AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dawg’s gaze moved to her for a moment before turning back to the dining room entrance.
“Then you’re the only one he’ll expect,” Dawg murmured.
“Timothy’s security system has every room covered, except bedrooms,” Graham stated softly, his gaze still locked on her. “They’ll know we’re here.”
Dawg shook his head at that. “When I couldn’t reach him, I instigated a fail-safe he has installed.”
“Paranoid bastard,” Natches muttered. “Especially since hooking up with Mercedes.”
> “Love does that to a man,” Dawg growled, glancing back for a second, his expression hard, his gaze furious.
Graham remained silent.
“Zoey’s not screaming,” she whispered, moving closer to them. “You know Zoey, Dawg.”
That terrified her. Zoey would rush hell with a bucket of water for their mother. And she would do it loudly. She may be a recluse, she may try every excuse in the world to avoid family, but she never avoided her mother, and now that her older sisters were no longer at the inn, she was there every morning and every evening to help Mercedes.
“I know Zoey,” he agreed. “But she’s not foolish, either.”
“Let’s get this taken care of,” Graham ordered then, his own voice still below a whisper. “I have other things to do.”
He had another flavor to find, no doubt.
Flicking him a contemptuous glance, Lyrica turned back to her brother, aware of Natches watching her carefully.
“If you ask me to leave, then I might shoot one of you.” Her first choice wasn’t family, either.
Dawg grunted at that. “Give things time, little girl. We have other interested parties moving into place. I’m just waiting for them to get ready.” He touched his ear, revealing the small, almost invisible Bluetooth earbud he wore, which she knew was linked to a central radio.
They were moving through.
Natches moved slowly into the room and the door was closed silently before he and Dawg moved to either side of the door leading to the dining room. The dining room would be their warning, she thought as she watched them from the side. Anyone coming from the stairs would be within sight of the doorway leading to the foyer, directly across from the kitchen. Anyone coming from the hallway entrances to the guest suites had to pass by the dining room.
“Plan?” Natches murmured then.
Dawg’s eyes narrowed. “We spread out and find them.”
“Timothy would be in his office right now,” Lyrica stated. “Mom should have been here in the kitchen with Zoey. If someone has them, then they’ll be together upstairs.”
Dawg nodded slowly as he said, “Did you get that?” His gaze narrowed. “Check it out.”
Lyrica’s eyes narrowed on Natches then. Shifting her weapon to a one-handed grip, she held out her other hand demandingly. She wanted her own link.
His gaze flickered icily, and a second later he gave a negative movement of his head.
They were going to push her out. The hard flash of pain that seared her chest was surprising. It shouldn’t have been.
Before she could pull her hand back, Graham reached out and dropped one in her palm, the almost clear bud lying innocently in her hand as he glared down at her.
Natches’s curse was a sibilant hiss as she curled her fist around the earbud, maneuvered it between her fingers, and tucked it in her ear. Once it was in place, she pressed the activation button at the end and waited.
“Angel can’t get eyes in the office,” Tracker stated softly through the link. “Rowdy, can you override the window darkening?”
“That’s all internal,” Rowdy answered soberly.
Lyrica tucked the Glock in the back of her pants, listening as Rowdy and Tracker discussed the best way they could possibly override the controls for the window darkening.
It wasn’t possible, Lyrica knew that. Timothy had always felt that whatever trouble came inside the inn couldn’t be as dangerous as what could be waiting outside the window of his office on any given day.
