Echoes of Fire (The Mercury Pack #4)(82)
Getting to her feet, she grabbed the blanket from the ground and dumped it on the porch swing as she made her way into the lodge.
Bracken looked up from where he was loading two plates with food. He stilled, clearly unsure what reception he’d receive, bracing himself for impact. “Morning, baby.”
She could see that he was waiting for her to condemn him for emotionally bailing on her. Waiting for her to yell at him for selfishly making yesterday all about him and what he felt when she’d been the one who’d been attacked. Waiting for her to go to war with him over his very firm statement that he’d be her shadow whenever she left his territory.
God knew he deserved to hear all those things.
The thing was . . . she didn’t want to fight with him. “Next time you swan off leaving me with members of your pack, you and I are gonna have problems. Do you have any idea how chatty Shaya and Ally can be? Harley, Roni, and Gwen all turned up. I like them well enough, but I’m not used to dealing with visitors. I don’t make a good host.”
Bracken let out a long, relieved breath. He crossed to her and took her hands. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry I shut down on you. It happens sometimes, and I never know how to undo it. I wasn’t there for you last night. Not physically or emotionally. I didn’t mean to take that long, but it doesn’t change the fact that I left you on a night when you’d just been attacked.”
She frowned. “I can cope on my own for a few hours, Bracken.”
“Doesn’t matter. I still shouldn’t have left you. Not even to speak to that bastard.” Bracken slid his hands under her shirt and skimmed his fingers over the spots where the rake marks had been. Thanks to Ally, there wasn’t even a slight indentation. Just soft, flawless skin. Settled by that, he gave her a soft, light, apologetic kiss. “I really am sorry, baby.”
She placed her hands on his upper arms. “I’m not mad at you for shutting down—you didn’t do it on purpose. I’m not even mad that you didn’t stay with me. It’s natural that you wanted to deal with the hyena. I’m mad that you felt like you’d failed me. When you take on guilt for shit you aren’t responsible for, you relieve the true culprit of some of their guilt. And whether you like it or not, you cannot realistically be with me every moment.”
“Not every moment,” he agreed. “Just the times that you’re not on our territory.”
“You’re going to come to the shelter’s kitchen while I cook? You’re going to follow me to the laundry room while I clean sheets and clothes? You’re going to be there while I scrub the bathrooms or whatever else I might be doing? I don’t have one single duty. I do different things on different days.”
“And I’ll be right there.”
“The only way that’s happening is if you give me a helping hand with that stuff.” She caught his wince before he had the chance to pull it back. “And I’ll only allow it until the Maverick Clan situation has blown over—that’s a good compromise. Speaking of the clan, am I right in thinking that the hyena was hired by Archer?”
“You are.” Bracken gestured at a chair. “Sit down. I’ll tell you the rest while we eat.” Once he’d set their plates and mugs on the table, he sat opposite her. “According to the hyena, whose name was Reggie, he was in fact hired by Archer.”
Noticing he’d referred to the hyena in the past tense, she sipped at her coffee. “So he was a loner?”
“Yes. To earn money and protection, he retrieved things for people. A guy called his burner phone, introduced himself as Archer, gave Reggie instructions, and guaranteed him ‘payment on delivery.’”
“Why would Archer hire a loner when he has so many bears he can call on?”
“It didn’t make sense to me at first either.” Bracken forked some scrambled eggs. “But then I had to wonder if Archer didn’t want to be associated with another failed plan. This way, if the loner fucked up, people would roll their eyes and talk about how loners weren’t reliable. But if one of his bears had again failed, it would have reflected on Archer. He can’t afford to look weaker than he already does. Also, he probably didn’t want to risk us carving up another one of his bears, especially since said bear might have been convinced by us to share certain information, such as Archer’s whereabouts.”
“Where was Reggie supposed to deliver me?” she asked, slicing into her pancake.
“A spot near the marina. Me, Nick, Eli, and Zander checked it out. That’s why I was so late coming to you last night.”
“And?”
Bracken finished chewing his bacon before replying. “And it was clear that several motorcycles had been in that very spot not long before we turned up. They must have hightailed it out of there when Reggie took too long to arrive, figuring that the hyena had messed up somehow.”
She took another sip of her coffee. “Is there any way of finding out where the Maverick Clan is staying?”
“Archer has two MC chapters here in California. Nick asked Donovan to look into whether any of the chapters own any local properties that the clan could potentially be using as a temporary base.”
Placing her cup on the table, she narrowed her eyes. “Tell me you’re not planning to go hunting.”
“I’m not. I couldn’t leave you even if I wanted to—I need to see for myself that you’re safe and well.” The hyena’s attack had stomped right on his overprotective streak, making him ten times worse than he had been before. “I can’t do that if I’m hunting Archer. But I’m not going to sit back and wait for him to make another fucking move either. I warned him to stay away from you, and yeah, I figured he wouldn’t. Still, he had a choice. He didn’t make the right one, and then he sent a loner after you. That’s pretty much a declaration of war right there. So I intend to find out where he is and then do what any male would when someone threatened his mate. Kill him.”