Page 34 of Scornful

My thoughts immediately go to Astrid, how vulnerable she is.

The need to protect her surges through me like adrenaline.

"Someone with access but not a patch?" Tor suggests.

"Someone's casing us," Fenrir confirms. "The club's tight, but we've got a shadow who knows when we move, where we go."

"I caught some guy I didn't recognize hanging around Fern's spa last week," Magnus adds. "Said he was waiting for his ol' lady, but seemed jumpy as hell. Could've been nothing, but with everything going on..."

My blood runs cold. The spa. Where Astrid works. Where I was with her just last night.

"We need to tighten security on everything," Runes decides. "Families, businesses, shipments. No one goes anywhere alone for now."

"And the leak?" Dag asks.

"We find it, we plug it," Fenrir says, the threat clear in his voice. "Permanently."

The meeting continues for another hour, assignments given out, we even talk about different security changes we can make.

I'm tasked with overseeing protection for the spa and Beans & Babes, along with Tor and Magnus.

It’s ironic as all hell—guarding the very place where I'm crossing the line with the VP's daughter.

As church wraps up, Tor catches my eye across the table.

Something in his expression makes me uneasy, like he's seeing more than I want him to.

"A word?" he says as we all stand, jerking his head toward the door.

I follow him out to the smoking area, a fenced patio behind the clubhouse.

He lights up, offering me one which I decline.

"What's up?" I ask, leaning against the wall.

Tor takes a long drag. "You're into Fenrir's daughter."

It's not a question, and my heart nearly stops.

I keep my face neutral. "The fuck you talkin’ about?"

"Don't bullshit me, brother. I've known you too long." He taps ash off his cigarette. "The way you looked when Magnus mentioned the spa, like you were ready to murder someone. And you were checking your phone every five minutes in there."

I say nothing, which is apparently enough of an answer for him.

"Gods, Geirolf." Tor runs a hand through his hair. "Of all the women in this town, you had to pick theoneguaranteed to get you killed?"

"It's not like that," I start, then stop. What's the point in denying it? Tor's known me since I first got with the club.

We were prospects together and he can read me like a goddamn book.

"Then what is it like?" he challenges.

"I don't know," I admit. "But it's... somethin’."

Tor stares at me for a long moment, then sighs. "You're my brother, and I'd die for you any day of the week. But this? This is suicide."

"You think I don't know that?" I push off the wall, pacing a few steps. "You think I planned this?"

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