“No, you don’t! I do know you. You’re a Sentry Dragon, Tawk. You don’t feel. You don’t have emotion. You have a job, and you do it.”
“And that job is to protect my meal ticket,” he gritted out, feeling exposed in front of Wreck. “You’re saying too much about me in front of mixed company—”
“In front of my Alpha, and it’s really up to him on whether you stay here in town or he burns you alive and doesn’t gift you with those little green flames that will bring you back.”
An old, silver 4Runner with a black hood and a rack on top of it pulled past Wreck’s truck and turned into the driveway of the house next door. It was a nice rig. Huge tires on a big lift,with a fishtail of mud all down the side. It looked like it had been driven through a bog. Nice.
The door opened and he was shocked at who slid out of there. That bartender, Tammy, slid out of the driver’s seat, her wary eyes on him.
“Are you listening to anything I’m saying?” Kade barked.
Tawk forced his gaze away from where Tammy was making her way up the sidewalk to the front door. She lived here? In that house?
“I zoned out at the insults. Look, I didn’t know how to ask permission to come into your territory,” he told Wreck. “I’ve been in town for a few weeks hoping I run into someone from your Crew.”
“You literally have my contact information,” Kade called him out.
“In my old phone that I left in my damn house the day I left Sister’s Edge.”
Kade frowned. “Why didn’t you get your stuff?”
Did Tawk admit to Kade that he had torched Derek for his poor leadership in front of the entire Crew before he left? Did he admit he burned every bridge on his way out? Did he tell him about how he’d only had time to grab the keys to his truck because he’d ignited a war in Sister’s Edge as he’d gone? Should he tell Kade he’d defended him to that Crew? Loudly? Did he tell him how he’d gone to bat for Jess?
Nah.
Tawk shrugged. “Wanted a fresh start.”
“Minute four and already lying,” Wreck observed.
Tawk gave him a remorseless smile. “Us Sentry Dragons find lying easy.”
“You’re from a problem Crew, with a grudge against us. You have a past with Kade and Jess. You smell sick. Why should I let you stay here?”
The sick part drew him up. “I’m not sick.”
“Aren’t you? You’re eyes were glowing yellow, and now they’re turning red. How is the dragon feeling?”
Tawk clenched his teeth to stop himself from lashing out. Steady now. “The dragon is feeling strong.”
Wreck cocked his head and studied Tawk.
“You can’t dictate who lives in town,” Tawk said.
“The fuck I can’t.”
Okay, so Wreck understood his power, as well as his place at the top of the food chain. Bluffing wouldn’t get Tawk far with him, that much was clear.
His sigh turned to a growl. “Look, if you let me exist near Jess, I’ll keep her safe.”
The back window rolled down, and there was Jess herself. What the hell? He hadn’t even felt her presence here. She’d been back there the entire time, listening? Why could he not feel her?
“I don’t need you to keep me safe,” she told him. “I have myself for that, and then I have Kade, and then I have my Crew.”
Tawk chewed the corner of his lip. Jess was different now. She was confident and seemed to be glowing with some aura he’d never seen on her before. She wasn’t averting her gaze any longer. Instead, she was looking straight into his eyes unblinking. Atta girl.
“By protecting you,” he said irritably, “I mean you and everything and everyone you love. It won’t hurt to have the fealty of a Sentry in town if you ever needed one. I won’t bother you or interfere with your life.”
“You’ll just eat my power.”
