Page 114 of Caution to the Wind

“I can only guess,” I said after swallowing thickly, staring down at my hands and noticing the skin and blood under my fingernails from fighting back. I picked at it absently. “Kasper Kuan never liked me after what happened in Calgary eight years ago, but over the years, he got used to me.”

“Why?” Axe-Man demanded. His hand clenched and flexed open again and again. I always looked at his hands for his emotional tells. He couldn’t keep them from giving away his thoughts.

“Why did he get used to me?” I shrugged, then groaned when pain spiked through my shoulder. “Can I get some more drugs?”

Harleigh Rose nodded, but Axe-Man shook his head. “When you’re done answerin’ my questions.”

“Dad, what the hell is wrong with you?” Cleo asked from the doorway, clearly being held back by Kodiak. “Are you serious right now?”

“We need answers, Cleo,” he said without looking at her, without inflection. “She’s brought trouble to Entrance, and we need to know how to safeguard against her.”

“Don’t you mean againstthem?” I asked sweetly.

His brows lowered even further. Another series of hand clenches.

“You’re being barbaric,” Cleo nearly shouted, ducking awkwardly under Kodiak’s arm and crutching into the room. When she got close enough, she hit her dad in the back of the knee with a crutch and waited for him to turn to her before stating, “Mei’s just been beaten up. If you have any decency, you’ll save this interrogation until she’d had some painkillers and some sleep.”

“It’s fine, Glory,” I said, but the words were thin because gratefulness was lodged in my throat. “I don’t mind.”

“Well, I do,” she countered.

I hadn’t seen her so vivacious since the accident, and clearly, none of the others had either because they all visibly softened in their stances. Even Axe-Man.

He sighed raggedly and reached out to cup Cleo’s face. “Just a few more questions, and then we’ll let her sleep, Glory. But only if you get your own ass to bed. You need rest to recover, too, and tonight’s been a lot.”

“I’m fine,” she snapped. Kodiak snorted behind her, and she twisted to glare at him. “Iam.”

He lifted one shoulder in a shrug and yawned like he didn’t care either way.

“I’ll get you some more drugs,” Harleigh Rose interjected, already turning to leave. “The good stuff.”

“Thank you,” I murmured, then to Cleo, “You should sleep, Glory. We have a long day tomorrow of doing nothing but sitting on the couch and watchingSailor Moon.”

Her mouth flattened as she considered me for a moment, but I could see the tremble of exhaustion in her arms as she braced herself on the crutches. “Okay, but only if it’s Super S. I know you like the original season, but Chibiusa rocks.”

I laughed even though it opened the split in my lip again. “She’s totally why you’d dye your hair pink, isn’t she?”

She tossed her head the way she used to when she had long hair, forgetting for a moment that it had been shorn. “She’s the daughter of two heroes, and she becomes her own hero. It’s very inspiring.”

“It’s a cartoon,” Kodiak muttered.

“It’sanime,” Cleo and I retorted at the same time.

We shared another smile before she whispered, “I’m sorry, Rocky. I know they aren’t acting like it now, but the club will find the guys who did this to you and make them pay.”

“Because Queen Cleo demands it?” I teased, feeling too many eyes on us, assessing me.

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” she countered, balancing on one leg to pat my head before she turned to crutch out of the room. Before she left, she turned and pinned each of the men with a look. “Be nice, please. She’s my best friend.”

“Will do, sweetheart,” Zeus promised solemnly even though his eyes were crinkled like they were smiling.

By unspoken agreement, everyone waited until Cleo had left the room before they closed the door behind her and Kodiak, and turned their attention back to me.

“Enough with the lies, Mei,” Axe-Man said, pulling up a chair from against the wall. “Tell me everything.”

For a moment, I thought about really doing that. Unloading all my secrets, all the things that had happened since I ran from the scene of the crime at Turner Farm that night so many years ago. But I couldn’t flay myself alive like that, especially now when my future seemed utterly precarious. Without Seven Song triad’s protection, I was officially going up against the Red Dragons alone. Worse than that, if Kasper truly believed I was betraying him and working with The Fallen, this was only a warning.

He’d kill me if I acted against him.