Page 8 of Lamb

“I’m not playing this question-answer bullshit,” Wolf growled, unwinding one hand to rub across the overgrowth on his face. It had once been a well-cared-for beard, but with thearrival of the new baby, there had been little time to manage the beast making home along his jaw. “You know why I’m pissed.”

“Ah,” I gasped in mock surprise, clapping my hands together. “So, youhave noticed.”

Truth be told, I’d known I’d been made the moment Wolf had approached me. I knew it wouldn’t take long for word to reach him and had chosen to make myself available at the club rather than risk the rhinoceros busting down my door. It wasn’t time for that yet.

“Of course, I noticed!” Wolf finally snapped. He launched himself from the desk, and the robust furniture screeched back a few inches along the floor. Pitiful thing. “What the fuck are you playing at?”

The small office suffocated inside the man’s raging aura, and I kept my distance, cautious about getting caught up in it. Combat with Wolf required careful precision not to get clubbed by those huge paws, and it was wiser to avoid it if possible.

“I told you I was managing it.” I shrugged and watched the smoke rise out of his ears.

“Managing it?” Wolf spat. “I know you can be oblivious to some things, Lamb, but you’re not an idiot. So, stop playing and gethergone. I want her as far away from Fellpeak as possible.”

“You haven’t even asked me why.” I frowned, bunching my lips.

“Lamb,” Wolf growled, struggling to rein in his anger. “This isn’t some game of yours.”

“I know.” I sobered. “But you asked me to handle it. I’m handling it.”

“Handling itshouldn’t mean bringing the danger magnet right back to our doorstep. I thought I was finally done with this problem, and you brought it straight back!”

“She’s a loose cannon. I need to keep an eye on her.”

“You can keep an eye on her from a distance, Lamb,” Wolf growled, his anger ebbing into frustration. “You’ve done it the last eight months. I don’t see why things had to change.”

“It was always my plan to bring her back.” I shrugged. “I just needed the right timing.”

“And how is this the right time?” Wolf spread his arms out around him, his fingertips close to reaching either wall.

“Our guise wore off.” I allowed the truth to spill. “Changing her identity was only going to last so long; organized crime families all over Western Europe and North America have been spreading the word; Rothwell’s only daughter isn’t as dead as he thought she was.”

Wolf swore through clenched teeth. His body tightened into a white-knuckled, quaking tension. He folded his head into his palms, fingers clenching his hair. He was quiet for a long moment.

“When?” Wolf lifted his head, voice finding steady and even footing. His fiery attitude was locked down under calm, hard control.

“Rumors started two months ago, spreading up and down the American West Coast,” I revealed. “A month later, suspicions about her death had spread its way across the continent. Three weeks ago, word of a reported sighting touched British shores.” The weight of my phone resting against my chest and the intel inside it felt heavier. “There are more than a few looking to get into the good graces of one of Britain’s most secretive and influential crime families. Confirming that the daughter he’d personally shot dead is very much alive will either earn you a place at his table or become the fitting warfare to take them on.”

“A war is brewing.” Wolf’s brows furrowed tight; I wondered if he’d ever be able to undo them. “And we’ve got the detonator.”

“I have a plan,” I announced, though little relief reached my president’s face. Instead, his expression seemed to deepen.

“What is it?” Wolf asked, looking worn and aged beyond his many years. It didn’t surprise me.

A war he had thought had ended had, in fact, only just begun. It’d tire even the most hardened of men.

I didn’t answer straight away. The words rolled around in my mouth, my eyes cataloguing every tick and twitch in Wolf’s face. The longer I let the silence linger, the more sour his expression became. His shoulders bunched around his neck, and his hands threatened to meld to the edge of the desk.

I confirmed my suspicions. “The less details you know, the better.”

Disbelief fractured Wolf’s expression. He stared at me with a hollowing, wide gaze. Ice skittered across my skin at the unfamiliar face. In the many years I’d known him, and through the many trials I had faced at his side, I had yet to have seen the face he now had.

“You’re not going to tell me?” Wolf spoke slow and soft, barely able to hear his voice at all. “You’re going to keepmein the dark.”

“You always act in the best interest of the club, but right now, we need to pretend that absolutely nothing is going on. We haven’t seen Ash. We haven’t heard from her. She’s dead. If I tell you too much, you’ll try to protect the club, and they’ll know, and the thing we need the most istime.” I took a breath, straightened my shoulders, and looked my president straight in the eye. “I need you to trust me.”

That final sentence had lingered long in my mind. The moment I had put my thoughts into action those many months ago, I knew I’d have to say this to him eventually. I knew what it would demand of him. What it would mean for him to agree. Asmy president, my brother, and my ally, I knew that everything would balance on the ten years we had withstood side by side.

Would it be enough?

---