“Nothing,” Mason answered immediately.“Said we don’t talk to suits, especially ones who show up unannounced asking questions.”
I nodded, satisfaction warming my chest despite the seriousness of the situation.The Prospects had handled it right -- no information given, no opportunities created.The older one had met Callie the night I’d brought her here.The younger was different from the one at the gate previously.Someone newer.He’d likely heard the other talking but might not know the entire story yet.
“Good,” I said.“Anyone asks about her, you don’t know anything.Anyone tries to come in uninvited, you call Beast immediately.And I do meanimmediately.”
Both Prospects straightened at the directive, understanding the gravity without needing explanation.
“Is she in trouble?”the younger one asked, curiosity overriding protocol.
I fixed him with a steady gaze.“She’s claimed.All you need to know.”
He nodded quickly, accepting the rebuke without comment.Mason’s expression remained neutral, but I caught the slight narrowing of his eyes -- not judgment, just assessment.Trying to reconcile the Samson he knew with the man who’d claimed a half-dead stranger at the gate last night.
“Something else,” Mason said after a moment.“Security camera picked up someone walking the perimeter around four this morning.Eastern fence line.”He gestured toward the screens in the guardhouse.“Never showed their face to the camera, knew exactly where to stay in the shadows.”
Ice settled in my gut.The letter under my door.Someone had been close enough to my cabin to deliver it, and the security systems hadn’t caught them.Not good.
“Beast know?”I asked.
“Called it in the moment we saw it,” Mason confirmed.“He and Ranger have been in the clubhouse since dawn.I’d have thought someone would have dropped by to tell you or at least called.”
I nodded, already turning toward the main compound.He wasn’t wrong.Someone should have said something, but that wasn’t my call to make.“Keep your eyes open.And watch the road.”
As I moved away from the gate, something caught my eye -- a glint of sunlight on metal in the distance.I squinted, trying to figure out what I was seeing.Looked like a dark blue sedan.The driver’s window was cracked open slightly, and as I watched, the unmistakable shape of binoculars appeared, trained directly on the compound entrance.
I didn’t break stride or give any indication I’d noticed.Instead, I counted cameras as I walked -- one mounted on the telephone pole near the entrance, another disguised in the birdhouse on a tree twenty yards in, a third blinking from beneath the eaves of the first cabin.Our security system had been upgraded last year after a rival club had tried to plant explosives near the clubhouse.Now every inch of the perimeter was covered, the footage monitored round-the-clock by Prospects on rotation.
But someone had still managed to slip through, to approach my cabin unseen.
The clubhouse stood at the center of the compound, a low-slung building of weathered wood and stone with the Kings’ emblem painted above the double doors.Two more Prospects flanked the entrance, nodding respectfully as I approached.No questions, just deference to the patch I’d earned through fifteen years of loyalty.
Inside, the main room stood empty except for Beast and Ranger, bent over a table spread with what looked like blueprints of the compound.Beast looked up as the door closed behind me, his face unreadable as always, but tension evident in the set of his shoulders.
“Letter came to my cabin last night,” I said without preamble.“Hand-delivered.County sheriff’s office, asking about Callie.”
Beast straightened, exchanging a glance with Ranger.“Same time someone was testing our perimeter,” he observed.“Not a coincidence.”
“No,” I agreed.“And now we’ve got a deputy asking questions at the gate and a lawyer offering cash for information.”
Ranger’s face creased with displeasure.“Moving fast.”
Beast folded his arms across his chest, his substantial frame blocking half the morning light from the windows.“We have a safe house in Millerton.Off the grid, stocked, ready to go.We should move her there tonight.”
I shook my head immediately.“Moving her is exactly what he wants.Makes her look guilty of something.She stays with me.”
Beast studied my face, reading the certainty there.We’d known each other long enough for words to feel unnecessary between us.
“This puts heat on all of us,” he said finally.“Law enforcement taking interest in the compound.Surveillance.”
“The heat was already coming,” I countered.“You’ve seen the bruises.Heard what she told me.This isn’t some random domestic.This is a cop using county resources to hunt a woman beyond his jurisdiction.”
Ranger pushed away from the table, moving to stand beside Beast.His gaze, sharp despite his years, fixed on mine.“Your claim, your call,” he said slowly.
I held his gaze, understanding the implication.By claiming Callie, I’d brought her under club protection -- but I’d also brought her troubles with her.The Kings operated outside the law in numerous ways.Law enforcement attention was always unwelcome, always dangerous.
“I understand,” I said simply.
Beast nodded once, decision made.“We’ll double the perimeter watch.No one gets in or out without clearance.”He gestured to the blueprints.“I want you both to review the security protocols.If they’re testing our defenses, they’re planning something.”
