by Riley Storm
He could tell her, perhaps, but the knowledge that they were mates, that fate had brought her to him, and now was giving her the choice to be with him or not... that could just make it worse.
Either way though, he had to say something. Braz wasn’t going to let her go without a fight. He knew how he felt about Grace, even if he couldn’t tell her yet.
“I’m sorry if I pushed things too far last night,” he said quietly. “It wasn’t my intention to make you feel uncomfortable here.”
“It’s not that, Braz. It’s just, it’s a lot of things. I’m just not ready for this. It’s too much for me. I need some space, to clear my head, think straight.”
“I’d really like you to stay a little longer,” he said quietly, expressing his desires. “I’ll keep my distance, we don’t have to do that again.”
She grimaced, but her eyes remained focused outside. “The thing is, I don’t know if I can stop myself from doing it again Braz. Part of me wants it really badly. But I can’t. I just can’t right now. I’m not ready for…for whatever this is. I thought maybe I could be, but I’m not.
“Oh.” He tried to think of a different strategy. Of a way that he could get her to stay that wouldn’t involve confessing one of the two reasons he needed her to do so.
“Thank you for everything though,” she said, downing the last of her coffee.
She meant to leave now, he realized. Like, right then. She was probably already packed and ready to go. Her car was in the courtyard. It would be quick, and then she’d be gone.
Braz couldn’t let that happen.
Ah shit. Please Grace, forgive me eventually.
“You can’t go,” he said tightly.
Grace frowned, her eyes now turning to him, a wary gaze on her face. “What do you mean, I can’t go? Why the heck not?”
“Because,” he said, sighing. “Wilson’s men are still after you. They almost got you the other night.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Grace
“They what?” she said slowly.
“Last night. At the hotel,” Braz said, looking away. It was his turn to avoid her gaze. “That’s why I didn’t want to take the elevator. Or the one set of stairs.”
“What do you mean, Braz? Details. Give them. Now.” She was facing him fully now, eyes boring into his face.
“I got to the hotel before you,” he explained, wringing his hands. Clearly he hadn’t wanted to tell her this.
“And?” she pressed when he stalled.
“There were men, waiting for you. And following you. I saw you walking through the park, and I saw the two of them coming from behind you, different directions, but they kept looking at one another. Then the van door opened, and three more got out.”
“You’re joking, right? I didn’t see anything.”
“They were going to take you while you were in your room I think,” he said. “They were in the lobby.”
Grace shook her head. “There’s no way. I don’t believe it. I don’t have anything they want. How do you know they were after me?”
Braz looked away, taking a deep breath. “One of them was the blond male from Cerino’s,” he said quietly.
Grace stiffened in alarm. “Johnny? Are you certain?”
“Positive. I, uh, left him in the elevator. Two there, two in the stairwell, one underneath the van.” Braz shrugged, as if dispatching five men without her hearing a thing was no big deal.
“You killed them all?” she hissed. “I thought you didn’t harm humans?”
Braz looked upset. “I knocked them out. I didn’t kill them. The police rounded them up after I notified Carla about it.”
“Oh.”
He gave her a slightly nasty look. “I’m not a stone-cold killer, Grace. I’m not the reason they’re after you either. So don’t take your anger about it out on me, okay?”
She recoiled, ready to lash out at him again when his words hit home. Braz had been protecting her, and she was getting angry with him for doing so. Those men would have easily snatched her up if she had been alone, if he hadn’t been coming to bring her the stuff from the truck.
This wasn’t anything to do with Braz. This was all Jack’s fault. That asshole had screwed her over one more time from the grave, by leaving her something that these crooks wanted.
“Why do they still need me?” she asked, changing the subject. “I don’t have anything. The only thing that I didn’t bring with me into town was that box of stuff. Which they already took.”
“I don’t know,” Braz admitted. “But the police are holding them for twenty-four hours. Carla can’t do much more than that since she doesn’t really have any evidence against them.”
“Why do I sense that there’s more?” Grace said heavily.
Braz sighed. “There’s at least one, if not two more of them out there. Word on the street is Wilson brought in five to seven thugs from your hometown. We accounted for five, but the other male from Cerino’s wasn’t one of them.”
Grace buried her face in her hands, leaning over the counter. “They’re from Kennewick Falls?”
He nodded.
“So I’m not even going to be safe if I go back home,” she said unhappily. “They’re going to track me down and find me.”
“And unless I go with you, I won’t be able to protect you there,” Braz said. “I can only protect you here.”
“You didn’t tell me about any of this,” Grace said. “You hid it all from me, on purpose. You basically lied to me Braz. My life was in danger. How could you not tell me that?”
Braz sagged into his chair. “I figured if I told you before you were back here, that you would try and just leave. That you would go back to your home, and be in even worse danger there. I didn’t want that to happen. I need you safe, I—”
“You lied,” she said angrily. “I can’t believe you. I can’t handle this right now, I can’t handle you.”
She pushed off from the counter and turned to leave.
“What are you doing?”
“Leaving,” she snapped.
