Prologue

“What the heck, Tommie? I got places to go, man,” Rey said, fingers agitatedly drumming on the steering wheel.

Tommie Perkins flipped his friend the bird. “Dude, hold your horses. It’s not like you got a woman or anything.” He snorted in amusement at himself. “I have to check something out for Cade. Something big is going on, Reyes. It’s got the hierarchy all shaken up and Lex is more nervous and paranoid than usual.”

Rey snorted but kept driving. If his Alpha had business that needed tending to, he couldn’t just blow it off. Even he had a sense of duty.

Tommie looked down at the scribbled address on the paper in his hand and back at the street signs. “Make a right into that parking lot. I’m going to be across the street. It shouldn’t take me more than ten or fifteen minutes.”

Gabriel Reyes pulled the dark sedan into the lot and parked it. He sat in the car, smoking a cigarette, and waited while Tommie ran inside to do his business. After a while he got bored listening to the radio and he made a few calls, but no one was around.

Checking his watch, he narrowed his eyes when he saw that twenty minutes had passed and still Tommie hadn’t returned. It would serve the jerk-off right if he just left him. Rey got out of the car, sucked in a deep breath of the night air and heaved an annoyed sigh when he saw Tommie talking with some men he couldn’t quite see in the doorway of one of the buildings.

He resolved to make the other man buy him a beer as he watched Tommie running toward him. As he got a few feet from the car, a shot rang out and Tommie looked up at him as he clutched his side with surprised agony.

Rey saw his lips form “run” just before another shot rang out and hit his friend in the head. “Jesus!” he cried out, jumping back into the car. He made quick work of turning the car on, squealing out of the parking lot, heading to Bellevue, where his sister lived. She’d know what to do.

Chapter One

Annoyed, Lex Warden snapped his cell phone shut and let out a long breath as he took in the small cottage-style house. Once he pulled his bike onto the stand and got off, he dropped the helmet on the seat and ran his fingers through his hair to get rid of the helmet head he was sure he had after all that time riding over.

The house was light blue and someone obviously took great care of it. The lawn was neat and window boxes overflowed in a burst of red and white, standing out in colorful relief against the blue. There were raised beds along the front walk and a climbing rose snaked up a lattice off the front porch.

On the porch, a glider swing and a small table with a citronella candle. More pots of flowers and hanging baskets of greenery decorated the space. It was like a nice bit of the wild right there in the city. It gave the place a sense of calm, of refuge.

Shrugging off his amazement that anyone related to Gabriel Reyes could have such a neat and organized house, he stalked to the front door. Bypassing the doorbell, he pounded.

Moments later a tall, dark-haired woman answered and her eyes widened as she took him in.

Nina felt her mouth water as she got a load of the man standing on her porch. He was quite a specimen—well over six feet tall, blond-brown hair, deep green eyes. She swept her eyes down. His T-shirt and jeans were deceiving, they looked worn and faded but she could tell they were both designer, and the boots looked handmade. A gold Piaget watch decorated his wrist. Jeez, his hands were huge. She had to gather herself mentally as her normally ruthlessly tied down libido roared to life. She could feel her pulse flutter and she gave herself a hard mental smack. If there was one thing in the world Nina could recognize, it was trouble. And this guy was trouble. She’d placed herself on a trouble-free diet years before and she reminded herself that he was way off the menu.

Lex raked his glance over her from head to toe. The woman, most likely the sister, had on a white blouse buttoned up to the chin and slacks with low-heeled shoes. Her hair was tightly bound up into a bun on the top of her head and she was wearing glasses. He dismissed her as a sexual being immediately. “I’m looking for Rey.” His voice was blunt, manner straightforward and slightly threatening.

She gathered herself up and stood tall, back straight. “Why?”

“Why?”

“Did I mumble? You do seem to speak English. Are you having a problem with the word? Do I need to explain it to you?”

Lex barely held back a growl of annoyance. “Listen, I’m looking for Rey. It doesn’t have anything to do with you. Is he here or not?”

She raised a brow but remained silent, her arms crossed over her chest.

He tried to stare her down but she just snorted and started to step back and close her door in his face. “I need to talk to him,” he added quickly. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, feeling like he’d been called to the principal’s office.

“Is that so? He’s not here. If you want to leave him a note, I’ll give it to him when I see him next.” Again, she started to close the door, but he put a hand out to stop her.

“When’s that gonna be?”

“Just who are you?” Suspicious irritation was clear on her face as she examined him again, this time with a more critical eye.

“I’m Lex Warden. A friend of his.”

Understanding lit her eyes, which she narrowed at him. Lex knew for sure this wasn’t a good thing.

“No you’re not. I know who you are, Mr. Warden, and you are not Gabriel’s friend. He’s had enough people in his life leading him astray. I should know, I’ve cleaned up after him long enough. Get the hell off my porch and don’t bother coming back.” She moved her arm behind the door.