Dawn woke in Cade’s arms, his hold still tight around her body, as she lifted her face to his sleeping eyes. He looked content; he felt even better. She rested her ear to his chest and soaked in the gentle pounding of his heart. She moved her hand down the length of his sides, and she stopped at his firm thighs. Wanting to get a better, the best look at all of him, she started to ease away from his embrace when he stirred in his sleep and murmured her name.
“Shhh,” she soothed into his ear. “I’m right here.”
Whether he heard her true voice or pictured her safe and secure in the space of some dreamscape remained an unknown. But when she ran her hand down his cheek, he fell back into the pillow, the corners of his lips lifting into a content smile. He whispered her name again, and by the sound of his tone, she believed him completely at ease, more so when he turned to his other side. Suddenly in awe of the sight of his broad back just catching the moonlight, Dawn spooned him from behind and lightly kissed his shoulders. A content moan passed through his lips, and she would have stayed like that were it not for a rap at the door.
“What…?”
Startled by the sound, Dawn thought of rousing Cade from his peaceful slumber or at least getting her hands on his knife when the door opened a crack.
“Who’s---?”
Nicole appeared. Her tight leathers were replaced by a bulky sweatshirt matched by pants that did her no justice. But her face still showed off her true beauty, and she pressed one finger to her lips as she beckoned Dawn to come closer with her free hand.
“What do you want?” Dawn whispered.
“Just one second,” she said softly. “Give me that much?”
The thought of leaving Cade, the idea that he might wake up without her tugged at her heart, but she still slipped out from under her sheets, paying no mind to her nakedness when Nicole lightly whistled through her teeth.
“Guess I kind of get what he sees in you,” Nicole said as Dawn started to dress. “Get a move on if you can.”
She finished with the buttons and slipped into her sneakers. Casting one final glance at Cade, she silently vowed to get back before he woke, before he even had a chance to know that she was gone. She gently closed the door behind her and let Nicole lead her into a quiet corner. Dawn could hear some Alphas snoring while others schemed, and she looked to Lenny’s room before taking hold of Nicole’s arm.
“Is he alright?” Dawn asked.
“Surprisingly,” she said. “And thankfully.”
“You’ll get no argument from me.”
They sat together on a battered bench, and one glance out the window showed the Alphas’ watch turning over with what had to be the passing of the next hour. She started to speak when Nicole took the floor. “I need you to do something for me,” Nicole started.
“Okay.”
“You’re like the only one that I trust for this.”
“Me?” Dawn asked. “Where did that come from?”
“Damned if I really know,” Nicole said. “But you were the only one to go after Brian.”
“Cade didn’t like that,” she said. “So I need to dial it back.”
“I don’t,” Nicole said. “And while they sit and stew, I have this.”
Pushing her hand into her sweatpants, she unfurled a gun. Dawn gasped at the sight, but Nicole laid a light hand on her shoulder.
“It’s not for you,” she said. “I’m picking up where my dad left off.”
“What do you mean?” Dawn asked.
“Spent too many years hating what those pricks did to me and hoping for help,” Nicole said. “High time I got the job done myself.”
“You? What are you going to do all on your own?”
“Kill them all,” Nicole said, her tone surprisingly matter of fact even as her eyes blazed with fury. “Then there won’t be any question as to who gets what.”
The plan reeked of danger, and Dawn found her mind trapped as Nicole started to shift to her feet.
“You’re serious,” Dawn said. “Nicole, no. It’s too risky. And… and after all that you’ve already been through, you—”
“Exactly why I should be the one to finish the job,” she said. “Now I need you to play like the outsider once more and throw them off my scent.”
“What are you talking—?”
“Just come with me.”
Nicole pulled her up by her arm, and they left the corner for an unguarded back door. Darkness or not, the clubhouse was like a maze, and the air just hit their bodies as Nicole kept talking fast. “Clearest path out of Dodge,” Nicole said. “Now you stick with me and just get me back to my bike.”
