Page 49 of The Delta’s Rogue (Crescent Lake #4)

The limo creeps through the city at a snail’s pace, navigating the complexities of Southern California highways and the traffic that goes along with them.

My knee bounces, and I focus on breathing and calming my nerves.

So much is riding on this meeting with Nuncio, and the weight of all of it falls on me.

We can’t mess this up. We can’t raise his suspicions.

If we do, the rest of our plan unravels.

Leaning back against the leather seats, I scan the vehicle’s interior.

I’m not the only occupant on edge. Dominic has cracked his neck more times than I can count, and Nolan sits ramrod straight with his jaw clenched, eyes flicking to Cassandra every five seconds.

Of the four of us, she’s the one who seems the least fazed by the front we’re presenting, by the part she must play to keep up our ruse.

She sits quietly, curled into Nolan’s side, hand resting on his chest. He clutches her to him, his grip fierce and unyielding.

His possessiveness radiates from him, and his clenched jaw ticks with annoyance every time he glances at her and sees her revealing gold dress.

“I don’t like this.” His hand curls around her hip and squeezes.

“None of us like it,” I reply.

“Sebastian wouldn’t have asked me to help if he didn’t need my aura-blocking ability,” Cassandra reminds him.

“And Cassandra wouldn’t have agreed to this if she was uncomfortable with it,” I add.

Nolan frowns more—if that’s possible—his hazel eyes still locked on her green ones. “What about what I’m comfortable with?”

I bite back a growl. “We’re all making sacrifices here, Nolan. ”

He scoffs. “Easy for you to say. Your mate isn’t the one who will be showing off her lingerie-clad body to an entire club of degenerates.”

“Your mate wouldn’t need to if my… If Sarina wasn’t held captive by those same degenerates.” I stare at him pointedly.

He freezes, his breath halting in his throat.

I’ve yet to confess to any of them that I’m sure Sarina is my mate.

Not that I need to. They may not have witnessed my initial meltdown after she left me without so much as a goodbye, but they saw how I reacted when Dominic brought us the news, saw the parallels between how it affected me and how losing Haven had forced Wesley into an early shift when he was twelve.

I catch Cassandra’s eye, and she presses closer to Nolan, her hand trailing down the sleeve of his black shirt to his forearm, where her fingers linger. They trace swirling lines across the fabric, dancing over where I know her name is inked into his skin.

He exhales and leans his head against the seat. “I’m sorry, Seb,” he mutters. “I’m just struggling with the thought of others seeing my mate almost naked while she submits to me in a public place, and…” He exhales again, leaving his sentence unfinished.

Cassandra’s lips twitch with a silent laugh. “We’ve done worse in a public place.” Her smile grows as Nolan growls at her in warning. “You didn’t seem to mind it then.”

I cover my mouth to hide my laughter.

“Daisy…” he says to her through his teeth.

Dominic snickers and drops his chin to his chest, avoiding my eyes. I do the same. If we look at each other, there’s no way we won’t break into hysterics.

Nolan spares us both a brief glare and turns his grumpy attention back to Cassandra. “We were alone—”

“And naked. And in a stairwell, where anyone could have walked in at any moment,” she points out.

Her head angles to the side, a mischievous glint shining in her eyes, and he arches a brow at her.

She leans in closer, undoing one more button on his shirt.

“Maybe there is a little exhibitionist in you after all.”

Dominic coughs into his fist.

The limo veers to the side of the street, pulling up to the curb and slowing to a full stop .

Nolan’s hand slides up to Cassandra’s neck. “I think I would feel better if your mark was visible.” His eyes lock onto that sensitive spot where her mating mark would normally be visible to warn others that she already has a mate. “I don’t like that no one can see it.”

“That’s what the choker is for.” I jerk my chin towards the thin gold chain clasped around her neck that doubles as a collar and an enchanted trinket to mask her mating mark—a necessary part of our plan if we want to convince Nuncio and anyone else we meet that we’re cut from the same cloth as them, that we use females in the same way they do.

“For a Dom and their submissive, a choker indicates ownership. It’s the closest thing they have to a mating mark. ”

He grunts his response and tugs Cassandra onto his lap so she faces him, her legs straddling his thighs. His hand wraps around her neck as his eyes stay locked on hers, a silent conversation passing between them.

“Give us a moment,” he says without tearing his gaze from his mate.

I shake my head but exit the vehicle, straightening the collar of my navy-blue suit jacket as I round the hood of the limo, Dominic right behind me.

The club’s facade comes into view. I cross my arms, staring at the bright neon lights of the signage—The Wolf’s Lair—and the burly bouncers stationed behind the velvet ropes at the entrance.

“Are you sure about this?” Dominic peers over his shoulder at the pitch-black limo windows. “About Nolan, I mean. Can he keep it together?”

“He’ll be fine,” I reassure him. “He already has Dom tendencies. He’s just never realized that’s what they were. It’s the exhibitionist bit that has him tied up in knots.”

Dominic shoves his hands into his pockets and rocks back and forth on his feet. “She doesn’t have to do much. Only what they’re—she’s—comfortable with.”

