Chapter 29
KIERA
Icame out of the tilt like a cork from a champagne bottle. Fortunately, right before I drove headfirst into a wall, something clamped around the back of my neck and yanked me backward.
I slammed into something that wasn’t a wall but was equally hard.
“Thanks,” I said, realizing what happened. Sean’s body was right behind me, strong and steady as an oak.
His grip loosened on the back of my neck, and he massaged the area with his thumb. I was probably going to have a bruise there, but that was better than the broken nose I’d been destined for.
“We’ll have to work on your landings,” he said.
“Funny.” I lifted my head and realized we had an audience. “Oh, for God’s sake.”
Rafe MacConall was grinning at me, fighting a laugh.
Also in attendance: Lukas, Elli, Bjorn, and Q.
“You okay?” Elli whispered.
“Intact,” I said, whispering back, though I didn’t know why we were being so quiet. “Where are we?”
It hadn’t occurred to me to ask Sean before we left the cabin; I’d been too focused on keeping my wits. Now, we were standing in a long carpeted hallway.
Elli pointed to the door closest to us. “That’s my brother’s apartment.”
I glanced at it. “Does he know we’re out here?”
“Not yet,” Lukas said. “We arrived two seconds before you did.”
“Who’s taking lead on this?” Q asked.
“Elli,” Sean said. “Or Lukas.”
This surprised me. Sean was so jacked up about confronting Rogue, I would’ve thought he’d want to be in charge.
“They have the longest history with Rogue,” Sean said, explaining his thinking.
Lukas shook his head. “That’s why we should hang back. He’ll be more defensive with us and besides, this isn’t the first time I’ve gotten in his face about whatever shit he’s into. If you didn’t notice, that hadn’t cleared anything up.”
The four guys formed a huddle to hatch their plan of attack—something I thought they might have put more thought into ahead of time.
“You knock and tell him it’s you,” Lukas said to Q. “He’ll be the least suspicious of you. When he opens the door, we’ll all file in.”
“What if he doesn’t open the door?” Q asked. “What if he asks why I’m here?”
“You lie,” Lukas said. “Tell him you’re selling cookies for your daughter’s troop.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Q muttered. “You want to bring my kid into this?”
I glanced from Lukas to Q. Q had a daughter? My gaze dropped to his hand. He wasn’t wearing a ring. But maybe selkies weren’t the marrying type?
“If he doesn’t open the door,” Rafe chimed in, “we can always kick it down.”
“Subtle,” Sean muttered.
Elli shook her head in exasperation and pulled a key from her pocket.
She inserted the key in the lock, then turned it while simultaneously knocking twice on the door.
She pushed the door open, calling, “Evan? Are you home?”
The four guys turned toward the door with their eyebrows raised and lips slightly parted.
I knew this was serious, but I wanted to laugh.
I followed Elli in just as I heard Evan calling out from somewhere deep in the apartment, “Hey, Tiny! Just got out of the shower. Hang on. I’ll be out in a second.”
There was a dull thump, like the sound of a dresser drawer shutting, followed by the scrape of another drawer opening.
“Got anything to drink?” Elli called out to him.
“Help yourself to whatever’s in the fridge,” Evan yelled back. “I was going to watch the Pittsburgh-Dallas game. Wanna watch it with me?”
“I guess so.” Elli went into the kitchen and came out with an armful of beers.
“This isn’t going to be a party,” Lukas reminded her, speaking barely loud enough for me to hear.
“Nothing says it has to be a war either,” Elli whispered back.
She brought the beers to the coffee table, and most everyone took seats in the living room. Elli remained on her feet by the side of the couch, waiting for her brother to emerge.
While we waited, I glanced around the space. It was decorated in thirty-year-old bachelor.
Of course, Evan Rogan did have a really nice TV. It seemed all men, regardless of species, prioritized their screens.
Beyond that, however, the furniture was basic and budget friendly—the kind even I could afford. There was no expensive art, like at Lukas’s, or any kind renovations or bespoke charm, like at Sean’s cabin.
I’d never been to Rafe’s or Q’s pads, but I’d put good money on them being fairly swank. They were professional athletes, after all, and could afford at least a little luxury.
So, Evan’s plain-Jane apartment was a bit surprising.
Evan sauntered down the hallway, his head down, examining something on his wrist. His hair was wet and combed back. His clothes…
I’d never seen Elli’s brother looking so high-end, like he’d just stepped off his private jet in Milan and not like a Minnesota hockey player preparing to kickback on his budget couch to watch a game.
“Check out my new watch,” he said, then lifted his head. His face was split with a wide grin that quickly flattened when he realized he wasn’t alone with his sister.
