Timber (Hades Book 4)

by Tate James

  “Red,” Cass barked, snapping me out of my daydream. “You’re drooling.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him in a sarcastic glare, but shit, he wasn’t far off the truth. Clearing my throat, I ruffled my fingers through my hair. Focus, Hades. Come on, you’re not that dick drunk.

  Okay. I was an addict.

  But that didn’t mean I needed to turn into an idiot about it. So I screwed my eyes shut in an effort to stop getting distracted—yes, it was that bad—and gathered my scattered thoughts.

  “Where’s Lucas?” I asked because this information directly impacted him.

  Someone ripped their gloves off, the tearing Velcro crazy close to my ear. Then fingers grasped my chin and tilted my face up.

  “Why are your eyes closed, Dare?” Zed asked in an amused voice, his warm breath feathering my lips.

  Cass gave a low, husky chuckle from nearby. “Insatiable.”

  “Where’s Lucas?” I asked again, keeping my brain on task even as I cracked one eye open. Zed was right there in front of me, his lips close enough to kiss if I leaned forward just a little...

  Those gorgeous lips curved up. “Upstairs,” he told me. “He was down here working on some new tricks with the pole but headed up about half an hour ago.”

  I sucked in a shaking breath, mentally cursing out my hyperactive libido. “Cool. I’ll go get him. I’ve got news.”

  Zed’s brow arched in question, then he nodded. “Alright, we’ll get cleaned up. I need to get dinner started anyway.” Before stepping away, though, he crashed his lips into mine for a lingering kiss that made my insides turn to horny jelly.

  It took a crazy amount of effort to peel myself away and turn to leave the gym, but Cass was right there, waiting for me. His strong arm swept around my waist, lifting me up and pinning me to the wall as his mouth found mine. A gruff noise escaped his throat as he kissed me stupid, and his hard dick ground me into the wall through our clothes. Fucking hell.

  “Yeah, and I’m the insatiable one,” I muttered when he released me. I gave him a mocking headshake. “You’re the worst offender here, Grumpy Cat. Go take a cold shower; you’ll want to hear this.”

  His deep, sexy laugh followed me as I made my escape out of the gym, and I needed to scold myself for thinking with my cunt too damn often. The four of us were in a whole new honeymoon phase, and it was safe to say we were all insatiable. I kind of hoped that never wore off, even though I knew my life wouldn’t just sit on hold while I stayed in bed around the clock chalking up record numbers of orgasms.

  It was tempting to try, though.

  I found Lucas curled up in the middle of his bed, staring up at the ceiling. The distress on his face instantly washed my head clear of sex, and I climbed onto the bed to curl around him.

  “Hey,” he said softly a moment later. “Sorry, I was just—"

  “You’re fine,” I replied, cutting off his unnecessary apology. “You don’t need to explain or apologize.”

  With a soul-deep sigh he rolled to wrap his arms around me, tucking me into his warmth. He was wearing just his boxers, and a wet towel was draped over the edge of the bed. “I got a message,” he told me, his face buried in my neck, “asking about my mom’s funeral arrangements.”

  Oh, shit.

  “Do you want me to handle it for you?” I offered softly. I couldn’t imagine how hard that would be as a child who loved their mother. Funerals were such a final thing. My heart ached to think what Lucas must be feeling.

  He didn’t reply for the longest time, just held me close. “I think I need to do it,” he finally said. “For my whole life, it was just the two of us. No one knew her like I did... It just... I don’t know. I feel responsible.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that. So I just shifted back until I could cup his face in my hands, our foreheads and noses together. “I’m here, if you need help. Or a distraction. Or support. Or... whatever.”

  His lips curved in a sad smile. “I know, and I love you for it more than you know. But I think I’ll regret it later if I turn my back on her at this last step.”

  Goddamn, Lucas had a huge heart. His capacity for love and forgiveness, his emotional maturity... it blew my mind. I was insanely lucky to have him in my life.

  At a loss for words, I just pulled him close and kissed him softly, hoping he knew how deeply he touched my soul, despite my inability to vocalize those feelings.

