by Tate James
He was right, but I also wanted to be there for him. And Doc, who’d been working with the Timberwolves since before my reign. He must be devastated to lose Maria.
“I’ll go with Gumdrop,” Zed offered. “I’d like to check in on Doc myself.”
I nodded, feeling slightly better to know Zed would represent us both. Glancing up at Cass, I raised a brow. “What are your plans today?”
He shrugged. “Gotta ink up your new recruit, then not much. Why, do you need something?”
“Yeah,” I replied, my arms still looped around Lucas’s neck. “I booked us a room at the Blanco for after the gala. Could I get you to head over early and secure it?”
Cass gave me a curious look. “You booked us a room, huh?”
I shrugged. “If tonight goes as well as I hope, we might be in the mood to celebrate. I figured it’d be nice not to have to drive all the way back here.”
“No arguments here,” Cass replied. “I’ll sort it out.”
He knew that I didn’t simply mean to check us in and get access cards. With Chase lurking in every goddamn shadow, we couldn’t take risks. Cass would ensure the room was clean of traps, bombs, gas canisters, listening devices, cameras... anything that might undermine our safety.
Smacking another quick kiss on Lucas’s lips, I climbed out of his lap and went to get ready for the day. Unlike my guys, I had far less important appointments to get to after I’d been to see Hannah.
My assistant was quick to remind me of that fact when I knocked on her door, too. First, she reminded me that I was letting my humanity show—whoops—but then informed me I was late for the appointments she’d scheduled into my calendar and wouldn’t even let me through her front door.
First, I needed a manicure. I used to keep my nails so perfect all the time, but between my captivity, my escape, and all the worrying I’d done... they needed some love.
Then, before heading to hair and makeup, I had my physical therapy appointment with Misha, who both praised my progress and scolded my lack of sling use. By the time I was done with him, I was sweaty and aching and sorely tempted to skip the damn beauticians.
But... the Gala needed to go flawlessly, so I needed to play my part.
Several hours later, I was plucked, primped, polished, and perfect as I ascended the steps of the Cloudcroft Museum with my hand tucked through Zed’s arm.
“In case I didn’t mention it already,” Zed murmured as we waited to enter the impressive old building, “You look sensational.”
I flashed him a smile because he had already mentioned it. Despite the long sleeves on my formfitting black evening gown, I felt naked. Not because of the open back displaying the tattoo down my spine or because of the split skirt ending so high I needed to coordinate my panties. Nope, I felt naked as fuck because the Mayor’s Gala didn’t allow weapons.
“This still feels risky,” Cass rumbled from behind us.
I quirked a flirtatious brow at him over my shoulder. “You saying you can’t kill a man with your bare hands, big guy? I bet Lucas could.”
Lucas beamed. “I totally could.”
Zed pulled me closer as we advanced to the entryway and metal detectors. The mayor must’ve been paranoid about certain names on her guest list because the metal detector hadn’t been on the original schedule for the evening. But so long as Chase was being held to the same standard, I wasn’t concerned.
Okay, that was a lie. I was concerned enough that I’d slipped a fiberglass knife into a strap on my thigh and was pretty confident the guys had all done something similar. But my plan for the deputy mayor didn’t require me to be armed.
We handed over our invitation at the door and passed through the metal detectors without a problem, then made our way into the main gallery where the party was being held.
For a while, Zed and I played our roles of influential investors and businesspeople. We smiled and exchanged polite small talk with political figures and various other company heads from the area, while I always kept the hapless deputy mayor in the corner of my eye.
“He’s very well protected,” Lucas observed as we danced together some hours after arriving at the event. We’d already eaten dinner and managed to elude Chase for most of the night. He was constantly watching but hadn’t made any attempt to approach. Yet. He would, though. He couldn’t help himself.
“He is indeed,” I agreed, switching my attention back to the deputy mayor. “Even more so than the mayor herself. Which says he’s feeling paranoid.”
Lucas grinned. “I guess word gets around when someone starts killing off the men you’ve been colluding with.”
