylan plopped down in the chair next to me. He glanced over at me, then mirrored my posture: legs kicked up on the low wire table and gazing out at the lake. Dylan didn’t know I was looking out to the horizon, to the old mine where Sean wanted to meet this evening. “I’ve got to do something for work tonight, Dylan.”

“Does it have to do with the guys that took Mom?”

“It does.”

Dylan was young, but there was no point in lying to him, not anymore. He’d been through enough, witnessing his mom get kidnapped. He deserved to know what my plans were. Well, maybe not the full details, but enough to feel sure I was handling it.

“What are you gonna do?” Dylan asked.

“I’m not sure yet, but I want to make sure those creeps know they can never mess with us again.”

“Good.” Dylan crossed his arms over his chest. “Why are you telling me? Do… do you need backup?”

There was a twinge of fear in his voice. My dragon soared with both protectiveness and pride. Even though Dylan wasterrified, he was still ready to come fight for his mom’s safety if I asked him to.