Page 106

COLE

I awoke to a shooting pain down my neck.

Lifting my head, I glanced around, slightly confused by my surroundings.

After a few minutes, I remembered that I’d come into my office to do some work the night before.

I’d thought giving Avery some time alone might help.

At some point during the night, I’d fallen asleep, head resting on my arms like a kid in school.

Groaning, I stood and stretched my arms over my head, rolling my head from side to side.

Even a shifter body didn’t enjoy sleeping like that.

I also felt bad that I’d spent the entire night here.

I’d been upset and disappointed with Avery, but I hadn’t been angry enough not to spend the night with her.

Hurrying from the office, I headed to the bedroom.

Inching the door open, I peered inside, afraid to wake Avery, but the bed was unmade and empty.

“Aves?” I checked the bathroom and closet, but there was no sign of her.

Downstairs, I heard the rustle of movement. Maybe she was down there making coffee or something. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, all I found was Trent making toast.

“Where’s Avery?” I asked.

Trent gave me a pained look. “She asked me to take her home. To her place.”

“Damn,” I hissed, pounding my fist on the counter.

There was too much going on, too many moving parts, too much danger for us to get into a bad place.

I could understand why she was upset, but I still thought I had a good point.

Last night, when we talked, it looked like she understood where Langston and I were coming from.

Maybe I’d been wrong? Could she still be pissed?

“Was she angry when she asked?”

Trent pulled his bread from the toaster and turned to look at me. “Not that I could tell. Depressed, maybe?” he shrugged. “Not super happy, though, that’s for sure.”

I flopped onto one of the bar stools and stared off into space, brooding for a few moments before speaking again.

“Is there anyone watching over her?” I asked, suddenly worried about Kyle making a play for her or something.

Trent nodded as he tore into his toast. “Yeah. Porter’s with her.”

That was good. At least she was safe. She’d be safe with me, but as long as she was with someone I trusted, I could breathe a little easier.

“Things are a bit rough between you two right now, aren’t they?” Trent asked. “That little fight didn’t look great last night.”

“We aren’t talking about that right now,” I snapped.

“Whew. Touchy, touchy. All right, then. Let’s talk about the next most important thing. Avery said Kyle told her that he was coming for you in two days. How is that going down?”

That part had barely set in. I’d been too upset that Avery had called him behind my back to really register that part of the conversation.

“What it sounds like to me is that he has no plan to officially challenge me,” I said.

“He must have some other plan up his sleeve. It’s weird. If we’re right, and your dad never fully filed that will, the only way he can gain control of the pack is through a challenge or you signing it over. Does he not want the pack anymore?”

“No, he wants it. I’m worried he’s using Ashton as a pawn. It may be why he’s kept him without hurting him. Maybe he thinks he can kill me, then force Ashton to sign it over. As my only child, he’d be the heir.”

“Hmm,” Trent said, and from his tone, I could tell he wasn’t buying it. “I hate to be this way, but if Dallas really is his right-hand man, wouldn’t it be easier to kill you and Ashton, then use Dallas to get access to the pack?”

“You’re forgetting one thing,” I said with a growl. “Avery.”

Trent tilted his head back, hissing in irritation. “Right. I didn’t think about that.”

“If he wants her to be his, then he can’t just murder her son. No. He needs Ashton alive to try and win her over. Two birds with one stone.”

“Speaking of Dallas,” Trent said, “I got a call from Langston super-early this morning. It’s why I was awake when Avery asked for a ride. No sign of Dallas.”

“Goddammit.” I sat back in frustration.

“Yeah. Langston’s pretty pissed, too.”

“He’s got to be in hiding. That’s all that makes sense,” I said. “He tucked tail and ran back to that damn mansion.”

“That’s what Langston thinks, too. Any scent trail they pick up ends up dead right around there,” Trent said, sliding his plate into the sink.

“He’s got the answers we need, and we can’t find him. Great. Really great.” Tapping my fingers on the counter, I tried to shove the doubts out of my mind.

“What are you thinking?” Trent asked. “I can tell you’re working something around in your head.”

“What if Avery’s right?” I blurted.

“About?”

“What if we aren’t doing enough? We all thought hunting Dallas was enough, but it obviously wasn’t. I’m starting to think Avery might have the better thought. It could be better if we say fuck it and go in, guns blazing, and attack Kyle’s mansion.”

