Chapter Twenty-Three
Cove
L indsay’s green eyes narrow, reminding me so much of Dragon, it’s a punch to the gut. How different would his life had been had he not ended up as Night Giant’s captive?
“You knew my Chase?” she asks carefully, slowly prowling toward me around the coffee table. The woman isn’t an idiot, and I can tell she’s reading between the lines, snapping pieces together to form a picture that makes sense.
With her fierce gaze burning into me and the stealthy way she approaches, she reminds me of a panther circling its victim before she strikes. Though she’s slender and female, there’s no doubt in my mind that she wouldn’t go down without a fight if she had to.
Just like Dragon.
There is fire in her eyes.
Determination.
A little bit of crazy.
“Yes,” I admit, my voice coming out as more of a tremble than anything.
Nees stands and comes to my side. “We just—”
His words are cut off by the sound of voices. Two men. At first, I think it’s Dragon, but soon, two handsome men enter the sitting room. The older one must be Dragon’s father. Though the man isn’t as built as Dragon, he’s broad and muscular despite his age. A flash of panic gleams in his eyes. I’m sure it’s worrying to find his wife alone with two strangers.
“Who’s this?” a younger version of the man demands. “Mom?”
Lindsay straightens her spine and walks over to her husband. He places a hand on her hip, drawing her close to him. The younger guy steps forward as if to shield his parents from us.
Of all the Royal Bastards, me and Nees are literally the least intimidating.
“These boys, Benjamin,” Lindsay clips out, “know your brother.”
“They know where Mitch is?” Benjamin asks, the hard edge of his expression softening as he glances at her. “Is he okay?”
“Not Mitch.” Her lips press together as she studies me for a beat. “They claim to know him, but they don’t. However, they knew Chase.”
Silence falls over the room.
Dragon’s dad clears his throat. “Is that so? How? I don’t believe I’ve seen either one of you before.”
“I didn’t know him,” I say, my voice coming out as a whisper. “I know him. Well. He’s my—”
“Boyfriend,” Lindsay finishes for me. “Hear that, Owen? Boyfriend. As in present.”
Benjamin’s jaw drops as he gapes at me. Dragon is going to flip his shit for letting this information slip out, but there’s no other way. His family isn’t stupid. They’re not falling for our lame attempt to dupe them into giving us information about Mitch.
“Fuck,” Nees mutters. “He’s going to murder you.”
Dragon is a lot of things—psychotic, vengeful, angry—but he’s not going to hurt me. At least not in any way I don’t like. It’s funny how my certainty in that statement has changed so much since that moment when we were in that cage together. When Night Giant ordered him to take me out. Back then he was a puppet on a string. Now, in the present, he’s a fierce dragon—fiery and powerful and protective over what’s his.
Like me.
I’m his whether I like it or not.
But I do like it.
“I’m Cove Gale, Chase’s…” Boyfriend? Lover? Piece of ass?
Owen, who seems to be stunned into silence, stares at me as though I’ve lost my mind. Lindsay takes the moment to study me like I’m a specimen under a microscope. I would squirm under her stare, but Benjamin has recovered before his father and is shooting me some seriously pissed-off death glares.
And here I thought one Dragon was enough for one lifetime…
Apparently I’ve stepped into a whole den of them.
“I don’t know whatever kind of sick bullshit you’re playing with my family,” Benjamin growls, “but we’re calling the cops. This ends now.” His attention darts to his father. “Dad, go find Kai. Mom, go with him.”
A door flings open and a voice booms along with it.
“Mom! Dad! You’re never going to believe what I found outside.”
I whip my head toward the sound of the voice, shocked to find a clean-cut version of Dragon striding into the room. The resemblance is almost disturbing. Minus the tattoos and biker gear, this guy is a spitting image of him. They even have the same fuckboy hair.
Heat prickles over my flesh and it has nothing to do with the Dragon lookalike.
No, the fire crawling down my torso on a straight path to my dick is caused by the real Dragon. My Dragon. A man who burns hotter than a thousand suns. The heavy thud of his boots across the marble demands every eye in the room as he walks into it. His emerald eyes bore into me, sweeping over me briefly to assess me for God only knows what, before landing on his family. His mother specifically.
“Hey, Mom.” He lifts a tattooed hand in greeting, flashing a half-smile that’s boyish and one I’ve never seen before.
She gasps, her hand flying to her chest. I expect her to shake or faint or something. Instead, she stalks over to Dragon until she’s inches from him.
