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“This is bad,” Hawk said. “If he loses control, he’ll do something crazy. He’s an alpha, Ace. His need for territory will outweigh everything. If he can’t take the clan from you, he’ll try to destroy it.”

“Vengeance,” I murmured, staring down at the table.

“Sean’s not the man I knew,” Levi said. “He was never a great guy, sure, but he was never like this. He’s been ranting about you, too, Ace.”

“He’s always doing that,” Hawk said.

“It’s different this time,” Levi said.

“Levi—” I interjected.

“You need to hear this,” Levi said. “He’s been saying he should’ve killed you when he had the chance. When you werekids.”

“What?” Hawk asked, wide-eyed.

Fuck. I hadn’t wanted Hawk to know this. I wasn’t going to keep it from him forever, but I’d planned to tell him about this over a few beers out by the lake when it was all over. I knew it would hurt him, probably even more than it hurt me. I rubbed my forehead.

“Ace?” Hawk asked. “Why don’t you seem surprised by this?”

“He told me,” I said. “I’m the one who pushed him over the edge. I taunted him, egged him on to try to get him to issue the challenge. In his anger, he told me he’s always wanted to kill me.”

“Always?” Hawk asked.

“You remember that boat trip on the lake? When I fell in?”

“Yeah, of course I do. You almost drowned.” Hawk paused. “You don’t mean…”

“He pushed me in,” I said. “God knows how many other instances there were like that. Or how many times he imagined doing it.”

“Fuck.” Hawk pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes. “That’s our brother, Ace. Ourbrother!”

“Not anymore,” I said. “I don’t think he ever truly was.”

Hawk trembled, and I gripped his shoulder and squeezed once. Seeing him so torn up twisted my stomach. Sean hadn’t only hurt me with his words—he’d hurt my whole family. My whole clan.

I looked at Levi. “Why come to us with this now?”

Levi leaned back in the booth and frowned. “You know, when I first started working for Sean, it wasn’t really working ‘for’ at all. He needed some backup, and he was a friend. We’d shot pool together. I could tell he was going through a hard time. But as time passed, he started getting more and more…” Levi wrinkled his nose. “Psycho. All he could talk about was how much he hated you, Ace.”

“Great,” I muttered.

“Look, I know what it’s like to need a pack. That’s what I was looking for. I thought since Sean was an alpha he might be able to put one together, but he was never focused on becoming a good alpha or building something on his own. He was only ever fixated on getting revenge. It’s been so long, and all he’s got left is his hate. It’s been festering. Turning him into…” Levi waved a hand. “This. Whatever he is now. And the dragon he is now is capable of…”

“He’s capable of killing Ace,” Hawk said coldly. “Of doing what he’s wanted to do since we were kids.”

“Take care of it soon,” Levi said. “Or else we’ll all be in trouble.”

As the first truckers began to filter into Lola’s, Hawk and I stood up. I shook Levi’s hand firmly. “Thanks for this information.” It wasn’t anything I didn’t know, but if it was bad enough for Levi to reach out, it was gettingreallybad. That was information on its own.

Hawk and I climbed on our bikes and rode back to Lakeview. When we drove into the town, Hawk waved at me and split off to his own house. He’d probably have Mia before bringing Dylan home. I was so tired I felt it in my bones, but I knew I wouldn’t be getting any sleep.

I slipped into the quiet house. Rome was asleep on the couch, and I left him that way. I crept up the stairs, then pressed my ear to the door of my bedroom. Harley was still deeply asleep, her breaths slow and rhythmic. I opened the door a crack and took a moment to just look at her. She was curled under the blanket, her face buried in my pillow.

The sight of her soothed the worst of my nerves. I closed the door gently, then went into my office. Without thinking, I walked to my bookshelf and pulled a leather-bound book from the top corner. I wiped the dust from the cover, then sat on the couch and opened the old photo album. It had been years since I’d looked at it.

What was I looking for?

I wasn’t sure.