I smiled back at him as we left the dance floor. There was a glimmer of vicious bloodlust in his eyes that turned me right the fuck on. I could hardly wait to get back to our hotel room later.
The Blanco was an iconic six-star hotel right across the road from the museum, and I’d booked us the honeymoon suite with a whole lot of fucking in mind.
Lucas stiffened a minute later, tension rippling through him in a palpable wave, and my breath caught.
“Go away, Chase,” I said in a cool voice without turning to look at him standing behind me. “I’m busy.”
Just as I would have walked away, Chase snatched my arm just above the elbow, jerking me back into his body with a sharp movement.
“Now, now,” he chided when I coiled my muscles to strike back at him. “Don’t go causing a scene, Darling. We wouldn’t want these nice people to think there was any ill will between Daria Wolff and Wenton Dibbs, would we? Or are we Hayden Timber and Chase Lockhart tonight? I tell you, it gets so hard to keep up some days.”
Lucas’s eyes were locked on mine, silently asking for a cue on what I wanted him to do. As badly as I wanted to tell him to stab Chase in the other eye, I couldn’t risk messing up my plans for the deputy mayor. So I gave him a small headshake and a reassuring smile.
“Lucas, can I trouble you for another glass of Champagne? I seem to suddenly have an awful taste in my mouth.” I twisted my lip in a sneer as I looked up at Chase from the corner of my eye.
Lucas frowned, his jaw tight with tension. Before leaving, though, he leaned in close and kissed me tenderly. “Of course, I can. I love you, Hayden.”
I grinned, knowing he was messing with Chase’s head. “I love you too, Lucas. So much.” Taunting our enemy or not, it was the truth.
Chase’s grip on my elbow tightened to painful, and I could almost hear his teeth grinding as Lucas sauntered away into the crowd. He firmly turned me around to face him, his other hand moving to my bare back like we were dancing.
“You’re up to something, Darling,” he muttered, full of suspicion. “I can smell the scheming on you. It stinks.”
A hollow laugh bubbled from me, and I caught Cass’s eye across the room. His face was a picture of rage, but I held his gaze steady until he got the message that I didn’t need saving.
“Don’t be silly, Chase,” I replied, my skin crawling under his touch and my stomach like a lead weight. My heart was beating so hard it hurt my still healing ribs, but I refused to show my fear. He’d had enough of that for ten lifetimes; I wouldn’t give even an inch more. “You invited me, after all.”
“You’ve been a busy little demon lately, Darling,” he observed, ignoring my reply. “Painting the streets red. Now that I think of it, Chasing Trucking was a little obvious, but tell me... how’d you find out about Wayne?”
I almost reacted to that. Almost. This motherfucker doesn’t know I have a list.
I had assumed he knew I’d stood there and listened to his call. I was operating on the expectation that he knew I was coming after his whole dirty crew. But he didn’t. He thought I’d found Brad and Wayne by... luck? Research?
My smile broke through, and Chase saw it. His grip tightened, and he dropped his face to bring his lips right beside my ear.
“What,” he hissed, “is so fucking funny, Darling?”
His ignorance was amusing enough
that I didn’t even feel the need to vomit on his shoes for being within my personal space. Instead of replying, I just let the laughter roll out. Dumb, arrogant fuck. He’d work it out... soon.
I cast my eyes around the room, searching for my mark once more, but found someone else familiar.
“Chase,” I snickered, “you really thought I would come for your head in such a public forum? You had to bring your own security guards to a charity gala? Wow, you really are afraid of me.”
He visibly bristled at my insult, his eye narrowing. “Don’t give yourself so much credit, Darling. I don’t need to bring security here; you’re no threat to me. We both know it’s only a matter of time before you’re back in my house chained to a bed, screaming my name. But next time, I’ll be sure not to leave a single person alive to rescue you.”
I spotted Zed making a beeline toward us with a curiously satisfied look on his face. I hadn’t seen him in over an hour and had no idea what mischief he’d been getting up to.
“Ah, Special Agent Dibbs, isn’t it?” Zed called out loudly as he approached Chase and me, drawing the attention of several people nearby. “It was so good of you to keep my darling fiancée company while I was in the restroom.”