Dawn offered no resistance as Nicole kept her moving through the grass. Dawn whipped her head over her shoulders. She saw no Alphas in pursuit, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t hear the hum of Nicole’s motor when she tried to take off. And then…
“What am I supposed to do here?” Dawn asked. “Once you’re gone?”
“You’re smart,” Nicole mused. “You’ll figure it out. Lucky Cade.”
It almost sounded like a compliment, and Dawn wanted to tell her, to show her that she more than looked the part. She could, she should take her back from Point A to Point B, give her chance to rethink this particular plan of action.
“You can’t take them out on your own,” she said. “Wait for your brother to—”
“That’s half of what got me into this mess,” Nicole said. “So many messes.”
“I know,” Dawn said. “But he wants to make up for it, and—”
“And I don’t want to wait.”
Nicole retrieved her bike and mounted the sloped seat. Dawn thought of screaming out when Nicole suddenly aimed her gun at her head.
“This is the last thing I want to do,” Nicole said. “I sort of think that Cade is onto something with you.”
“Just like Lenny for you,” Dawn said as she just touched the gun but quickly stepped back, thinking better of the move.
“If he was dying, I’d never leave him,” Nicole said. “If he was already dead, I’d be long gone.”
She started to push her feet into the pedals when Dawn forgot her fear and pushed her body to the back of the chopper.
“Watch yourself,” she cautioned. “I can still hurt you.”
“But you won’t,” Dawn said. “You’re not like them, and would you leave Lenny to wake up without you close?”
Nicole’s lip started to quiver, and Dawn felt sure that she had her back to her side when the redhead pushed Dawn away and furiously shook her head.
“I won’t…I can’t sleep easy if they’re still out there,” she said. “And I can’t wait another minute.”
Nicole shifted over the handlebars, and she looked ready to ride into what had to be certain death like a rabid bat. Dawn looked for some way out. Let Cade wake up. Let the sentries see her and drag them both back to the barn. But Nicole was more like her than she cared to know. She would keep moving. Cade had caught her; Lenny could not make the same move. And just the thought that Nicole’s young flesh was bound to be tortured all over again churned like curdled milk in the pit of her stomach.
“Nicole?”
“Don’t try to stop me,” the girl said. “Someone has to hunt them down.”
“Yes. Yes I know.”
Nicole’s fingers relaxed, and she tilted her head to the side.
“So you’re going to help me?” she asked.
“I… I think I am.”
Her fear trembled in her chest, and she thought that Cade had to be up by now, searching the sheets, fearing that somehow she must have evaporated into the air. But he would only believe that for so long. In no time flat, he would come running after her. And Nicole still had the gun. Just the thought that she would kill him for the wrongs that were in no way his fault tore at her soul. He didn’t deserve it.
But Nicole shouldn’t have to endure the Panthers all over again.
“I will.”
Summoning all of her strength, Dawn pushed Nicole to the ground. The roar of her gun going off brought the bike to life, and Dawn peeled away from the melee as Nicole screamed after her.
“You were just supposed to be a decoy!” she cried. “I should be the one to take them down.”
Knowing that it was too much for one person, even her, Dawn leaned into the turns and darted through the trees. Her plan was to find a patch of shadows, lose the bike, and make her way back. She’d find Nicole furious, but at least she would have saved the girl’s life. And Cade? He would… she wanted him just to be happy to have her back. Let him dress her down in front of his brothers. She’d take it, any and all of his harsh words. It would right itself once they were alone again. All she needed was to slow to the perfect point.
“Jesus Christ!”
Dawn forgot to lean into the last turn, and she lost the bike without wanting to. Tucking and curling, she came to rest in a bush. Thorns dug into her back, and she tried to swat the pain back when she found that she was back on her feet. Nicole’s bike smoldered a few inches away. She had to hope that somehow it could be salvaged. But for right now… just right now, she had to get back and hope that she still had his heart. That she could tell him that she had only left because Nicole needed her, and Dawn needed to send her in another direction. Get her back to Lenny. She took a few steps forward on unsteady feet and hunched behind a tree when she heard bikes rumbling into her midst. Brushing the bramble away from her jeans, Dawn hoped for Cade, and she slowly crawled through the grass.