  We stayed snuggled up together in silence for a long time, just existing within each other's arms and letting the soft rhythm of our breath, our heartbeats, soothe us both into relaxation.

  Eventually, though, I remembered why I’d come looking for Lucas and peeled myself up with a groan. “I came up to get you,” I admitted. “I’ve got news that concerns you... but we should all discuss it.”

  Lucas pushed up from the bed with a curious look on his face. “Why do I feel like this is bad news?”

  Because it probably was. We didn’t often get good news these days.

  I shrugged and waited while he tugged on some jeans and a T-shirt, then he reached out a hand to pull me to my feet. Before leaving his room, he kissed me gently, inhaling deeply.

  “Thank you,” he whispered.

  “For what?” I asked, licking my lips to savor the feeling of his kiss.

  He gave me a wise sort of look. “For loving me.”

  “You’re late,” a voice called from the shadows as Lucas and I got out of our car. Leon stepped into the light from the Anarchy clown face, but his deep hood kept his face shrouded in total darkness. Drama king.

  I gave an unaffected shrug. “Traffic was terrible.” At midnight on a Wednesday on the outskirts of Shadow Grove. “I think I prefer that nice, nerdy act you were putting on the first time you came to town, Leon. This one is far too Dungeons and Dragons for my liking.”

  “Oh, I was thinking more Assassin’s Creed,” Lucas commented, tipping his head thoughtfully. “But now that you mention it...”

  “Shut the fuck up,” Leon snapped. “We don’t have all night.”

  Rolling my eyes, I started into the park with Lucas at my side. Leon paused a moment, no doubt bristling at the idea of following, but I wanted to go somewhere that I knew we wouldn’t be overheard. There was no better area than the back of the park, where we’d stored all the old rides that were so rusted they were beyond repair.

  I waved a hand to one of the teacups that had lost its door. “After you, Leon.”

  His hood had shifted enough that I caught his suspicious glance, but he still climbed in and took a seat before Lucas and I joined him.

  For a moment, no one spoke. I wasn’t about to go breaking the ice first, though. Leon called this little clandestine meeting; he could cough up whatever he wanted to say and fuck off.

  Eventually, the Guild prick huffed in frustration and tipped his hood back properly.

  “Lucas, we haven’t officially met,” he said by way of an opening.

  Lucas cocked one brow, sending me a what the shit look. “We haven’t met at all,” he replied, “officially or not.”

  Leon just blinked. Impassive. Shit, his poker face could rival mine on the best of days. “Sure. Anyway, I’m sure Hades already told you who I am and who I work for.”

  Lucas dipped his head in acknowledgement, but below the little circular table his hand gripped mine tightly. “You’re with the mercenary guild. I’m aware.”

  Leon just stared at Lucas for a long moment. Long enough to be awkward.

  “Why don’t you get to the point, Leon?” I suggested, running out of patience. “You’re here to offer Lucas a job, am I right?”

  The mercenary shifted his cool green eyes to me, still as blank as fuck. “No,” he replied. “Like I said on the phone, this is unofficial. A personal matter.”

  Lucas’s brow creased. “Personal?” Then he gave a rough laugh. “Don’t tell me you’re my brother. What is this, a family reunion just in time for Mom’s funeral?”

  Something flashed acros
s Leon’s expression, a lightning-fast crack in his mask, but with the darkness it was impossible to get a good read on him. Lucas had hit the nail on the head for what I suspected, though. After all of Sandra’s involvement with the Guild, her IVF cycles, and her own confirmation that there had been other babies before Lucas... yeah, I’d pondered on Leon being Lucas’s brother, too.

  “No,” Leon replied, cutting that train of thought cold. “I’m not related to you, Lucas.”

  “Oh.” Lucas’s shoulders slumped. For all his sarcasm, he’d quietly hoped that was the case, that he still had blood family out there somewhere, even if it was in the cold, sociopathic form of a Guild mercenary.

  A small frown touched Leon’s brow, and his gaze flicked to me briefly like he was irritated that I was there to witness whatever he’d come to say. “I’m not your brother, Lucas. But that is why I wanted to talk to you. I’m assuming you know something about your mother’s involvement in the Remus project.”

