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“She’s texting me back!” Katie holds out her phone. “Or he is, or something.”
I watch the three dots appear and wait. Sure enough, a message pops up asking if Katie is with her brother. An uneasy feeling grows in my stomach. What has put Henry on the Blood Knights’ radar?
“Should I text him back?”
I shake my head. “No. Let’s see what he does.”
As we watch he texts a few more times and the messages come in, a variation of the same ones as before. When Katie doesn’t respond, he stuffs the phone back in his pocket and keeps trudging. I take some pleasure in the fact that it looks like Tom has been following us since last night. He’s not dressed for a stakeout, wearing sneakers and what looks to be a few layers of dark clothing. That means he hasn’t taken the time to plan this properly. I check my watch. I have a unit on their way here, but they’re still thirty minutes out.
Tom finally makes it to the edge of the woods where he can spot the cabin. I curse when I realize I was too distracted by Katie when we arrived earlier to park in the garage. Stupid, rookie move. I bet I didn’t even lock it. Tom approaches the vehicle, looking in the windows and placing his hand on the hood to check the temperature. He tries the doors and, sure enough, I didn’t fucking lock them. I could sound the alarm from my phone now, but I’m interested to see what he’s going to do.
He circles the vehicle, pulls out a phone, one I note is absent the butterfly sticker, and takes some photos, including of the license. Fucker.
He pulls out a blade and sets in, slashing at the leather seats. Goddamn it, I’m itching to get out there and teach this fucker a lesson, but not if it means leaving Katie in here. I’m confident she’d be fine until the unit arrived, but I’m not taking chances with her.
I can’t quite see what he’s doing until a few seconds later, the front seats erupt into flames. Jesus Fucking Christ.
Katie turns wide blue eyes to mine. “Is he going to burn us out?”
“He can’t. The cabin might look like wood, but it’s actually fireproof siding. It would take a while to breach the house.”
“But it’s possible?”
I shake my head, pulling her to me and dropping a kiss on the top of her head. “Not this guy and not today. I’ve called a unit in, and they’ll be here shortly. I would take care of this asshole myself, but it’s more important that I take care of you.”
“A unit?” Katie shakes her head. “Who are you?”
“I’m the man your brother trusts to protect you.”
On the screens below us, Tom folds his arms, clearly waiting for someone to rush out of the house. When that doesn’t happen, he stalks up to the door, his tattoos clearly visible from our vantage point as he forgets about concealing himself and examines the door.
Katie cuddles in close to me. “I trust you too, but I’m scared.”
I check my phone. “The unit will arrive any second now.”
And that’s when I see Tom turn. He only hesitates a minute before he sprints into the woods, three large, black SUVs pulling in front of the cabin. I know there’s a group already located at strategic points in the woods, and we watch a cat-and-mouse game for a few minutes before Tom is apprehended by the team.
A call comes in and I issue directions for holding and questioning Tom. As much as I want to deal with him myself, and I will in a few days, I’m not leaving Katie for anything. Although I use careful language, I see the fear in Katie’s eyes, and I hate it.
“Are you the police?” she whispers, watching as a hood is thrown over Tom’s head and he’s dragged out of the woods and into one of the waiting vehicles.
“I’m not.” I hold out my hands. “I don’t even know that I’m one of the good guys.”
She wraps her arms over her waist, rocking back on her heels.
A buzz causes me to glance down at my phone and I see that the unit is cleaning up and resetting the perimeter. I let them know that I’ll meet with them in a couple of days.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
Katie nods. “What would have happened to me if you hadn’t been there last night?”
“We never have to worry about that, baby. From this day forward, I’m here for you.”
She bites her lip. “Because my brother asked you to?”
“No, because I want to be wherever you are.” A panicked thought crosses my mind. “And if you don’t want that, I’ll still be here for you.”
She walks to up me and pokes me in the chest. “No turning back now, Hiro. I’m not letting you wiggle out of this one. As you said, I’m an adult now, and I am going to make my own decisions.” She tips her beautiful face to mine. “And one decision I’ll happily make is having you. I’m yours.”
