Page 3

Hearing a familiar rumble, he looked toward the gravel driveway, where a motorcycle had pulled in. Regardless of the size of the man dismounting, Wizard’s impatience got the better of him. Dread began tingling at the back of his neck when he saw the grim expression on the man’s face.

“I want to see my sister,” Wizard said as the man approached.

The man stopped at the bottom step. “Who’s your sister?”

“Dena. I’m her brother.”

“She never told me she had any family.”

“Then you didn’t know her well enough.” Raking his hair away from his face, Wizard strode to the edge of the porch and stared down at him. “I want to see my sister—now.”

Eyeing him coldly, the man pointed toward a hill Wizard could barely see through the trees. “Follow me.”

Wizard warily descended the steps and followed. Frowning, he struggled to keep up with the man’s long-legged stride.

What in the fuck was going on? Had his contact set him up?

He wished he had tucked his gun into the waistband of his jeans before getting out of the car. Despite his misgivings, he continued following the stranger. The man might have been large, but Wizard had brought down bigger men during his stint in the Navy. He simply preferred not to deal with the pain of healing when a bullet could accomplish the same result with less effort.

As they climbed the hill, Wizard craned his neck. Was there another house up there, one that couldn’t be seen from below?

When they reached the top, it took him a moment to understand what he was looking at.

“Is this a fucking graveyard?”

He braced himself for the stranger to attack him, thinking he was about to be robbed and killed. His stupid ass would probably be buried in a cemetery where no one would miss him, much less think to search for him in the backwoods of Kentucky.

His muscles tensed as the man moved. Even when the stranger brushed past him, Wizard remained on guard.

The man walked to a grave and stopped. “You wanted to see Dena. Here she is.”

Wizard’s entire world tilted on its axis. Unable to believe his sister was in the grave, he stumbled over the uneven ground toward it. Reading the name on the tombstone nearly buckled his knees.

“How did she die?” he asked hoarsely.

“Roadside bomb.”

Wizard’s fingers curled into fists, his nails digging into his palms. Despite the bright sunlight, all the vibrant colors drained from his vision.

“Who are you? How did you know Dena?”

“Knox. I was her husband.”

Wizard nearly doubled over in pain at the revelation. He hadn’t been there for her at the most important time in her life. She had always joked that he would be the one to walk her down the aisle.

“Why wasn’t I contacted when she was killed?” he managed to rasp out.

Knox’s next words dealt the killing blow to what remained of his soul.

“I didn’t know she had a brother.”

The opening of the truck door dragged Wizard back to the present.

“You have to be freezing your ass off,” Rider said as he climbed inside. “Why didn’t you start the engine?”

“I wasn’t that cold. How’s Jo getting home?”

“Winter volunteered to take her and the kids so I can get your bike taken care of.”