Trent’s cheeks puffed up and deflated as he blew out a breath.

“That sounds pretty badass, but it also sounds like a great way to spill a lot of blood. Not only Kyle’s, but the blood of our friends as well.

To be successful, we’d need to get most of the pack involved, not the small group of elite guys we’ve been using.

Wasn’t the whole point to keep the pack safe?

This idea goes in the opposite direction.

Do you really want to use innocent people as cannon fodder? ”

He was right, of course. I couldn’t do that.

The pack had already been through too much.

With everything Dad had put them through, along with Kyle’s shit?

It was enough to make any pack splinter.

If I drafted a hundred people to attack that mansion against their will, I might as well close up shop.

Head back out west and start over. The pack would never follow anyone from the Garrett bloodline again. I refused to be a dictator like that.

Still, we had to do something . The longer Kyle had Ashton, the more opportunity it gave him to somehow use my son against me. Either as bait, or to goad me into acting rash.

When I mentioned that fear to Trent, he nodded along sympathetically.

“I’ve thought of that, too,” he said. “If it does come to that, and he tries to use Ashton as some type of weapon against you, then the paradigm shift. We’ll be left with no choice but to do something drastic.”

“Grab a notebook or something,” I said. “Let’s get some stuff on paper.”

Trent frowned but turned around and pulled a beaten-up notepad from a drawer along with a couple pens. “What kind of stuff?”

I wanted to tell him that I needed to get my mind off of Ashton and Avery for a bit. Instead, I said, “Contingencies. If Kyle tries to spring some sort of trap on us using Ashton.”

Trent flipped the notebook open. “All right. If we were in his shoes, what would we do to try and fuck with us?”

We went over multiple plans, some so outlandish that I didn’t think they even merited writing down, but it was helping to get my mind off things, and I went with it. Nearly an hour later, my phone rang.

“It’s Langston,” I said with a frown. “Wouldn’t he be in bed if he was out tracking all night?”

Trent chuckled. “Knowing that guy, probably not. Back in the service, he could operate on one or two hours of sleep over three days. Dude’s a machine.”

“Hey,” I said as I answered the phone.

“It’s me,” Langston said, his voice low, barely a whisper.

Something about his tone sent a chill up my spine, and I sat straighter. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Langston said, and I thought I could hear a savage glee in his voice as he spoke. “It’s Dallas. I’ve got eyes on him.”

Trent and I nearly tripped over each other as we rushed for the door.

“Where?” I shouted into the phone as Trent hopped into the driver’s seat of his truck and I climbed in the passenger side.

“Caught sight of him heading away from Kyle’s mansion,” Langston said.

“Damn lucky. I was about thirty seconds away from getting into my truck and going home. A Jeep drove past the spot where I’d hidden my truck right as I was about to get it, and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t Dallas driving by.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I jumped in and took off after him.

Stayed back so he wouldn’t see me, but I followed him on foot for a few hours.

I wanted to make sure I knew where he was going before I called. ”

“Are you serious?” I asked.

Trent slammed the gas, pulling out of the driveway, tires screeching. “Where the hell did you end up?”

“I’m not familiar with this area, but street signs say this town is named Bellview. He’s just walked into a café.”

“The fuck ?” Trent said. “That’s a two-and-a-half-hour drive from here.”

“Gun it, then,” I said.

The engine roared as Trent put on speed, heading west toward Bellview.

“We’re on our way,” I said into the phone. “But it’ll take time to get there.”

“Got ya. I’ll stay put, keep a close eye on him. I’ll notify you if he moves.”

“See you in a little while,” I said, slumping in my seat.

“What kind of business does he have in Bellview?” Trent asked. “That’s not even a shifter town. Do you think Kyle is expanding even faster?”

“I’m not sure,” I muttered. “Might be meeting someone there. At this point, they have to know we’re looking for them. Our scents will be all over the place. He might think it’s a good place to do business without any prying eyes. I guess we’ll find out.”

I leaned back, doing my best to stay calm for the ride.

Trent broke every known driving law in the state of Georgia. Thankfully, we saw no police on the way. We made it in under two hours, pulling into a small downtown hotel in Bellview.

I called Langston again after getting out of the truck, certain Dallas would have moved on.

“He’s still here,” Langston said.

“It’s been over two hours,” I said. “What the hell is he doing?”