He reached her living quarters in seconds and burst through, and finding no trace of her, strode straight for her chamber, ready to drag her back to Fury’s, to demand why the devil she’d thought she could run from—
Maxen stopped.
Dead.
Reaper sat tied to a chair, arms and legs bound with a length of rope that, at first glance, looked haphazard as hell, yet was also far too competent for a mere shop owner.
“Ah,frère, you’re finally here. I expected you sooner.”
Maxen took in the room with a swift glance, cataloguing every detail in seconds. The wardrobe gaped wide. A pillow lay by the bed for her hound. A travel case—open, empty. And beneath it all, the faintest trace of sweetness.
She was gone.
Her hound was gone.
His growl was lower than usual. Menacing. “Where is she?”
Reaper sneered. “Left about five minutes ago.”
Maxen’s vision narrowed.
Not rage. First, disbelief. That she’d left. That she’d bound his brother to a chair, walked out, and not looked back. The thought hit him harder than any blow. He’d let her go. He’d let her leave with his brother. Hadn’t stopped her. He’d stood there like a blasted fool. And for what? Because he hadn’t wanted to let the bloody words past his tongue?
“Saint. Knight,” Maxen barked over his shoulder.
“On it,” Knight returned, already moving.
Reaper called after them, “She might have left through the back door.”
Maxen crossed the room in two strides and grabbed his brother by his jacket. “Youlether go?”
“Maxen,” Dagger cautioned.
“Did I?” Reaper cocked his head mockingly. “Hard to stop a woman when she’s got a pistol trained on you. Even harder when she threatens to set the dog on your—well, future bloodline.”
“You think this is damn funny?” Maxen growled. “You could havedisarmed her in a second.”
Reaper raised his brows. “Her I could disarm, sure. The teeth of her hound, not so much.Frère.She is not our hostage.”
Maxen let go of his brother, clenching and unclenching his leather covered fists until they hurt.
“Did she say anything?”
“Let methink. . .”
“Reaper.”
“Ah, I remember,” the arse drawled. “Something about never wanting to be trapped again, having been alone all her life, alone in Brighton for three months, and sorry for being troublesome.”
“She said a lot,” Dagger muttered.
“Why the devil did she apologize for being troublesome?”
Reaper gave a half-hearted shrug. “Your mouse was leaving no matter what.”
“This is what happens when you ignore a woman’s questions,” Dagger pitched in with a drawl.
“I bloody get it,” Maxen snapped at his brothers. “Move on.”
