Page 8 of Room One Hundred and Seven: Catch and Claim

CHAPTER 4

DOMINIC

It feels like the day is bearing down on me. Really, it’s really the weight of the last few months. I might be trained to handle stressful and dangerous situations, but that doesn’t mean this life doesn’t take its toll on me. On all of us, really.

Somehow, my brothers seem to be more capable of handling it all. Maybe they’re just better at hiding the way everything we do, and the life we lead, weighs on them.

We’ve been in Seattle for months now and I have no idea when we’ll be leaving. I know it won’t be until the rumblings in the city, and the threat of Mikhail Morozov is taken care of. Mikhail just won’t fucking disappear and let go of power he’s never had. Maybe he would have had it if he had taken over for his father.

But he never got that chance. Anatoly Morozov was taken out by the Volkov bratva who immediately filled the power vacuum created. It was their plan all along and I was more than happy about it.

Morozov was a fucking waste of air. He deserved to be taken out after he ruined so many lives. He never loved the city he tried to rule; he only ever cared for himself.

From everything we’ve learned since arriving in Seattle, Mikhail isn’t any better than his father was. Mikhail gaining any power in the city would be a disaster.

I have no doubt that he would immediately start back up the human trafficking business we started taking down ten years ago.

There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t think about those that we freed from the warehouse where they were being kept ten years ago. That mission changed the trajectory of our lives and gave us a purpose, one we had been searching for since we left the military.

After leaving the DSMC clubhouse, the restlessness I’ve been trying to ignore for days now feels like my skin is stretched too tight. Normally I would go to gym in the house we’ve rented for the duration of our stay to work out or spar with one of my brothers, but I know that won’t work today.

Wolfe eyes me as he walks into the living room area as I pace throughout the open concept living, kitchen, and dining rooms. It’s clear from the way he looks at me that he knows I’m about to lose my shit. Normally, he would smirk at me and try to crack a joke, but the frown on his face tells me he’s going the empathetic route today.

He sighs as he slumps down on the couch. “What’s going on with you?”

“I don’t know,” I throw back at him while I continue my pacing. I sound surly as fuck, but I don’t have it in me to care.

“Maybe you’re just on edge because you feel like something is about to happen with this whole Volkov situation. We’ve been here for a while now and normally we’re on the go,” Wolfe tries to reason with a casual shrug of one shoulder like it’s no big deal.

“Maybe,” I grunt in agreement, even though I know it’s not true.

No. This is something else entirely. It does feel like something is coming and that it’ll bring change, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the job and Volkov. It’s something else entirely.

“You need to blow off some steam,” Hendrix intones as he closes the front door of the townhouse. “Maybe head downstairs? I’ll spar with you,” he starts to unbutton the cuffs of his shirt with a feral grin on his face.

“I thought about that, but I don’t think it’ll help. Not this time.” I clench and unclench my hands as I face the only brothers I’ve ever known.

My mom was a single mom who worked damn hard to give me the best she could. We never had a lot of money, and I hated how hard she worked from the moment I understood why she did it, but I never doubted how much she loves me.

She’s the reason I joined the military when it felt like everyone else at school was looking at college. I needed to find a way to help support my mom while giving me a path toward a future. The military gave me that and much more.

When I was serving, most of my money went to Mom. She more than earned it with how hard she worked to get me from birth to 18. She was able to stop working both jobs and slow the fuck down. If that was my only achievement while enlisted, it would be more than enough.

Now that I’ve gone into business with Wolfe and Hendrix, Mom lives more than comfortably. She’s become a woman of leisure, but that doesn’t stop her from being on the go as much as she can. She volunteers and keeps her mind occupied with allsorts of hobbies, ones she never had the chance to do while I was growing up.

The woman might be busy, but she still finds the time to pester me about grandchildren and how much she wants to be able to spend her golden years—her term, not mine—running around after some kiddos.

“You need something else,” Hendrix arches an eyebrow with his words, the challenge clear.

“Don’t know,” I mumble and resume my pacing.

I don’t have to look at the man to know that he nods his head decisively as he offers, “We should go to out. It’s been a while for all of us.” I glance over at Hendrix to find him arching an eyebrow as if I would deny the truth in his words. I can’t so I won’t. “It might be the distraction you need,” he offers. He tacks on the mumbled words, “And you’re not the only one.”

Wolfe jumps up and claps his hands together as if everything is decided now. “You must be talking about yourself because I’m more than fine.” He waves his hand in my direction and points out, “I’m not pacing around like a caged animal.”

Hendrix shoots Wolfe a glare but doesn’t say anything else. Now that I look at one of my best friends, I can see the tension in his shoulders and in the clench of his jaw. He’s just as stressed as I am, he’s just better at hiding it.

“Oh,” Hendrix draws the word out and I can practically see the light bulb going on over his head, “you were talking about yourself.”

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