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Without drawing back, she gave him a quick account of all that transpired.
“You staked her?”
“At least I didn’t shove it through her eye and into her brain. Thought about it. What did I miss?”
Still holding tight to her, he gave her a bullet-point summary. Meanwhile, people began to gather around them as it became clear that she’d been found. The crowd enlarged little by little as the news circulated. Soon, Havana and Aspen were shrugging through it.
Deke was not whatsoever impressed when his Alpha female snatched Bailey from his arms. Like literally snatched her from him. The devil was hellishly strong.
Babbling about how much she was gonna kick Bailey’s ass for going missing, Havana hugged her hard. She reluctantly passed her off to Aspen, who gave his mamba just as fierce a hug.
“Where’s Therese?” asked Tate, his voice dangerous, as he came up behind his mate.
In answer, Bailey slid the storage room door a glance.
Tate descended the steps fast, a bunch of people following behind him, including Havana, Aspen, and Camden. In passing, the tiger gave Bailey a casual tip of the chin … like she’d come back from a damn daytrip. He also shot Deke an “I told you so” look.
Deke cast him a narrow-eyed “Fuck you” look in response. Needing his mate close, he drew her to him once more and breathed deep, filling his lungs with her scent. The fear that had seemed to weave itself into his cells hadn’t yet began to dissipate.
Tate jogged back up at the stairs and gave Bailey an odd glance. “And people call Camden a sadist. Not that they’re wrong. Or that I have an issue with it.”
Havana huffed at Bailey. “I should be mad that snakes are still nesting here—yeah, I noticed them—but I can’t find it in me to care right now. That might change tomorrow.”
Feeling Bailey stiffen against him, Deke tracked her gaze and noticed Gerard and Dayna hovering nearby.
“You have been a very busy boy,” said Bailey, her voice cold.
Gerard flinched and opened his mouth to speak, but then he clamped his lips shut.
Bailey looked from him to Dayna. “You know, you make a perfect couple. You don’t care who you hurt so long as you get what you want. Oh, and just to be clear, Dayna … me and Deke will imprint all the way, so don’t stick around waiting for something you’ll never have.”
Tate caught Farrell’s eye and gestured toward Gerard. The Head Enforcer nodded at the silent signal and swiftly detained Gerard, who didn’t bother fighting him.
Bailey turned to Tate. “Extremists may turn up here soon, depending on whether or not they first try to contact Therese—they might hang back if they receive no answer. She intended to sell me to them.”
Havana spat out a rough curse. “What exactly went on down there? I want every measly detail.”
Wanting to get his mate upstairs so he could tend to her, Deke cast his Alpha female an annoyed glance. She totally missed it, focused on Bailey.
After his mamba finished recounting everything, he cut in, “If you have more questions, call her later, she’s done here.”
Ignoring Havana’s snort, he guided Bailey up to his apartment—a place that would soon be theirs, since she was scheduled to move in at some point in the following few days. Inside, they showered together, saying nothing. It wasn’t until afterwards, when he wrapped a towel around her, that Deke touched his forehead to hers and said, “I’m so pissed at myself right now.”
She curled her arms around his waist, careful not to dislodge his own towel. “You think you should have sensed that Therese was so majorly and creepily into you,” Bailey guessed. “Why? No one else did. She made sure to hide it. Not even Gerard realized the extent of it, or he would have anticipated that she’d turn violent toward Dayna.”
“I didn’t even realize that all the fuckery going on around us was related. I wondered about it a time or two, but I couldn’t think of anyone who’d target us both and in such different ways. Especially when the profile bullshit started way before any extremists came at you. I couldn’t make it fit.” He righted his head. “If I’d sensed how Therese felt, or I’d considered that Gerard might resort to—”
“If, if, if. Come on, Deke, you’re not omniscient. No one is. I didn’t cotton on to what was happening either. Like you, I recently thought that maybe the same person was behind it all, but we were struck at in varying ways at different points in time. It didn’t line up for me, so I didn’t think on it too hard. Do you blame me for that?”
“You know I don’t. And I get what you’re saying.” He slid his fingers into her wet hair. “But I’m still angry at myself.”
