Page 20 of Beastly Armory

A hoarse chuckle leaves his chest, and Max rolls his eyes.

“I thought I would try while he’s in the clouds.” Meeting my lion’s gaze, I ask, “Can I talk to you before you go?” My finger points Max in the direction of the back hallway toward the bathrooms.

Max lifts his eyebrows at Derichs, who nods in response. “Let me just put him in the car first.”

Once he helps his hobbling friend get situated, he returns. Mindlessly, I rub my pocket charm three times and butterflies flap their wings like a strong breeze swooped by as he walks into the room. “Max, I need to know where the weapons are.” His face sets like flint. “And you need to get business licenses.”

“Yes?”

Taking a step toward him, I lift my lips into a small grin. “I can help you secure a meeting with Strauss for your licenses. He meets with me or Cal when we’ve needed them. And if you’ve pissed him off like you said… it would be safer to take me with you. I don’tthinkhe’d do anything with me there.”

He gazes down at me with some heat in his eyes. “And what if he still says no? I just killed a few of his men tonight.”

Moving another step closer, I stand just underneath his chin, tilting my face to his. “I can be persuasive.”

His face leans into mine. “And what do you want?”

“Weapons.”

Max considers for a moment. With a hint of reverence, he says, “Little fox.” The side of his mouth curls upwards as he raises an eyebrow. “You want some of my guns?” Biting my lip, I nod. “Fully loaded? ’Cause you know I won’t be halfcocked around you.”

I inhale sharply, not able to monitor my chest rise. “Yes,” I whisper.

Noticing his lips are only a breath away, I back away. His mouth huffs a humorless laugh onto mine. Too quickly, his arms wrap around me, and I instinctively clutch his thick biceps, but he’s slid my phone into my back pocket and stepped back from me before I can blink.

“I hate to break it to you, Livia, but the armories are all empty.”

My jaw drops. “Wh-what? Are you lying to me, lion?”

“No. We scavenged what was left and hoarded them for our team. I don’t just need business licenses. I need to get our weapons, our other armories back.”

“That means war.”

“Not if I kill Strauss and his men.”

The tail of my hair tickles my neck as I toss my head back with laughter. “Max, you can’t do that alone. You haven’t been here. You don’t know how things work.”

He crosses his arms. “I asked you to teach me.”

Placing my hands on my hips, I even out my stance. “What’s your plan? Did you even have one?”

“Go in there and fuck shit up.”

I roll my eyes. “Like the fucking bear you are. You’ve hibernated all these years and now you’re hungry and notthinking straight.” He needs weapons. We need weapons. Strauss could pick us all off one by one if he has them all.

Holy shit. It dawns on me… Maybe our parents were right. Ugh! I hate that. My despicable father may have done something good. I can’t think about that now; it makes my head fuzzy. Or maybe Max is making me confused. I need to focus.

Max glances over his shoulder to check on Derichs sitting in the car before leaning his back against the door. “Tell me your plan, foxy.”

Inhaling deeply, I formulate one as I speak. “Well, you need your business licenses. I’ll still get you the meeting and go with.”

“And I’ll demand he give me back my rightful properties.”

Shaking my head at him, I say, “Max, he won’t respond to that, and you know it.” He closes his mouth and waits. “If he won’t give them back, I’ve heard of a few contacts from Ace’s people that may be able to get us the weapons we need to start up a trade again.”

“We? Your family has been sitting behind keyboards for years doing fuck all. Mine was helping the community by running the guns for protection.”

“The community? No, you guys hoarded them just like Strauss is doing.”

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