Stepping back into the breach, Dawn tried to focus on the signs of chaos denied. Overturned furniture appeared righted, and the blood was already drying against the walls. The burly man whose bleeding cheek had stained her clothes held a dirty towel to his face and nursed an icy beer. A bandana had worked its way around George’s battered arm. But to just look at him suggested that the end was at hand. No Panthers were seen in the clubhouse, and maybe there was a chance for all of them to work their way out of this mess.
Then there was one glance at Nicole. The gun in her hand brought everything back to the darkest place, and she clung to Cade’s arm, feeling him fighting to stay still as the redhead aimed the metal between his eyes.
“Cade’s skirt had a point,” she said. Dawn barely had a chance to bask in the compliment when Brian tossed his head back with a wicked laugh.
“Not like I got a chance to taste it,” he said. “Bet it ain’t all that sweet.”
Now Cade started to lurch away from her, and Dawn fought to remember her promise as she let him move forward with tightened fists.
“Talk to what’s yours,” Cade said. Brian seethed, and Dawn sensed him ready to rip his so-called brother apart with his bare hands when Nicole cocked the trigger of her gun and sniffed the air.
“Save the pissing contest for later,” she hissed. “And you better hope to hell that Lenny comes out of this in one piece.”
Brian started to smirk when he swallowed the mockery back to the base of his throat. Whatever else she had endured, Nicole’s mind seemed clear, her hand steady, as she looked around the room. As soon as she saw Dawn, Dawn tried to read her gaze. Derision mingled with a kind of admiration, and Nicole kept the gun drawn as she advanced towards Cade.
“Nicole?”
Cade hid her behind his back, and Dawn fought to remember her promise, her touch tight around his arms as he jutted out his chin and pressed his palm to the tip of the barrel.
“We’re not the enemy here,” Cade insisted. “Nicole, you…you know that.”
Wanting her to believe that, to remember that, Dawn peered through the crook of Cade’s arm.
Let her hear him. Let her understand that.
“Maybe,” she started. “All bets are off if Lenny doesn’t pull through,” she said. “But since the healer or whatever the hell she is likes working her magic fingers, you got a few minutes to plead your case.”
Cade appeared ready to take the chance, and he glared at Brian as he kept Dawn close.
“Girl didn’t want no bullet in her man,” Nicole said. “I get that.”
Her eyes brimmed as she held court, and when her brother tried to step in to stop her, she took aim at his head, seeming not to care that they were bound by blood and times gone by. The sight of Reese shrinking back all but confirmed that their father had backed the wrong horse, but Dawn’s body still tensed when Nicole had her in her crosshairs once again.
“Question is, why,” Nicole said. “Does she want us making like sitting ducks?”
“I—”
“Do you want to see us all bloodied and burnt before the night is out?”
Cade groaned, and she felt him on the verge of breaking so many old promises. Not now. Not when she finally had him so close. But she had to be careful, she…
“Let him tell you,” Dawn murmured.
It felt strange to yield the floor when she knew the truth. She wanted to stay because of Cade, and it would only work now if she made like his old lady and played the part.
“You…you laid low,” Cade started to tell Nicole. “And they still got the jump on us. Time to go on the offensive.”
“And fuck the casualties,” George muttered.
“Fuck you,” Cade said. “Run-and-hide move got us here in the first place.”
“That meant for me, Veep?”
For the first time, Reese appeared to shift into his own, and he quickly moved for his own gun, and Nicole’s stare softened.
“Don’t be like Daddy,” she said. “Don’t take any more time. Got none to spare, baby brother.”
Reese’s body started to droop, and Nicole kept her gun poised as she touched her fingers to his tense arm.
“We all hid,” she started. “Like tried to bide our time. And where are we at now?”
“Still alive,” George said. “And kind of kicking.”
“You wouldn’t be singing that tune if you were in Lenny’ shoes.”
A pall came over the room, and Dawn found herself silently hoping that the little guy would come out the other side when Nicole looked back to Dawn.
“So you said one thing,” she started. “But then you wanted to take him away. And why was that?”
“I---”
“Clarify!” she demanded.
Feeling as if she was trapped under a sudden spotlight, Dawn swallowed hard and felt nothing but the draft pouring through the broken windows. It would be nothing for the Panthers to move now and take every other Alpha out. However, she leaned into the sharp breeze and felt the eyes all around her like daggers pressing into her skin. If she had chance, she would spirit Nicole away, just try to talk to her as one woman to another. But one false move might mean another bullet, and Dawn squared her shoulders and raised her voice.
“Same reason you want Lenny to live.”
It was a veiled confession at best, and Dawn started to hang her head when Cade’s strong arm bolstered her up. Their eyes just locked, and when she stared into his bright blue pools, Dawn clung to the hope that he understood, that he would keep the story rolling along.
Because it was so much more than that.
“So you would stick it out for a man, career girl?” Nicole asked.
“I…I would do it for him,” she said. “And now…now that I think about it, all of you boys are making the wrong move if you don’t come out with guns blazing.”
“Fair enough.”
Dawn barely had the chance to soak in Cade’s suddenly loving stare as Brian took aim, and Cade moved to block her body from the threat of any kind of blow.
“Step aside, Cade,” Brian said. “She’s trouble. All of these girls are.”
“Why?” Nicole asked. “Because we can care? Or because we know the score?”
Brian backed off under the force of Reese’s hand, and his fingers quivered as he concealed his gun and took a slow step back.
“Better,” Nicole said. “So tell us why you were so quick to fold in and act like that was the way out?”
Brian laughed again, but Nicole stood toe to with the lanky man and flexed her own muscles.
“I think an answer is in order,” she said.
“Fucking second that,” Cade said, as he kept Dawn as close to his side as possible. Relishing his hold, Dawn tried to find his eyes, but Cade’s gaze stayed fixed on the men before him, and he barely noticed Nicole all but breaking ranks as she pulled her brother to Cade’s side, her blinking eyes furious as the room waited for Brian to offer something in the way of a valid answer.
“Boss, these bitches are only getting in the way,” Brian said. “And good old Veep here is right in league with them. Hell, he brought them the dance.”
Only George laughed at what as a kind of truth, but even he fell silent as the room started to roll over Brian. The man started to lift his hands into the air as he shook his head.
“I…come on guys,” Brian said. “You all know me. I’m not the enemy here.”
“Aren’t you?”
Dawn was stunned by the sound of her own voice leaving her lips, and her eyes started to apologize for stepping over the line that he had drawn in the sand. But Cade kept her close, and he flashed her a quick wink that eased her mind.
“Well, Brian?” Reese asked. The other Alpha started to back away. Dawn tensed at the sight of the next part of the story brewing in her midst, and when Brian started to run, she broke her promise to Cade and started after him.
“Dawn! Hold up!”
But she tuned out the sound of his voice as she pursued Brian into the night. She heard the click of too many guns firing, and she had to duck and curl as she dodged a stray bullet that whipped just past the side of her face. It did not make contact, and her flesh stayed unblemished.
“Dawn!”
Moving past near death, she felt Cade pulling her closer, and his eyes were full of fury as he gripped her arms.
“Cade, there’s something more than—”
“What happened to you staying in line?” he cried.
Dawn started to touch his face when he pushed her back.
“Thought we were on the same side now!” he said. “And you…you’re just going to run off like a fool?”
The insult hurt, and she slapped his face hard, suddenly taking no pleasure in his pain. At that moment, Gloria called out from a cracked window, and she waved her arms frantically in the air.
“Cade!” she screamed. “Get back inside! Like right now!”