Page 21 of Knot Your Pawn

All the tension and stress leaves me as the tears and the sobs keep coming, as I quietly break down, no longer able to keep it all inside.

My phone buzzes, waking me up, and I look at the lit screen in front of me. It’s Nathan.

I blink, trying to stretch, when I notice that Luca is still holding onto my hand. Oh, right. That happened. A bright feeling flutters in my chest as I softly squeeze Luca’s hand, happy he hasn’t let go yet.

Then I look up more and notice that Riley is asleep, curled up on her side, her face finally relaxed.

I have no idea how long I’ve been asleep for, but while my eyes feel puffy, my head feels much clearer and my heart feels lighter. The miracles of a good cry and a good nap.

With my empty hand, I push myself up and move my phone to read Nathan’s message. ‘Don’t be too alarmed. Jace found new bounties, posted less than an hour ago.’

I sit up more, breaking my connection with Luca, and the motion seems to wake up Riley too. Either that, or possibly my spike in pheromones.

Nathan is typing out more, but I don’t want to wait on him. I can’t. My heart is already hammering enough and I don’t want my mind to come up with a million reasons why he’d be telling me this.

Before he finishes typing, I call him instead, already standing up and crossing Riley’s room to the hallway. I don’t want to have this conversation around Luca.

The moment the call connects, I need to know. “Who are they for?”

“Your whole pack.” Nathan’s voice is tense. “Mum is on the phone with Caleb right now. She’s got more information about it. I just know the broad strokes.” He takes a quick breath. “I wanted to let you know so you...”

The door behind me opens and Riley wraps her arm around my waist, pulling me against her as she puts the call on speaker.

“I just saw your messages. Is Jace sending everything to Timothy?” Riley’s pheromones are strong, in control, focused.

“Yes. Of course.” Nathan stumbles over his words and I realise that he’s scared. He’s scared for us. That’s why he messaged us, so we would know about it before Caleb or any of the others would dump everything on us. He wanted to give us a head’s up.

“Good.” Riley nuzzles my neck, her pheromones softening slightly, though still focused, she’s gone into work-mode. “Anything else you can tell us? Any other new names?”

“A few that we didn’t recognise. Everything is being sent to Timothy and his team right now.” Nathan seems to calm down from Riley taking control over the conversation. “I did notice that there were a couple of people with the same last name, a range of ages, looks to be a whole family. We’ve not found them anywhere in our system before. Their listings went up at the same time as the others, so we presume they’re connected.”

There’s movement in the doorway to Riley’s room, Luca staring at us, his eyes wide, confused.

“Here I have it. Damen. Does that ring a bell for you?” Nathan’s words sound too loud as Luca’s face goes deadly pale and Riley and I grab for him at the same time.

Oh, fuck.

Fucking hell...

Those bastards!

9

Caleb

I stare at my phone as Erika walks us through what Jace found. Bounties on our whole pack, Luca’s family, the three guys we grabbed and the kids.

They fucking put bounties on the kids!

I’m going to take these bastards down.

I’m going to take them down once and for all.

“Caleb? Caleb!” Erika’s voice barely breaks through the fog of fury and destruction in my head. “You can wallow in your rage later. I need you to focus first.”

I look around the library, glad I’m only in here with Timothy and some of his tech team, who are currently staring at me in shock and silence. Just because I can usually keep my calm, doesn’t mean I can’t lose my temper, especially if I’m spread too thin already.

If Riley or Mathew hear about this...