Twisted Mercy (Red Team Book 4) (41 page)

“He’s dead, Hope. He’s never going to hurt you again.” Max set a hand on her neck and gently pulled her into his arms. “Now you see why your mom wanted to get you out?”

She leaned in to him. “I never doubted her for that.” After a minute, she looked up at him. “What if Hatchet’s kind of crazy is in my blood?”

Max touched her cheek. He could see in her eyes how concerned she was. “I don’t think that’s the right thing to worry about. It’s not our reality. You know, if we’re lucky enough to have kids, they’ll have all of our love. They’ll be protected and cared for. Cherished. If we give them the right start, they’ll thrive.” He smiled. “Besides, you don’t think there’s crazy in my genes? I think my crazy trumps your crazy. You don’t call me Mads for nothing.”

She laughed and shook her head. “I love you.”

He kissed her forehead. “You are the best thing that ever happened to me, Hope. I love you.”

* * *

“Lion!” Hope ran toward her brother as he and Max came out to the patio a few days later. She stopped short of hugging him, only because that movement still hurt. Instead, she reached for his hand and squeezed it. He caught her upper arms and pulled her gently against his chest, careful not to touch her back or jostle her shoulder.

Hope leaned against him and smiled. Her first ever hug from her brother. “Oh, Lion. It’s good to see you. Will you be staying for lunch?” she asked as she stepped back. Max put an arm around her.

Lion looked at Max, who nodded. “I guess so,” Lion said, smiling.

“Are the boys all right?” she asked.

“Fine. A couple of them have decided to specialize as cooks for our pride. They have a talent for it. Mad Dog’s friend, Feral, has started going hunting with us.”

“I’m glad. That’s an efficient use of their skills. And how wonderful Feral’s helping and learning from you!” Hope looked up at Max. “Lion, we found a letter Mom wrote to me. It was left in her file. She tried to get us away from the WKB. She was working with the FBI as a witness against the club in exchange for new identities for us. The letter was to have been given to me when I turned eighteen if something went wrong, as it did. It was forgotten until Max found it.” She handed it to him. “I think you should read it.”

Max kissed her temple. “I’m going to go let Kathy know we’ve another for lunch.” He set a hand on Lion’s shoulder, meeting his eyes, then stepped back into the house.

Lion unfolded the letter. He didn’t read it at first, just ran his fingertips over the soft script, touching words their mom had touched. Hope kept silent as he read. His expression didn’t change while he was reading it, or after, when he lowered the letter and looked at her.

He shook his head, once. “Hatchet was not my father.”

Not this argument again. “Lion, our mother spelled it out in her letter. You read it.”

“She said your father was Hatchet. She never mentioned mine.”

Hope frowned. “Then who’s your father?”

“King.”

DEDICATION

For Barry, always

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A big thanks to Barbara and Michelle. I appreciate your willingness to drop everything and do a quick read whenever I need it!

I’d also like to give a shout out to my very special team of beta readers who suffered through a rough first draft of Max’s story and pushed me to go deeper. They let me see his story through their eyes, which was exactly what I needed!

Other Books by Elaine Levine:

~Red Team Series~

(This series must be read in order)

1
The Edge of Courage
(2012)

2
Shattered Valor
(2012)

3
Honor Unraveled
(2013)

3.5
Kit & Ivy: A Red Team Wedding Novella
(2014)

4 Twisted Mercy (2014)

~ Men of Defiance Series ~

(This series may be read in any order)

1
Rachel and the Hired Gun
(2009)

2
Audrey and the Maverick
(2010)

3
Leah and the Bounty Hunter
(2011)

4
Logan’s Outlaw
(2012)

5
Agnes and the Renegade
(2014)

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at
[email protected]

Published by Elaine Levine

Copyright © 2014 Elaine Levine

Cover art by Hot Damn Designs

Editing by
editing720.blogspot.com

Last Updated: 10-10-2014

All rights reserved.

