Page 59

ACE

I managed to get an hour of fitful sleep on the clubhouse couch.

“Morning,” Striker said from behind the bar, where he was already pouring me an enormous cup of coffee. “Better look alive. The guys will be here any minute.”

I grunted in acknowledgment. I was grateful I’d gotten any sleep at all.

In just a few minutes, clan members would start filing into the clubhouse, and I needed to be the strong alpha they could trust. A few of my enforcers were out searching for any trace of Harley or Sean, but the rest of the clan had been instructed to meet here.

This was a serious escalation, and I needed all hands on deck—especially if I was going to officially challenge Sean.

I went up the clubhouse stairs to my room where Dylan had been passed out, and gently opened the door. It was empty.

Fear lanced through me, and my dragon surged to the forefront of my consciousness, so fast it made me dizzy. I was about to shift right there and burst through the ceiling when Hawk stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

“Easy, Ace. Mia and Tank took him back to your place. He wanted to be in his own room.”

“Jesus,” I said, then raked my hands through my hair as the adrenaline drained away. “Someone should’ve told me.”

“She texted,” Hawk said with a small smile. “You’ve been knocked out on the couch.”

Fair enough. I rubbed my forehead. I hated that I wasn’t with Dylan right now, but Mia was a good aunt for taking him back to a place where he felt more comfortable and safe. I gave Hawk a grateful nod, and he squeezed my shoulder.

We’d get through this somehow. We’d do it together.

I gestured for him to come downstairs with me. It was probably best that Dylan wouldn’t be here to hear me discuss exactly what I was going to do to Sean.

Downstairs, Striker slid each of us a cup of coffee.

“Looks like you need this,” he said. He was a barrel-chested enforcer, and his chestnut hair had silver streaks through it, despite the fact that he wasn’t much older than me.

This morning, he was wearing a plain white shirt with an apron over it, left behind from the Night Shift Distillery event.

He slid the two mugs of coffee across the bar to me and Hawk.

“I need real sleep,” I said, “but that’s not going to happen anytime soon. Not until I find Harley.”

Striker nodded in agreement. “We’re with you every step of the way, Ace. The guys should be here in a few minutes.”

“Good. We need to get our plan in order and move as quickly as we can.”

The door slammed open. “Where the fuck is that bastard?” a loud, high-pitched voice shouted.

It was a voice I hadn’t heard in a long time, but as soon as I turned around, I recognized its owner.

Cassidy stormed inside like she was a pissed-off mother, and I was the teenager who had thrown a house party.

She was small and slight, with long jet-black hair and blunt, bleached bangs.

She was wearing a hoodie and loose jeans, and her bag was over her shoulder—she’d clearly come directly from the airport. And she was pissed.

“What the hell happened?” Cassidy barked as she stomped up to the bar. “And where the hell is my nephew?”

Striker placed his hands flat on the bar. His eyes widened as he stared at Cassidy, though she wasn’t paying him a lick of attention. I could sense his dragon rising up behind his eyes.

I recognized that feeling, and I knew it all too well. It was the same feeling I’d had when I first saw Harley.

“How the hell could you let her do that?” Cassidy demanded. “You just let her leave? Run off on her own? You knew you had a psychotic-ass brother out there looking for her, for you. You knew it was dangerous, and you just let her go ?”

“I know,” I said.

Cassidy was right. I had no leg to stand on. No way to explain what had happened. The truth was simple—I’d fucked up, and Harley was paying the price.

Cassidy glowered at me, waiting for me to argue.

“I’m sorry.”

She heaved a sigh. “I don’t need your apologies. I need to know what your plan is to get her back.”

“The guys are coming here to have that exact discussion.”

“The guys?” Cassidy echoed. “Tell me, now. I’d rather not be here when the place is full of dragons.”

“I expect you will be,” Striker said in a low voice. “They’ll be here any minute.”

Cassidy glanced over at him, and Striker’s pupils dilated. Cassidy’s gaze flickered over his face, curious and a little surprised, then she turned back to me. “Just tell me.”

“Damn.” Hawk snickered. “You’d make a good alpha, girl.”

Cassidy didn’t laugh. She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to glower at me. Striker poured her a cup of coffee and slid it over the bar, and she accepted it without looking at him. That was enough to make Striker smile, though.

“We all know what Sean wants,” I said. “He wants this clan. He wants the territory. He wants to be the alpha. He’s made that crystal clear, and he’s been getting more and more confident.

Ballsy. But I never thought—” I cringed and cut myself off.