“What’s this?” he asked suspiciously. “An intervention?”
“Do you need one?” Elli asked, and Lukas rose to his feet beside her.
Evan’s face got red. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Is that the Rolex Land-Dweller 60?” Lukas asked.
Evan rocked back on his heels, apparently surprised by the change in topics.
Personally, I was surprised, too—first, that Lukas’s vision was so good he could tell the watch’s make and model from fifteen feet away; second, that a man whose apartment décor was barely one step up from “college dorm room” would splurge on a watch that expensive.
It had to cost twenty to thirty grand. I’d give my first born to land a luxury-watch sponsor like Rolex.
Evan quickly recovered from his surprise, and his expression soured. I hated to see such animosity between old friends. Didn’t they know how precious their relationship was?
“I suppose an alpha would know his watches,” Evan said.
If that was meant to be a dig, Lukas didn’t take the bait. He merely gave Evan a one-shouldered shrug and said, “My father has the same one. The bezel scratched my cornea when he landed his first punch.”
I felt that in a visceral way, and a shiver ran up the backs of my thighs.
Sean put his arm around my shoulders. He was so attuned to me.
“Why are you all here?” Evan asked, glancing down at the coffee table. “And drinking my beer?”
That was neither accurate nor fair. No one had popped the top off a bottle.
“You weren’t at the team meeting,” Lukas said.
“Then you missed the game,” Sean added.
“That’s between me and management,” Evan said.
“Have you been suspended?” Q asked.
Evan smiled. “We’re on a winning streak. O’Rourke doesn’t want to mess with the lineup if he doesn’t have to.”
“Then you’ve been fined,” Rafe concluded, which was apparently the next obvious assumption, but what did I know?
“Yeah,” Evan said, “and I’ve paid it. I—”
“How much?” Elli asked, and something in her tone surprised me. It suggested a new kind of concern—not for her brother’s physical safety, but for his wallet.
He waved her concern away. “Nothing for you to worry about, Tiny.”
“You’ve got enough disposable cash to pay a fine and buy a new watch?” Sean asked. “All in the same week?”
“Again,” Evan said tightly. “That’s none of your business.”
“You know what is my business?” Sean asked, but he didn’t wait for a response.
“Kiera getting her ass in a sling over a missing hundred K, you showing up at the bodega where that money was stolen, and now you’re walking around with a watch that costs a small fortune and paying a fine without breaking a sweat. ”
Bitterness tightened the corners of Evan’s eyes. “Fuck you, Murph. I haven’t stolen anything. Ever.”
“Salaries are published in Creature Confidential every year,” Rafe said. “We know what the league pays you.”
And with that, I was finally putting together what they were saying. Yes, Evan was a pro athlete, but he didn’t make what Rafe, Lukas, or Sean made. He was human—still good enough to play, but not top tier, and that was reflected in his pay.
Evan’s eyes flashed at Rafe, “That’s right.
I’m a second-class citizen on the ice. Fuck, maybe on this whole planet.
But there’s more than one way to earn a living, and maybe some of us have to take advantage of all the ways to put food on the table and a fucking watch on our wrists.
Shit! I don’t go around micromanaging all of your purchases. ”
I let out a breath. It wasn’t just that I really, really wanted to believe Elli’s brother hadn’t been the one to put me, my own brother—and even Sean for that matter—at risk. My gut told me he was telling the truth.
He hadn’t stolen the money out of my car, and he hadn’t stolen it from whoever did.
He’d earned it—and if not from hockey, then from some other pursuit. Lots of people had side hustles. My whole career had started that way.
But the guys weren’t letting up.
“What do you know about Chandler Moss?” Rafe asked.
“Who?” Evan asked.
“The guy who abducted your sister,” Lukas said.
Pain and regret filled Evan’s eyes, but he shook his head. “I don’t know that name.”
Again, I was sure he was telling the truth, but he was holding something back.
Elli must have seen it too because she asked, “What aren’t you telling us, Ev?”
He clenched his teeth. “There’s nothing to tell.”
“What about Lou Ritter?” Sean asked, and the other guys turned their heads toward him, their eyebrows drawn in confusion.
I was right there with them. Who the hell was Lou Ritter? Was this some of the info Sean had gotten from my brother?
Evan tipped his head to the side like a bird examining a mystery bug. “Who the hell is Lou Ritter?”
“The guy who shot at me and Kiera outside that bodega you like to visit,” Sean replied tightly.
I flinched. I didn’t know why, but knowing the guy’s name made it feel even more real. For a second, I heard the echo of a gunshot in my ears.
Evan shrugged.
“No?” Sean asked. “Then how about Junior? Where is he?”