Page 114 of Claimed

“Dunno,” I respond, but Joel pipes up.

“Saw him at Roxy’s not ten minutes ago and he’d just ordered his breakfast when I was headin’ out.”

“Know he’s pissed us off with what went down with Rye, but I think you’d better bring him,” Linc says.

“Not sure Riley’d be okay with him being further entrenched in pack matters,” Jase weighs in.

“True,” I say, “Though we’re on SCC radar with this already based on what happened last night and if my mate’s brother has more crimes to answer for, best we do things by the book instead of being hauled before a tribunal. Meadows won’t have a leg to stand on based on everything that’s happened so far and if Mitch sees the state of Silver Hills himself that should further be the nail in this clown’s coffin.”

“Good point,” Joel says. “Way he was when I saw him, the doc’s lookin’ to mend fences before he goes. And if these Silver Hills folks are sick, this is who Cat’s gonna confer with.”

“Exactly,” Linc states.

Joel suggests, “I’ll call Riley and patch in Tyson and Mase. We’ll have a quick convo. Yeah?” He pulls his phone out of his pocket.

“Good plan,” I agree as both Jase and Linc chime in with agreement.

“Call you right back to patch you in,” Joel tells them, and I hang up and blow out a long exhale.

***

Taking in the sight and scents in front of me have me wishing we had the whole fuckin’ day to ourselves.

She’s lifting massive, thick cookies off a cookie sheet with a spatula and setting them into a storage container.

Fuck, it smells good in here. My mate. Warm cookies. Chocolate chip. Sure be nice to be here with her today, hanging out, watching movies, fucking, showering together, all that instead ofthis shitkicking off.

But the sooner this shit gets looked after, the sooner we can move on.

“Babe,” I say.

Stacy looks up at me.

“Hi,” she says with a shaky smile.

“Why is your smile so hesitant?” I ask.

“It feels like something is wrong. In here.” She puts the spatula down and presses her palm to her chest. “In your spot. Bailey told me your two favorite desserts are chocolate chip cookies and cheesecake, and I know cookies won’t help with anything, but I wanted to do something to comfort you, so I whipped up cheesecake stuffed chocolate chip cookies.”

“Come here,” I order gruffly.

She comes to me and I soak in the feel of her as our bodies connect.

I cup her jaw and say, “My favorite things are looking at you and fucking you.”

“Oh,” she whispers and arousal hits my nose.

I’m setting us on the wrong course here, so I immediately say, “Blossom, we need to go to Silver Hills.”

Her body locks tight as her pretty brandy eyes widen with alarm. “Y-you and some more of the guys?”

“Also you. When Jase called an hour ago?”

She waits, braced for more information.

I stroke her hair as I speak, hoping to soften the blow.

“Been organizing some shit since then. Jared’s updates said he’s been doing surveillance and no movement in or out since he got there but he never got too close to the gates to get a good look or a good whiff. Linc’s got the strongest nose in the council, and he was alarmed when he got there. Says it smells like death. Like sickness. Jase walked the perimeter, and it’s all locked from the outside. Padlocks at every junction. Linc couldn’t even get as close as Jase with the smell. Said he smells mostly women, kids, and old folks. Was it like that before you left? Was it bad like this sounds when you left?”

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