The Deputy and His Enforcer (Kincaid Pack #3) - Kiki Clark Page 0,12

pressing into it.

“Fuck!” he gasped out, going down on one knee, the bone striking the floor so hard it reverberated through him.

“Tashmica! Shut it off!”

Robson couldn’t even open his eyes to see who was running up to him, but he recognized that deep voice. Then strong hands were holding his jaw and shoulder as a terrifying growl filled the air, causing the hair on the back of his neck to rise up.

From one struggling breath to the next, the air around him eased its assault, and he sucked in a noisy breath, fulling expanding his chest.

“I’m so sorry,” a soft feminine voice said to his left. “I set the, um, alarm while we were in the back. It should have prevented anyone from wandering in while we were working. I don’t know how he… Deputy Medina, I’m so, so sorry. Are you alright?”

Robson was still trying to get his bearings when he realized Rivera was kneeling in front of him, touching his face gently. His eyes flew open, and he took in the sight of Rivera’s intense, concerned eyes and Tashmica Torres standing off to the side, hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes.

“What the fuck?” he croaked out.

A sudden vision of Reesa falling to the ground in pain if she’d been the one to come to the shop had him pushing to his feet, fury lighting his veins and giving him strength. Rivera rose more slowly, hands still raised a little, like he wanted to calm Robson down but wasn’t sure how. Tashmica was wincing, her red lips pressed together.

“It was an accident,” Rivera finally said, his calm voice the opposite of soothing.

“‘An accident’? Really? Because that felt really fucking intentional to me, whatever the hell it was.” He looked around the entrance to the store, trying to find what had caused the overloading of his senses like that. He’d never heard of an alarm system that could do that.

“Deputy, please understand…” Tashmica looked at Rivera, who gave a slight shake of his head. Torres sighed and ran her fingers through her curly hair. “It’s hard to explain”—she shot a look at Rivera—“but it truly wasn’t intentional. I wasn’t expecting anyone to come in.”

She gave him a sweet smile, her whole demeanor begging him to understand, but he narrowed his eyes as he took a step back, closer to the door. “Except Reesa.”

“What?” She seemed genuinely confused, but he’d met his fair share of good liars before.

“Teresa O’Neal. She said you contacted her about an order… Was this trap actually for her?” Robson’s blood pressure began to skyrocket again, his protective instincts shooting to the surface. He’d done what Rivera wanted, had even handed over the information he’d gathered—what more did they want from him?

Maybe just to send a message that they would hurt anyone who got too close to them?

“Oh no! She would have been fine!” Torres said, holding a hand out to him, but he jerked back farther, hitting the door with his shoulder blades. “I’d never hurt Teresa or the baby. You have to believe me.”

She shot a pleading look at Rivera, who simply clenched his jaw tighter, tendons in his neck standing out as he shook his head again.

“Marcus, this is ridiculous! We should just tell him.”

“It’s not my decision,” Rivera said slowly, eyes never leaving Robson as he reached back and twisted the doorknob pressing into his spine.

“Rick would understand— Wait, Deputy, don’t leave. I can get you Teresa’s things.” Tashmica turned away, but Robson was already throwing the door open and stumbling out.

“Fuck that. Reesa doesn’t need whatever voodoo shit you convinced her to buy. Stay away from my family.” His voice was little more than a growl as he squared off against Rivera on the sidewalk, locking eyes and refusing to look away.

For the briefest of seconds, it looked like Rivera’s eyes lit up, shining with some unknown intent, but they were back to normal so quickly he was sure he’d imagined it.

“You hear me, Rivera?” he called, ignoring the people down the sidewalk who had stopped to watch him.

“Yes, Robson, I hear you.” Marcus lowered his chin, but he didn’t look away.

“Good. Because next time I won’t ask so nicely.”

Chapter Four

“Alpha, with all due respect—”

Alpha Kincaid held up a hand from his spot at the head of the dining room table in the manor. “Enough, Marcus. The discussion is over. As much as it pains me that a member of the community would believe we’d harm a pregnant member