“You can’t.” Braz was suddenly in front of her, moving with his blasted dragon speed to block her path.
“Well I can’t be around you right now,” she growled.
“You’re right,” Braz said, accepting the words. “You can’t, and you shouldn’t have to be. But you’re safe here, in these walls, with the others around.”
“What are you suggesting?” she asked.
“I’ll leave. I’ll go away. Give you some time, some space. You can vent to some of the others, call me all the names you want to. Work through this.”
“Right. Then what?”
“Then, when we’re both not so worked up, we’ll come up with a plan to deal with these goons for good, and also find out just what the heck Wilson needs you for. If I can find him, I promise you, he won’t come after you again,” Braz growled, his eyes filling with anger. “You can choose what to do after that.”
Grace wanted to yell at him. To tell him this was ridiculous, that she was going home, that nobody was after her. But Carla was involved. The actual real police were involved in it now, which meant it wasn’t just some farce. They thought she was in enough danger that they were holding the thugs for a full day to keep them away from her.
It might not be what it seemed still, but if Grace ignored everything in front of her, then she was an idiot. All the signs pointed to it being real, even if nobody had any idea why. To pretend like the threat was fake would be monumental stupidity.
“Fine,” she said angrily, not happy about it, but conceding that Braz was probably right. “I’ll stay. For now.”
“Thank you,” Braz said, backing away. “And for what it’s worth, I am sorry. About not telling you. And about last night. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt you.”
Then he turned and was gone, leaving her alone to figure out what the hell kind of mess her life was, and if there was any way to fix it.
Chapter T
wenty-Six
Braz
The black car was waiting at the base of the mountain turnoff. There was only one way up and one way down from the Clan Aterna stronghold, and the car was blocking the entrance to it.
“What do we have here?” Braz asked, pulling off to the side of the road.
Getting out he looked around warily, expecting a trap. Whatever Wilson’s thugs might be up to, they were going to be in for a rude surprise if they tried to take him down. Without Grace around, he didn’t have to hold back.
The only sounds besides nature that he could detect belonged to the male sitting on the hood of the car, waiting for him.
Dark brown hair, verging on black. Well-dressed suit and tie combination. Not tailored, but still stylish and fitted. Black sunglasses blocking out the bright sunlight from the east.
And a fake calm demeanor.
The man was scared, whatever his posture attempted to say. Braz could practically smell it, it was so strong. Why was he so terrified?
“What do you want?” he called down. “A rematch from Friday?”
The man who had escaped him by jumping into the window of the moving car smiled tightly. “I suspect I would lose that.”
Braz didn’t answer. He’d asked his question, the one that mattered, and now he was waiting for an answer.
“We need to talk.”
“I have nothing to say to you,” Braz pointed out. “But thanks for showing yourself so that I can have you detained by the police as well.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the man said, taking off his sunglasses.
Braz frowned. There was fear, lots and lots of fear, but also a determination as well. This man wasn’t entirely unarmed. Not with weapons, but information. Something had happened, something in the equation had changed, and Braz didn’t know what yet.
For some reason Wilson was reaching out to him. It would be better if Braz found out why. Then he could better deal with the crook.
“Fine. Talk.”
“Can you at least come closer so I don’t have to yell?” the hired thug asked, irritation showing. “Or I’ll come to you. I don’t really care, I just don’t want to yell.”
“Come on over,” Braz said, gesturing for him to hike up the hill.
He waited idly while the man came up the incline, pausing about ten feet shy of Braz.
“There. We’re closer. Spill the beans already,” Braz growled. “Time is ticking.”
“More than you know.”
The sudden confidence threw Braz for a loop. “Explain,” he demanded.
“Wilson wants to talk to you.” The man pulled a phone from his pocket and held it out. “Just hit send.”
“Why doesn’t he come and talk to me like a man then?” Braz demanded.
“I don’t know. I’m not him. I’m just paid to do things. Jeez. Now will you call him already?”
“What is it you aren’t telling me?” Braz wanted to know.
“Wilson will explain it all. Okay?”
Braz closed the distance to the man, snatched the phone out of his hand and stabbed his thumb down on the screen so hard he nearly cracked it. The phone rang several times before someone answered.
“Hello.”
“Wilson.”
“Ah, you must be Braz. A pleasure to meet yet another member of the Aterna family,” Wilson said, a tired attempt at sarcasm.
“What is it you want Wilson? I’m growing tired of these games. You should know how my family deals with people that they dislike.”
“Not nearly as horribly as some others.”
Braz frowned. “You have my attention,” he said quietly, sensing that Wilson was talking about someone specific.
“I never wanted to be involved in this you understand,” Wilson said. “I really didn’t. It was supposed to be an easy job. I just give the guy the name of a computer person. I connect the two parties, make a little bit of cash for doing so, that’s it. Nothing more.”
Braz knew that Wilson had to be referring to how he introduced Jack Stile to the dragon Brolle. An evil dragon, the former Clan Tere’s member had killed Jack. At the time it had seemed like it was just to cover up who had hired him after the job was done, but now things were a lot murkier.
“What went wrong?” Braz asked.