Chase stiffened harder than a board, and I had to bite my lip not to laugh in his face again. Zed tugged me out of his slimy grip and spun me around, using my body as a shield while he deftly slipped a ring onto my finger.
“What did you just say?” Chase hissed as Zed looped his arm around my waist. Casual as fuck.
“Hmm?” he replied, acting innocent. “Oh, I said, thank you for keeping Daria company. Not that she needs it, she’s so independent, this fiancée of mine.”
We still had the attention of several other guests, including the mayor of Cloudcroft herself.
“Oh, Zed, I didn’t know you two were engaged,” the mayor gushed, all smiles. “Congratulations.” A waiter passing with a tray of Champagne paused, and I grabbed one.
Zed laughed easily while Chase’s face turned an ugly shade of red. It was glorious.
“It’s a recent thing,” Zed replied to the mayor, and I almost choked on the sip of Champagne I’d just taken. Recent was putting it mildly.
Smiling, I focused on the mayor like Chase no longer existed. “Sometimes true love comes along and makes you realize how shallow and meaningless all your past relationships were,” I commented like I was just musing on the nature of love. “Like any previous engagements were just trash.”
Chase jerked as if to stomp away but collided with a waiter, sending a whole tray of Champagne flutes crashing to the ground and soaking him in wine.
“Oh no!” the mayor gasped. “Agent Dibbs, what a mess.”
“I’m fine,” Chase snarled when the waiter tried to offer him a cloth. “I’ll just... go dry off in the restroom.” He shot me an acidic glare, and I gave a pointless flourish with my hand just to draw his attention to the ring Zed’d slipped onto my finger.
“Hurry back though, Agent Dibbs,” I suggested. “The best part of the evening is about to begin.”
“Yes, you’re right,” the mayor agreed, nodding to her silent husband at her side. “The auction is due to start shortly.”
I smiled. I wasn’t talking about the auction, and Chase damn well knew it.
He stalked away like there was something snapping at his heels, but it wasn’t long until he returned in a fresh shirt with an even darker glower on his eye-patched face.
Lucky for me, though, he’d returned just in time to see my night come to fruition.
Not far from where I stood chatting to the Cloudcroft fire chief and a humanitarian lawyer named Elise, there was a clatter of noise and several shocked gasps. Then a woman screamed.
“Call an ambulance!” she howled, crouching on the floor over a convulsing, tuxedo-suited man. People closed around them quick, everyone eager to see what the drama was, but I hung back. I didn’t need to look to know it was the silly, hapless deputy mayor dying on the marble floor.
I also knew that there was no possible way for an ambulance to save him. Not from that toxin.
Across the room, Chase met my gaze, and I smiled.
I smiled and raised my glass to him as the lights refracted off the black diamonds of my ring.
“Cheers, asshole,” I murmured under my breath. “Three down, three to go. And then you.”
The gala dissolved quickly from that point as paramedics rushed in to try and help an already dead man and finely dressed guests flowed out of the museum. My guys and I left with them, and I headed straight for the stunning, young blonde woman waiting on the steps. She was dressed in a striking, red Valentino gown and oozed money, just like every single one of the other guests at the party.
But this one? She was special.
“How’d I do?” The woman asked, breathless with excitement.
I gave her a proud smile. “Flawless. Welcome to the Timberwolves, Bethany.”
40
The four of us were in high spirits when we arrived into our penthouse suite at The Blanco, and Lucas headed straight for the Champagne on ice that had been left out for us.
“I see why you wanted that to be a surprise,” he told me over his shoulder as he opened the bottle. “I never saw that coming. Very impressive.”
I grinned, smug as shit that the plan had been executed so perfectly. Chase had been so laser focused on me, so sure I was the one who was up to something... it’d never even crossed his mind that I was the decoy. Zed’s trick with the engagement announcement had been the perfect finisher. It’d drawn a lot of focus, not just from Chase and the mayor, but from other guests too. So much so, it was all too easy for the gorgeous blonde flirting with Deputy Mayor Wayne King to poison his drink.
