Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
“The first two were oddly phrased warnings. Let sleeping dogs lie, and You know what happened to the curious cat. The third read, Back off if you want to live,” Viper added, his entity baring his teeth at the memory.
“Back off from what?” asked Omen.
“That I don’t know.” There was a creak of leather as Viper leaned forward in his chair. “Ella thinks they’re from the demon who knocked her out with a psychic punch; that he’s trying to put her off digging to uncover his identity. But we all know that isn’t true, because he’s dead.”
Darko scratched at his jaw. “What else would she need to ‘back off’ from?”
“Again, I don’t know,” replied Viper. “But I do know that there’s power stamped in the ink.”
“Power?” echoed Blackjack, frowning.
Viper dipped his chin. “A compulsion of some sort. It was impossible to tell more without triggering the trap, and Ella was quick to deactivate it. It was probably best that she did. If the target is her, it might not matter who speaks the words; only that they’re spoken aloud.”
Sting regarded him closely. “Do you think someone from the upper realm is sending the notes?”
“The compulsive power didn’t feel either celestial or demonic in nature to me, so I can’t be sure,” Viper told him. “But, really, why would the Uppers pay Ella any attention? I’ve been very careful not to give them reason to. The only people who know that she means anything to me are the people in this room.”
Jester froze. “V, none of us would ever dick with Ella this way. It would be no different from dicking with you.”
Hustle edged forward on his chair. “Wait, you think it was one of us?” His gaze bounced from brother to brother.
“I think it could be.” As did Viper’s entity. Hence why it was currently eyeing them all suspiciously. “Maybe none of you have a personal hand in what’s happening, but you could have clued in the Uppers as to who she is to me.”
A stunned silence greeted that statement.
Staring at his club members, knowing that one of them could very well be responsible for taunting Ella … It hit hard. He wouldn’t have thought that any would betray him. But then, he hadn’t thought that the last six people he’d counted as family would ever fuck him over, and look what had happened there.
Darko shook his head. “No. We wouldn’t give the Uppers the steam off our shit, let alone any valuable information. Nor would we ever threaten or scare Ella. We know what she means to you. And come on, there’s no real reason why any of us would target her or give up her identity.”
“Someone might do the latter in exchange for a ticket back to the upper realm,” said Viper.
Prophet’s jaw went hard. “If that was the case, they’d be gone from here already. They wouldn’t stick around, risking you finding out what they’ve done.”
“Maybe not,” Viper allowed. “But there’s no saying for sure. Just as there’s no saying for certain that someone here isn’t writing the notes.”
Rivet slashed a hand through the air. “No. It’s gotta be one of the Uppers.”
“Her anchor will have plenty of enemies,” considered Razor. “One of his could be responsible.”
Unlikely. “They’d know it would be beyond stupid to target Luka Belinsky’s psi-mate.”
Razor gave a loose shrug. “There are lots of stupid people in this world.”
“There are also lots of people who do shitty things for what they believe is the right reason.” Viper drummed his fingers on the table again. “Fact is, I’ll have to tell Ella all our secrets eventually—everyone here knows that. Knows that having her in my life comes with many risks to us. Maybe someone here fears she’ll share our secrets with outsiders and so, for the good of us all, they want her out of the picture.”
Many expressions turned pensive.
“Now, everyone in this room is a ruthless motherfucker,” Viper went on. “We’ve all done way worse things than type some compulsion-embedded threats. Can any of you honestly tell me you’re positive that one of us hasn’t been sending Ella notes to protect our club and all we hold secret?”
Dice sighed. “Put like that, no. We’ve watched each other’s backs for a long time. There ain’t a lot we wouldn’t do to keep each other safe.”
“So, then, you get why I ain’t prepared to take the word of everyone here when they assure me that they didn’t do it,” said Viper. “I’m more of the opinion that someone outside our club is responsible, but I have to be certain that nobody here is an actual danger to my woman. I have to know there’s no traitor among us.”
Sting’s gaze sharpened. “You’re gonna search our minds, aren’t you?”
“I’m hoping it won’t come to that. Hoping the person behind the notes holds up their hands and admits to it, if it is someone here.” Viper ran his gaze along each of his brothers. “I’ll understand. Protecting each other is what we do. And Ella hasn’t been harmed. But if you lie to me, if you play innocent and I later learn you lied, I can’t promise I won’t skin you the fuck alive. So, does anyone have anything to confess?”