Predictably, Saint Malone was crouched on the bonnet.
* * *
Cam was the most beautiful man I’d ever laid eyes on, but there was something captivating about his wingman. With his chestnut hair and piercing gaze, he was disarming, even with a fierce scowl marring his handsome face.
Saint sprang from my car as I approached, hands balled at his sides. I didn’t get the sense he wanted to fight me, but he was angry about something, and I couldn’t blame him. After all, a man had come a split second from putting a bullet in Cam’s heart.
I was angry too.
Incandescent.
I stopped in front of him, letting my feelings show on my face and match his so he knew we were on the same page, though for him, context was still lacking. “Have I kept you waiting long?”
Saint’s eyes narrowed a touch. “Makes sense.”
“What does?”
“You knew I was coming.”
He paused, giving weight to my suspicion that he was the brother who struggled to get his words out, and I waited. I was in no hurry.
While a battle raged within him, I stepped closer, pondering if he was familiar enough with Cam’s scent to smell him on my skin. Then I remembered we weren’t wolves, and yet the proximity of Saint Malone made me feel like one.I leaned into him, noting he had the same smoke and oil smell to him that Cam carried, but there was something else too—something herbal that made me want to take a deep, cleansing lungful of him and exorcise my soul.
“You reeled me in.” Saint broke into my musings. “You knew I was tracking you.”
I nodded. “I have known since you placed the device at Cam’s home.”
“Did you tell him?”
“What do you think?”
“I think he trusts you.” Saint pulled a cigarette pack from his inside pocket and offered it to me.
Tempting, but I wasn’t anywhere near stressed enough to indulge. I wasn’t stressed at all. I watched him light up and contemplated Cam’s steely resolve to not have this man in his bed. It was a mark of his commitment to the club because Saint Malone was enchanting. “Do you think he is mistaken?” I propped my hip on the car. “To trust me, I mean.”
Saint took a deep drag of his cigarette and held the smoke in before exhaling through his nose. “We know nothing about you.”
We. Did he mean the club? Or just him and Cam? “What do you want to know?”
“Your name.”
“Alexei.”
“Not Teddy?”
I smirked. “No.”
“Good.”
“Good? Why is that?”
“It never suited you. I’ve been calling you Ghost in my head since I saw you in Cam’s office.”
A shudder passed through me, the subtle kind that was all on the inside, like demons dancing in my soul. “You are a perceptive man, but you cannot know everything on instinct. You haven’t asked why I’m here.” I inclined my head towards the Crows’ compound behind me. “But you don’t think I’m with them or you’d have reacted by now.”
Saint took a breath but said nothing, and I let him be for a moment, giving him space to gather what he wanted to say. It was unwise to linger here for long, but for Saint Malone, I got the feeling I’d wait as long as it took.
Cam’s waited years.
