Chapter Nine #5
Kevin stared at the ceiling and told himself he was going to leave before that point. Before it got messy. Before Rio looked at him differently. He would plan a clean exit with minimal damage. He was good at exits. He’d had a lot of practice.
He was also lying in his mate’s bed having this conversation with himself. After tonight. After what had happened in the office.
Maybe you should’ve thought of that before he put his mouth on your neck and his snow leopard decided that was a perfectly reasonable time to claim someone.
Great planning. Solid execution. Really top-tier decision-making all around.
The bathroom door opened.
Rio came to bed without turning on a light, moving through his own space with the confidence of someone who knew every inch of it. The mattress dipped as he settled in, and Kevin kept his eyes on the ceiling. His breathing evened out, and he refused to think about how close he was.
“Still awake,” Rio said.
“Resting my eyes.”
“Your eyes are open.”
“They’re resting in the open position.” Kevin turned his head. In the dark, Rio was a shape beside him, close enough that he could feel the warmth coming off his mate. “I’m fine.”
“I know,” Rio said and left it there.
Kevin waited for more. There wasn’t any. Just Rio, seeming comfortable with silence without a need to fill it.
“No regrets,” Rio said, after a while. “In case you’re wondering.”
Kevin looked back at the ceiling. His impala stirred.
He didn’t say anything back, because regrets had a way of arriving on a delay and Rio would learn that eventually. You didn’t know what you were signing up for yet. You’ve known me for twelve hours through a parking lot crisis and one night on an office desk. Wait until you see the full picture.
He kept all of that behind his lips and listened to Rio’s breathing slow into sleep.
Outside, the mountain was quiet. Just wind in the pines and the occasional creak of a branch on a nearby tree.
Kevin knew he should sleep.
He stared into the darkness instead, his jaw set, listening to his mate breathe beside him. Rio might’ve said he had no regrets, but Kevin knew his mate eventually would. No one wanted drama in their life, and Kevin’s life was nothing but chaotic.
Thinking of Rio walking away made him ache. Maybe Kevin would bail before things got complicated.
That ship has already sailed.
* * * *
Izan sat back in his chair, enjoying his drink.
The office was quiet, which was why it was his favorite room. It had good wood and thick rugs, made with the kind of construction that ate sound and gave nothing back.
He’d built this. All of it. That mattered to him, even if no one else understood why it did.
Outside the tall windows, the mountain sat dark against a black sky. For twenty minutes Izan had been gazing at the landscape will he sat deep in thought.
Ameer was near the door, undoubtedly eager to hunt. The man was a loaded weapon with no safety and a hair trigger, which made him extraordinarily useful and occasionally exhausting.
“Sit,” Izan said.
“I’m fine.”
Izan glanced at his enforcer.
Ameer sat, his jaw set, his arms crossed over his broad frame. Jireh had already taken a chair near the window, quiet as always, which was why Izan trusted him with different things than he trusted Ameer.
Ameer was for breaking.
Jireh was for watching.
Lost in thought, Izan turned his glass on the desk, watching the light move through the amber.
Kevin. The delay was merely an inconvenience.
Izan wasn’t upset.
The impala had run. Found somewhere to land. He would get comfortable. That was what prey did when they thought they’d outrun the threat.
A smile curved Izan’s lips. The hunt had only just begun.
Chapter Four
Rio rolled over then cracked his eyes open to find an empty bed. The cold sheets on Kevin’s side told Rio he’d been gone at least an hour, maybe longer. Sunlight filtered through the curtains, painting stripes across the rumpled comforter where his mate should’ve been.
Rio sat up, running a hand over his face. His snow leopard paced restlessly, aware of the absence like a missing tooth.
Last night had been quiet. Too quiet. Kevin had lain beside him, breathing evenly but not sleeping—Rio had known the difference—and sometime before dawn, he’d slipped out without a sound.
Smart move, actually. Leaving while Rio slept meant no goodbyes, no awkward conversations, no chance for Rio to talk him into staying.
Except Kevin didn’t know Rio well enough yet to understand that his snow leopard could track that pull across half the state if necessary. Distance wouldn’t sever their bond.
Rio showered quickly, letting hot water beat against his shoulders while his mind worked through possibilities. Kevin had bolted. Fine. People ran when they were scared, and Kevin had every reason to be wary after what Izan had done. But running didn’t make him safe. It just made him alone.
