“Did he see anything?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
“No,” she whispers. “He just keeps saying she didn’t come home. He thought he’d fallen asleep and missed her.”
My chest squeezes. “How’s he holding up?”
Josie’s breath shakes. “He’s blaming himself.”
I shut my eyes. “Tell him it ain’t on him,” I reply, voice hoarse. “Tell him she’s coming home.”
Josie goes quiet, then: “Miles, please be careful. And please bring her home safe.”
I open my eyes and stare at the far wall like I can burn a hole through it. “I can’t promise to be careful,” I admit. “But I’ll move the whole Earth to get her back.”
“I know,” she says softly. “Just don’t die because Danae couldn’t live after that. She loves you, Dixon.”
I don’t reply because when I admit my feelings I want it to be to Danae not anyone else. I end the call and stand there for half a second with the phone still pressed to my ear, like I can keep her voice with me if I don’t move.
Smoke watches me.
Wrath watches me.
Everyone watches me.
Because I’m shaking now, not from exhaustion. From the rage that is consuming me.
They have her. They threatened her grandfather. They’re using her like leverage, for what I don’t know.
Every part of me wants to start tearing down doors until one of them happens to be the right one.
Wrath speaks again. “We split. Two-man teams. Outlaws run the backroads and known stash spots. Hellions take the highways and hit every place a van could hide. Grinder stays here and works the tech angle with Dove.”
“I’m not leaving?” Grinder questions automatically. He isn’t used to being tabled from the action.
“You’re not leaving,” Wrath agrees. “We need your eyes.”
Country Boy steps to my side. “You’re riding with me.”
Smoke’s lips curl. “Like hell.”
I turn my head, eyes meeting Smoke’s. He looks eager for the fight, hungry for the chaos. And the most dangerous thing of all, Smoke isn’t afraid to die and feels like he has nothing to lose. But behind it, there’s something else—loyalty in his own way.
Smoke jerks his chin. “He came in with me. He rides with me.”
Country Boy doesn’t flinch. “You ain’t the one in love with the girl.”
Smoke’s expression hardens.
I look at Wrath. Commitment unspoken between his club and me. Wrath’s gaze holds mine a long moment.
Then he nods once. “Smoke rides with you. Country Boy takes two Outlaws and runs the perimeter. Everybody else moves.”
A dozen men start shifting, grabbing keys, checking weapons, moving like an organism.
Wrath catches my arm before I can walk out. “Miles.”
“What,” I snap, then regret it instantly because Wrath isn’t my enemy.
He doesn’t take offense. “When you find her,” he states, voice low, “you call it in. You don’t go hero. My territory, my vengeance. My rules and my way.”
