by Tate James
"Do you want to hear it from Zed?" Lucas offered carefully, his eyes locked on mine. "He's the best person to explain what happened there."
I shuddered. "No. Fuck no. I'd rather pull my fingernails out with pliers than hear any of Zed's fucking explanations right now."
Cass gave a smirk. "That's what I told him."
"Then why is he still here?" I snapped back. I was angry... but it wasn't entirely at Zed. I was angry at me for trusting him so completely and for falling so hard in love with him that even now part of me hoped he could explain it all away.
I didn't want to give him that opportunity. Nothing he could say would redeem this level of betrayal. Colluding with Chase... after everything we'd been through. After everything Zed knew Chase had done to me. No. He was dead to me.
Neither Cass nor Lucas answered my question. They just exchanged a long look, and Lucas raked his hand through his hair as he perched on the end of the bed.
"Where are we?" I asked instead, sensing they were both at a loss for what to tell me.
Cass leaned forward, bracing his forearms on his knees. "We're in the last place on earth Chase Lockhart would ever think to look for us." His eyes twinkled with evil mischief. "We're at Foxglove Manor."
I jerked in shock, then winced as my shoulder throbbed and my ribs screamed. "Saint, I swear I just heard you wrong. Did you say we're at Foxglove?"
His smirk spread wider. "What better place to hide out?"
A small laugh bubbled out of me. "I have no words. You bought it?"
He gave a shrug. "After you wiped out the entire Lockhart bloodline, all of their properties went up for auction due to the sole beneficiary being too unwell to maintain them. I bought up as many as I could, hoping to find a safe or lockbox or something."
I nodded my understanding. "Hunting for Nadia's egg."
He inclined his head. "Didn't find it but held onto a few of the properties anyway. Turned out to be a good idea."
How right he was. Foxglove Manor had been in the Lockhart family for several generations, so Cass was right that Chase would be unlikely to ever suspect that's where we were. It had originally been built as a luxury hunting cabin and was tucked away up in the mountains near Salt Lake City. One road in, one road out, best accessed by helicopter.
A sharp knock at the door startled me, and Lucas smoothly unfolded from his position to answer it. He barely cracked the door open a couple of inches, blocking the gap with his body as he snapped, "What?"
Zed muttered something in reply, and Lucas shot a quick look at me over his shoulder.
"Back in a minute, babe," he told me with a hard smile, then slipped out of the room. He closed the door firmly behind himself, shutting Zed out there with him, and I tilted my head at Cass in question.
"Dunno," he replied. "Don't care, either. You want me to just shoot him and be done with it?"
Did I? It was curious that he hadn't already done it. And that in itself told me Cass wasn't totally convinced of Zed's betrayal. Or maybe he was just keeping him alive for me to deal with personally.
"Lucas mentioned something about Zed donating his blood," I murmured, biting the edge of my lip.
Cass huffed an irritated sound, then dragged his armchair closer so he could lean his elbows on the edge of the bed. Close enough to touch if I wanted to.
"Yeah. Martyr bullshit, trying to earn back some karma points or something." He propped his face on his hands, watching me. "Do you remember much from when we found you?"
It was a valid question. The details of it all were hazy and dark. "Yeah, most of it. I remember Zed picking me up and running full sprint through the forest, then putting me down and screaming at me to run. Then... I don't know. Were you in a helicopter?"
Cass gave a small head tilt. "Yep. When we pulled you both up, you were out cold. Blood fucking everywhere. Zed was barking orders at us, and you... shit, Angel. You looked like you were dead." His voice turned rough over that statement, and my fingers twitched at my side, brushing his elbow in a tiny gesture of comfort.
His gaze darted down to that minuscule touch, and a deep sigh shuddered through him as he closed his eyes.
"Zed told us you have the same blood type, and we didn't fuck around with questions. Lucas got Doc on the phone and had drawn a bag of blood from Zed before we even got back here. Neither of us even knew he'd been stabbed until he collapsed on the lawn."
Despite myself, I sucked in a sharp breath.
Cass gave a small headshake, meeting my eyes again. "He's fine now. Stubborn fuck. Lucas stitched him up, and Doc gave him a check over after he saw you yesterday."