“Jack, the idiot, wanted more money. He told me so. Said he’d hacked the guy’s phone. Found something he said would be worth a lot more than he was hired for. So he tried to blackmail him.”
“Jack tried to blackmail Brolle for more money?”
“Exactly.”
“So Brolle killed him for it?”
“I guess.”
“I don’t see the problem Wilson. Brolle is dead. Jack is dead. You’re a slimy asshole, but you’re still alive, and if you stop now, you’re going to remain that way. But if you keep trying to take Grace, it won’t end well for you, I promise you that.” Braz’s voice was deadly cold.
“Quit with the threats, Aterna, and think,” Wilson snarled into the phone, showing the first signs of a backbone. “Would I be going through all of this for nothing?”
Braz was forced to admit that Wilson had a point. “So what is going on then? Why are you after Grace? For someone who claims to not want to be involved, you certainly seem to be at the center of it.”
Wilson made an unintelligible noise that may have been tired agreement. “Tell me about it. Blame that asshole Stile for telling me what he found on the phone.”
“Right. And how does that involve the rest of us?” Braz was swiftly losing patience with the man. In his fear he was starting to babble and go in circles. “Be specific, Wilson.”
“Do I need to spell it out for you? Jack tried to blackmail Brolle. Told him what he’d found, told Brolle that he’d also told someone else as backup, and that he’d put the information somewhere secure in case something happened to him.”
“How many times do I have to tell you,” Braz spat, glaring at Wilson’s lackey. “Brolle is dead. He’s not going to bother you anymore!”
“Well obviously Brolle wasn’t working alone, because he told someone what happened. That same someone who threatened me with my life if I didn’t get the thumb drive that was hidden in the stuff given to Grace.”
Braz’s stomach dropped. “When did this happen?” he asked quietly, hoping that perhaps, just perhaps, the man after Wilson was the now dead and disgraced Commander Viko.
The former commander of the Gate Guard had been found to have been working with the creatures from the Otherworld. He had engineered it to let something through, and only because of the determined efforts of Kal Aterna had his treachery been discovered just the other week.
“The last contact was two days ago,” Wilson said quietly. “When he called to say that he was coming to kill me.”
Crap. There was another player. Braz had heard rumors about that, that Viko had been working for someone, that the mastermind of all the trouble Clan Aterna had been facing lately was still out there.
Now he had proof.
“Let me get this straight,” he said, icy quiet. “Brolle’s boss ordered you to steal the stuff from Grace. Which you did. Yet now you’re hiding from him? What happened in there Wilson? What went wrong?”
“I screwed up,” the criminal said in a display of openness that caught Braz by surprise. “I got the information, and I decided I was done being manipulated. So I told him I was going to go public with it. According to Jack, it would destroy our mysterious asshole.”
If Brolle’s boss was another dragon shifter, then Wilson had screwed up monumentally. Dragons that had fallen from the path, that had become Cado, they were not known for their love of humans. They were ruthless and merciless. Wilson wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Who is it?” Braz asked, hoping that Wilson could identify the missing piece.
“I wish I knew. No names, just threats and orders,” Wilson said.
Braz swore. “So what’s the hold up? Hand over the information,
and I’ll deal with this goon.”
“I can’t,” Wilson said stubbornly.
His patience was shot. “You have ten seconds to talk plainly or your man here goes home in a wheelchair. Then I’m coming for you, and you’ll have twice the problems to deal with.”
“The information is locked. The thumb drive is password protected,” Wilson explained.
“Meaning what, exactly?” Braz asked, trying to ignore the sinking sensation in his stomach. He had a feeling he knew where the crook was going, and he didn’t like it one bit.
If the information was locked, Wilson’s attempt to blackmail the mysterious third party would have fallen apart. Therefore to make it work, Wilson would have to reach out to whomever could unlock the drive. And it certainly wasn’t Braz…
“It was concealed in a picture frame,” Wilson said. “Of Jack and a girl.”
“Grace,” Braz said dully.
“She knows the password,” Wilson agreed.
Well crap. This wasn’t going to go over well at all.
“What do you suggest?” Braz asked, his brain working overtime now.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Grace
Braz left so suddenly and abruptly that it took Grace some time to truly appreciate that she was alone. The coffee left her feeling alert and also hungry, so she’d made herself some breakfast.
During that time Clarice had come in to prepare food for her two boys, but she must have picked up on the fact that Grace wasn’t in a talking mood. She’d called to her sons, and they had come bounding in with another boy about their age in tow.
Grace had taken her leave as the trio clamored around the woman, who looked quite at home with all the attention. A large brown ball of fur on four legs had come racing into the room with tail wagging as well, much to the excitement of the kids.
It was a lovely tableau, but it just wasn’t what Grace needed at the moment. She was craving silence. Peace. Serenity. A chance to reflect and think about the wild three days that she’d seen since coming back to Five Peaks.
Wandering the house, she’d eventually found an empty patio in what appeared to be a lesser-used section of the building. Glad for the distance, Grace pulled open the sliding door, taking a deep breath of the sweet, clean, mountain air.