It didn’t matter what I had thought. The only thing that mattered was that I had thought wrong.

Cassidy’s fierce expression made it clear she thought the same.

“I’m the Lakeview alpha, and my heir is a threat to his plans. He wants me to trade Dylan for Harley.”

“You can’t?—”

“I never would,” I said, interrupting Cassidy before she could keep chewing me out. “I’m going to tell him I’ll trade him the role of clan alpha in exchange for Harley.”

Cassidy’s dark eyes narrowed. “Okay… Then what?”

At least she was listening to me now. That was a good sign. “Then, once he’s accepted the trade and we have Harley, I’ll issue a challenge on the spot, kill him, and take the clan back.”

This was the best plan I had. It’d keep Harley and Dylan safe, and I’d remove the threat of Sean forever. Giving up the clan, even for a moment, wasn’t exactly ideal, but it was what I had to do.

“What if you lose the challenge?” Cassidy asked.

“He won’t,” Hawk said.

“You can’t guarantee that,” she said.

“We can,” Striker said. “There’s no question.”

“He’s whooped my ass more than once,” Hawk said, “and that wasn’t even a real fight.”

Cassidy didn’t look convinced, but she let it go. “And how do you know he’s going to accept the challenge? What if he says ‘screw you, the clan’s mine’?”

“A challenge isn’t optional,” I said.

“We’re medieval like that,” Striker said.

Cassidy raised her eyebrows, but I nodded in confirmation. “It’s not a question. It’s a command. If you refuse to fight in the challenge, you automatically forfeit. It’s a way to prove you are worthy of leading the clan. If you refuse, you’re obviously not.”

“You’re sure this will work?” she asked. “You’ll get Harley back and deal with that sicko who kidnapped her?”

“I will,” I said. “It’ll work.”

Sean’s ego was his weak spot. He thought he had me on the ropes, but he wasn’t a real leader. He didn’t think like a leader. He was self-centered and impulsive, and his delight over thinking he had finally won the clan would outweigh any logical thinking.

Cassidy sighed. “Okay. As long as you’re sure.

” She rubbed her hand over her forehead.

“I want my friend back, Ace. My sister.” She swayed a little on her feet as the adrenaline drained from her posture.

Striker hopped over the bar with a nimbleness he rarely displayed and steadied her with a gentle hand on her elbow.

The clan members arrived and filed into the clubhouse, speaking in low, concerned voices.

“Why don’t you take Cassidy outside for some air?” I said to Striker. “After the meeting, we’ll go back to my house. Dylan should be awake by then.”

Cassidy nodded. Striker grabbed her coffee and guided her out onto the back deck.

Hawk and I exchanged a look as they left. If Cassidy really was Striker’s fated mate, these next few weeks were going to be interesting.

That wasn’t something I could worry about now, though.

The clan members settled into the clubhouse, and I stood up to tell them what I’d just told Cassidy.

Just as I’d expected, not everyone was happy with the plan—it was a risk to use the clan as a bargaining chip.

But everyone knew Sean had to be taken care of for good, and everyone knew I’d be a stronger alpha with my fated mate at my side.

It never should’ve come to this, but it had. And now I had to deal with it.

The clan was in agreement. It was tentative, sure, but they’d have my back.

All that was left to do was contact Sean to set up the “trade”.

After the meeting, I stepped onto the back deck. Cassidy was leaning against the railing, coffee in hand, as she looked out over the lake. Striker was next to her, but he kept a respectable distance between them. When he glanced back at me, I could have sworn I saw a faint flush on his face.

Jeez. If Striker was looking like that, it had to be the real deal.

“Cassidy, thanks for waiting. I’ll take you back to my house.”

Striker moved to say something, but I shook my head minutely. “You too, Striker. I want to make sure we leave some enforcers at the house.”

Striker grinned, grateful to have a reason to stick to Cassidy’s side.

I knew what he was going through—his dragon was probably howling at him to stay at her side and ensure she was safe and happy, to not let her out of his sight ever again.

For a regular human, that behavior could come off a little…

Well, a little creepy. Having him tag along was the best way to keep him around her without risking his dragon chasing her down.

I bypassed my motorcycle and led Cassidy to my old Cadillac. She climbed into the passenger seat, and we drove the short distance to my home inside. Striker followed on his bike.

At the house, I knocked briskly before I walked inside. “Dylan, you up?”

“Dad!” Dylan charged out of the kitchen and wrapped me in a bear hug.

“How you feeling? You get some sleep?”