Pursing her lips, she cut him a look. “Would you really?”
“Fuck. No, you know I wouldn’t. You, more than anyone, deserve to be happy. I just hate that you have to be happy hundreds of miles away.” Leaning down, he kissed her cheek. “Look, you know I’m happy for you, right? Just let me enjoy being a dickhead for once. I rarely get to be one, and it’s a nice change of pace.”
Chuckling, she bumped her shoulder against his, glancing over as the other Enforcers trickled outside. “Fine. But only with me. You be nice to Luke, got it?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Rolling her eyes, she led the way back to the front of the truck, meeting Luke’s smiling eyes. She knew he heard her conversation with Jameson, but he didn’t act like it, reaching out his hand to her brother. She held her breath, letting it out with a whoosh as Jameson didn’t hesitate, grasping it and giving it a quick shake.
Luke wrapped his arm around her waist as they all stood outside, talking and laughing. Her heart felt impossibly full—everything was as close to perfect as it could get in that moment.
If only there weren’t a madman out to kill her mate. It was the one thing marring her happiness, and obviously in a big way. She couldn’t relax, and she noticed that everyone was on high alert, their eyes constantly roaming their surroundings, searching for a threat.
Everyone was as ready as they could be to take it on. They just didn’t know when it would come—only that it would.
Luke laughed at something Noah said, the arm he had wrapped around Tarun’s waist tightening just a bit. They’d eaten dinner a little bit ago, and everyone was in the bar, talking as night slowly fell.
Tarun was sitting in his lap, and he looked over just as Jameson glanced their way, the sour expression on his face making Luke chuckle internally. They’d come to an understanding over the course of the day, but Jameson was clearly still trying to reconcile himself to his little sister finding her mate.
Luke wasn’t upset about her brother’s reaction—on the contrary, he was happy she had someone in her life who loved her so much. He liked to think he’d be the exact same way with Lara if she were still alive. He was pretty sure he would be. They hadn’t had many years together, but he’d loved his sister with everything in him.
Glancing around the room, he took in his friends and family. The only one who wasn’t in the room was Dmitri. The griffins had amazing sight, during the day as well as at night. Probably because of the eagle in their blood. He was outside at the moment, sitting on the roof, searching for anyone coming near the clubhouse.
It was a good thing they weren’t very close to town and were situated off of a little used highway. A man sitting on the roof of a bar would probably be a cause for concern with the humans.
God, he wished the whole fucked up situation was over. It felt so different than the missions they went on. They were the hunters then. They were the ones willingly going into danger. The ones who were in control.
It was a thousand times different than being hunted by someone else, threatened by someone else. Not knowing when they were going to strike or how much damage they’d inflict.
Tarun turned to face him just enough to kiss him and he was more than happy to oblige. Kissing her was always amazing, but in that moment, it had the added benefit of getting his mind off the situation.
His phone vibrated on the table beside them and she pulled back with a wink, turning to answer a question Liam asked. Luke picked up the phone, frowning as he saw it was a number he didn’t recognize.
“This is Luke Carlisle.”
“We have you surrounded, you know.”
The voice was easy, even almost friendly, but it made
his blood ice over in his veins. “Who is this?”
“Oh, don’t play those ridiculous games. You know who it is. I’ve learned a lot about you in the last few months, Carlisle, and stupidity wasn’t mentioned in any of those reports.”
His hand tightened on Tarun’s waist, but she didn’t react in any way. She was barely even breathing, and he knew she was listening. He hoped she didn’t let on to anyone else what was going on. If everyone got quiet, it would clue Jerry in, and he wanted to try to keep that element of surprise.
“Why are you doing this, Jerry? I don’t want the pride. I never have.”
“I don’t believe that.” Jerry laughed, the bitterness in the sound coming to him clearly, even over the phone. “But even if I did, I’d still kill you. See, as long as you’re alive, the pride holds out hope that you’ll return. For sixteen years, I’ve led them, yet many still refuse to pledge their allegiance to me. They won’t accept me as the alpha. Not while you still live. So, just like the rest of your family, you have to die.”
“So you’re trying to kill me because not everyone wants to follow you?” He stiffened, the rest of Jerry’s words sinking in. “What do you mean, the rest of my family? My dad lost his footing on a cliff and fell. It was an accident.”
“It’s almost cute that you still believe that, even knowing what I did to your mom and sister. Mike didn’t fall. I came up behind him and broke his neck, then threw him over the cliff to make it look like an accident. I had no intention of killing the rest of you. I tried to woo Tia, but she was lost to her grief over Mike and I couldn’t make any progress. If she’d accepted me, I could have had the pride through her. Since she didn’t, I had to take her and you brats out. You got away, and I wasn’t happy about that, to say the least, but I would have let you go, if the pride had accepted me. But some still resist, so this is where we are.”
“You’re fucking insane, and you’re dead when I see you,” he bit out, barely able to speak through his fury.
“That’s where you’re wrong. You’re the one dying tonight. Like I said, we have the clubhouse surrounded. There are twelve of us, and I know there are only six of you Enforcers. Seven, if you include your mate. If you want your friends and your little bitch to live, you’ll come outside without a fight. If we go in there, we’ll kill all of you.”
His lion growled, furiously pacing through his chest. The fucker was threatening his friends and his mate, and the asshole would die for that alone.