Print Edition ISBNs:

ISBN-10: 0692305491

ISBN-13: 978-0692305492

About the Author

Elaine Levine lives on the plains of Colorado with her husband, a middle-aged parrot, and a rescued pit bull/bullmastiff mix. In addition to writing the Red Team romantic suspense series, she is the author of several books in the historical western series Men of Defiance.
 

Visit her online at
ElaineLevine.com
for more information about her upcoming books. She loves hearing from readers! Contact her at
[email protected]
or sign up for her new release announcements at
http://eepurl.com/tJuy5
.
 

If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review at your favorite online retailer or at
Goodreads.com
to help other readers find it.

OUTTAKE

Adam Banks wandered out the front door of Ty’s house. Two large black SUVs were parked out front. The men who’d escorted him and his wife from the Cheyenne airport were loading up for the return trip. Adam brought their luggage over to them.
 

It was odd that he felt reluctant to leave. Ivy had come a long way from the little girl whose heart was bigger than her common sense. She’d given them the tour of her diner. She’d finally found her place in the world, despite all the ways he’d failed her.

Her customers adored her, while he didn’t know her at all.
 

But the hell years were over, for her and him and her mom. And Casey. They’d already discussed coming back for another visit in the next few months. Now that they’d made a new beginning, he didn’t want too much time to pass before they could see each other again.
 

“Adam,” his wife called from the house, “come in for brunch. Everyone’s gathering.”

He walked back to the house. Shadows were returning to his wife’s face. The worst thing about a wonderful weekend like this was that it was only a weekend. He took hold of Helen’s arms and kissed her forehead. She forced a smile. He did the same. “We’ll be back.”

Casey came out and hugged them both, then led them back inside to the dining room. Lots of people were moving around, talking, drinking coffee or sipping the mimosas Ivy’s staff had prepared. Adam sent a look around the room, noticing something very different between the men who’d escorted them and Ivy’s husband’s core team. And it wasn’t just their clothes.
 

Owen had a black eye and a swollen nose. Kit had a couple of stitches in his cheek. Every one of the other guys had some bruise or scrape on their knuckles or face or neck. What the hell had happened after the wedding last night?

He looked around and didn’t see Ivy. When he asked after her, someone mentioned she was in the garage. He excused himself from Helen and Casey, then went looking for his daughter.
 

An old Chevy truck was parked inside the big garage. Two of Kit’s men were dumping ice into the truck bed, the big Puerto Rican and the one with pink nails. Ivy was securing a tarp over part of the bed.
 

The pink-nails guy nudged her. She turned around fast. “Dad.”

“Hi.” He frowned at the truck. “Brunch is on. I didn’t want you to miss it.”

“Oh. I’ll be right in.” The guys dropped more ice into the bed, shoving it around. Something fell out and hung over the side. Ivy quickly tucked it back in.

He nodded toward the truck. “What are you doing?” he asked as he came in for a closer look.

She walked over to him, blocking his way. She took hold of his arm and led him back toward the house. “Oh, just getting ready for later. We’re going to have a small cookout and bonfire way out on Blade’s property. Need a lot of ice to keep things cool—it’ll be a hot day.”

They stepped into the house. He looked back at the truck and the two guys still dumping ice into it. They nodded at him and smiled. Something wasn’t sitting right with it at all. When they walked into the dining room, he saw the sorry state of Kit’s men. One he remembered from the round of toasts last night had a bandage around his arm.
 

Kit came over and shook his hand. Adam narrowed his eyes at his daughter’s husband. Maybe he should rethink leaving Ivy here. “What happened after the wedding last night?”

Kit gave him a blank look. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I’ve never seen such a sorry set of men.”

“Oh.” Kit laughed and wrapped an arm around Ivy’s waist. “We had a rumble. We fight after every party. It’s how we celebrate.” He shook his head and gestured with his hand. “It’s a team thing. Tradition, you know.” He looked at the other guys, who reinforced his comment with a boisterous “Hooah!” that made Adam jump.

When they all smiled, Adam shook his head. “Huh.” He shrugged and looked at his wife. “Guess we better get in the chow line before the gladiators eat it all.”