I wet my lips, anxious energy making me jittery. "Lucas sure is getting thrown in the deep end on this medical shit."
Cass huffed. "He loves it. Little shit thrives on the challenge. You should have seen how damn precise he was with those stitches in your wrist."
Smiling, I brought my bandaged wrist to my chest. As messed up as the thought was, I kind of loved that Lucas had stitched my wrist up. It would scar, but now instead of being reminded of cutting myself free of restraints, it'd remind me of Lucas. And how much he loved me. That was a little bit awesome.
"He called you?" I asked in a quiet voice, bringing my fingertips back to where I'd been touching his elbow. "When I was arrested?"
Cass nodded. "Before the car had even taken you away. He called me and left a voicemail, then immediately went to work on planning a jailbreak." A small, proud-older-brother kind of smile crossed his gruff features. "Gumdrop was made for this life."
My pulse raced, a warm, fizzy feeling diluting the anxiety. "He wanted to break me out of FBI custody? Even after hearing how I'd lied to him?"
"You know he did. It'll take more than one lie to shake his faith in you, Red."
He was so right. I didn't deserve Lucas.
"Is Seph safe?" I asked in a thick voice. It was the question I'd been wanting to ask since waking up but had been too scared to hear the answer.
Cass dropped one of his hands from his face, his fingers brushing against mine and linking just the tips together in a soft, gentle gesture. "She's fine. Rex has her under lock and key until we say otherwise."
A long breath of relief gusted out of me. I could still hear Chase's threat in my mind telling me that if I wouldn't cooperate, he would take it out on Seph.
"Thank you," I whispered, my eyes hot with unshed tears. I didn't know if I could have handled it if the answer had been worse.
Cass just watched me for a long moment, his fingers barely touching mine yet somehow offering me so much strength and support it was staggering.
"You should rest," he told me quietly. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Actually," Lucas said, coming back into the room and leaving the door open behind him for once. I didn't see Zed out in the hall, but he was there somewhere. He wouldn't leave. Not until I either heard him out or killed him.
"What now?" Cass growled, his fingers linking further with mine in an almost unconscious movement. Protective. Possessive.
Lucas cringed, giving me a sad look. "Gen's dead. Hannah found her but thinks she was killed a couple of days ago."
Shock stole the breath from my lungs, and my lips moved soundlessly as I processed that. I liked Gen. Sure, maybe I hadn’t trusted her implicitly like I had Zed, but she was a valuable member of the Timberwolves.
"How? Why?" I frowned up at Lucas, trying to make sense of it. "Why would she be killed? As far as anyone knows, I'm in FBI custody, right?"
Lucas rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. "Actually, no. When that blonde bitch was found with a bullet in her head, you were declared a fugitive. Gen's been working around the clock to get the evidence against you thrown out. It was flimsy as shit to begin with, and she was actually getting somewhere on it."
Fuck. That was a lot to process. I was a fugitive? No wonder Cass hadn't taken me back to Shadow Grove.
"Hannah's freaking out," Lucas added. "She doesn't know what to do, and app
arently Maurice has been spotted around Shadow Grove."
Irritation swept through me, overtaking all my other damage while I focused on the threat to my empire. "What the fuck is he doing in town without permission?"
"Why are you bringing this to her?" Cass demanded in a threatening growl. "Zed can handle it. Red's in no shape to—"
"I know," Lucas cut him off. "But Zed told me I had to take it to Hades. He won't deal with it."
That motherfucker. He was trying to force me to deal with him.
"Shut up, Saint; there's nothing wrong with me." Okay, that wasn't true. But I didn't appreciate his attempt to sideline me, no matter how busted up I was. To Lucas, I gave a worried frown. "Give me a minute to think. Can you get me a phone? I need to speak with Hannah directly."
Lucas left the room to do as I’d asked, and Cass made a sound of disagreement.
"Do you trust Hannah?" he asked quietly.
I gave a bitter snort. "I don't fucking trust anyone. Not anymore."
Because if I couldn't trust Zed, then my faith in everyone was shaken. I didn't even trust myself anymore. This could all still be one big delusion, for all I knew.