After dressing, he grabbed his keys and headed for the Escalade. Morning air bit cold against his face. His phone was already in his hand.
Zeppelin answered on the second ring. “Little early for a social call.”
“Got a problem,” Rio said, climbing into the driver’s seat. “Wolf shifter named Izan. Assaulted someone in a club parking lot forty-five minutes from here then chased them into Crimson Hollow.”
“They still breathing?”
“For now.” Rio started the engine and pulled out of his driveway. “Izan backed off when his target made it to town, but I don’t trust it. Feels like a retreat, not a surrender.”
“You think he’s coming back.”
“I think he’s the type who doesn’t let things go.” Rio turned onto the main road, heading toward Glass Oak. “Just wanted you aware. If he shows up with pack, it could get messy.”
“I’ll be in town in an hour,” Zeppelin said. “Swing by the restaurant. We’ll talk.”
Rio ended the call, tossing the phone onto the passenger seat. His snow leopard settled slightly, satisfied that backup was coming. Zeppelin’s pack controlled the mountain territory around Crimson Hollow. If Izan wanted to start something here, he’d have to go through them first.
That still didn’t explain where Kevin had gone.
Rio pulled into Glass Oak’s parking lot just as dawn began painting the eastern sky in shades of orange and pink. His restaurant sat quiet, its windows dark, the only sound coming from a pair of crows arguing in the pine tree near the dumpster.
He liked these early hours. Solitude before the controlled chaos of service It gave him time to prep in silence and get his head straight before the kitchen filled with heat and noise and the constant demands of cooking for people who expected perfection on a plate.
Today, solitude felt wrong. His snow leopard wanted Kevin here, wanted to know where he’d gone and whether he was safe. Wanted to track him down and drag him back, if necessary, though Rio’s human side knew that approach would backfire spectacularly.
Inside the restaurant, Rio flipped on lights, started the coffee maker, and began his usual routine. Checked inventory and prepped mise en place. Muscle memory carried him through tasks he’d done thousands of times, while his mind stayed half-focused on his little impala.
A sound outside made him pause mid-chop. Engine noise, low and unfamiliar. Not one of his staff. They all drove vehicles Rio could identify by sound alone.
He set down his knife, moving to the window.
An SUV sat idling in the parking lot. Black, expensive, tinted windows that made it impossible to see inside. Just sitting there, engine running, pointed toward the restaurant.
Rio walked outside, wiping his hands on his apron. Morning sunlight hit the SUV’s windshield at an angle that turned it into a mirror. There was still no clear view of the driver.
“Can I help you?” He kept his voice level, friendly enough to be polite but flat enough to make it clear he wasn’t invested in the answer.
After a long moment, the driver’s window rolled down. A man sat behind the wheel, maybe late twenties, with a build that came from serious gym time and a face that probably intimidated people who intimidated easily. Dark eyes swept over Rio with an assessment that was pure predator.
Wolf. Rio’s snow leopard recognized the scent immediately.
“Doubt it,” the man said. A smirk curved his mouth, the expression of someone who thought he was being clever.
“Private property,” Rio said.
“That so?” The man looked around the parking lot with an accessing gaze. “Looks pretty public to me.”
“Looks can be wrong.” Rio crossed his arms and settled his weight into a non-threatening stance, making his immovable presence felt. “You looking for something specific or just taking in the scenery?”
For a beat, nothing happened. Just two shifters staring at each other across ten feet of asphalt while the SUV’s engine purred, and another crow called out.
Then the man smiled wider, put the SUV in gear, and slowly pulled out of the lot.
Rio stood there until the vehicle disappeared around the bend then pulled out his phone and typed the license plate number into his notes. Colorado plates. Seven characters he’d memorized in the short time they’d been visible.
Back inside, he returned to his prep work, but his focus was shot. That hadn’t been random. Nobody drove to a business at dawn just to park and leave. The timing was too convenient, too close to Kevin’s arrival in town and Izan’s interest in finding him.
When the motorcycles rumbled into the lot twenty minutes later, Rio was ready. He met Zeppelin at the door, along with two other wolves. Vaughn, the beta, and a pack member named Quinn.
“Inside,” Rio said, holding the door. “I’ll make breakfast.”
They settled at one of the dining room tables while Rio worked in the kitchen, putting together plates of eggs and bacon and the sourdough toast that was always better when it came from yesterday’s loaf. Cooking gave his hands something to do while his mind turned over the morning’s events.