His phone buzzed on the workbench beside him. The display showed no number, but when he spoke with Scythe in Italy a few hours ago, the male told him to expect a call from one of the Order’s leaders in the area.
“Asher, this is Kade,” said the deep voice on the other end of the line. “I head up the Order’s command center in Lake Tahoe. I understand you’ve got a situation on your hands.”
“You could say that.” He gave the Order commander a run-down of everything that had happened in the desert last night, culminating with Asher’s discovery of Naomi’s Breedmate mark and his decision to bring her to his place.
“You did the right thing,” Kade assured him. “If this female’s put herself in the crosshairs of a son of a bitch like Leo Slater, there may be no place far enough for her to run. Slater’s not someone to fuck with. If the rumors are true, there’s hardly a square mile of desert surrounding Vegas that doesn’t contain at least a dozen graves filled with someone who either got in the way of his temper or his profits.”
Asher’s veins tightened to hear the Order warrior confirm what he already dreaded. “Naomi’s got both strikes against her after trying to steal from his casino last night.”
“Why’d she do it? She had to know if she failed, Slater was going to come after her with guns blazing. How much money is worth that kind of risk?”
“I don’t know,” Asher replied. “But I don’t think this is the first time she’s attempted something like this.”
“How so?”
“She was wearing a disguise, a damn good one too. She looked like a teenage boy when I first saw her. I never would’ve guessed she was a female, let alone a full-grown woman. If she’d been able to make off with whatever she attempted to steal from Slater’s casino, all she’d have to do is ditch the disguise and make her getaway. They’d be looking for school-age punks, not a beautiful woman with the face of an angel.”
“Face of an angel, eh?” Kade replied, a hint of amusement in his deep voice.
Asher cursed himself for the slip. His opinion of Naomi’s beauty had no relevance to the conversation. And if he didn’t already know that Kade was blood-bonded to his own beautiful woman, his Breedmate Alexandra, Asher might have found even less humor in the warrior’s intrigued response.
“Does Naomi know she’s a Breedmate?”
He considered her less-than-enthused reaction, and her lack of surprise when he tried to explain what her birthmark meant. “She knows.”
Kade made an approving noise. “Has she been told you’re bringing the Order in to provide protection and a safe house for her?”
“Yes.”
“How did that go over?”
Asher grunted, a non-answer that no doubt expressed more than words could. “There is a man,” he told the warrior. “A human, I’m guessing. He’s in Las Vegas. He’s . . . important to her.”
“A lover?”
Asher’s molars clenched involuntarily. “I don’t know. Possibly.”
“Okay. We’ll sort everything out with her once we have Naomi in hand,” Kade said. “We’re still a good six hours from sundown, but I’ll send a team out to your place ASAP. In the meantime, just keep her calm and comfortable . . .”
The Tahoe area commander was still talking, but Asher’s ears were suddenly tuned to another sound. Sam heard it too. His droopy ears perked, he lifted his head and glanced at Asher in question as the unmistakable rumble of Ned’s old Chevy roared to life outside.
“Holy hell.”
“Something wrong?” Kade asked.
Asher’s feet were already moving, the phone still held to his ear. In a flash of movement, he was standing in the main living area of the house. The door to the master bedroom stood ajar. So did the door leading out to the porch.
“The pick-up plan’s going to have to wait,” he muttered to the other Breed male. “I’ve got a problem over here.”
“Something happen with the woman?” Kade’s voice held a grave edge. “Is Naomi all right?”
Asher scoffed under his breath. “Yeah, she’s fine. She’s stealing my damn truck. I’ll be in touch.”
He ended the call, daylight blasting in from the yard. The noontime desert sun scorched his eyes, and that unforgiving ultraviolet light drove him back in spite of the fury that all but spurred him to charge out and drag the foolish woman back inside. But he was too late to reach her.
With one arm raised to shield his face, he peered out at the yard and driveway.
Ned’s truck was already halfway to the desert road, bouncing over potholes and kicking up clouds of yellow dust as Naomi made her escape under the cover of broad daylight.
