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“How do you know my name?” I demand.
“You friended me on Facebook. All it said was Dragon and the pictures are of stupid shit like motorcycles and boats rather than people. Despite our no mutual friends, I accepted the friend request and have been watching you for a while now. Looking to see if you’d post anything that gave me a clue that it was you, Chase.” He huffs. “You’re my brother, asswipe. It’s called brotherly intuition.”
A smile tugs at my lips until I remember we’re not brothers. Not like we used to be. I’m Dragon now—vicious, violent, evil. Our worlds can’t intersect. They just can’t.
“Pretend you never saw me,” I spit. “Go away.”
He smacks away my arm, the blade scraping his flesh as he does it. His glare is furious as he rubs at the cut under his chin. “You’re fucking stupid if you think I’m going to pretend like the brother I’ve been searching for for over a decade didn’t just suddenly appear in front of our childhood home coincidentally at the same time our younger brother goes off the grid.”
“Coincidences happen.” I shrug.
“Not like this. You’re here because of Mitch. Is he with you? Are you bringing him back?”
Filter rounds the side of the vehicle and comes to stand beside me. The dude is built like a goddamn linebacker. Kai is taller than me now, but I’m a helluva lot more cut. Filter, though, is like a beast bedside me.
“So what? You ‘didn’t run away,’ but now hang with some biker gang?” Kai demands, gesturing toward the Royal Bastards emblem on Filter’s leather cut. “Recruiting our baby brother?”
I crack my neck and then shake my head. “I’m trying to find our brother, dipshit.”
“Mom thinks he’s just avoiding her,” Kai mutters, though he doesn’t seem to believe it.
I shove my knife back in its sheath before looking at Kai again. “I think the same thing that happened to me is happening to Mitch.”
“You think? And what exactly happened to you?” His voice grows hoarse. “Chase, tell me what happened.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying like hell not to think about what happened. “He stole me. Night Giant kidnapped me and…”
“A lot of fucked up shit,” Filter supplies. “Fucked up shit that will happen to Mitch if you don’t tell us everything you know.”
Strong arms wrap around me and I stiffen at the sudden embrace. Kai, who only moments before was being a cunt, is hugging me, his entire body shaking. I try to remain stoic, but having my past envelop me is too much to ward off. All I can do is sink into his hug, blinking back emotion that threatens.
“I can’t be here,” I mumble. “Kai, I can’t. Seeing you is one thing, but Mom?”
My brother pulls away, gripping my shoulders, a fierce glare on his face. “Too late, big bro. You fucked up by staking out so close to the house. Something’s going on with our family and we need answers. Mom thinks you’re dead, for fuck’s sake. You can’t let her continue on thinking that way.”
“You know Mom,” I grind out. “She won’t like this.”
This being me.
What I’ve become.
A monster.
“You’re wrong and a dumbass for even thinking that way. Mom can be a real bitch sometimes, but she loves us. Even when we fuck up.”
“This is more than getting a bad grade or getting kicked off the basketball team,” I hiss. “I’ve hurt people, Kai. A lot of them. I like it. I like to hear them scream.”
My attempt to scare him away falls on deaf ears. He doesn’t cower or shy away. Simply shrugs. Always such a dumb asshole.
“Kai…”
“Dad’s Maserati can outrun this SUV. No more running and hiding. Time to face Mom and Dad or I’ll chase after you and drag you back.” He squares his shoulders, daring me to argue. “It’s time to come home.”
Home.
This can never be home.
But maybe he’s right. Maybe I need to do this so we can find Mitch.
Every sane thought inside my head is screaming at me that this is a bad idea. For some crazy reason, though, I nod.
Looks like I’m going home for the first time in over a decade.
Fuck.
Cove
Lindsay’s green eyes narrow, reminding me so much of Dragon, it’s a punch to the gut. How different would his life had been had he not ended up as Night Giant’s captive?
“You knew my Chase?” she asks carefully, slowly prowling toward me around the coffee table. The woman isn’t an idiot, and I can tell she’s reading between the lines, snapping pieces together to form a picture that makes sense.
With her fierce gaze burning into me and the stealthy way she approaches, she reminds me of a panther circling its victim before she strikes. Though she’s slender and female, there’s no doubt in my mind that she wouldn’t go down without a fight if she had to.