Fuck. I really was messed up.
9
Cass's question played across my mind as Lucas returned to me with his phone, and I tried to decide how in the fuck to handle things. Ordinarily, if I was out of commission, Zed would take over. Failing that, next on the list was Alexi.
Zed wasn't an option. Alexi... he wasn't an option either. Even if he had resurfaced after I was arrested, there were too many questions around him. Like why his GPS had placed him at Timber right before the ambush. Or why he had blood on his cuff after Agent Hanson was murdered.
Cass was still dead; he couldn't go back and run things for me.
"Has anyone spoken to Demi?" I asked, before hitting the call button to Hannah. "Does she know what's going on?"
"Yep," Cass answered. "She was back in Shadow Grove working on your case with Gen."
Crap. That meant she was in danger, too. My aunt was a hell of a lot better at protecting herself, though. But it made my decision easier regarding the interim leadership of both the Timberwolves and Copper Wolf Enterprises.
Instead of calling Hannah, I dialed Demi from memory.
The phone rang a couple of times in my ear before she answered with a professional greeting. Her day job was as a divorce lawyer, but she also used to be chief counsel for all my gang's legal brushes.
"Demi," I said, hearing how rough my voice was still. "It's Hades."
There was a long exhale on the other end. "Thank fuck you're alive."
I quirked a brow at Cass. "No one told you I was?"
"No," she snarled. "Those little shitheads of yours shut down all communication three days ago. Not a fucking squeak out of any of them."
I shot Cass a sharp look but filed that away to deal with it later. "I need your help, Demi."
My aunt snorted. "No shit. I heard about Gen, but they didn't gain anything. I've already had the so-called evidence against you extracted from the FBI servers and filed all the paperwork to have your arrest wiped from the record. It's just a matter of time."
I grimaced. "You're making a target of yourself, Demi."
She gave a low chuckle. "Let them fucking try. I've already been in touch with Rex."
That simple statement made me breathe easier. Rex would protect Demi just as fiercely as he did Seph. Maybe it was time I let bygones be bygones and pull him from retirement.
"I need your help with running things until I can get back," I told her, wincing. I fucking hated asking for help. "Hannah doesn't know what she's doing, and I don't trust Alexi right now. If he's even alive."
There was a pause on her end, then she asked quietly. "Where's Zed?"
I swallowed hard. "Long story. I'm sending Lucas back to help you run things." I met his eyes as I said that, and he jerked in surprise, shaking his head in refusal. "Cass is still supposed to be dead, so Lucas is the only one I..." Fuck. Trust. That word was so goddamn tainted I couldn't even get it past my lips.
"Alright, you're the boss," Demi replied when I didn't continue my sentence.
I cleared my throat. "I don't want to drag you back into Wolf business, but you know what's what, and Maurice has been spotted around town."
She gave a sigh. "That prick. Of course he's taking advantage of the situation. Don't worry about it; I'll take care of him personally. Just send me that beautiful man of yours, and we'll handle things until you're back." Then she made a thoughtful sound. "How clean do you want me to keep his hands?"
Despite the gravity of the situation, I gave a short laugh. "That's his choice, Demi. But until further notice, Lucas is Hades. Clear?"
"Clear," she confirmed, even as Lucas frantically shook his head at me.
Ending the call, I stifled a yawn and looked to Cass. "Any chance you can give Lucas a crash course in how to run a gang?"
Cass scoffed, and Lucas threw his hands in the air.
"Hayden, I'm not doing that. Are you kidding? I can't run your gang! More than that, I won't. I'm not fucking leaving you. Who's going to take care of you?" He planted his hands on his hips, his jaw set with determination.
That quick conversation with Demi had helped me slide so easily back into my Hades mind, so I wouldn’t budge on my decision.
"Lucas, you did an amazing job patching me up, but there's very little to be done for me now. So long as I take my antibiotics and Tylenol when needed... it's just time. I need you back in Shadow Grove. If Maurice is lurking, he's planning something. The longer the Wolves go without leadership, the weaker we seem." I gave him a fierce look, unrelenting. "I risked everything for the new Timberwolves. I won't lose it all now."
