I glanced behind me once again as I drove into Lan’s driveway to keep my mind off how goddamn sick I felt in the gut with fear. Someone had harmed Lan. They’d harmed a person who was in my life. They wouldn’t get away with it. I clenched my hands tighter around the steering wheel.

Pick and Billy followed me to Lan’s property on their rides, while Fang sat beside me in my car, and Muff sat in the back.

All of us were alert to our surroundings. Someone had been there, to his house… and I wanted to make them bleed. The need to inflict pain shouldn’t come from someone in law enforcement, but they’d fucked with the wrong person. I wasn’t only a detective. I was also a person who believed in people paying in whichever way I saw fit. No one screwed around with someone I knew.

Yet, whoever had attacked Lan must have got away or else his neighbour wouldn’t have called from Lan’s mobile. I was sure the neighbour’s voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

Pulling the car up, I was quick to turn it off and climb out. I was the first to the opened front door on Lan’s house.

“Lan,” I yelled.

A low growl sounded from down the hall, and then, “Down here. Nero, heel.”

With the others at my back, I moved towards the hall and down it. That was when I saw fucking Easton Ravel. The guy from Lan’s past. My feet nearly stalled from eating up the floor when I spotted him. Okay, I may have faltered a little but kept going when I noticed he was leaning over a body lying on the bed. Fists clenched, my heart hardened, and I kept walking even when a part of me wanted to turn and not see what pain Lan would be in.

It was when I entered the room and saw the blood coating the bed and some on the floor that I stumbled. Then I locked my body tight.

Recognition crossed Easton’s face as he glanced up at me. His body tensed as the others enter the room.

“What the fuck?” Billy growled.

Easton ignored the comment and opened his mouth to rattle off, “I’ll need someone to hold his wound. I have to get supplies, get this stitched up. We’ll need—”

“Leave,” I ordered roughly.

“Parker,” Lan cut in, only his tone softer, pain-filled.

Christ.

I dropped my hands to my hips closer to the bed, glaring down at my partner. “You need to go to the hospital—”

Easton snorted. “I’ve tried—”

“Shut it,” I ordered. “You’ve done your job, now leave.”

The big arse dog at his side stood, a snarl vibrating from his lips. “Nero,” Easton called. The dog settled.

“Parker,” Lan bit out harsher.

I wasn’t having it. No matter their past, Easton was an outsider. He had no right to be involved.

“Pick, ring it through—” I started.

“No!” Lan bellowed.

“You,” Easton growled low and pointed to Muff. “Get over here and hold this.” Muff did, and Easton moved away from the bed. Only he made the wrong move to get in my face. His expression darkened. “I don’t give a fuck who you are to him, but I’ll tell you right now, you don’t come in here and make shit worse by ordering others around.” He flung his hand back towards Lan. “He didn’t want anyone called but you. So how about you shut the hell up and listen to what he has to say, then I can get him fixed up.” He shoved past me, called for his dog and they both made their way to the door. Then he stopped. “I don’t know if any of you can get stuff, but he’ll need some hard medication for the pain. A drip, antibiotics.”

“You get the things to stitch him up. We’ll worry about gettin’ the rest,” Fang told him.

Easton nodded and strode from the room.

It was silent for a moment.

“I’ll ring Nurse,” Billy said and left the room.

“Lan, what happened?” Pick asked.

Fire burned in my chest and head. All I could think was I wanted to make someone hurt like Lan was. My hands clenched and unclenched at my sides.

“Miller,” he said.

“Fuck,” I clipped.

“Who’s Miller?” Muff asked.

When Lan didn’t say any more, I did. “His old partner when he was a cop. Lan caught him selling drugs. He got put in jail for that and for taking advantage of underage girls. Guess he got out and wanted revenge.” Lan grunted. “Doesn’t explain why you don’t report it.”

“Mine to handle.”

Everyone in the room understood then. Lan wanted the fucker to bleed like he was.

“Then we wait. You get better, and after, we’ll hunt together,” Pick said, his voice hard like steel.

“We can hunt now, then hold him for when Lan is better,” I suggested.

“Lan?” Fang said.

Lan sucked in a breath and cringed. “Don’t care who finds him. He’s mine when the time comes.”

Good. I was too edgy to not look for the motherfucker.

Footsteps sounded down the hall. Easton was back without the mutt with him. His hard gaze stayed on me all the way, and I returned it.

“Fix him up to what you can, then leave. We have someone comin’ to help,” I told him.

“Parker,” Lan groaned.

“He’s not a part of this, Lan. He’s an outsider.”

“Don’t,” Lan demanded.

“Who is he to you?”

The room thickened with tension.

“Parker,” Pick warned.

I wanted to shout, “What?” but didn’t. I thinned my lips and kept them shut.

I needed to goddamn know how they knew each other. Did this Easton kid cause shit for Lan in his past? There was something uncomfortable between them I didn’t understand, and that pissed me the hell off.

“What happens if he says somethin’ to the wrong person?” I asked.

“I won’t say anything to anyone. I know when to keep my mouth shut.” Easton laid some shit on the bed, opposite to Muff. “Now everyone needs to get out while I do this.”

“It’s all right,” Lan told him.

I straightened, arms crossing my chest. No way was I moving when I didn’t trust the guy in the first place. For all we knew, he could have been a part of what went down.

Easton sighed. “Fine.” He started squirting some type of liquid onto pieces of gauze and then lowered the rest of the torn-up sheet.

