Page 67 of Dancin' with Demons

“Enough,” Catacomb snaps, bringing everyone to silence. “I’ve agreed to fill Raylynn in on some of what’s going on with Hammer.”

Renegade slides his hand over mine and laces our fingers together. “You sure about this, little love?”

“Yeah,” I sigh, scooting closer to him. “I need to know what we’re up against.”

“And Hammer tried to pull some shit on the way in here, so I don’t think we can keep her in the dark anymore.” Catacomb pins Renegade with a glare at the same time my man’s entire body tenses. “Relax. I handled it.”

Hardwire and Circuit sit with us. Hardwire next to me and Circuit in the chair next to Catacomb. Both have their laptops open.

“Some of this isn’t pleasant to hear, Ray,” Hardwire says, “but we’ve been watchin’ Hammer on Catacomb’s orders for a while. We didn’t have much until Renegade actually brought you home.”

Taking a deep breath, I nod at him. “Show me.”

# # #

Two hours later, the office is dead silent as Hardwire and Circuit shut their laptops, and I think I’m in shock.

“So, let me get this straight,” I say quietly, “he was a prospect when you found me?”

“Yes,” Catacomb says. “Until the day we rescued you, he hadn’t done anythin’ that made any of us think he wasn’t trust worthy.”

Renegade clears his throat.

“Except Renegade,” Archangel says in a low voice from where he’s standing against the wall to my right. “He had a bad feelin’ about him from the get go. But after you ran, Renegade went downhill fast, and didn’t really give a shit about much.”

“So, even though we made Hammer prospect for an extra year, in that time, he seemed fine, and we ended up passin’ the vote.”

My jaw hangs open some as I turn my eyes on Catacomb. “You had them watch him anyway, though?”

“Yes.”

“So, you didn’t fuckin’ trust him fully and you patched him in anyway?”

Catacomb’s eyes never leave mine. “That’s my mistake to pay for, Raylynn, and for it, I’m sorry.”

Fuck.

Grumbling, I move away from Renegade and run my hands through my hair, frustrated. “We were safe in Nags Head. Hammer and whoever the fuck he works for had no idea where I was, they didn’t even fucking know about Savior. Not until we came back here.”

“I’m sorry, Ray,” Renegade says, sliding off the couch to kneel in front of me. “Bringin’ you home is on me.”

Shaking my head, the pain in this man’s eyes takes all the anger out of me. “I’m not angry at you, babe. I’m just . . . angry at the world, I think. And I love you, so it doesn’t matter now. I won’t leave you, I can’t. So, we just have to figure out how to deal with this.”

As Renegade goes to open his mouth, there’s a deep, rapid knock on the door a second before it comes flying open and almost hits Archangel. All the brothers are on their feet in an instant as Joshua bursts into the room, heaving as he tries to breathe. A cut above his left eye drips blood down the side of his face.

“What the hell, kid?” Catacomb snaps.

“Hammer. Parkin’ lot. He’s got Savior.”

Chapter 25

Renegade

Steppin’ into the parkin’ lot is surreal.

I didn’t know it was possible to be this fuckin’ pissed and this scared at the same time. But Hammer havin’ my little girl in front of him with a knife to her throat as tears stream silently down her face causes a panic in me I ain’t never felt before. Thank God the other brothers can think clearly because all I can focus on is gettin’ Savior, so I didn’t even realize Raylynn tryin’ to get around me to run to her daughter.

“Yeah, come here, fuck toy. Let’s trade,” Hammer goads as Archangel quickly wraps his arms around Raylynn, pinnin’ her arms to her sides as she screams for Savior.

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