I walked into Sheriff Daly’s office and didn’t bother to knock as the door flew back and slammed into his wall, several chips of white drywall fell to the naked floor and tossed chalky dust into the air. He must be having his office remodeled. Not that I cared.

“We need to talk.”

Looking up at me, one hand raising the lit cigarette to his lips, Hollis assessed me with those same cool blue eyes as his son. Beckett was so much like his father. Calm and collected. Took everything in before he reacted.

Not like me. I was just like my old man.

Fucking temper like a raging bull in front of a red flag.

My palms slapped down on his desk as I faced him, nearly spitting my words, “Something isn’t right.”

“You’re gonna have to be more specific son.”

Grinding my teeth to prevent a sarcastic response riddled with the word fuck, I released a deep breath and met his curious gaze, “Rae’s been living in Juniper Hills for the last five years.”

“Yes, I know,” he answered slowly. “Beckett informed me a few hours ago.”

“You don’t think that’s awfully suspicious?”

“How so?” he puffed a long drag and exhaled slowly, keeping eye contact.

I knew exactly what he was doing. Playing fucking games and it was pissing me off. He wanted me to play my cards and show him what was in my hand before he spoke. Fine.

“My dad lives there. Ron met Sarah there. Rae was born there for fuck’s sake. You don’t see the coincidence?” I hollered, losing my shit altogether. So much for being calm.

Hollis tilted back in his chair and puffed again, holding the smoke in before he slowly released it, “I think your problem comes from a few missing pieces of the puzzle Pete. There’s someone you should talk to. I believe he holds the answers you need. At least a few of them.”

I frowned, “You talking about Mack?”

He shook his head and smashed the cigarette butt into the ashtray, “Listen, there’s a lot you and Mack need to discuss but that’s not the first person you should see today.”

Did he have to be this cryptic? “Just spit it out, Hollis.”

“Go visit Bryce at Juniper East.”

I scowled and left the room without another word. Bryce? Really? That asshole?

Thirty minutes later, after texting R.J. and Ghost in case they should need me, I parked in the visitor parking lot of the hospital, right up front so my bike didn’t get dinged by some dipshit who couldn’t drive. The receptionist informed me that Bryce was out of the I.C.U. and in a room on the tenth floor.

After taking the elevator I walked slowly toward his room, 1034 B. I didn’t think much of the weird lighting until I walked into the room. A greenish mist hovered around the bed and caused a sudden flashback to enter my mind. A woman with fair hair and piercing green eyes, a smile full of love, and the feeling of peace and happiness. My recent dreams came rushing to the surface and I gasped. The familiar glow reminded me of the last time I saw my mother alive.

Twenty years ago.

Tears stung the back of my eyelids as I fought the surge of emotion. Her passing was sudden and unexpected, and I remembered the feeling of loss and confusion that combined with my devastation when I realized she was gone. Even as a young boy of three I knew something wasn’t right. I missed her.

Patty Harding was a pretty petite blonde with a ready smile and kind heart. Whenever someone spoke of her it was only with kindness. I never forgot her, and to this day I wished I could have had a chance to know her.

When I could raise my eyes from the mist and bury the pain in my chest, I met Bryce’s curious gaze. I recognized at once that same connection that I felt with my MC brothers, the same strength – almost inhuman – and the similar way our senses could reach out and communicate without words. He felt a part of me . . .

The unnatural glow seemed to dissipate and slowly disappear as we stood in uncomfortable silence. We didn’t say a word, both of us caught by surprise.

“I’ve only seen that once before,” he whispered low as I strained to hear him.

“Same with me,” I deadpanned, swallowing hard.

The silence stretched until we said, at the exact same time, “My mother, Patty.”

Until that moment my life had been set on a deliberate and reckless course but when Bryce said her name it was as if someone took the wheel from my hand and swerved the car in the opposite direction. Everything I thought I knew was dumped on its head until I began to tremble with the knowledge that nothing I knew was real and my family kept secrets, deep life-altering secrets that would change my entire world.

Bryce swallowed loudly and cleared his throat, his eyes locked on mine, “Pete?”

For the first time since I met Bryce, I held no animosity or ill feelings toward him. Maybe I should have taken time to process what that meant but instead, all I could think was Bryce and I shared the same mother. Both of us stared and desperately tried to make sense of what this meant.

Before I could react he sat back against the pillows on his bed and huffed out a breath, his cheeks splitting wide in a huge grin. Sheepishly I rubbed the back of my neck, at a loss for words. That didn’t happen often.

“You know what this means?” he asked with a small chuckle.

“Yeah,” I smirked, returning his bright smile with one of my own.

“Neither of us are alone Pete, not anymore,” shit, he used my real name.

“I know,” I laughed, a huge weight lifting from my chest – damn, this was fucking weird – and chasing away some of the pain and loneliness since my mother died, compounded by the loss of Rae in my life. “Never alone again.”

“I’ve got your back,” he assured me. “Always.”

“And I’ve got yours.”

We didn’t say anything else until I walked closer to the bed and extended an arm which he clasped tight, both of us hit by the profound sense of belonging that raged through each of our bodies the moment we touched. Light green sparks traveled along our arms, danced along our skin, and began to glow brighter as the two of us felt the connection deepen.

“This is unreal,” he breathed. “Holy shit!”

“We’re more than blood,” I gulped.

“I know, you’re my brother . . . and something more.”