I sucked in a breath. His face and shoulder weren’t the only injured parts of him. Cuts covered Lan in a lot of spots. What looked like stab wounds were on his lower arm and leg, and a graze on his hip.

Murder was high on my mind.

Easton said, “This is going to sting. I won’t touch your shoulder until we have the drugs to numb it.” He glanced over at us. “The bullet is still in there. He’ll need to be near knocked out to get it out.”

Pick or Fang must have nodded or something, but I was locked up too tight to do anything. If I let myself free and let what I felt go, I’d lose it and start breaking shit.

Easton, to my surprise, was gentle as he started cleaning the cuts on his face and chest. Lan grunted a few times, but other than that, he didn’t say anything.

“Nurse is here,” Billy called from the front of the house.

“Thank fuck,” Lan muttered. Meant he was in more pain than what he let show.

“I’ll go see if they need help,” Fang said. I felt him leave but didn’t see it.

“So,” Muff drew out, “looks like you’ll be as high as a kite soon enough, detective.”

Lan grunted.

“I’ll text Sarge. Lan’s already on break. I’ll see if he can pull any strings to get me outta work. Some family emergency or some shit. If I can’t, I’ll work around it all.”

“You don’t have to have time off,” Lan whispered.

Pulling out my phone, I told him, “I ain’t fuckin’ doin’ anythin’ else until this cunt is at the Hawks compound.”

I caught Easton’s eyes flash for a moment before he blanked his expression.

“You reckon that’ll be a problem with the sarge?” Pick asked. “Two detectives out for a while?”

I shrugged. “We’re between cases. Before he can shoulder me with another, I drop the idea of me having time off as well. Can only ask.” I scrolled through the contacts for Sarge’s number when a low hiss snapped my attention over to the bed. “Careful,” I barked.

Easton grumbled something under his breath.

I stepped forward. “What did you say?”

His head slowly lifted, his glare sharp. “I said—”

“Looks like the fun started without me.” Nurse walked into the room with Billy and Fang following, all carrying something. Easton shifted his attention from me to the other men. His eyes widened a little.

Nurse dumped his stuff on the end of the bed and stopped beside Easton. “Hey. I’m Nurse. I’m here to help. What do we have?”

“Gunshot to shoulder, the bullet’s still embedded. A graze from another bullet on his hip. Stab wounds on his left thigh and left lower arm. There are lacerations on his face, chin, arms, and chest.”

“All right.” Nurse nodded. “Hey, buddy. Looks like…”

“Easton,” I clipped.

Nurse glanced over at me, nodded, and looked back down to Lan. “Looks like Easton has already started the clean-ups, but I’m here to give you the good stuff to take the pain away. Then, with Easton’s help, we’ll get you all stitched up. Sound good?”

Lan tipped his chin up.

“Parker, a word,” Pick called. He’d already made his way to the door before I answered. I didn’t want to leave.

“Come on, brother. They’ve got this under control,” Billy said.

I glanced back to the bed. Nurse and Easton worked alongside each other cutting at Lan’s jeans and getting things set up. Muff still held pressure to the wound and Fang stood in the corner watching it all. I knew none of them would let anything happen if I left Lan with the person I didn’t know.

Running a hand over the back of my neck, I sighed and made my way out of the bedroom. I found Pick in the kitchen leaning against the counter. Billy came in after me and leaned his arse on the bench near him.

“Wanna tell us the issue you have with that Easton guy?”

“He’s an outsider,” I stated, as if that was enough on the matter.

“And?” Billy said.

Apparently, it wasn’t enough.

“I don’t trust him to keep his mouth shut. Who’s to say he wasn’t a part of all this? Convenient he’s Lan’s neighbour and then this shit goes down.”

“I caught up to Easton outside when he left before.” Billy straightened and crossed his arms over his chest. “He seems legit. You remember him from the day Blackie got shot, yeah?” I nodded. “He’s a paramedic, and what I got off him earlier, he was the one who came to help Lan out when his dog heard something. Can’t say he’d been in on it when he’s stuck around to help Lan.”

“He shouldn’t know our business. We don’t know him.”

“Lan seems to, and he also seems to trust him,” Pick replied.

My jaw clenched. They were too quick to give their trust to someone who could say shit and get us all in trouble. “Until I know everythin’ about the guy, I’m not trustin’ him.”

Pick grinned. “Not sayin’ you have to. But go easier on him.”

That wasn’t gonna happen. Still, I answered, “Yeah, sure.”

They looked at each other, both smiling and then shook their heads. Pick turned his gaze back to me first. “We gotta talk about what’s gonna happen next.”

“He’ll need protection 24/7 and have men out there hunting for the fuckhead Miller.”

“Pick and I are headin’ out of town tomorrow with Josie. Still, the brothers will pull together to have Lan’s back. You and Lan are a part of Hawks; we got you covered. We’ll set up a rotatin’ shift. Don’t stress. We’ll get it figured.”

I nodded. “I’ll stay here tonight, but I want out tomorrow to search for this fucker.”

“I’ll get Knife and Beast here tomorrow. We’ll have church tonight to organise the rest and keep you updated on the outcome.”

“Good. Thanks.”

“Anything for you and Lan,” Billy stated.

Hearing it felt goddamn good.

“We’re gonna head out, take Fang and Muff with us. You good to assist in there?” Pick asked.

“Yeah.” I was. Even though I liked the extra layer I had with them being there between Easton and me, I’d suck it up without them. Besides, they’d start the hunt for Lan, and that was more important.