“Bethany impressed me,” I commented, exchanging a knowing look with Zed. “I’m excited for this new era of Timberwolves.”
Zed’s arms slipped around my waist, pulling me close as he dipped low to kiss me. “You impress me, Dare. Every damn day.”
“The ring was a nice touch,” Cass rumbled, tugging his bow tie undone and snagging my attention. Cassiel Saint was sex in leather most days, but in a tuxedo? Holy mother of orgasms. That was something special.
Zed caught my hand in his and brought it to his mouth. “I thought so,” he murmured, kissing the ring still on my finger. It definitely hadn’t been a part of the plan I’d discussed with him, but now that I took a better look at it...
“Fucking hell, Zed,” I whispered. “It’s gorgeous.”
Cass reached between us to grab my hand and took a closer look at the ring. It was rose gold and set with one large, blood-red diamond in the center and two inky black diamonds to either side. Dozens of smaller black and red diamonds decorated the setting, which looked almost like a little bloodied crown around my finger.
I knew they were diamonds, not any other stone, because I knew Zed. He didn’t half-ass anything, and red diamonds were his favorite stone.
Mine too.
“That doesn’t look like costume jewelry, Zeddy Bear,” Cass muttered, shooting Zed an accusing look. “What’d it cost? A mill? Two?”
“At least,” I murmured. The average red diamond ran somewhere in the realm of a million dollars per carat. At a guess, I’d say that central stone was at least two carats—and flawless. Most red diamonds in existence were barely a half carat at best.
I started taking it off—to give it back so he could return it to wherever he’d borrowed it from—but he swatted my hand away.
“You take that ring off, Dare, and we’ve got problems.” His tone was low and dead serious, and his eyes held mine with an intense warning.
My brows hitched. “I’m not marrying you, Zed.”
Instead of hurt, his face flashed with something far more dangerous. Determination.
Fuck’s sake. The last thing on my agenda for the night was a blow-up argument about the pointless nature of a marriage certificate or how it was totally impractical given we
were now a polyamorous heterosexual foursome. At least... I think that’s what we were defined as. Maybe just reverse harem.
Biting my cheek against my own instinct to argue, I forced a shrug. “Fine. It’s safer on my finger than in your pocket, anyway. We can return it to its rightful owner tomorrow.”
Zed flashed a grin of victory. “Deal.”
He released me then, heading further into the room and tugging his bow tie free from his shirt.
Cass gave me a side-eye. “That seemed too easy.”
“Agreed,” I replied under my breath.
Lucas handed me a glass of Champagne. “I’m with Hayden on this, Zeddy Bear. You can’t go proposing to a girl without a proposal. That’s cheating.”
Zed shrugged but didn’t reply as he wandered through to the bedroom, checking out the suite. He’d unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt and shed his jacket, but otherwise seemed totally at ease in the designer tux.
Cass on the other hand, downed his Champagne in one gulp, then put the glass down to strip out of his shirt.
“No,” I protested with a pout. “Keep it on. I never see you all dressed up, Grumpy Cat.”
He huffed a laugh, shrugged out of the starched white shirt, and flexed his muscles. “Not a chance, Red. Suits should only be worn at funerals or—“
“Weddings?” Lucas teased, refilling his glass for him.
I rolled my eyes. Apparently, they were all in a mood tonight. And Cass in nothing but a pair of tuxedo pants was also a pretty spectacular look, so who was I to complain.
“One of you want to help me out of this dress?” I asked, heading toward the bedroom. It held a massive bed all scattered with rose petals—it was the honeymoon suite after all—and more Champagne on ice beside the bed.
“Hold that thought, Red,” Cass growled, swatting my hands away from the dress clasp at the back of my neck. “Are we gonna talk about this?”
I spun around to face him and bit my lip when I locked my eyes on the fresh Timberwolf tattoo on the side of his neck. It marked him so clearly as mine; I loved it more than any of his other ink—even the Darling logo on the top of his ass cheek.
