Page 2 of Coming Up Aces

“You killed him?”Rip asked, his voice awe-filled.Wait. Glory killed Josiah? Oh, shit.

“If he’s dead, then yes. He was going to force Rhi back here, and I couldn’t let that happen. What’s going on outside?”

“We voiced the guards and took their weapons. I’m so sorry we missed that one.”Voiced them? What did that mean? And who else was up there? Rayna needed to get inside to see for herself.

“I’m just glad he couldn’t aim,”Glory muttered. “Can we get out of here? I want to check on my mother. She agreed to come with us if you managed to rescue me.”

“Anything you want.”

Rayna eased her way around the building, intending to enter from the front. She needed to get inside, but there was someone standing guard. He turned when Glory and Rip exited the building. Rip and the man had to be brothers. Rip led Glory over to the other one, who grabbed Glory and wrapped her up tight. While he was hugging her, he asked, “Where’s my mate?”

“In the loft waiting on you to bring her clothes. She was something fierce,” Glory told him.

Mate? And why was she waiting on clothes? What the hell was going on? Rayna sniffed the air, and there was something different about them. Then why wasn’t her Cheetah on edge?

“Glory?” Marjorie, Glory’s mother, called out to her. Marjorie, like most women at Haven, was meek. Even though her husband had disappeared, she was a good little sheep, behaving the way Josiah, then Thomas, instructed.

The older man kept his arm around Glory when her mom approached. Glory jutted out her chin. “I told you Ripley would come for me.”

Marjorie eyed the man. “Thank you for taking care of my girl.”

“Oh, no. I’m her father-in-law.” He gestured toward Rip. “This is her husband, my son, Ripley.”

Marjorie did a double take. Rayna didn’t blame her. The man didn’t look much older than his son. If the female upstairs was his mate, she could be a shifter. They all could be, and that would explain why father and son appeared close in age. In the cheetah world, they stopped aging in their forties. Were these creatures also cats? Rayna’s grandmother had said those of their species were rare, but wouldn’t it be wonderful to find more of her kind?

“Oh, uh, well, thank you. Glory told me you and your wife bought her a piano. That’s very nice of you.”

“It was nothing. Glory deserves everything this world has to offer, and we were more than happy to provide for her. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” The man took off toward the barn with a bag in his hand. Rayna listened in on Glory’s conversation with her mother as she waited for Ripley’s father to come back outside. When he did, he was holding hands with a pretty blonde who also appeared too young to be Ripley’s parent.

Rayna went back around the building to observe the men holding the guards at bay. They weren’t speaking, and the guards weren’t moving. A man Rayna recognized, Sutton Lazlo, father to five of the Hounds of Zeus, approached from the woods and gestured to one of the kneeling Haven guards.

“You will gather everyone to the church, then you will return to this spot, and you won’t move.” The air shifted with his command. The guard rose and went to do as he was told withoutquestion. Rayna darted between the buildings, then made her way back to her cabin for her shoes.

Lisa Ann was waiting in the open doorway. “What’s going on? Who were the guards shooting at?”

“I’m not sure, but it appears there’s been a takeover. We’re supposed to meet in the chapel.” She found the simple shoes they were provided and slipped them on. The meeting bell rang, and when she and Lisa Ann stepped outside, other doors were already opened with people looking out.

“Meeting in the chapel. Now.” The guard stood in the middle of the road until every cabin was empty. Rayna kept an eye on the guard, and when he got to the chapel, instead of entering, he walked toward the barn. She and Lisa Ann followed other Haven members into the large building where the elders had their version of church. Rayna spotted Glory and Ripley against the back wall, so she veered off, putting on her game face, and rushed to the younger woman.

“Glory! Oh, my god. What are you doing here? Sandra said you ran off from the market.” Rayna sniffed the air, but doing so didn’t give her a hint as to what Ripley was. Her Cat purred.

Yum. He smells delicious. Like our mate.

Who? Ripley?

No, the other one.

Rayna turned to face the male standing on the other side of Glory. Hooded eyes met hers as she took in his spiked hair and stacked body covered in ink. Yum indeed.

“I did run off, and now I have a new family. This is Ripley.” Glory patted her man’s stomach. “And this is his best friend, Ace.” Glory thumbed Yummy’s direction.

Rayna stepped toward Ace, and his scent washed over her. It was all she could do not to throw herself at him. She maintained control and extended a hand. “Melinda. It’s a pleasure.”

It would be a pleasure to get him naked.

Melinda ignored her Cheetah as Ace gripped her hand between both of his. “The pleasure’s mine.”

“If I could have your attention, please,” Sutton called out when he climbed onto the stage. Rayna didn’t want to move from Ace’s proximity. She wanted to bask in his arousing scent, but she had a part to play, so she excused herself even though she wanted to remain at Ace’s side. When she found her seat next to Lisa Ann, she turned and looked at Ace over her shoulder. She couldn’t help but smile at the man. Instead of returning her smile, he inclined his head, then focused his gaze on the man at the podium.

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