Page 189 of The Darkest Chase

I never thought of myself as someone who’s built that kind of trust.

Aside from Mallory, there they are, all lined up in the back room with Henri still buttoning up his uniform shirt and Lucas bleary-eyed from being up with their baby and Grant still sporting bedhead from hell—and bed beard, which I didn’t even know was possible.

“What’s this about, Micah?” Grant folds his arms across his burly chest, hazel eyes watching me keenly.

“I don’t have time to explain,” I say. “And we have even less time to move. I need you guys to trust me and believe every word I’m about to say.”

“Hell of an intro. Now I’m curious.” Lucas rubs his thick black scruff, his green eyes sharpening.

“I’ll answer questions later. For now, this is all you need to know.” I glance around.

Though I’ve told myself many times that all the relationships I’ve built here are temporary and surface deep, something in me knots up at the thought of this team I’ve worked with for years hating me for the lie, rejecting me.

I draw a deep breath before I speak.

“I’m not who you think I am. I’m undercover DEA, and I was sent to Redhaven to root out a drug operation that’s been poisoning the entire East Coast for years. That operation is the reason my brother died. Xavier Arrendell runs that op with the Jacobins, while Chief Bowden runs interference so no one ever thinks of them as anything more than harmless moonshiners.” I look from one stunned face to the next. “I have evidence. Clearly. Wouldn’t dream of standing here right now if I didn’t. They killed that hiker, Brian Newcomb, and if we can get to Mariposa Cove in the next two hours, we might just get a hell of a lot more than that and take them all down.”

I’m breathing hard when I finish.

My crew just stares at me.

Tension prickles up my spine.

Fuck, time is running thin.

I don’t have time for a thousand questions and even less for disbelief.

If they won’t trust me, I’ll have to do this on my own. I can’t let it slip through my fingers after laying the groundwork for years. It has to happen now, or—

Grant cuts off my rabbiting thoughts with a long, deep sigh.

“You albino dumbass,” he growls before breaking into a smile, fierce and carnivorous. “Why the hell didn’t you fess up sooner? We could’ve helped you, you stubborn goddamn mule.”

I can’t help a shaky smile of my own. “Better late than never. I’m telling you now and hoping you’ll help me anyway.”

Lucas answers with a dark smirk.

There’s blood in that look.

Even after finally getting his answers, that need for revenge against the Arrendells still rides him so roughly I can practically see it clinging to his back.

“I’m game,” he says. “Just let me call the wife and tell her it’ll be a late night.”

Henri hesitates, an odd look in his eyes, before he lets out an easygoing chuckle and rakes his brown hair back. “Who needs sleep when we have hunting?”

“Then it’s settled,” Grant says darkly.

My heart jumps with hope as I realize the guys are truly with me.

They’re with me, they trust me, and we might just pull this off.

“Let’s gear up and get moving,” Grant rumbles again. “Time for a little late-night fishing.”

21

DARKNESS IMMORTAL (TALIA)

Ihate that when my phone rings, my heart still leaps with hope that it’s Micah.

---