Page 43 of Blood & Heartache

“I got it,” Hound cut in as he scooped me up. “Besides, I said I was gonna start on fixing shit in her suite first. I’ll do that while she gets ready… two birds, one stone.”

Ryker crossed his arms and glared at the man. “The fuck I’m going to let you do that. I still don’t know how you even know each other or why you call her Luna when no one knows about that shit but me.”

“Someone had to take your place as her sidekick when you up and left her,” Hound shot back. “Do yourself a favor and leave it alone. The answer isn’t going to be what you want to hear, and you’re already on the losing end of this situation.”

“Now, boys, let’s not fight when we have bigger problems to deal with,” I scolded. “Hound, you’re gonna put me down, and I’m going to take myself up to my room and get ready. You need to make sure Gunner and Melony didn’t leak information to anyone else. If they have, we need to deal with that ASAP so I don’t end up in jail. I’m not a woman who can handle having someone else give me orders and tell me what to do all day. Pretty sure I’d end up killing a whole lot of people, and no one really wants that now, do we?”

“Love, if they have spread information, then you’re still going to be killing a lot of people,” Ryker pointed out.

“Fair, but these won’t be people that have proof it’s me. If it happens in jail, they’re gonna know it’s me, and then I’ll never be able to fucking leave,” I answered with a sigh.

Hound pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Ah, Luna, I’d break you out… that would be easy. Then we can live on the run doing whatever the hell we want. Kinda sounds like fun to me, always keeping one step ahead of those trying to capture us. I’m sure they’d get bored eventually and let us go.”

“Don’t you be talking her into running off,” Ryker barked, stepping up to go toe to toe with the man leaving me to be the buffer in the middle. “If she goes anywhere, I’d be right by her side. I might have fucked up, but that won’t happen again. I made an oath.”

“Riiiggghhttt,” Hound drawled. “An oath… you mean the matching scars on your hand? Well, after tonight, there’s going to be a lot of people with those too. Although those who have them on their right hand mean something special to you, doesn’t it, Moonflower?”

As much as I was enjoying the banter and seeing Ryker all bent out of shape, the man clearly knew far more about certain things than he should. “Hound, put me down, please,” I said with a tone that brokered no argument.

The man actually pouted as he set me on the bed and took a step back to stand next to Ryker. “Why do I feel like I just got in trouble?”

“Because you fucking did,” Ryker said with a smirk. “That tone only comes out when you’ve irked her.”

“Ah, so you’re familiar with it,” Hound commented as he bobbed his head in understanding. “Okay, let me have it. What did I do wrong?”

“How do you know things I haven’t even told people about? I’m not talking about Luna, that I get. What I mean is how do you know about my leg, the fact some people have their left hand marked and not the right, and that we were keeping an eye on the mayor?” I questioned, cocking a brow as I waited for his answer.

Hound didn’t speak right away. Instead, he raked his fingers through his hair as if it needed to be mussed up more. “Ah well, you see…”

“He’s a hacker who likes to invade people’s privacy, snoop in files he shouldn’t, and stalk people through the security cameras,” Ryker shared, far too pleased with himself.

Without a second’s hesitation, Hound slammed his elbow into Ryker’s side, making the man double over and grunt in pain. “Don’t make it sound so fucking creepy, Ryker. Jesus, man, there had to be a better way to say all that, but now you went and blurted it out.”

“So what he said is true?” I inquired.

“Listen, the way I stumbled upon your family and the Caprioni business was by snooping then holding them up for ransom. Then your father and I had a good talk where he offered me the money I’d asked for, but instead of blackmail, he wanted me to fix things so no one else could do this to them. While I was in the files, I might have read some things about what goes on around here and figured out you were the mafia, which is when I agreed to your father’s deal. I wasn’t looking to get cinder blocks around my ankles and fed to the fishes,” Hound explained.

“No one says that,” Ryker and I said at the same time.

“Plus, I wouldn’t risk you surviving somehow, so I’m more of a make-sure-they’re-good-and-dead-then-dispose-of-the-body type girl. Pigs are a great alternative, then there’s the trend of placing endangered plants, or I could even put you on native land where no one would dare to dig you up,” I shared. “Also, your answer still doesn’t tell me how you know things.”

Hound shifted, stuffing his hands in his well-loved leather jacket covered in various patches. “Look, Luna, I won’t lie to you. I never have, and I never will. When I was snooping around in the files, I found out about you. It’s what led me to investigate why they sent you to Apria and locked you away in the middle of nowhere. The more I got to know about Astin Caprioni and all she’d been through, I wanted to meet you in a fashion. That’s what landed me hacking into the system at the Huntingford home so I could check out what was going on for myself. After I got into your personal computer and found out all you were up to, I knew the perfect way for us to meet, if you will. Since then, I’ve kept track of what you’re up to, where you go, who you’re with, and try to help where I can.”

“You’ve been stalking me,” I stated bluntly. “Not just stalking me but invading every facet of my life for years.”

“Yeah…” Hound muttered. “It won’t make it better, but I’ve saved your ass a hundred times, and let’s not even forget me setting your car on fire so they couldn’t trace it back to you. I feel like I should at least get a thank you for that one.”

“That was you,” I demanded. “Why the hell would you even know about that to even do what you did?”

“Because I was tracking that fucking wack-job of a stepmother. She’s been bad news since before your father married her. You have no idea what kind of trouble she’s in and who’s pulling her strings,” Hound argued, wagging a finger at me. “Just so you’re not surprised, I’ve been keeping tabs on Harvey too, but obviously not as close as I needed to since he got way too fucking close the other night. I have no idea how I missed his plan to take down your father, fucking bastard.”

“You know what, Ryker’s right. I need some goddamn coffee and to put on real clothes,” I announced as I stood and hobbled over to my wheelchair. Both men moved to help me, but I glared at them, bringing each of them to a halt. “I’m going to get ready for the day. You two are going to get the others, and we’ll meet in the dining room in half an hour.”

Not waiting to see if they would listen, I rolled out of the room and down to the elevator. I didn’t run into any of the others, but they were probably still sleeping, which I envied.

Chapter 20

Back in my room, I scanned the place for security cameras so I knew just how much access Hound had to me. Ryker’s comment about Hound watching me made more sense and obviously wasn’t an exaggeration. From what I could tell, there was only one in the living room and one in the office but none in my bedroom or bathroom. That had me breathing a little easier, thinking of what had gone on here a few times with the guys and my own self-care since I wasn’t sleeping with anyone.