Page 51 of Thrown into the Mob

“I want to end this. My kids can't leave the compound, and my pack is on double shifts. Every family in La Luna Noir is living like there's a target on their backs.”

There was a tiredness to his voice. He was a leader who’d been managing a threat with no easy resolution.

“I’m done waiting for your brother to make the first move.”

My brother. It was odd thinking of the man who’d exhibited such cruelty as my kin. Evander was my twin, but he was also the man who killed our father.

I looked at my mate. He'd heard everything because he’d had his ear close to the receiver. He was staring into the distance, and I hoped he wasn’t imagining Vasik swooping down and taking him back to the compound.

I put a hand over the phone, not that it would prevent Flint from listening in. “What do you think?”

“I'm tired of hiding too.” He put an arm around me. “And Flint's right. Running again just delays the inevitable. Vasik will keep looking, and Evander won't stop.”

“Coming back puts your family at risk.”

“They’re already jeopardized, and they have been since the day your father grabbed me out of that bar.” He held my gaze. “At least if we're there, we can fight together instead of sitting in an apartment waiting for someone to find us.”

My dragon created a fire in my belly. He wanted to burn Vasik and Evander’s beasts as my twin had done to Father. He could take on one and it’d be a fair fight, but not both.

“You heard that, I assume,” I told Flint. “But I have conditions.”

“Name them.”

“I run the security operation. Not as a guest or as Madd's mate offering suggestions. If we're drawing Evander out, I need authority over the defenses. I know how he thinks and how Vasik operates, and your current set-up has gaps. I've been making notes on them since before I met Madd.”

He gasped. “What gaps?”

I rattled off that one side of his private estate relied on a single camera with a blind spot of approximately fifteen degrees. The guard rotation at the south entrance of the La Luna Noir compound had a four-minute window during shift change. The apartment building where we stayed had a service entrance that wasn’t monitored at all.

“Shall I continue?”

“Be here by tomorrow night. I'll tell Ranger to expect you and to behave himself.”

“Tell him I'll be going through his set-up within an hour of arrival.”

“I’m sure he'll be thrilled.” Flint hung up.

We were in a place where nobody knew us or cared, and we'd been happy here. But we had to leave, and I hoped we’d rediscover that happiness elsewhere.

Madd took my hand. “For the record, I'm glad we had this time together. We’ve learned to love one another and muddle along while we discover one another’s quirks.”

“I don’t have quirks.” I grinned before resting my brow on his.

This feels like home, my dragon told me. I’m not sure I want to be surrounded by wolves.

It’ll be fine.

“We'll come back.” I kissed Madd’s brow. I didn't know if it was true, but I wanted it to be.

“Yeah.” He squeezed my hand. “After.”

There was so much we weren’t saying. After Evander had been reckoned with and whatever came later. After meant a future, and we hadn't had that when we'd arrived here three weeks ago.

We walked back to the apartment and packed what little we had. I locked the door behind us and left the key under the mat because my bolthole had done its job, and maybe, after all of this, it would do it again.

TWENTY-FIVE

MADD