Page 36 of Nick
Hannah trailed them from a distance, her sharp features set in concentration.She was close enough to catch snippets of their hushed conversations.
“Ryker and Bronx should return soon, right?”Malcolm’s voice carried through the air.
“Yeah,” Nick said.“Ryker texted me about an hour ago.They’re on their way back.”
Hannah’s pulse quickened as she worked to piece together their plan.She didn’t know who Ryker and Bronx were, but they had to be coconspirators.People from outside the Sunburst Pack.Her eyes narrowed in anger.
How dare they bring in outsiders?Bad enough Nick had returned—he hadn’t been part of their pack for years.
“Vincent won’t see this coming,” Sarah said.
This was it—the moment she’d been waiting for.Every whispered strategy, each covert glance, gave her more ammunition against these…these rebels.
The trailer door creaked open, revealing a sliver of yellow light that spilled onto the dusty gravel—a clandestine invitation.The rebels slipped inside, and Hannah crept forward.
Nick paused at the threshold, scanning the perimeter.His frame tensed, muscles coiled.Then he turned and went inside, shutting the door behind himself.
Hannah moved to stand just outside the trailer, hovering outside a window left open to aid the clunking swamp cooler as it cooled the air inside.
Muffled voices reached Hannah, the rebels’ plans unfolding.She edged closer, straining to hear over the thrumming of the cooler, rising just high enough to see into the window.
“…can’t afford any mistakes,” Sarah was saying, fingers twisting in the ends of her dark hair in a nervous gesture.
“Vincent won’t see it coming,” Larissa said.
“Vincent has grown complacent,” Malcolm said, his voice full of contempt.“It’s time we take back what’s ours.”
“Agreed.We need to act swiftly,” Quinton said, the urgency clear even through hushed tones.
“Tomorrow night, then?”Conall asked.
“Tomorrow night,” Malcolm echoed with a decisive nod.
As the plan unfolded, Hannah’s fingers tapped an impatient tattoo against her thigh.Finally, certain she had enough details, she turned away.
The Sunburst Pack was about to witness the unraveling of a rebellion—and Hannah would be the architect of its demise.
Retreating into the inky shadows, she considered the consequences of her next move.
Nick’s wary, protective nature had always been a thorn in her side, his kindness an irritation.She’d been glad when Vincent had unleashed the pack on Nick, even more when he’d run.She didn’t understand why Vincent had allowed Nick to return at all.
And Sarah…
Sarah had been her friend once, when they were children, but those days were long gone.Could she really condemn the woman to a certain death?
Remembering the elation she’d felt when she’d joined in eviscerating Martin, Hannah could almost taste the power she’d gain from turning in Nick and Sarah.
“Sorry, Nick.Sorry, Sarah,” she said as she climbed into her car and shut the door behind her.“But the pack needs a leader.We need Vincent.”A sharp grin crossed her face as she started the engine and pulled out of the small trailer park.“And Vincent needs me.”
She envisioned the scene: striding into Vincent’s presence, the information she held transforming into leverage, her status elevated as she became the bearer of crucial intelligence.
Vincent will see my worth, she assured herself.
“Power is won by those who are willing to take it,” she breathed out as she headed toward Vincent’s house.And Hannah was more than willing—she was hungry.
Hannah’s footsteps were muffled on the cold floor as she followed Percy into Vincent’s house.She rehearsed her lines in her mind, the vital information that would cement her place at Vincent’s side as a political ally, maybe even second-in-command—or so she hoped.
The door to Vincent’s private quarters loomed before them, and Percy gestured toward it.Without hesitation, she rapped sharply on the wood, her knuckles barely grazing the surface before the door swung inward.