  I squeezed Lucas’s fingers, silently urging him to play along.

  “Yeah,” he said, getting the message. “She told me about the test tube babies she handed over to the guild. Am I one of those?”

  Leon shook his head. “No. You were the product of a different manipulation, an experiment in a different type of conditioning that fell apart when your mother ran. When she didn’t report back within the set timeframe, the project was dropped. The variables were too great for a conclusive outcome.”

  I couldn’t help myself. “Dropped? Or just started again on some other innocent child?”

  Leon blinked at me like that differentiation was irrelevant and shifted his attention back to Lucas. “You’re not some genetic freak, if that’s what you’re thinking. This isn’t the X-files. There was just some heavy guidance when you were young to push certain skills—athleticism, marksmanship, shit like that. You’re not going to suddenly grow wings.”

  Lucas gave a shaking laugh. “That’s a relief. So, if you’re not here to recruit me, why are you telling us all of this?”

  Leon linked his hands together on the rusty bar. “Because you need to be aware of your surroundings. Your uncle didn’t have a heart attack; he was killed by the Guild. Someone is cleaning up all evidence of project Remus.”

  “Uncle Jack was involved in that?” Lucas sighed. “Of course he was. And now I’m in danger?”

  Leon shrugged. “No. Like I said, you weren’t a Remus baby.”

  Well, now I was confused. But I bit my lip to keep from speaking up; this was Lucas’s situation to handle however he saw fit. I was merely protection.

  “Okay...” Lucas said slowly, squinting at the mercenary. “So, I’ll ask again. Why are you telling me?”

  Leon stared down at his hands a long time before responding. When he did, it was in a carefully neutral, emotionless voice.

  “I knew your sister. She asked a favor of me, and I’m finally upholding that agreement. As far as the Guild is concerned, Lucas Wildeboer, you don’t exist. No trace of your birth remains in any system on Earth. You’re a ghost. I suggest you pick a new name and get some records drawn up to bolster that identity, but the bottom line is that you’re no longer a target for the sins of your father... or uncle.”

  Leon shifted his gaze to me, giving me a long look, and I got the message. We were done.

  I gave Lucas’s hand a small tug, then climbed out of the teacup to let Leon out.

  “That’s it?” Lucas asked, frowning.

  Leon just stared back at him. “What more do you want? A hug? Fuck off. I just gave you the greatest gift on this planet. Say thank you, and forget we ever met.”

  He stalked away into the night without another word, melting into the shadows like he was made of inky darkness himself and leaving Lucas and I standing there speechless.

  “Thank you,” Lucas muttered after a long silence. Then he turned to look at me with a bewildered expression on his face. “What the fuck just happened, Hayden?”

  I shrugged. “The Guild are creepy bastards, but Leon’s one of the worst I’ve ever met. Guarantee that if you ever see him again, he will be a totally different person. You’ll actually question whether they’re just identical twins, not the same person. I know I did.”

  Lucas stared out into the night, then gave a long sigh. “Did you hear what he said?” he asked me in a pained voice. “I have a sister.”

  My chest tightened, and I looped my arm around his waist. “Had,” I corrected gently. “He spoke of her in past tense.”

  A shudder ran through him, and his shoulders drooped. “Oh. Yeah, you’re right. That did feel like a debt-to-a-dead-woman kind of thing, huh?”

  I nodded. I hated it, but that was exactly what it sounded like. Lucas’s sister had been someone Leon cared for enough that he’d fulfilled her wishes after she was gone. He hadn’t been joking when he said he’d given Lucas a gift. With his entire existence erased, Lucas was safer from the Guild than I could have ever hoped.

  “Fuck,” Lucas breathed as we slowly started toward the exit of Anarchy. “He erased my whole life? Everything documented is gone?”

  “That’s what he said, and Leon’s one of the best hackers in the world. If he says you’re a ghost, then it’s all gone.”

  He groaned, running a hand over his face. “What does that mean for my EMT assessments? I’ll have to start over again.”

  I cringed. “Yeah. Probably. I’ll get Dallas working on your new identity tomorrow, though, and we’ll work something out.”

