The line went dead. I stared at the phone, heart pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat. Axel was sitting up now, tension radiating from every line of his body. "Kai. Who was that?"
"My brother." The words came out hollow. "My foster brother. The one who's been missing for eight months."
"What did he say?"
I turned to look at him. In the darkness, his grey eyes were sharp, worried, already calculating threats and angles.
"He said don't trust anyone with a badge." My mouth was dry. "He said he's been protecting me. He said he's coming here."
Axel went very still. "Your brother knows about the FBI connection?"
"I don't know." My mind was racing, spinning through possibilities, none of them good. Tyler disappearing the same time Viper started making moves. Tyler warning me about badges hours after Phoenix learned about federal protection. Tyler knowing I was with the Phoenixes when I'd never told him.
"I don't know what he knows," I said. "But I think—" I couldn't finish the sentence. Couldn't voice the suspicion that was crystallizing in my gut.
Tyler hadn’t been missing? What if he was involved?
Axel's hand found mine in the darkness, squeezed hard. "We'll figure it out," he said. "Together."
But sleep didn't come. Not for either of us.
I lay awake until dawn, listening to Axel breathe, waiting for my brother to walk back into my life and explain why he'd left in the first place.
And wondering if the answer would destroy everything I'd just found.
9
BROTHER'S KEEPER
Dawn broke grey and cold.
I hadn't slept. Neither had Axel, though he'd pretended to—lying still beside me, breath too even, muscles too tense. We'd both been waiting. For what, I didn't know.
Around six, he gave up the pretense. Pressed a kiss to my shoulder and slid out of bed.
"I need to brief Hawk," he said, pulling on jeans. "About the call. About your brother."
"I should be there."
"You will be. But let me prep them first." He crossed back to me, cupped my face in his hands. "Phoenix doesn't trust outsiders, Kai. And a mysterious call from someone connected to you, right after we learn about FBI involvement?" He shook his head. "I need to frame this carefully, or they'll see Tyler as a threat before he even arrives."
"Do you think he’s a threat?" The question hung between us. Axel's grey eyes searched mine.
"I don't know," he admitted. "But I know you love him. So I'll give him a chance to explain himself before I make that call." He kissed me—soft, lingering—and left.
I showered. Dressed. Tried to eat the breakfast Maria pushed on me and managed maybe three bites before my stomach rebelled. The common room was quiet, the usual morning bustle muted by the tension that had seeped through the clubhouse overnight.
Everyone knew something was coming. They just didn't know what. Around noon, Axel found me in the gym, beating the hell out of a heavy bag.
"Hawk wants to see you. Church."
I followed him through the heavy wooden doors. The officers were assembled—Hawk at the head, Tank and Irish flanking, Blade near the window. Their faces were carefully neutral, but I could feel the suspicion in the room like humidity before a storm.
"Kai." Hawk gestured to a chair. "Sit. Tell us about your brother."
I told them everything. Growing up in foster care together. The way Tyler had protected me, trained me, made me promise to survive. How he'd gotten involved with something he wouldn't talk about. How he'd disappeared eight months ago without a word.
"And last night?" Hawk prompted.