“Do not ‘hey, Mom’ me. Not now. Not after all this time.” Her voice cracks only slightly. “I thought you were dead. I thought my son was dead.”
“Told you,” the Dragon lookalike mutters.
“Kai,” Owen admonishes.
Dragon tears his eyes from hers, his dark brows furling as he drops his chin to stare down at his feet. It’s such a docile move for someone so…wild.
“Chase, baby, look at me,” Lindsay whispers, her manicured fingers brushing beneath his chin and lifting so he’s forced to look at her. “You came back to me.”
His eyes slam shut and he mutters, “Momma.”
The slight woman jerks him into her arms, hugging him so tightly, I think she might have the power to break him. His massive, tattooed arms wrap around her, squeezing her back just as hard. Owen breaks from his stupor, rushing over to him, flinging his arms around both of them. Benjamin and Kai also approach, both wearing matching somber expressions.
I feel like a voyeur.
Watching something I’m not supposed to see.
A private family reunion that’s long overdue.
“I’ll go keep Filter company,” Nees mumbles from beside me. “You should stay, though. I think he’s going to need you.”
I glower at him for leaving me in the middle of—this—but he’s not bothered, quickly slipping away and out the door. The sniffles from Lindsay and Owen are heartbreaking. I imagine the discovery of finding out your oldest son is alive after over a decade has to be obliterating their minds right now.
Kai catches my gaze and frowns at me. “Who are you?”
“Chase’s boyfriend,” Benjamin blurts out. “If we’re to believe any of this shit right now.”
Kai drags his stare over me, assessing me in one quick sweep. His lips curl into an expression of disbelief. “Kind of small. The one outside was hotter. No offense, but you’re really not his type.”
I stiffen my spine. “No offense, but you really don’t know him at all.”
Benjamin snorts out a laugh.
“Hmph,” Kai mutters, flashing me a wicked grin. “Maybe you are his type. I forgot he always liked the mouthy ones.”
“Stop flirting with him or I’ll rip your head off,” Dragon growls, his teary eyes quickly hardening to the malevolent green I know so well.
“Boys,” Lindsay admonishes, though there’s a smile in her voice. “Though neither of you still live at home, house rules still apply.”
“No fighting in the house,” all three boys say at once.
Owen winks at me.
Of course Dragon’s family would be the new-age version of Leave it to Beaver . Of course they would.
Everything I thought I knew about Dragon is all wrong. It seems, every passing minute, he throws a wrench into what I think I knew and I’m revealed something a lot more…shocking or interesting or unexpected.
And I’m still here, craving to learn more.
It’s a strange thing to see.
Dragon being…Chase.
Sure, he’s still Dragon in all his tattooed, scary biker glory, but around his family, something inside him blooms. He blossoms into this guy who smiles at his mother—and not in that creepy “I’m gonna carve your heart out of your chest while it still beats” kind of way. His smile is filled with love. Again, I’m left wondering who he would have become had Night Giant not ripped him from his perfect world and shredded the innocent boy.
I thought he’d be guarded, but his mother has some way of pulling the truth out of him. And the truth flows like a never-ending flood. He tells them everything.
The ugliness of his captivity.
His escape.
Terror of being found.
How he became Dragon, Koyn and the Royal Bastards, his criminal life.
The second run-in with Night Giant, what he was forced to do—with Stormy and what he almost did to me. Lots of graphic torture highlights over his decade career as a lawless biker. Whatever else he can chatter on about like it’s normal chitchat, but it’s really fucking insane.
Dragon’s mouth just continues to expel this verbal vomit while everyone sits listening around him with a mixture of horror and shock. He eventually brings them to more recent events and his eyes land on me. The smile is back, sending curls of warmth swirling in my belly.
“Dragon,” I murmur, hoping he’ll end his verbal shit-show.
Kai snorts out a derisive laugh. “Dude. I can’t call you Dragon. It’s so lame.”
Dragon flips him off, but humor dances in his eyes. “Screw off.”
“Seriously, stop talking,” I warn, giving Dragon my meanest glare. “They don’t need those details.”
Benjamin smothers a laugh. Owen and Lindsay share a secret glance that I wish I could interpret. I shift in my seat, eager to get the hell out of here before Dragon starts blabbing about how wild our fuckfests get.