“He knows that. I’ve been over that with both of them. He just needs to get his possessiveness out of the way”—I angle my head behind me to the limo—“and then he’ll relax into the role.”

“I hope you’re right. We need her ability.” He shifts his attention towards the club, eyeing the flashing lights.

The large building looms over the Hollywood street, pulsing with the music from the DJ and the tense, sexual energy from the guests inside. Outside, however, the street itself is quiet and darker. Few people pass by, and when they do, their steps are hurried and they pay the club no notice .

“Do they not see it?” Dominic asks through mindlink as a couple brushes past us, hand in hand.

A royal pack member perk, apparently. They can mindlink anyone from any pack. It makes their jobs easier to do, I guess.

“There are enchantments on the club to ensure privacy and security. To ensure only those invited may enter. It’s only visible to those who know about it.”

His nose wrinkles, and his hands curl into fists in his pockets. “Magic.” He spits the word out, suppressing a shudder and shaking his head. “It’s not witches themselves I have an issue with,” he continues. “Or hybrids. But as soon as Rune draws on her power … ”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me. Witches have done awful things to members of my pack—my family—as well. We have a difficult time trusting them too.”

“Then how can you trust the one you talked to in your dream?”

“Because the other option is giving up.”

The limo door opens, and Cassandra and Nolan slide out. She straightens the short skirt of her dress, and Nolan tucks his shirt into his pants, following close behind her. Dominic cuts his eyes towards me, and our smirks grow as we both glance at Nolan.

He rolls his eyes and slams the door shut.

Then he stalks by us and over to Cassandra, smoothing out her long brown hair—now wild and close to tangled from whatever the two of them were doing inside the limo—and tucking the strands behind her ears.

She stares up at him as he slides his arm around her waist and tugs her protectively against his body as he continues to play with her hair and caress her face.

Her eyes spark with mischief while also shining with trust and love.

Suddenly, it’s four years ago. I’m inside Adornment, wrapping a thin red piece of fabric around Sarina’s neck for the first time and taking her into my arms as I lead her into the club.

We’re hidden in the entrance hallway as I reassure her that her act was convincing, and she gazes at me with that same expression I see on Cassandra now.

That perfect mix of defiance, adoration, and respect.

A yearning pang shoots through me, straight from my heart and all the way to my fingertips.

I have to tear my eyes away from them—not to give them their privacy but because it’s too much.

It’s a reminder of everything I lost when I let Sarina leave, of everything we’ve missed out on by being apart for so long .

Goddess, what I wouldn’t give to have her back in my life. There is nothing I wouldn’t sacrifice, nothing I would say no to, if it meant keeping Sarina safe. If it meant she was mine in every way.

Whatever it takes. I’m never letting her go again.

“We’re ready,” Nolan grunts from my side.

I nod, still staring at the sidewalk, unable to look at him and show him the sorrow mixed with jealousy. “Good.”

I stroll towards the entrance, pushing my heartache to the side for the time being. Focusing on what Sarina and I missed out on over the last four years won’t do me any good in the now. I need to be present, focused, to keep myself and my team—and Sarina—safe.

“Remember,” I mindlink all of them. “Most of what you’ll see in there isn’t typical of this type of club. These people… They’re cruel. This is all about power and being in control of those they view as weaker than them.”

“We’re not going to judge your sexual tastes based on a visit to a club owned by someone who sells females to the highest bidder.” Nolan chuckles slightly. “We’re not total dickheads.”

“Sometimes you are,” Cassandra quips.

I have to bite my cheek to keep myself from laughing out loud.

“We have parts to play,” I remind them. “We have to pretend we are total dickheads if we want them to believe us, to trust us.”

“We’ll follow your lead,” Dominic says.

My lead.

They’re putting their trust in me, and I could be leading them into a trap. I’m reminding them to play it cool and remember their parts when I don’t know if I’ll be capable of holding it together. If I see something vile, or if there’s even a hint of a mention of Sarina, I may fly off the rails.

I fidget with my watch as we wait for the bouncers to acknowledge us.

“We’ve got your back.” Nolan claps me on the shoulder and squeezes. “Just breathe and remember the end goal.”

The end goal: Sarina safe and by my side, her mark on my neck and my heart in her hands.

“I have a meeting with Nuncio,” I say out loud to the bouncer .

His gaze slides over to me.

I adopt a smooth, disinterested, and disdainful demeanor, smoothing my lapels and avoiding his eyes to let him know I don’t consider him worth my time.

“Name?” he grunts.

“Henry Brown.”

His eyes glance behind me to the others. “And your guests?”

“Nic Waters, Ulysses Felix, and his…pet.”

The pseudonyms we selected slip off my tongue with ease.

The bouncer nods and unclips the velvet rope from the stand, gesturing to us to enter.

The doors open automatically, and the muted sounds of the music shift to a blaring, heart-thumping, bone-rattling volume.

I grit my teeth, my sensitive hearing rioting, but I continue down the long hallway to the stairs that lead into the club’s underground rooms. Even with the loud music, I hear the heart rates of my companions quicken as we descend the darkened stairs into the club.

The Wolf’s Lair. A fitting name.

Getting inside was the simple part. Now the real game begins.