Page 51 of At the Edge of Surrender

No recollection of who Maci’s mother might be.

A rapping sounded at the door, and my head snapped up. I hadn’t even realized it was close to midnight. The distinguished time for Sovereign Sanctum’s meetings.

I didn’t have time to callcome inbefore Otto came striding through like he owned the place. Dude a fucking brute and wearing that giant-ass grin he hadn’t been able to wipe from his face since he’d finally given into this thing between him and Raven.

Wearing jeans and a plain white tee and his old motorcycle boots.

Covered in tats, the same as the rest of us.

“Hey, brother,” he said as he stepped through.

I fought for one of the smiles that normally came easily for me, but tonight felt impossible to find. “What’s up?”

His brow arched as he came deeper into the room. “You tell me.”

“Just have something I want to discuss.”

“That why your expression is glum as fuck?” From ten feet away, he made a circle around my face with his index finger.

I managed a smirk and stretched my arms out to the sides. “You mean handsome as fuck?”

He laughed like the action put him at ease, and he came and sat on the opposite edge of my desk. “No one would notice since you’re sitting a little too close to me.”

Dude wagged his brows, and I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Keep dreamin’, asshole,” I told him.

“Oh, I am absolutely dreaming. Livingthedream. No question about it.”

There was a quick tap at the door before it was pushed open again, and Theo and River came waltzing through. Cash lumbered in on their tail, and he shut and locked the door behind them.

Second he did, I stood and moved to the huge bookshelvesthat took up an entire wall of my office. Pulling out two old, tattered books from the middle shelf, I revealed the keypad that was hidden behind them, and I punched in the code to release the latch.

It gave with a thunk, and I pulled open the section of bookcase that hid the passageway that led to the basement below.

“Ready?” I asked, turning back to my crew.

“Yup,” River said.

Speculation brewed in his expression, no question wondering what this was about.

River was a beast, midnight hair and eyes, dressed head to toe in black. He had tats rolling up his thick throat, five stars dotting his hairline, so menacing people tended to cross to the other side of the street when they saw him coming.

I took to the narrow stairway that led down into the pit below my office. This area was musty as fuck, dingy and dank, the walls brick and the floor a raw, exposed concrete.

A single light hung over the round table that sat in the middle of the enclosed space.

I took my spot, the same as each of my brothers did, chair legs screeching against the floor as we settled.

River glanced around at us before he pushed his left fist tattooed with the stacked Ss with the dagger running through into the middle of the table.

The rest of us did the same, touching our knuckles together in the middle, and he rumbled, “I call to order this meeting of Sovereign Sanctum.”

Immediately, his attention traveled to Cash, voice rough with the severity, diving right into business because down here, we didn’t fuck around. “What intel do we have?”

With a sigh, Cash scrubbed a massive mitt over his face and down his trimmed beard as he sat forward in his chair. Cash had a country flare about him, his brown hair cut short. Wearing a cap, a flannel, jeans, and work boots, though he never hesitated to climb onto his bike like the rest of us.

“Surveillance is showing that fucker pretty much doesn’t let herout of his sight. Only time she’s been seen out on her own is when she’s dropping the little boy off at school and picking him up in the afternoon. Means this is gonna have to be done in broad daylight, and we all know that makes it risky as shit. Plus, her best friend has barely been able to get in contact with her.”

Her best friend was the one who facilitated the extraction. Had reached out to one of the local shelters seeking help. Information had gotten passed along through one of the counselors who we’d screened and brought into our trust for when she came across the direst of situations.

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