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They’re giving me a headache. I just want to get to Tasha, I don’t want to hypothesize about every wrong move or bad player who’s been dealt with these past months.
“Why does any of this matter?” I’m back to sounding like an asshole with my harsh tone and clipped words.
“We’re not sure it does,” Dimitri answers, keeping Tess from having to. “But it seems odd that Maren would come around at the same time that the Langston issues started.”
I eye Dimitri warily. I respect him as someone who trained great fighters, but I’m not sure why the hell he knows so much more than I do right now. He’s not Alpha of the pack anymore. He meets my gaze steadily.
“You’re angry,” he says. It’s not a question.
“Fuck yeah, I’m angry. We’re sitting around chit-chatting while my mate is potentially putting herself in a huge amount of danger. Did you expect me to fawn all over the damn book with the rest of you?” I toss it down on the seat between us.
Tess turns her whole body around in her seat to stare me down again. She looks ready to strangle me, and I’m not far from considering strangling her myself.
“Stop being a fucking prick. Dominic is getting us to her as fast as he can. Don’t you think the rest of us are upset too? Tasha isn’t just our family, she’s also the Luna Sovereign. If anything happens to her, it doesn’t only destroy our family, it throws our entire community off balance.”
I clench my teeth together to keep from snapping at her again. I know she’s right, I just need somewhere to direct my anger. The more freaked out I get thinking about all the bad shit that could happen to her, the more I turn those feelings to anger. Anger is familiar. Anger will be productive if we have to go in fighting.
And I gladly will. This guy put my mate in danger. I should have shown up and kicked his ass a long time ago, but I was trying to respect Tasha’s choice to make decisions as Luna Sovereign.
When I saw her picture on that bar wall, I never imagined being Tasha’s mate would be so damn complicated.
“Fine. Anything else anyone wants to tell me?”
Dominic and Tess exchange a long look until he has to turn his eyes back to the road. She slides back into her seat so she’s no longer facing me before she answers.
“We’re starting to think there must be another reason Langston wants all this land. Obviously, we know the land is valuable for development, but it doesn’t seem rational to be willing to put lives in danger to get ahold of it. Especially not when he hasn’t once tried to approach us properly about wanting to buy the land. We wouldn’t consider selling for any offer, but he wouldn’t know that. It all feels too personal to just be about the land. We don’t know how the picture fits in yet, but I have a feeling we’re missing a lot of the history that would explain why Langston seems to be targeting us so harshly.”
I’m struck by a thought. This is why Tasha rushed off to confront Langston face-to-face. We’re turning in circles without getting any answers, while the only one with answers is sitting pretty, using his money to keep from getting his own hands dirty.
She went to confront the source.
“We’re going to reach her in time, Paxton. I swear we will.” Tess’ voice quivers. I can tell she’s trying to hold it together, but she might as well not bother for my sake. I feel like someone is stabbing me repeatedly in the chest as I try to imagine how Tasha must be feeling facing this alone.
I can see the GPS in the front guiding us behind her to Bellesfield. She’s so much closer than we are, we didn’t notice her missing in time. She’s nearly an hour ahead of us, and that’s an hour she’ll be forced to survive alone.
* * *
It takes too damn long to reach the outskirts of Bellesfield.
Jeff Langston’s office neighbors the town’s closed factory. We pass a few dilapidated houses and not much else once we’re in the Bellesfield city limits. It’s a weird location for him to have chosen considering the town’s business history. There has to be a significant reason that he chose this location, but hell if I can guess what it might be.
As we get closer, I wrap my hand around the door handle in preparation. I want to bolt out of this damn car the second we get there.
“Paxton,” Dominic barks my name, finally speaking.
“What?” I snap back. I liked it better when we were riding in silence.
“We’re going to get her out of there, but we can’t rush in and put her in more danger. We’ll take our time to assess from the outside first and pick the safest way in the building to get to her. Once we do that, you’re free to take over.” I stare blankly at him, unsure what he means. “Don’t feel like you have to show any mercy.”
His dilated eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror, and I finally get it. He’s telling me that once we know Tasha is safe, I can handle Jeff Langston the way I want. With violence and enough pain to make him beg me to kill him faster.
Dominic turns into the parking lot of a big concrete office building. The nondescript, block-lettered sign above the double doors readsLangston Development. We’re definitely in the right place.
It takes every ounce of self-control I have to not get out and rush the building on sight, but I know as well as the rest of them that this could be one hell of a trap. Anyone could guess that wherever Tasha is, Tess will follow. And since Langston’s been trying to get his hands on more than one Jarreau sister, it’s up to us to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Tasha will never forgive me if I don’t protect her sister, no matter how much danger she might be in herself.
Dominic scans the area around us with intense scrutiny. “We need to end this.”
