Page 61 of The Devil's Viking

For their whole lives, Drake and Dux had had this bizarre natural ability to read people. From the time they were small, they could tell what a person was feeling and thinking just by looking at their faces – especially their eyes – the way they held their bodies, the tone of their voice. They were especially adept at sniffing out liars and fakes; theyalwaysknew when someone was hiding something or not being straight with them.

Perhaps tragically, the twins had never used this astonishing gift for anything more than seducing the opposite sex: as a tag-team package deal, they’d managed to get women interested in a threesome, and in most cases, it was the woman’s first such experience. Not a single woman left the bed unhappy, unsatisfied, or unwilling to make a return trip.

It wasn’t until Drake and Dux had patched in to the MC that their skills became useful for more than just introducing a woman to the absolute joy of being soundly fucked by two attentive, attractive men at the same time. The former Road Devils President, Wheels Jordan, had noticed their abilities, and had immediately handed them the roles of Enforcers, backing up Ice when there were some heads to kick in; the twins had been ass-kickers who were also brilliant interrogators. They managed to get confessions and information through asking the right questionsandbeating people’s faces in.

At this point, Drake wasn’t super-proud of that time in his life, but it had been his choice and his reality for a long time – his and Dux’s. When Wolf had taken the MC legal and above-board, he and his brother had both heaved sighs of relief.

They’d never lost the ability to know what people thought and felt, though – and the night before, he’d been surprised at what he read coming off Briley.

The woman wasn’t a monster. Heknewthat, he’d bet every penny that he had that she wasn’t…but shewason edge and nervous, that was for damn sure. She looked and moved like a woman who didn’t like herself very much, who wanted to get far away from who she was. When Drake looked at Briley, he didn’t see a horrible human being with a black, twisted soul, relishing being part of a torturous sex-cult, eager to cover up abuses and atrocities.

No. He saw shame.

And if there was one thing that was universally true, people who believed in what they were doing didn’t feel shame. Monsters were virtual strangers to it, and sadists had never learned the word.

So. If Briley was feeling shame, then what was it about? Maybe Gideon? And if shewasshameful about her part in Gideon’s fucked-up garden of nightmares, then how happily was she involved in it? What if she wasn’t a willing participant at all?

It was a whole lot of ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ and Drake knew that damn good and well. But that didn’t mean that he was wrong.

Ice and Dux came into the restaurant now, and any thought of Briley flew straight out of Drake’s head, because the men looked furious. He watched as they walked over to his table, studied their expressions and strides with mounting alarm.

“What?” he asked the second they got to his side. “What the hell?”

“Iris is gone,” Ice said grimly, his face even colder than usual. “Viking sounded the alarm at seven thirty and Kansas checked all the video showing the parking lot. Two guys grabbed her up at just past six this morning.”

“Six?” Drake echoed. “She was outside that early?”

“Looks like she was running out for supplies,” Dux told him. “The guys found baking stuff out on the kitchen counter and a note to Viking saying that she was going to buy eggs. She got up before he did and crept downstairs at the bar, and he slept through the whole thing.”

“So – Viking’s sleeping with her?” Drake asked, interested in that tidbit despite the seriousness of the situation. “For real?”

“Apparently so,” Ice said in a clipped tone, meaning that he was done with this line of conversation. “So we need to get your good friend Briley to start talking.”

“You think that she had something to do with what happened back in Denver?” Drake asked, disbelieving. “Nah, I don’t buy it.”

“Well, you won’t mind if I don’t take your word for it,” Ice said. “Seeing as how you’re thinking with your dick again. Some more.”

“Just because I don’t think she’s Gideon’s little hench-woman doesn’t mean that I want to fuck her,” Drake said indignantly. “Maybe I want to avoid barking up the wrong goddamn tree. If Iris is in trouble, it seems like wasting time on the wrong person isn’t a great idea.”

“Agreed.” Ice narrowed his eyes. “So let’s go ask your little cop friend is sheisthe right person. Me and Dux followed her home last night, after all, so we know where she lives.”

“Ice –”

“What?” Ice snapped. “You don’t have to come lover boy, I’m happy to go and talk to her on my own. I might not be a whiz at non-verbal cues and mind reading like you two, but I’msureI can get her to tell me what I want to know. I just have to ask nicely, until it’s time tonotask nicely.”

“Fuck,” Drake muttered and threw some money on the table. “Fine, Ice. You win. Let’s go talk to Briley.”

**

Briley was putting on her boots when she heard a knock at her front door. She glanced at her watch and sighed. The sweet elderly lady next door, Mrs. Nowicka, came over most mornings looking for her cat, Iza. Sadly, Iza had died about three years earlier, but Mrs. Nowicka was often found wandering the street in nothing but a bathrobe and slippers, searching for her beloved pet. More than once, Briley had been called at the police station by worried neighbors who couldn’t convince the confused woman to go back inside.

She swung the door open. “Hi Mrs. No–” When she saw Drake standing there, she paused; when she saw his double standing next to him, along with an annoyed-looking Scandinavian giant, she stared.

“Drake?” she said in disbelief. “What are you –”

“No time to ask nicely,” the blond with the scary eyes snarled. “So we’ll just invite ourselves in.”

“What –”

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