Racing through the hall, I come to the back door and standing there is Lizzy and a man behind her. Tall with broad shoulders and light brown skin that causes his green eyes to pop.
“Lizzy. What in the hell is going on?”
“We have a problem.” Her gaze travels down my still naked body. “Gah damn and so does Everlee’s vagina. Fuck! Are you part dinosaur? Do dinosaur shifters even exist? I mean, I see the books on those smutty social media groups. Fuck Debbie and Dallas, give me Debbie does Dino! Nope! Focus Lizzy!” She scolds herself, biting her fist, then continues. “Fuck. I can’t concentrate!” She whips her hand around and the next thing I know, I’m wearing a pair of dino boxers. “Better. Everlee-”
Knox and Emmett come to a rush behind me, boxers on. “What happened?”
“That lucky bitch. Good for her. I’ve always said she was too much for one man.” She swipes her hand across the air like you would when showing a spread of food on the table. “Anyway, Everlee went to Allure.”
“How do you know?”
“May I come in?”
“Well, you already blew the door off the back of the house.”
She looks at it. “I’m sorry about that, but I knew Everlee was in trouble and I was worried about you all as well. Didn’t know if Samara had done something.”
“You were worried about us?” Knox sighs.
“Yes. Ev seems to like you all and well, I needed to make sure you were ok and if you were, then get you to come help me get her back before she does something stupid.”
“Come in. I’m going to put clothes on.”
“Thank the goddess.” Tony huffs beside her and puffs out his chest a little. Lizzy asks, “What? Even though we may be something- I’m still not sure yet, and I can appreciate a fine male specimen. Especially if it’s one my friend is with. I don’t want to bone them, but damn. Pieces of art.”
“You’re weird.”
“Not the first time, or the last time, I will hear that. Now go, hurry! We don’t have a lot of time to waste. She offered to make a trade.” She looks around at everyone. “Oh, the brute is gone. She’s going to make a trade for him?” she snarls, then holds her hands up. “Only kidding, but also not. I don’t want her trading for anyone. I want my Everlee back.”
“Fuck,” I sigh, rubbing my hands against my forehead. I knew she was going to leave. If Samara has taught me anything, it’s that words matter. And Everlee said she wouldn’t go after her yesterday, but that left today wide open, which is why we didn’t want to leave her alone last night and also because, well, we simply didn’t want to leave her alone. She has a hold on us. And we fear that after all this is done, she will be gone, but I hope not. I don’t know what’s in store for us, but it needs her in it.
When we come back down a few minutes later, Tony has the door lifted back into place, while Lizzy works her magic to fix the hinges.
“Let’s go. We can talk in the car,” I command, not wasting anymore time.
Lizzy and Tony follow us out without speaking. I climb in the driver’s seat, Emmett takes the front passenger seat, while Knox, Lizzy and Tony climb in the second row.
There’s a thick layer of tension and concern in the car as we drive past building after building. We turn down the small alleyway beside the old club we recently purchased.
“Where are we? This isn’t Allure.”
“This is our plan. The plan Everlee was supposed to be part of before she tried to-” I pound my fist on the steering wheel. “I should have known.”
“I’m sure she cares about you all and is trying to protect you. It’s such an Everlee thing to do.”
Emmett runs inside, while Knox instructs them all to move to the third row. Without hesitations or questions, they move.
When Emmett carries Brady out, the chains are still wrapped around him and he looks frail. No wonder Jax was so upset. It’s been several weeks since I’ve seen him and it looks like it’s been years. He’s mostly bald and his skin is so pale it’s almost translucent.
“What the fuck?” Lizzy mumbles out. “What happened?”
“This is Brady,” Emmett says, laying his near lifeless body across the backseat and climbing in with him.
“He’s our back-up?”
“He is everything,” I correct.
“He can’t even walk.” As if realization hits her, “You sneaky fucks. You found it.”
