Page 4 of Draco

“After you.” Stryker swept a hand toward the deer as they walked calmly out of the road.

I sighed. Such petty squabbles were not uncommon, but they were always a waste of time. “So how is Kat?” I asked Stryker in an attempt to change the subject.

He lit up. “She’s fantastic.” His love for his woman shone through, and Leif relaxed in the front seat. “She spent about twelve hours tracking down a child via city cameras yesterday.”

“The Roth child?” Leif asked.

Stryker nodded. “The Roth child. Turns out the whole family was in on it, except the mother.”

Damn. The Roth child was a heartbreaking case. A lost child, a mother that came to us, desperate to find her little one.

It turned out the father’s family wanted him to split with the woman. Someone better had come along, and they never liked his wife anyway. But he’d told them he’d never leave her because they had a kid together.

The family took this to mean that, if they killed the child, he’d be free of her. So they’d led the defenseless child into a trap. Kat had painstakingly tracked the child until his final moments and had turned the info over to us and the local authorities, sure that if one didn’t do something, the other would.

After what had transpired with her, the whole brotherhood had taken a more heartfelt approach to contracts and struggled to be good humans even when someone couldn’t afford our protection. After she’d told every last one of us we were the monsters, we’d all looked inward and decided to make minute changes and shifts to better ourselves.

Stryker spoke up, breaking the silence. “Want me to tie her up?” he asked, jerking his chin toward Luna.

I shook my head. There was no need for that.

Leif made the final turn, and the car whined a bit as it made the climb that was the last leg of the journey to the safe house. We’d keep her here until we could be certain we could keep her safe, then she’d be released to her family with one of us at her side every second of every day.

“But she might be confused and bolt when she wakes up.” Stryker’s voice barged into my thoughts. “And I’m going home to my wife when we get there. Leif has to go too, so it’ll just be you and her. Alone.”

“Yes. However, being tied up might scare her more. I’ll just stand watch.” After all, how much trouble could one pretty blonde be?

3

Luna

Iopened my eyes and blinked at the ceiling. The rock that met my eyes didn’t make sense. I rolled my head to the side, trying to fight through the cobwebs filling my brain. What had happened? I’d been at the club, and they auctioned me off. But my contact hadn’t had the highest bid.

So I’d been taken by my new captors. Instead of getting my freedom, I’d been taken hostage by a new party. A new party with unknown intentions.

The iridescent blue eyes of the man filled my mind, along with his softly spoken words.I’m on your side.

Nobody was on my side. Just me and those that let my money do the talking. Even the guys who had been trying to help free me were doing it for the payout. Between money and innocence, money screams while innocence whispers. That’s the same reason good men rot in prison while bad men walk free. I’d learned that after my father’s days as a lawyer turned DA turned Judge.

Now he’d decided to try his hand in politics, and I had no doubt he’d make it, either by greasing palms or charming people to his side. I didn’t doubt that’s why I was wanted dead. Someone wanted to control him and couldn’t. So they had to scare him into submission by taking something from him he couldn’t just buy back. Me.

I sat up slowly. My feet touched cool, smooth stone floors, and I glanced up. The same stone ceilings. Were we in a cave of some sort? I smoothed a hand over the white bedspread and studied the headboard. It was the same solid stone as what was around us, as if a slab had been removed from somewhere in the place and then had found a home as a bit of furniture.

Like what I expected my fate to be, just something pretty in someone’s home, a centerpiece to be shown off and admired. No one ever had a thought that I was a whole human being outside my family name and money. No one asked why I acted out, why I’d go to clubs and dance in next to nothing, no one asked me why I did the things I did. I was just that rich girl who acted poorly and shamed my father.

Of course, I’d done it trying to get his attention. But no, he’d thrown money at all that too. He bribed cops to bring me home instead of taking me in. He bribed judges to let me off with warnings so I wouldn’t have a record for all my underage drinking. He’d made sure I never tasted punishment for any of my wrongdoings. No, he’d sheltered me, protected me and took care of me even when it was more harmful to do so.

There was a reason so many of the people I’d grown up with became either too perfect or complete wastes. We never had to face the consequences of our bad behaviors. We were never punished or even taught right from wrong. Our parents made sure everything we did badly was blamed on someone else or made it someone else’s fault.

Like when I was six, and I broke a priceless artifact that my mother had brought back with her from a dig site in Cambodia. I’d admitted I broke it. It was an honest to goodness accident. But I expected to get in trouble for it. Instead, they’d fired the cleaning woman for putting it within my reach. I still remembered her crying as she was led out of place. Closing my eyes now, I could see the tears streaming down her face and the way she’d whispered an apology to me as she was removed from our home, never to return.

That moment stuck with me. That defining moment made me aware of the consequences of my actions, and that my privilege meant I’d never have to face them.

I could have become a garbage human. And I did for a lot of years. I drank. I partied in clubs, danced way too provocatively for a girl my age. I wanted to get back at my father for never paying attention to me. I’d made some mistakes, but they’d always been swept under the rug. They’d never been discussed.

And eventually, I’d come to the realization that if I wanted to live life on my own terms, I’d have to escape. So I’d started planning that escape. And nothing had gone to plan. And it wasexciting. And terrifying. I’d never felt so alive. But I’d never go back.

I glanced over as a shadow fell across the bedspread. An entire wall was nothing but windows and glass. A single glass door was behind me, and I wondered what had made the shadow.

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