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Should the father fail to pay the price,
Then the sin shall pass down to the next in line.
That couldn’t be it.The next in line in this case was Sean…
Who was currently in a coma.
My eyes widened.
Oh shit.
* * *
I toreup the road to Manning Keep. Preston would probably kick my ass later for taking his keys. He really didn’t see that sucker punch coming. At least he took it like a champ. That’ll make me feel better when he beats my ass for stealing his car – which, by the way, was absurdly clean. I half expected to sit in a puddle of blood.
Micha’s Jeep, however, might need a little work. I may have bumped into it, but that would’ve never happened if they hadn’t decided to take Harper. What the fuck were they thinking? The girl wasn’t even five foot.
I sprang out of the car, barrelled through the door and down the stairs. It didn’t occur to me that the door shouldn’t have been open until I was already halfway around the corner to the meeting room where I could hear people talking.
“Are you insane?” Silas yelled out. “We can’t fucking do this.”
My friend didn’t need to worry. There was no way those fuckers were doing shit.
“Does Mason know about this?” my old man asked.
“No,” Micha snorted. “There’s no way he would’ve let this shit happen.”
Look at my brother standing up for me.
Parker’s voice was the next to bark out. “I’m not doing this.”
I knew I always liked that guy, and not in that way. Yes, I’d done some shit with Parker, but it wasn’t like that. The first time was after I’d had a nightmare about Ryker. I flipped out when Parker touched me, which was when he fell to his knees. It wasn’t attraction that led me to do the things I did. Parker helped me get something back. Something I lost as a child.
“I say we whip them,” Logan growled as I stepped up to the large wooden door with a raven carved on it.
“Enough,” Gramps boomed, reminding me of when our old man would yell at Micha and I. “Like it or not, this is how things are.”
“Maybe in your generation,” Micha argued.
Gramps wasn’t going to let that go. “My generation and yours follow the same rules. Something your father seems to have forgotten.”
I threw open the door just as Logan jumped out of his large wooden throne. “If your generation’s dead, then we can make up our own rules.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” Gramps stated, as his eyes swung my way. “Hello Mason. Welcome to the meeting.”
Meeting my ass.
All the kings were here. My old man, and Silas’s, even Dean was sitting all fucked up in his seat. Logan, Silas, Parker, and Micha were at the right side of the grand oak table. Preston’s spot was empty though, and I didn’t think he was going to show up any time soon.Oops.And in the middle, sitting like regal kings on their thrones, were the grandparents. All of whom were staring directly at me. But my focus was on the girl huddled up in the middle of the room.
Harper was shaking like a leaf. All I wanted to do was wrap her up in a bubble of safety. So that was exactly what I did. I rushed over and threw my arms around her.
“You okay, baby?”
Her big brown eyes filled with worry. “You shouldn’t be out of the hospital.”
“I’m fine.” I wasn’t. My side hurt like a bitch and was bleeding a bit. But I’d be damned if I was going to let them do this to her.
My glare locked on my grandfather’s firm expression. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
