Page 37 of Gather the Storm

Neo watched her go and I felt the protectiveness on his face with a visceral sense of familiarity.

Was that how I looked at Daisy? Because it was sure as fuck how I felt when I looked at her. Like I wanted to shield her from everything ugly in the world, from the ugliness that was closer than she knew, that had been for a long time.

“Her sister was one of the victims at Aventine,” Rock explained when she stepped into the house. “She wants to know what’s going on and she also doesn’t want to know what’s going on, if that makes sense.”

Otis looked confused, but I nodded. “It does.”

“I still don’t know what this has to do with us,” Neo said. “We did our part.”

Drago scowled at him, then looked at us. “What Neo here meant to say is how can we help you?”

“No,” Neo said through gritted teeth. “I meant to say we did our fucking part.”

Drago shook his head and teased his lip with the silver stud in his tongue. “Look,” he said, lowering his voice, “Willa’s pregnant. We want to help — we don’t want any more girls to get hurt — but our first priority is protecting Willa.”

That one threw me for a loop. And also gave me more ideas I shoulddefinitelynot be having about Daisy.

Hands off Daisy, bro. Forever. Promise.

I shook my head a little, trying to shake Blake’s voice from my mind.

“How does keeping her in the dark protect her?” Otis asked.

He didn’t mean for it to sound like a challenge — he was just being Otis, being direct, asking the questions that came to mind — but Neo immediately squared his shoulders like he was preparing to punch Otis into oblivion.

I hurried to intervene, because Jace wasn’t about to stop any incoming mayhem — he lived for it — and Otis didn’t usually know when he’d hit a trip wire.

“What Otis here means is that every girl in Blackwell Falls and the surrounding area is in danger — Willa included — as long as someone is still out there kidnapping and hurting them,” I said.

Neo clenched his fists and his eyes turned hard and bright. “I’d like to see someone try to hurt Willa.”

“We get it,” Drago said. “For now, we’re going to let you guys lead, but we’re happy to share information.”

“That’s good enough for us,” I said.

Jace leaned forward, glaring at the Kings like a CIA agent about to waterboard some poor schmuck for intel. “Tell us everything. What happened. What you know.”

Chapter 20

Daisy

Idon’t know why I expected the house to be quiet, but when I opened the door after work, I was greeted by the sound of video games.

Or more specifically, the sound of shooting from a video game.

I followed the sound to the parlor and found the Beasts lounging around the room.

All the sheets covering the furniture had been removed and Jace and Otis sat on the purple velvet sofa — game controllers in their hands, eyes glued to the screen of the biggest TV I’d ever seen — while Wolf strummed a guitar from one of the old wing chairs near the fireplace.

They looked like a group of models in a Versace ad, all big muscles and tousled hair and that lazy sexiness they seemed to embody, like they were comfortable in their own skin, a den of wolves lazing in the sun, fully aware that they were the alpha predators in the food chain.

“Hey, doll,” Otis said, looking away from the TV screen.

I was still unnerved by their nicknames, except for Jace’sprincess, which was said with obvious derision.

“Hey,” I said. There was no point fighting it.

“How was your first day?” Wolf asked.

---