Page 58 of Sinful Mates

I ran a hand through my hair, almost feeling bad for the guy. “Fuck. Well, we can’t guarantee that.”

Alaric’s gaze met mine, his golden eye flashing. “He’s willing to risk it.”

“My kind of man.” I patted Alaric on the shoulder. “Castor get back to you?”

“Yeah.” Alaric retrieved his phone to read from it. “Everything Dash said about his finances was true. Texts confirm the pack’s concerns with the Guild and his father’s request for him to mate.”

“Good work.” I patted Alaric on the shoulder, leading him and Zethan back into our balcony where Dash and Steele waited. I threw out my hand to shake. “I’ll take it back to the club for a vote. If it goes in your favor, we welcome you to the Jackals’ Wrath MC.”

I was taking a risk on him. They weren’t a proper MC. Didn’t know how to run one with finances. But they were shifters. Tougher hides. Faster healing. Predators like me. Men I could trust to have my back. If we protected them from the Guild, we would buy their loyalty.

“Fuck. Thank you, Slade.” Dash grinned. A man down on his luck wouldn’t dare betray the hand that fed him.

CHAPTER20

Alaric

Bedlam.Cursing. Arguing. Safe Work cars blocking the driveway. An inspector in the garage examined the bikes while Slade and Zethan accompanied them, my president’s eyes licking with a venomous fire. The superintendent’s doing. And I had more bad news to deliver.

Castor argued with an officer about giving notice for drop-in safety inspections as per the law.

This escalated quickly from putting pressure on our businesses, to raiding our club a second time. The cops were after their bone, and they weren’t going to give up until they got it. They wouldn’t stop until the club ceased to operate and every member was behind bars.

Fear burned a cold hole in the pit of my stomach. My heartbeat kicked up. They were here to destroy my brothers and me. Destroy everything we built. Weakened, the cops would move in and drop bogus charges on everyone like they did in my drug case. Anxiety thumped in my chest, pushing my ribs to the bursting point.

Fuck. Triggered. Freed from their quarantine, my demons rose to the surface, their icy fingers curling around my ribcage.

“They’re coming for you,”they hissed.

“Throwing you in prison with your brothers,”another snarled.

“Back into the darkness of captivity where we’ll be one again.”

Like hell I was going back there. Not back to the imprisonment in my mind to meet my demons in their most malevolent form. Yet the cops underhanded determination set me in their crosshairs. Locked up. Losing my sanity. Beaten or shanked to death.

A call came through on my phone, but I couldn’t move. Paralyzed by fear, I sucked in lungfuls of air. My demons laughed, sinister, gleeful.

I thought of this morning. Dropping off my little bird at school with Aaliyah. Standing at the school gates, walking her through, dropping down to give her a hug, my heart full.

My demons howled in pain, love their antithesis. Their sinister mist dispersed, and they receded to the depths of my being.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. The club wasn’t the place for me to be today if it set me off. For the first time in four years, I questioned whether returning to full-time duties was the right choice.

My phone went off again and I checked it. Aaliyah. “Hey, angel.”

“What’s wrong?” Her worried voice shot down the line. “Is everything okay? Do you want me to come to the club?”

Our bond strengthened these past few weeks to the point we felt each other further away.

Frost in my chest melted at her concern. “Let me speak to Slade first and I’ll pick you up, angel.”

“Okay. I had plans to clean up the shelter with Zethan, but I’ll cancel, and we’ll go on our picnic instead.”

“No, don’t cancel.” If anything, I was a man who stuck to plans and tomorrow was our day. “I’ll come with you.”

She paused and I imagined her sawing her lip between her teeth. “Are you sure you want to go there?”

Blood and brain splatter. Furniture tossed everywhere. Flashes of the women’s haunted faces after their rescue. My demons stirred, shifting, scratching, clawing for purchase to get to the surface again.

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