"Shut up,” Hulk shouted.
Gorgon shook his head. "Our enforcer is in love." The room erupted into a chorus of laughter, and Hulk considered murder—several murders. Hell, he wanted to take them all out. Instead, he grabbed the photographs.
"I'll start tracking him,” Hulk insisted.
Buck's smile vanished immediately. "Think he's local?"
"Doesn't matter,” Hulk said as he studied the latest photo and the timestamp. A predator recognized another predator, and one thing was crystal clear—Leah’s ex hadn't come to Manitoba to just see Leah. He'd come to take her. That was too bad for him, because now he'd have to go through the Kings of Anarchy to do it. And more importantly, he'd have to go through Hulk. God help the bastard when that happened.
Leah
Leah couldn't sleep. The guest room was comfortable enough, the bed was soft, the room was warm, and she was surrounded by enough armed bikers to start a small war. She should have felt safe. Instead, she found herself staring at the ceiling while her mind replayed every horrible possibility and the realization that Derek had found her—again.
The digital clock on the nightstand read 2:17 a.m. She sat up with a frustrated groan and threw back the blankets. Sleep wasn't happening—not tonight. She slipped from the room and quietly made her way down the hallway. The clubhouse was mostly dark. Only a few lights glowed from the kitchen area, and the scent of fresh coffee drifted through the building. Someone was awake, which wasn't surprising because bikers seemed incapable of sleeping normal hours.
Leah followed the smell, and the moment she stepped into the kitchen, she stopped. Hulk sat alone at one of the tables with a laptop open in front of him. Several photographs of her were spread across the tabletop, and she immediately recognized them as the ones from the envelope.
His massive frame practically dwarfed the chair beneath him as a coffee mug sat forgotten near his elbow. His attention wasfixed on the pictures as though he was studying them—analyzing them, even as if he was looking for something. The sight made her chest tighten because no one had ever taken her safety this seriously before—not even the police.
Hulk looked up, and their eyes met. He immediately closed the laptop, causing the photographs to disappear from view, as though he didn't want her seeing them, or reliving them.
"What are you doing up?" he asked. His deep voice rolled through the quiet room.
Leah shrugged. "Couldn't sleep." His gaze softened, and that alone was shocking.
"Bad dreams?" he asked.
She looked away. "Something like that." Hulk nodded as though he understood. Hell, maybe he did.
She walked farther into the room. "You couldn't sleep either?” she asked.
A muscle jumped in his jaw. "No." His answer was simple and honest. Leah lowered herself into the chair across from him, and for a moment neither of them spoke. She couldn't remember the last time she'd sat in silence with a man and not felt nervous, but then again, Hulk wasn't like most men. He was intimidating. Sure, he was dangerously terrifying when he wanted to be, but he'd never once made her feel threatened. It was the opposite, actually, and that scared her more than it should have because trusting people had nearly gotten her killed once before.
"What are you looking for?" she finally asked.
Hulk glanced at the laptop. "Patterns."
She frowned. "In what?"
"The photos,” he admitted. Leah immediately felt sick, and Hulk seemed to notice. "Sorry."
She shook her head. "It's okay." That was a lie because none of this was okay. Nothing might ever be okay again. She staredat her hands. "Derek doesn't give up." The words escaped before she could stop them.
They sat in silence, and Leah was sure that their conversation was over until Hulk cleared his throat. "Tell me about him."
Leah laughed bitterly. "Why?"
"So I know what we're dealing with,” Hulk said. He said we, and that single word settled somewhere deep inside her chest.
"He owns businesses,” she said.
"I know,” Hulk mumbled.
"He has money,” Leah continued.
"I know." Hulk seemed to be getting more frustrated by the minute with her answers.
"He knows people,” she said.