“Baby Prospect doesn’t want you all knowing how he whimpers—”
“That’s enough,” Lindsay huffs, saving me from her son’s torture. “We get the idea. You’re in love. Now, what brought you back to us after all this time? Mitch?”
You’re in love.
I nearly scoff at her offhanded comment. We’re not in love. I can barely tolerate him. We’re absolutely fantastic in bed together, but that’s it. Boyfriends, I guess. As much as two bikers can call themselves that.
Dragon sobers up, scrubbing a tattooed hand over his face. “I spoke to Night Giant.” He frowns, shooting me a pained expression. “Then I spoke to Mitch.”
“But he’s hiking. He and Taylor probably camped out,” Lindsay says, her voice quaky despite her hard expression meant to convince everyone around her that he’s safe.
It’s just a hope.
Mitch isn’t safe. He’s in the clutches of a monster.
“You know that’s not true,” I say softly. “He’s missing and you know it. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have invited me in to try to pull answers out of me.”
Tears fill her eyes, but she blinks them back and swallows hard. “This can’t happen again. It can’t.”
But it did.
It is happening again.
“We’re looking for him, Mom,” Dragon assures her. “Koyn is the smartest man on the planet. Trust me. If anyone can get information on this bastard, it’s him. We’ll find Mitch and then I’ll make sure Night Giant pays for everything .”
Violence ripples from him like heat from the sun.
“I’d like to meet this Koyn fella,” Owen grunts. “See who’s been fathering my son in my absence. Sounds like he’s a bad influence if you ask me.”
Dragon winks at me, making my blood run hot. “Nah, Koyn can’t control me. The only bad influence is BP. Right, Baby Prospect?”
My face burns hot as they all watch me curiously. I need to get out of this damn house. It’s too much Dragon at once.
“We should go,” I state. “See what Koyn has for us on Mitch.”
Dragon checks his phone. “Nothing. Filter and Nees went back to the hotel.”
“So if Night Giant has Mitch,” Benjamin says, bringing everyone back to the subject at hand, “does that mean he has Taylor too? He’s not answering my calls either.”
“I don’t remember Taylor,” Dragon says with a frown.
“He’s not a Night Giant lackey if that’s what you’re thinking,” Lindsay mutters, shaking her head. “His parents are decent people. Aimee works at the hospital with Owen. She’s a pediatric surgeon.”
“And Taylor’s father?” Dragon implores.
“Leo is an accountant for the school district,” Lindsay answers. “Their family is like ours. Normal.”
Kai coughs out a “bullshit,” that earns a smack to his head by his mother.
“I’ll call Dr. Eckerd,” Owen says, ignoring Kai being a dick. “See what she has to say about Taylor.” He stands and exits the room, his booming voice echoing behind him as he makes his call.
“We should go,” I say to Dragon. “We won’t find him sitting around here.”
“Absolutely not,” Lindsay hisses. “You two are staying for dinner. Until Owen hears back from Aimee or your boss—”
“Prez,” Dragon interjects.
Lindsay rolls her eyes. “Unless your prez has info and needs you, you’re both staying here. After dinner, if there’s no new information, you’ll stay here. Your room is still here, so you and your boyfriend will have a place to sleep.”
Fucking wonderful.
“You kept my room?” Dragon asks, the boyish softness in his tone a stark contrast to his outward serial killer look he has going on.
Lindsay takes his large, tattooed hand in her small, pale one. “You’re my son. I didn’t want to give up hope. Having your room made me feel closer to you. Sometimes I just sit in there for hours.”
“It’s creepy,” Kai says. “So glad I moved out.”
Owen returns, a somber expression on his face. “Spoke with Aimee. She can’t get ahold of Taylor and is concerned. I talked her out of calling the police.”
I’m curious why they wouldn’t want to involve the police. I mean, I don’t want them to because we’re not exactly on the up and up, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense why this wealthy, upstanding family doesn’t want to involve the police on the whereabouts of their missing son.
“Good,” Lindsay bites out. “They were useless the last time. I begged them to do whatever it took to find Chase and they got nowhere.” She waves a dismissive hand in the air. “If it means getting the help of a ruthless biker gang led by a former billionaire computer hacker and his ex-Fed brother to find my son, I know where I’ll place my bets. We’ll find Mitch, and that sonofabitch who keeps taking my children will pay for what he’s done.”
This family may be rich and loved in their community, but the cruel vibe coming from Lindsay is obviously a trait that Dragon came by honestly.
“I’m going to kill him, Momma.”
“Damn right you are.”