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But a sound in the distance made me pause. It was too familiar for my liking.
That distant rumbling sent those vague images flashing through my mind again, and I couldn’t move. Those running motors sounded like a swarm of bees coming straight for us, but the closer they got, the sicker I began to feel.
The moment those shapes appeared from the highway that ran out of town, my stomach dropped.
It couldn’t be.
The biker gang.
Something in me told me to run and alert Kai or any of the shifters of what was happening, but I couldn’t move. I was frozen on the spot as my mind raced, and the dormant dread that had taken up residence in my chest decided to flare.
The sound of those motorcycles was unmissable. Surely, by then, everyone across town had heard. There was a whole group of them, numbers much vaster than I was aware of.
As the one leading them drew closer, I couldn’t help but watch him. He rode his motorcycle casually like it was second nature for him. With his helmet on, I wondered who he was and why he felt so familiar to me.
The rider looked in my direction as he drove by, staring for too long for it to be a coincidence.
As he approached the center of town with his gang in tow, that sinking feeling only got worse.
An image of his face flashed again in my mind, and I had my answer at once.
It was Rowan.
Had he been made their leader?
There was a strange tug on that splinted bond from where it slumbered inside my chest. Like a small poke to make sure it was alive. While it was still beating despite all the pain I had endured from Rowan breaking my heart, it still ached.
But that disbelief made me ignore it. It couldn’t be. He couldn’t be in Rose Valley. I refused to accept it.
As the bikers rode up, stopping when Kai, Finn, and some of the others came out to see what was going on, my curiosity got the best of me. I caught up with the crowd that began to gather after I pulled myself together, and I watched as the leader pulled his helmet off.
Even if I couldn’t see his face, I knew that it was him immediately. Not only did that short, sandy-blonde hair give him away, but the aura that surrounded him.
Yet, there was something different about it. Where hostility once lived, that natural shield around him seemed kinder. Less defensive. It seemed interesting, but I didn’t want to look into it too much.
After a moment of talking, Kai, Finn, Rowan, and a handful of others went into the community center to talk. I stood with the other onlookers, just as confused.
The other bikers stayed on their machines as they looked unnerved by the townsfolk who stared at them. Not to mention the task force members that looked moments away from striking if they needed to.
My heart clenched while I waited, afraid something else had happened.
Our town didn’t need any more grief, not after everything that went down. There were great people in Rose Valley, and none of them deserved to wait in fear for the other shoe to drop. They had been scarred enough by the previous attacks.
After some time of listening to the murmurings around me, the front door opened, and Sienna and River stepped out. The guys remained inside for whatever reason.
The two girls split, going two different ways. Since River’s coffee shop was nearby, she headed straight toward me. Taking it as my opportunity to snoop, I waited until she was closer to fall into step with her.
What had been a look of seriously deep thinking, she came out of it once she realized I was there. She pulled a small smile for me. “The commotion caught your attention too, huh?”
“Of course,” I began, trying to fight off the many thoughts that swarmed in my mind. “What happened in there?”
River swallowed hard and continued walking with me, glancing over her shoulder to make sure nobody was following or listening.
“Apparently, the gang isn’t out for blood. Thanks to their new leader, they want to forge peace between our groups.”
Rowan. The man who broke my heart before it could even begin to feel real love.
My brows furrowed. “It must be some sort of false kindness. There’s no way they mean it. This has to be some sort of ploy.”
