Me
You’re sure?
Wizard’s reply was a middle finger emoji.
Normally, I would have rolled my eyes and shot off a smart-ass comment, but I’d already moved on from our exchange.
Russell Dunbar.
Fucking hell.
That name hadn’t crossed my radar in years. But I hadn’t forgotten. Couldn’t. He’d been a contractor-turned-criminal back when I was still running ops with a few of my brothers before the club. He helped move black market weapons through a quiet little pipeline on base.
Russell wasn’t involved with selling weapons retail or street-level deals, but he was the infrastructure that allowed the weapons pipeline to exist without exposure. He coordinated logistics and arranged storage locations where the weapons were temporarily cached before redistribution. He vetted couriers and safe nodes, ensuring deniability at every step so that no single link could identify the whole chain. Basically, he made sure weapons were moved without leaving fingerprints.
Nobody was infallible, though, and he almost got my SEAL team lit up in a bad deal. But he was a slippery bastard. Fucking disappeared before we could close the file.
Seeing his name now felt like unfinished business clawing its way back from the dead.
And the chatter about the pipeline probing our area suddenly made sense. Dunbar wanted to use the Hounds of Hellfire as cover for his shit. He figured our reputation would keep people from looking within our territory. Hiding in plain fucking sight.
Now, Maren was a potential threat to his business.
I shoved my phone back in my pocket and breathed through the fire building in my chest.
Dunbar was planning to touch what was mine. He’d sent a man to map her rhythms. Gauge her value. Prep a fucking grab.
That guy tonight was Dunbar’s confirmation. This wasn’t surveillance anymore—it was a quiet check-in before they made their move. They were about to take the next step.
Not happening.Ever.
I leaned forward, bracing my forearms on the table, and locked my gaze on Maren as she moved between tables. Her ponytail swayed, and her apron strings brushed the back of her thighs with every step. My cock throbbed again, but this time, it wasn’t just desire. It was the possessive, territorial burn of a man pushed to the edge.
My eyes stayed still glued to Maren as she worked—smiling, soft, and completely oblivious that she was fucking marked. Not just as Dunbar’s target…she was also branded by me.
She didn’t know she was mine yet.
But she would.
I couldn’t wait any longer. It was time to act.
Linking Dunbar and the pipeline to Maren made her situation club business, which meant it was time to loop in King.
I texted Wizard again.
Me
This isn’t recon anymore.
Wizard
It’s club business now.
Me
No shit.
Wizard
