Page 42 of Brage & Dinah

Chapter 17

"She's not going tobe held a prisoner by Slag." Brage refused to sit at the table in the meeting room of the clubhouse.

"My opinion..." Roar looked at each officer. "I don't trust Dinah."

"She doesn't even know why her brother, or whoever the hell he is, sent her here." He gripped the back of the chair. "Besides looking around to see if any of us are watching her, she hasn't tried to fight her way out since the fiasco with Moroad. She's given us no reason not to believe her."

Every fucking day, he witnessed Dinah slipping into a depressed state. Over the last week, she hadn't put up any fight. She followed him around like a puppy, even into the sauna. He had a feeling; she'd pass out from the heat rather than open her mouth and ask him if she could leave the room.

She had finally realized her life was in danger and decided Brage was the only one who could keep her safe.

She'd taken responsibility for the Moroad attack without anyone asking, and Brage no longer believed she'd instigated the meeting. Slag had gone after Moroad and expected retaliation before she'd arrived.

"You can't argue that she doesn't do her job. She fits in at The Fire Ring as much as Lizzy, Coco, Heather, and Monica." Brage inhaled deeply. "There are three hundred members we can use to watch her. I have no problem with that. And, if she wants to come and go, I'll go with her. For her protection and the club's."

Roar studied him, thumping his thumb against the table. Their friendship spanned years; his word golden. He saw no reason to keep Dinah under lock and key at night.

He'd never claimed a woman before. Though he wasn't making that declaration with Dinah, he also wasn't going to let her go out on her own and walk out of his life. Not yet. Her safety came first.

"Despite everything, she is a good worker and gets along with the others at the bar." Roar exhaled loudly. "Lizzy's been telling me Dinah's a good woman lately, despite the trouble."

He dipped his chin. He'd lived with the woman for a while now. His opinion went from self-beating himself for bringing danger to Slag to wanting to help Dinah. There was more to her story, and he had a feeling once she learns the people she always thought of as family wasn't blood-related to her, she would remember what happened to her before the age of six.

There was more going on with her than being mixed up with Moroad and coming after Slag.

Roar looked around the table. "Go ahead and vote."

Marcus, Elling, Joel, Peer, and Viktor voted on Brage's side. He nodded with respect.

"I'll inform the other members." Roar remained sitting. "For future plans, we need a crew together to make a visit to Brikken next weekend."

"I'll have names for you in the morning." Brage pulled on his beard. "Do you still want to intercept them on their run?"

"For now, that's the only way we'll make contact with them. They have their compound closed up tight. They match us man to man. There's too big of a risk going in shooting. We need to put some worry on them, not point a fucking bull's eye on our back. We've already got Moroad targeting us." Roar thumped the table. "Meeting shelved. I need to go meet with Finn about Dag."

"Is he having problems?" asked Peer.

Brage waited to hear about Dag's condition. Wrapped up in Dinah's problems, he could've missed something.

"Ja." Roar tapped the side of his head. "He's stubborn."

"Good thing he is." Brage whistled softly. "We could've lost him to Moroad."

"Ja," came the group answer.

With every member of Nordic descent, they all fell back on speaking Norwegian on occasion.

Leaving the room, Brage walked out to the main room. There were still a couple of hours left until Dinah needed to go to work.

He found her sitting at the table with Heather and Monica, right where he'd asked her to wait for him, knowing the other women would make sure her needs were met.

Dinah noticed him before he'd reached her. He wanted to touch her and get some kind of reaction, but she simply watched him, waiting for what he needed her to do next. Her lack of emotions bothered him.

He'd admired her strength and independence when he'd first noticed her at the party. Loved the fact she wasn't throwing herself at him or bending over backward to get him to notice. He'd rather work for her attention.

It killed him that she'd checked out, physically and mentally.

He held out his hand. "Let's walk outside."

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