Traded (Blood Ties Book 5)

“You can’t be serious?” Guild muttered as he shook his head and stepped forward. “You want to go out in the middle of all this?”

London yanked his chair out and sat down. “That’s exactly what I want.” He punched in the log-in code to the Mac and clicked the screen.

“Think about it for a damn minute.” Guild stepped closer. “First, Killion, now Daniels. They’ll be watching you, London. The whole fucking city will be watching.”

But that’s what he wanted, wasn’t it?

Everyone will fucking know by the time I’m done.

Those were his exact words.

They’ll know because he plans on rubbing it in their faces.

The heavy tap, tap, tap, of his fingers smacked the keyboard before he fixed his attention on the screen. “Carven,” he called the son.

But the dangerous hunter didn’t move, not right away, at least. Silence grew as Guild glared at London. Both Carven and Colt were still, until they shifted their stance in unison and moved a little closer to me.

Warm arms brushed mine, their bodies pressed hard against me just like they had last night…and the entire study noticed. The hairs on the back of my neck rose as London looked our way and fixed on the two sons next to me. I waited for anger, for an ultimatum that had never been there before.

Because they’d always done what he wanted, no questions asked.

Now they weren’t just asking…

They were speaking loud and clear.

London glanced from Carven to Colt, then to me. My breaths raced as the corners of his lips twitched, then curled. There was a slow nod of his head before that hard expression softened.

Good. His stare said.

Because this was what he’d wanted. Their loyalty wasn’t just to the man who’d saved them from the Order anymore. It was to me, too, to the woman he’d watched forever, the woman he’d brought home for them.

You belong to us. Never worry about that.

I did belong to them.

They also belonged to me.

“I want them scared,” London said. “I want them so fucking scared they scramble like rats in a sinking ship. They’ll run and they’ll make mistakes. I want them to see me. I want them to see us. Then they’ll know,” he murmured and turned back to the screen. “They’ll know to never look at us again.”

He said to us…

But what he really meant was me.

They’d never look at me again.

This wasn’t just about retribution. It was about strength. About power. About hitting them when they were already falling, to make sure…they…never… got…up…again.

“Whatever you want, London,” I heard myself say. “I’ll do it.”

He met my gaze. Hunger, love, and desperation burned between us.

Heat rushed through me. Yes, Daddy, I whispered as that sexual tension between us grew.

Until Guild shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat. “What exactly do you need us to do, London?”

He took a deep breath, then glanced at Guild. That connection we’d had was dying away in the room. “What I need is to find out where the fuck Jack Castlemaine is.”

His focus shifted to the screen again. We all felt it, that eerie sense that something wasn’t quite right, and it drew us closer. Carven moved first and strode toward the desk as Guild followed, then Colt stepped behind me. The recording London had called up played out on the Mac. It was the inside of the storage sheds where London had kept Daniels…and Jack.

My breath stilled as I focused in on the image on the screen and watched as London rewound the footage. Light turned to darkness, then to light once more. His brow tightened as he pressed play. On the screen, I saw Jack slowly pace across the room, only to halt in the middle.

He stared at something out of view, then he slowly lifted his gaze. Goosebumps raced up my arms, making me shiver as the lights flickered inside the room before it plunged into darkness.

London leaned close and his lips curled in a sneer. It felt like a lifetime of darkness…but it was only seconds before the lights flicked back on to reveal an empty room.

“What the fuck?” Guild muttered.

London said nothing as he grasped the mouse and rewound the footage once more.

Once again, we watched as Jack paced the cell and glanced sideways at something or someone out of view. “He’s waiting for someone,” Carven muttered. “Look at him, pacing and watching.”

The lights flickered, then went out. Darkness, that’s what we stared at, nothing more than shifting shadows. London leaned close again, his gaze riveted the moment the lights came on. But there was nothing, no open door, no exploded wall. Most importantly, there was no Jack.

London reached up, flicked the camera, and pressed rewind until the words flashed across the screen NO SIGNAL.

No signal, what did that mean?

“Sonofabitch,” London growled. “It’s King. It has to be. That bastard. He waited until now? Of all the fucking times to get Jack out, he waited until now?” He stiffened. “The police station. The goddamn police station. I saw her…I saw—”

“Who?” I whispered.

London slowly turned his head and those eyes grew darker and more dangerous as they settled on me. “His eldest daughter.”

Eldest daughter?

It took a second before it hit me. I shook my head. “No, you said—”

“I didn’t know,” he interrupted as he rose from his seat. “There was no information in any records I’d seen, no way that anyone other than King could know. But the moment I saw her, I knew…”

“How?”

He fixed that stare on me. “Because I’d know those eyes anywhere.” He brushed the back of a curled finger along my temple. “They’re exactly like yours.”

I shook my head. But inside, I was reeling.