“Green eyes,” she whispered to herself. “Atticus?”
“I…”
He aimed his gun, his shoulders curling into his ears as he cocked the trigger. Dawn flung her hands to her face, and she started to tremble, her gaze piercing through her fingers when she saw the young Panther lowering his gun.
“You’re…you’re not like them,” she said. “I only came back here to spare Nicole.”
“From what?” Atticus asked. He lowered his gun, and Dawn thought that it might be a way out.
“From having to go through it all over again,” she said. “I saw the marks on her. She never deserved that.”
“Maybe,” Atticus said. “Sort of why the Alphas laid low. But it doesn’t have to be her now.”
“It doesn’t?” she hopefully asked. “Then let me…let me just go back.”
Dawn felt that she could push past him and break into a run when Atticus grabbed her arm and turned her to his chest.
“Sorry to say that I just can’t let that happen,” he said. “Maybe—”
“Maybe what?” Dawn asked. “Maybe Nicole would have been ready for it?”
“She took it once before,” he said. “Sort of.”
“Thought that would be enough?” she challenged.
“Guess her brother didn’t love her enough or—”
“Or she was stronger than she looked,” Dawn spat. Atticus started to wither under her gaze, and Dawn thought of breaking into a run when she felt her soul emboldened. Little more than a kid, and she was far from some hothouse flower that might wilt and crumble with one foul threat of torture.
“Try to hurt me,” Dawn said. “I can take it whatever you dish out.”
Atticus looked scared, and he nearly pushed her back, giving her a head start on fleeing, when what seemed like a thousand headlights blinded Dawn to the point where she had to fall to the ground and hide her head in his hands. When the lights began to dim, she heard hard footsteps drawing closer and looked up to see Norman sauntering forward.
“Well hello there, little lady,” he said, a cigarette dangling between his lips. Hauling her up by a hunk of her hair, Norman breathed a slim stream of smoke into her face. Fighting hard not to gag on the stench, she kept her eyes fixed on his bloodshot stare, cringing as he started to reach under her shirt.
“Not exactly what we planned on,” he continued. “But guess one bitch is as good as any other.”
Kicking and clawing, knowing in the pit of her stomach that any chance of escape was elusive at best, she stopped moving when he ripped the cigarette from his mouth and slapped the smoldering tip to her cheek. Bracing and wincing at the burn starting to form across her face, Dawn still managed to look into his eyes. She would follow Nicole’s lead; she would survive this until…
“You’ll answer to Cade Everett if anything happens to me,” she said. Norman threw his head back with a wicked laugh, and his boys joined in in an awful chorus that made her skin crawl.
“Is that a fact?” he said. “Could be something to see. Let’s say we make it real for her, like right now.” The other Panthers whooped and hollered their desire to see her broken or worse when Atticus rushed forward, hiding his gun behind his back.
“Are we… are you sure about this, man?” he asked. “If Everett is into her, then you know that he—”
“Maybe he lies down like a dog and plays by our rules for a change,” Norman said. “Besides, this one… this little slit right here…”
Dawn’s cheek still throbbed when she found herself trapped against the bark of a lone tree. Norman leaned closer and pressed his stinking lips close to her quivering ear.
“I can’t think of anything I’d like better than to hear this one scream for her life,” he teased.
Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of an anguished cry, Dawn swallowed hard and bit down on her lip. She would stay silent. Hold her ground. Maybe she would find a way out on her own before Cade appeared. Because he would come; she believed… she knew that much. All she had to do was hang on until…
“Move on time,” he said. “She thinks she can roll? Then I say let’s give her the full treatment.”