Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 158191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 791(@200wpm)___ 633(@250wpm)___ 527(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 158191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 791(@200wpm)___ 633(@250wpm)___ 527(@300wpm)
“Your sex is extreme, Savage, even for someone like Tawny,” Czar said. “I imagine you scared the shit out of her on purpose. You don’t ever want anyone more than once anyway.”
Savage didn’t reply but he exchanged a look with Maestro that Absinthe couldn’t interpret. Savage was brutal. And scary. And dangerous. Tawny shouldn’t have tried lying to him. With a man like Savage, that was just plain stupid—especially when it came to sex.
Ice nudged Storm. “I’m pretty certain we were her favorites. She was all over us. We weren’t rough.”
“She was all over every single one of you and no doubt she’s all over every one of the Diamondbacks,” Czar said. “The point is, she’s got the ear of one of Plank’s close friends through his old lady.”
Code nodded. He didn’t look at Alena, but Absinthe did as Code continued. “Tawny has convinced Theresa, who in turn has convinced her husband, that Alena is not only using Pierce so she can spy on the Diamondbacks, but that her mission is to kill Plank. Supposedly, Alena wants to prove to Czar that she’s every bit as good as one of the men in our club.”
The fact that Code didn’t look at Alena told Absinthe he’d already revealed the contents of the emails to her. He had her back. They all did. She and Lana were the only two female survivors of the school of horrors they’d grown up in, and all of them watched over them.
“Theresa has enlisted the aid of her husband in helping her get Pierce to see that Tawny is the one for him. She’s whispering to all the club members how dangerous Alena is and how they need to watch out for her to protect their president,” Code continued.
“And then they turn around and ask us to do their dirty work for them,” Mechanic said. “What a crock of shit. It’s probably a setup, just like Czar said. Or they’re after Alena, trying to throw some heat her way.”
“I am afraid of that,” Czar admitted. “Have you been careful, Alena, when you’re around Pierce? You haven’t allowed him to see your gifts? Any of your abilities? You haven’t told him about your childhood or how you were raised? The fact that you know more ways to kill him than he could ever have been taught with all his military training? Even hinted at it?”
“Of course I didn’t allow him to see or suspect any of that,” Alena snapped indignantly. “I’m no amateur, Czar, and I wouldn’t get so wrapped up in him that I would forget who my loyalties belong with. He wanted to know what happened to Fred from the Venomous club on the last run we went to when the man keeled over at the table, but I told him I didn’t know, that I had no idea why he died or how.” She looked at Absinthe. “It’s true. I don’t know how you actually melt someone’s brain any more than I know how I can burn the world down if I get pissed enough.” Her tone suggested she was getting that pissed right then.
Absinthe shrugged. He rubbed his thumb along the top of her hand to soothe her. “We were all born with gifts. Probably everyone, everywhere, is. We needed ours and we worked until we could use them. Now we’re stuck with them.” He shrugged again, trying to make it all seem casual, trying to tell Alena he believed in her, that they all did.
Alena gave him a faint smile of appreciation and then turned her attention back to their president. “Don’t worry, Czar. I follow protocol at all times. When I leave the safety of the clubhouse, I wear prints, and I never deviate from our scripts.”
Czar nodded his approval. “Just know this is hanging over your head like a sword. Tawny is an enemy and she’s capable of creating a force in that club against us and you in particular. She wants what you have. She wants to best you, Alena.” He looked around the table. “She wants to best all of us. Once she gets Plank’s ear, he’ll likely grow even more uneasy than he already is.”
“Pierce knows what I am,” Ice confessed without one iota of remorse in his voice. His glacier-blue eyes met Czar’s eyes across the table. “In Vegas. He came to see Alena. I didn’t want him to think he could pull anything on her and get away with it. I let him see me. He knew I’d come after him and I’d kill him.”
“He saw us that first time he met us when they came to talk about Plank’s wife being taken,” Reaper said. “It was in his eyes then. He knew what he was up against trying to protect his president. He might not realize Alena is every bit as lethal as we are, but if that’s the case, he’s more of an idiot than I’ve given him credit for.”