He stared back at me for a long, tense moment. Then he cast his eyes to Cass like he'd accepted that he couldn't change my mind but wanted backup.
"Don't give me that look, Gumdrop. Hades gave you an order." There was an edge of teasing in his voice, and the corner of his lips had kicked up slightly. "I'm sure I can take care of things here while you're gone."
Lucas glowered, and I stifled a groan. Trust them to turn this into a pissing match.
"I gave you an order too, Saint," I snapped. "Get Lucas up to speed on gang politics, then deliver him back to Shadow Grove to run my empire."
Lucas groaned and scrubbed his hands over his face. "No pressure or anything."
Cass scoffed. "You fucking love it." He shifted his dark gaze back to me. "We'll leave you to rest."
"No." I shook my head. "Stay. I can doze while you talk." I'd prefer to nap while you talk so I don't slide back into the dark place.
Lucas snickered, dragging another chair over to the side of the bed where Cass was already seated. "Sounds like she doesn't think you'd properly educate me, Grumpy Cat. The Reapers were minor league compared to Timberwolves, right?"
Cass glowered. "Shut the fuck up and turn your listening ears on, Gumdrop. We've got a lot to go through."
Despite his stern tone, his fingers were gentle as he shifted his hand back to mine. As before, only our fingers touched, but it was enough. I flexed mine against his, showing I was okay with the touch, then let my lids fall as the deep rumble of his voice lulled me.
The two of them sat beside my bed for hours, talking quietly and totally unhurriedly as Cass tried his best to explain the power structure and politics of everything the Timberwolves were involved in. At some point, I could have sworn I heard Zed correct him on something, but maybe that was just my imagination.
Eventually I must have slipped into a deeper sleep because when I opened my eyes again, I was alone.
Someone had left the bathroom light on and the door open, giving me more than pitch blackness in the bedroom, but it was still dark. Too dark. A physical shudder rolled through me, and my hands were sweaty as I gripped the blanket.
Fucking hell. Now I could see why Zed had refused to deal with business earlier. Not that I wanted him
to, but he hadn't refused simply to be a douchebag.
He'd done it to help me heal. He'd known that the easiest way to slide me back into my strong, emotionless, safe personality was to present me with a Hades problem. It'd worked for me for five years; Zed had seen it firsthand.
Now, alone in the dark with nothing but my own decaying thoughts for company, things were different. As badly as I tried to shift my mind to Hades and block out all the noise, I couldn't. My heart was already racing, and every time I tried but failed to wrap the safety of detachment around myself, my panic escalated.
A dark shape rushed into the room, and I screamed. I couldn't stop myself.
"Fuck," a voice as familiar as my own cursed, then a switch was flipped and light filled the room. "It's me, Dare. It's just me. I heard you crying and..." Zed trailed off with a grimace, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. He looked rough.
Pain lanced through my heart as he met my eyes, and I wanted to scream. Just scream at him. If I had a gun, I probably would have shot him.
My jaw clenched tight as I tried to control my panic attack, and now that he’d mentioned it, I realized my face was wet. Fuck me, I hadn't even known I was crying, let alone making enough noise to alert him like that.
"Where's Cass?" I croaked, and Zed flinched.
His gaze ran over me carefully, though, and his brow was tight with tension. "In the barn, teaching Lucas how to handle higher caliber weapons. They didn't want to leave until you were awake again." He hesitated, then shook his head, discarding what he'd been about to say. "I'll go get them."
He started to leave the room, and I sucked in a sharp breath of panic. "Wait."
Zed stopped in the doorway, turning to give me a curious, hopeful, look. Fuck, that wasn't what I meant at all.
"Never mind," I mumbled, lying back into my pillows and closing my eyes. Surely, he could take that hint and get the fuck out of my room. I was nowhere near ready to unpack all the pain and heartbreak he'd caused me. It hurt too damn much, and I'd been through enough. Zed could sweat it out until I was in a more stable headspace.
A moment later, I felt him place something on the bed beside me, then without a word he retreated out of the room and closed the door quietly. He’d left the lights on, and when I cracked an eyelid, I saw what he'd left.
