“It’s alright,” Mabel gives a pained smile, “I’m gonna have to get used to bein’ around men again at some point, and I can’t think of a better place to start.”
She hurriedly rolls up her sleeves, exposing her arms. Five ugly, jagged bite-shaped scars stare back at us. I already saw them when we were escaping Thornfield, but I didn’t get a good look on account of the whole running for our lives thing.
Now though, I get a full, unfiltered view of the sheer brutality of them. A growl rumbles in my chest. “I swear to fuck, Mabel, those bastards are lucky you already killed ‘em—”
“Hush, Jojo,” Mabel scolds, holding her arms up for Kole. “Here.”
Kole steps forward, keeping a respectful distance while still being able to examine them. “I believe there will not be aproblem with healing if you were to tattoo over them, but I would get a second opinion from a medical professional.”
Mabel hurriedly pulls her sleeves back down, giving Kole an appreciative nod. “Thank you.”
The front door to the Gallagher house opens, and Declan walks down the steps of the porch. He looks up from his phone, and his feet skid to a stop.
Again, Mabel’s own gaze is stuck on a member of Pack Gallagher, but while her stare at Aidan was more awestruck, the look she gives Declan is nothing short of disdainful.
“Fireball, does your sister have some kind of alpha-freezing power we should know about?” Hayden quips, looking between the two of them with an amused expression.
His words have Declan shaking his head as he falls out of his stupor. “Sorry, um…Mabel.” He runs a hand through his hair, looking as nervous as I’ve ever seen him. “I haven’t seen you out of the guest house yet.”
I turn to Mabel, frowning. She seems so much healthier since I found her a little over a week ago, but maybe she isn’t feeling as well as she seems? “Is this your first time outta the guest house? It isn’t good to stay cooped up so long, Mabel-cakes.”
Mabel’s cheeks flush with embarrassment, and based on the way her face screws up—anger. Something that catches me completely off guard considering I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mabelangry.
“I leave the guest house plenty,” she snaps, turning away from Declan. “Just not around you.”
Without another glance at my brother, she quickly wraps her arms around me, whispering, “Be safe, Jojo,” in my ear, and stalks back to the guest house, her head held high.
It’s not until the door slams shut behind her that I turn to Declan, my hands on my hips. “What thefuckdid you do, Declan James Gallagher?”
Declan turns his crestfallen expression to the now-closed door of the guest house. “I don’t fucking know!”
“Look, as intriguing as all this is, can we hit the road?” Sam asks, sounding tired. “We’ve got a long drive to Vermont ahead.”
“Yeah,” I give Dec the stink eye before I turn back to Sam. “Let’s go, Sammy-boy. Time to save your daddy.”
two
Jo
“Alright team, we’re about ten minutes out. Gear up,” Sam orders from his spot behind the wheel as he pulls off to the side of the road.
“I don’t need a bulletproof vest,” I argue, pulling my hair up in a bun so it’s out of the way.
“You do if you think you’re going to step one little toe out of this van,” he snaps back, turning in his seat. “We’ve been over this. We can’t stop you from running headfirst into danger, but we can damn well make sure you’re protected while you do it.”
“It’sgonnaslow me down.” Shoving an earpiece in my ear, I eye the bulletproof vest that Kole holds out to me with disdain.I move a hell of a lot quicker when I’m not weighed down by ten extra pounds I’m not used to, andthat’swhat’s gonna put me in danger.
“You could always hang out in the van with West and me.” Hayden grins. “You can sit in my lap while I drive.” He waggles his brows and I snort.
“YouknowI’m the one driving, Hayden,” West tuts, pulling a vest over his head. “You get to man the surveillance feeds and let the guys and Jo know if they’re in imminent danger.”
“Jo could sit in my lap while I do that, then.” Hayden shrugs before grabbing his own vest.
“Notice how both Hayden and West are gearing up even though theywon’tbe leaving the van.” Kole pushes the vest at me. “Put the damn vest on,Lisichka.”
I snatch the vest from Kole and scowl at all my men. “Y’all are gangin’ up on me now?”
“If we have to, Siren.” West shrugs. “Unless you’d rather one of us shield you with our own bodies. You know that none of us would hesitate to take a bullet for you.”