  Lucas tugged me to a halt as we got to the car, his cherry-red Mustang, and turned me around, kissing me deeply. I rose up higher, kissing him back with an edge of desperation born of the anxiety I’d been holding ever since taking Leon’s call. Before I knew it, Lucas had boosted me onto the hood of his car and my leg was hitched up around his hip.

  “Babe,” he whispered between kisses. “Are you okay with public sex?”

  I chuckled softly, then let my actions speak for themselves as I unzipped his jeans.

  51

  Dallas was more than happy to get out of the house a couple of days later and arrived at Zed’s with a haggard look on his face. Apparently Maddox was going through a sleep regression, and he and Bree had spent the entire night playing jack-in-a-box to get him back to sleep.

  I shuddered just hearing about it.

  “New identity,” he announced, tossing a thick envelope down on the table for Lucas. “Everything you could possibly want to be a real person, right down to school transcripts and a police report for graffiti.”

  Lucas picked up the envelope and pulled out his new driver’s license. Then he smiled.

  “Twenty-one-year-old Lucas Wilder.” He gave me a long look. “Cute.”

  I grinned back. “It seemed like the obvious choice.”

  “There wasn’t much I could do with your assessment records,” Dallas continued, “because so much needs to be done in person. You’ll have to redo the ones you’ve already passed.”

  Lucas sighed. “Not the worst thing ever. At least I’ll be really good this time.”

  Zed came into the room tugging his top shirt button undone and flopped down onto the couch beside Lucas. “Hey cool,” he commented, peering at the license in Lucas’s hand, “Now you can legally drink.”

  “Because I was so worried about being carded,” Lucas responded, dripping sarcasm.

  “As for the other matter I’ve been looking into for you,” Dallas continued, focusing his attention back on me. “I have a lead.”

  Excitement zapped through me. “On which one?”

  Dallas smiled. “Both.”

  I sat forward, my eyes wide. “Really?” He nodded. “Well, shit. You just became my favorite person.”

  Dallas laughed, placing a much thinner envelope down in front of me. “There’s not much, especially on the rat. But it should, hopefully, be the window of opportunity you’ve been waiting for.”

  My brows rose. “Street race?” It was the only angle we h
ad been able to work on the fifth name on the list. When I’d initially sent it to Dallas, he’d thought I must have remembered it incorrectly—there was that little information on this man. But on further reflection, I’d remembered seeing a flyer for a street race pinned to the noticeboard behind him while he chatted so casually with Chase and the other five slime buckets. It was from a past event, but we were hedging our bets that he might attend the next one.

  “Sure is,” Dallas confirmed. “This weekend in Rainybanks. I’ve registered your drivers already; they’ll get a text message with the starting point an hour before it begins.”

  My grin couldn’t have been wider. I had started to worry we wouldn’t catch the rat, but this was perfect. Especially now that I had drivers who could activate the trap for me.

  “Dallas. You’re the best.”

  He flashed a smile back, then shot a nervous look at Zed and Lucas before clearing his throat. “Well, as for the last mark, there’s a copy of his calendar in there, showing all his public appearances for the next two weeks. I spotted a few that could work, but I’ll leave it up to you.” Dallas checked the time on his watch and grimaced. “I should go. I told Bree I was going out to get us coffee.”

  Zed gave a sharp laugh. “You’re a dead man; coffee doesn’t take this long.”

  Dallas cringed, then yawned and hurried out of the house to return to his overtired wife and cranky toddler. Poor guy.

  When he was gone, I turned my bright grin to Lucas and Zed—Cass was still asleep.

  “You guys wanna help me map out a rat trap?”

  Lucas grinned back, and Zed gave me an amused shake of his head.

  “You’re adorable when you’re plotting murder, Dare,” Zed told me with a huff of laughter. “But you know I’m in. Let’s take it to my office so we can print out a map to draw on.”

  “Good idea,” I agreed, bouncing to my feet. “Lucas?”

  He checked the time then wrinkled his nose. “I want to, but I asked Sabine if I could join her choreo session at Anarchy this morning. I just kind of... need to stay busy. I thought maybe if I get back into shape, I can pick up some shifts when Timber opens too.”