Sister?

I had another sister?

Exactly how many were there?

“If there’s another Daughter,” Guild started, but London shook his head.

“She’s not a Daughter. That’s what Jack said.”

Guild narrowed his gaze. “And you believe him?”

“Why would he lie?” London asked, then turned back to the empty screen. “Why would he lie, indeed?”

I stepped away, needing space to think. Colt and Carven watched me as I walked out of the study. I left them to the mysterious disappearance of Jack. I couldn’t help them with that, even if I’d wanted to.

Another sister?

One London had seen…close enough to look into her eyes. A flare of jealousy tore through me. Had he looked into her eyes like he looked into mine?

He wouldn’t.

There were many things London St. James was. Dangerous, hungry, and the most infuriatingly erotic man I’d ever met in my entire life. He took my breath away. He scrambled my mind. He made me feel things that were detrimental to my mental health…and yet…I couldn’t stop.

One taste of him.

Of that power…

And that need.

One kiss of those lips.

And the feel of his hands on my body, and I knew I was done. Me. My needs. My desires. My wants all revolved around him…and now the sons. But he wasn’t a liar and I knew now he wasn’t a cheater.

I’d trust him.

Until he broke that trust.

What would happen after that? A shudder tore through me as I stepped into my bedroom. I didn’t know and I sure as hell didn’t want to find out. The familiar slow, steady thud of footsteps echoed along the hall. I knew he’d follow me. Because I knew them all too well now, didn’t I? Better than I knew this desperate, consumed version of myself.

“It’s okay,” I murmured as I felt his energy behind me when I stopped at the foot of the messed-up bed. “I just needed a second, that’s all.”

He didn’t touch me, not with his hands, at least. Warm breath blasted against the back of my neck, as an icy, malevolent whisper filled my ears. “Are you afraid of me now?”

I stiffened and closed my eyes.

My mind conjured images of what had remained of Macoy Daniels before I quickly shoved them away. Nope. No freaking way…not gonna do that. Not going to—a tremor rose and with it, I became aware of my racing pulse. “Yes,” I whispered. “Yes, I’m afraid of you.”

“I hurt people. That’s all I’m good at.” The faint brush of a finger came against my neck. I tilted my head to the side, knowing this was what it felt like to be submissive to a predator. Your life in their hands. One bite. One stab. One…word…and you were over.

His hand closed around my neck and his strong fingers grasped tight. “Know this, Wildcat. I will never hurt you. I’d rather you run than to ever see that terrified look on your face again, especially when it’s aimed at me. So, this is me promising you with all I have to my name, that I will never lay a hand on you. That I will protect you with this pathetic excuse for a life…until you no longer want or need me.”

No longer want?

I turned around and faced that chilling stare. Only it wasn’t so chilling now, was it? It was darker, deeper, the depths taking me all the way down. “Then it looks like you have me for all time, unless you have a problem with that?”

The corners of Carven’s mouth curled. “I’m sure I’ll suffer through it.”

I scowled when he reached around to the small of his back, but when he opened his hand, I froze, then frantically shook my head as I stared at the tracker. “No…no fucking way.”

“You have to.”

I jerked my gaze to his. “I said no.”

“You. Have. To.” But his growl wasn’t cruel, it was desperate. He searched my eyes. “I have to be able to find you. I have to know who I need to kill to get to you.”

My voice was so small. “That didn’t help me before, did it?”

He flinched. “You’re here, aren’t you? You’re here, and Daniel’s isn’t. Like London said, they’ll never look at you again.”

I lowered my gaze. “Then I won’t need that, will I?” I met his stare. “I won’t need that because I’ll have you. You won’t let them take me. They will not hurt me. Before that ever happens, you will kill them all.” I stepped closer and pressed my body against his until I looked up at him. “Won’t you?”

He inched his head down until those hard lips brushed mine. “Until my last breath.”

Then he kissed me.

His hand gripped the back of my neck and held me in place.

He might not have said the words…but Carven had just told me he loved me.

When he broke the kiss, he knew it, too. He held my stare until, with a snarl, he grabbed his phone and looked down. “I have to go. You have my number, Wildcat. I want you to text, call, whatever you need, got it?”

I nodded as I met his gaze.

He took a step backwards. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

He left then, striding from the room. I knew wherever London was sending him was important. But it didn’t make me feel better as I watched him go. I pulled off my sweats and tugged off my socks before I stepped into the bathroom and started the shower.

London wanted to go out.

It’d be the first real outing since the mall, and I knew how well that had turned out. I stepped under the spray and tried my best to push it all away. Maybe London was right? Maybe this was the end of it all. With Hale arrested, the cops would start looking into the Order and they’d never stop.

He’d go away forever…

And the entire festering pit would crumble.

I washed and let the thought of that flow right through me.

And hoped.