"Zane D'Ath," I replied. "Tell him Deb's daughter is here."
I waited for only a few minutes before the bartender ushered me through the kitchen and into a large back room filled with rough, tattooed guys and a handful of girls. Apparently the public side of the bar was exactly that. Public. This side was all Reapers.
"Your funeral, girlie," the bartender muttered, closing the door again once I was inside. Shutting me in with the hungry wolves.
Shit. Maybe this was dumb.
Still, I couldn't back out now. So I hardened my expression and crossed the room to where a familiar face stared back at me.
"Madison Kate Danvers," Zane purred, raking his gaze over me and making a sound of appreciation. "You grew up."
I tucked my hands into my back pockets and gave him an unimpressed stare. "No shit. That's what time generally does to a person. The last time you saw me when I wasn't running away would have been, what, eight years ago? Seven?"
A cold smile curved his lips, tugging at the tattoos below his right eye. "Something like that." He stared back at me for a long, tense moment. There wasn't a lot of familial resemblance between him and Archer. For one thing, Zane was a fraction of Archer's size and all slim, wiry muscles where his little brother was bulk and hardened brawn. But it was there in his eyes, those same ice-blue eyes that seemed to cut like daggers.
"Why'd you come here, Madison Kate?" he asked when it became clear I wasn't going to say anything first. It was his kingdom, after all. "Seems like a real stupid move for a girl with your... connections." His lips twitched over that last word, like he was making fun of something.
I scowled. "If you mean the fact that your brother is living in my house, I have no control over that matter. I tried to get rid of him; he wouldn't go."
"Your house?" Zane repeated, that mocking smile pulling at his lips.
My glare flattened. "My father's house. Whatever."
He said nothing, his cold blue eyes not leaving my face for even a second, but then he nodded. "Look, I'm going to cut you the benefit of the doubt here, kid--seeing as you're clearly so deep in the dark you couldn't find your own cunt. Ask whatever burning questions made you put your life on the line, then get the fuck out of my bar."
A vaguely familiar guy with neck tatts made a sound of protest, pushing the girl in his lap to the floor and slamming his beer glass down on the table.
"Boss," he started, but Zane shut him up with a sharp look.
"Actually, Skunk," Zane said, and the pieces clicked into place. Skunk. This was the guy Kody and Steele had beaten the shit out of a month ago at Bree's party. "You can serve as a visual example to Madison Kate of what happens when we wander into territory uninvited." Zane got up from his chair, dropping his own beer onto a table, and slouched his way over to Skunk. He kicked the table in front of Skunk out of the way, revealing two long plaster casts covering his legs from knee to ankle.
I gasped. Not out of shock—I already knew what had happened to him—but because I'd somehow managed to forget about that night in all the madness that’d followed.
"Here, little girl. Take a look at this." Zane yanked Skunks T-shirt up, revealing angry, purple-red scarring across his chest. I stared hard at the letters that had been cut into his flesh and made a mental note to stop pissing Archer off.
Strike One.
"This is what happens when my guys accidentally wander into my little brother's territory. So what do you think might happen to you, strutting straight into the Reaper's headquarters?" Zane released Skunk and took a few menacing steps toward me. He casually flipped out a butterfly knife that looked so much like Archer's I did a double take.
"She already knows, boss," Skunk answered for me, his voice a sneering growl of anger and resentment. "She was there when they did this to me."
Zane's brows shot up. "Was she, now?"
"I forgot until just now. Head injuries will do that to ya."
He glared daggers at me, and I skipped my gaze back to Zane.
Archer's brother was much closer now, allowing me to study him better. There were more echoes of Archer in his handsome face, and I could kind of see what my mom had been attracted