Page 220 of Screwged for Christmas

Ethan filled her in on a little town history. “They are a family not known for their community or people skills. Reaper’s old man has gotten his sons into a lot of trouble. Reaper, on the other hand, is about the only one of them that turned out half good. He’s the sheriff a town over and tries to keep his brothers in line. Not easy when the corrupt father instigates trouble. So far they’ve put Drake and his now wife in danger and shot me and wanted to do some nasty things to my Remy when we took a trip to our property outside of town.”

She nodded. “Zahara told me. He poisoned the surrounding water.”

The Savage elder nodded. “That’s right.”

“What was Damon doing in the back alley this morning? Does that have anything to do with Reaper?” Fighting in the back alley for fun kind of looked weird from one point of view, but when she considered it she wasn’t in Houston or some normal small town. This was Alaska and her sister warned they did things differently here.

Ethan reached over the bar and snagged the coffee and poured his old man a cup before helping himself to a fresh cup. “I was up in the backlands this morning after the guys took off for the ridges and avalanche country.”

“Yeah? It’s been quiet lately with how Reaper has fixed their family shit.” The Elder dipped his head her way. “Pardon, Ivy. Excuse my language.”

She waved him off. “I’m glad it all worked out.”

“I found today kind of piqued my interest. Damon would find it interesting too.”

“Find what interesting?” Damon strode through the front door with a soft ring of a bell the only sound.

Seconds before the door swung open Ivy’s face heated and her eyes lifted to the front door. As if on cue the wooden door with an oval-shaped stain glass depiction of a bear –the man loved his colored glass—swung open to reveal red plaid clinging to miles of muscles, low-slung jeans, and snow-crusted boots.

Golden eyes pinned her against the bar immediately. Fingers of anticipation stroked along her core, and she lit up like a Christmas tree the second she sensed the mere presence of the man in the same room as her. The man made her weak in the knees.

Every. Damn. Time.

Watching from across the bar top, she flicked her tongue out to wet her dry lips. The Elder turned his direction and filled Damon in, all of them unaware of the war bombing her insides. “Ethan is telling us what he found in the backlands.”

“What?”

“I found Reaper’s brothers snooping around on our property. When I confronted them they said they wanted to see if we were around. Said they had some visitors the night before and thought it might be us. Woke to find footprints outside their cabin and that led down to ours. When I told them it wasn’t us they asked about those traffickers you took down a few years back. Asked if they might expect some trouble coming back to haunt you.” Ethan reached into his pocket and pulled out a bullet. “And they found this on their front porch railing.”

He handed over a bullet with three slashes down the side.

“Fuck,” Damon swore loudly, taking the bullet that looked longer than her ring finger. “I knew that shit was going to come back sooner or later.”

“Drug traffickers? How far away are the backlands? We’re safe here right?”

Damon quickly took her hand. “You’re safe here. I give you my word on that.”

She believed him from the intense way he held her gaze and hand. Like he wanted her to believe every syllable.

Instinct told her to pull back and retract her hand, but she had no desire to listen to the small voice of reason. It hadn’t gotten her anywhere lately, to be honest with herself. She stayed close, looking up into his eyes. “What are they after?”

“A little revenge when they think no one is around. During the winter some folks head south to warmer weather.”

“How do you even know that this is them whoeverthemis?”

“Russkaya Mafiya.” Damon passed the bullet to her. “Those three lines stand for each of the heads of families within the organization.”

“And this was their calling card?”

“Bingo.” Damon nodded turning to the men. “I think we need to keep our ears to the ground. Keep the family close.

Ivy’s hair stood up on the back of her neck at Ethan’s question. “Is this something we need to worry about? Zahara is due in just a few weeks and what about all the residents here?”

Ethan snorted. “Worry about a gang of gun-toting psychos? I’d say yes.”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” the Savage elder offered.

Damon studied her face and let out a heavy sigh. he skimmed the back of his knuckles down her cheek. “I can tell what you’re thinking, Ivy. We don’t condone wild west antics. Everything is done by the book. Once we are done here, I’ll call local authority and my old boss. Give him both a heads up on the return of a bitter old enemy.”

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