in a wolf’s snarl. “And I’m gonna cut him to pieces before I do.”
“We’ll all be there to do it, pretty girl,” I vowed and Fox nodded, sharing a dark look with me as the roar of Maverick’s motorcycle filled the air. “Blood for blood. When he dies, the only thing he’ll remember of this life is the meaning of the word pain.”
T he adrenaline was still scattering through my veins as we arrived back at Harlequin House and through the rush of the escape we'd made, I'd barely even taken a moment to fully grasp what that meant.
We were home. Safe. But Shawn now held a stronghold in the Cove. Worse, he was in a prime position to head into that graveyard and find all of our most valuable secrets buried in that crypt.
But beyond the danger and threat which had taken root in that place thanks to Shawn killing Kaiser and stealing his estate from him was the soul crushing grief of what had happened to the one and only woman who had ever given a fuck about me when I was a kid. I’d called Chase to fill him in while we were racing through the streets of the Cove so that he would stop worrying, but I was desperate to see him in the flesh, confirm that all of my boys were alive and well.
Fox and JJ were in a whirlwind of rage and phone calls, arranging a meeting at The Oasis with Luther to discuss what this meant now that they knew exactly where Shawn was hiding out. They were talking about launching an offensive against him or even calling in reinforcements from the cartel, but I didn't care about any of that.
All that kept replaying in my mind were the words that Shawn had spoken to me. The threat still hanging over me and the men I kept close to me. I knew he wasn't going to stop with this now. Shawn Mackenzie was like a wolfhound on the scent of an injured deer when he fixed his mind on something.
He lived for games and power and now that he'd decided to come for me, I knew he wouldn't just let the idea drop. Worse than that, I knew he would only keep coming at the Harlequins harder and harder for every day I spent refusing to play his twisted games. And if he was attacking the Harlequins then he was always just one step away from ripping my heart from my chest anyway.
I refused the offer to go to The Oasis with Fox when he asked, not wanting to be a part of whatever plans the Harlequins cooked up against Shawn.
I needed time to think about all of this. I needed time to process what we'd just learned and I needed time to decide on my next move. Because if I could end this war by giving myself up to the man who kept striking at us, then didn't I have to consider that? Didn't I have to put aside my own fear and think about what was best for Fox and JJ? Maverick too. If I could stop this fight then they would be free of it. This threat against them would disband and at least I'd know they were safe.
JJ and Fox left and I headed upstairs to fill Chase in on what had happened, Mutt scampering along by my heels.
I knocked on his door but I didn't get an answer so I let myself in, finding him asleep in the centre of the bed with the lights on overhead, his brow furrowed and his eyepatch missing.
My gaze trailed over the scars that marked his right eyelid, the savage X that cut through his eyebrow and ran onto his cheek. The lines of it were still red but a lot of the anger had gone out of the wound now and I could see how the scar would look once it was finished healing.
He'd always bear that mark now and he'd never regain the sight in that eye, but somehow there was beauty in that. In the way his scar showed on the outside instead of being hidden away on the inside where no one could see like mine were.
I considered leaving him in peace, but Mutt scampered over to his bed, hopping up and curling himself in a little ball by Chase's feet, so I followed his lead and moved further into the room instead.
I slipped into his bathroom, snagging