by Faith Gibson
“Are you okay?” Kerrigan asked.
“Yeah, I… Ryker? Can you come outside for a second?” Mav didn’t wait on his brother to follow. He needed air.
“What’s up?” Ryker asked, closing the French door behind him.
Mav handed him the papers. “This was in the mailbox.”
“What the fuck?” Ryker asked.
War closed the lid on the grill and joined them. “What is it?”
Ryker flipped through each page. “It’s a contract. Well, it’s what looks like a contract. These come in from Nexus via email. The identifying portion has been removed, but the format is exactly the same. Why would someone warn you about a hit taken out on you?”
“Better yet, who the fuck would take out a contract on you?” War asked.
“I don’t know. But this looks like it came from Nexus. Why would they accept a hit on one of their operatives?” Mav paced the deck. Someone wanted him dead. “Fuck!” He grabbed his hair and pulled.
The back door opened, and Lucy and Tamian stepped outside. “Hey, Dad.” Lucy stopped next to War and hugged him. When she opened her mouth to say hello to Ryker and Maveryck, she narrowed her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing we need to get into right now.” Mav hugged his niece, and the growl from Tamian was low but still loud enough to be heard. “Ease up, St. Claire. She’s my niece.”
Tamian shrugged. “I know that, and you know that, but the beast still doesn’t like it when someone else touches my mate.”
War grinned. “He’s not wrong. Doesn’t matter who it is.” Yeah, Maveryck had been on the receiving end of his twin’s Gryphon warning him away from Kerrigan.
“So, that little matter of Tatiana Volkova?” Lucy stepped back over to Tamian, hugging him tight around the waist. “I have some information, but not enough. I was able to track her up until about a week after her father was killed. After that? The woman disappeared into thin air.”
Mav scratched his beard. “That’s impossible. Nobody can completely disappear.”
“It’s possible if they change their identity,” Lucy said.
“Do you think that’s what happened?” Ryker asked.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense. If she were dead, I would have found that. I traced her to a hotel close to her family’s home. She stayed there for six days. Then, poof. She was gone. Her bank account had been emptied, so it’s possible she paid someone to make her disappear.”
The back door opened. “We have some little boys in here who are threatening to eat their cake if they don’t get some food in their bellies first,” Rory said.
“Shit. Let’s save this conversation for later.” Maveryck followed his mom into the house and grabbed the burgers and wieners for the grill.
“Look, Daddo! Lollipop has a twin,” Marshall said.
“What are you…?” Maveryck leaned over his son to see what he was talking about. The photos Lucy had printed out of Tatiana Volkova were spread out on the table, and Marshall was pointing at her. Upon closer inspection, Mav knew his son had hit on something.
“Holy sh… shingles,” he said, catching his curse word. If there was ever a time to spout expletives, it was now.
“What is it?” Lucy asked. War, Kerrigan, and Ryker joined them.
“Did Tatiana Volkova have a sister?” Mav asked Lucy. The information sent on both her and her father had indicated she was an only child.
“No, why?”
“It appears we know where Tatiana Volkova is. Right here in New Troy.”
“What?” Lucy asked. “How do you know?”
Maveryck explained their run-in with the woman at the grocery store who introduced herself as Natalia. “Because Natalia? That’s her.”
“’Cept she has purple hair now. Like a lollipop,” Marshall said.
“Okay, let’s get the food on the grill. I’ve got some boys who are hungry,” Rory said, taking the photos and shoving them back in the envelope. She handed the envelope to Maveryck and told him to put it away. His mom was right. This wasn’t a conversation they needed to have around the twins. Luckily, the boys had no trouble keeping the adults’ minds off the contract. Both contracts. The one he had on Natalia, and now, the one that had been put out on him. He wasn’t surprised he had a price on his head because of what he did for a living, but the fact that Nexus had taken it and released it? That shit was un-fucking-acceptable. Normally, Mav trusted Ryker with anything and everything, but in that moment, he needed his older brother to step up and figure this shit out.
When it was time to cut the cake, Marshall was the one to point out the purple balloons were because of Natalia. And wasn’t that a kick to the balls? This assassin had been close to his sons. Too close. Had that been a coincidence? Or was she following Maveryck because she’d accepted the contract? He needed to focus on his boys, because this party was for them. About them. While everyone was singing “Happy Birthday,” it dawned on Maveryck that in the two days since Jenna dropped the twins off, not once had they asked about their mother. Did they not miss her? He needed to have a chat with his ex and find out what she told them. He needed to find Natalia, and he needed to find out who was out to get him. He needed too damn much.
Ryker suggested taking the discussion to the clubhouse, but Maveryck didn’t want to leave the boys. Not even with his mother. He was in danger, and the best way to get to him would be through them. Rory was helping clean up when she suggested the males and Lucy take their discussion out on the deck while she and Kerrigan kept the twins entertained.
As Maveryck spread the photos out on the patio table, he explained both about looking for Tatiana Volkova, a.k.a. Natalia, as well as the contract on him. They had all heard about him and the twins meeting Natalia in the grocery store, and he voiced his worry that she was the one who had accepted the contract on him.
“Hey, I know her.” Hayden turned one of the photos around. “She pulled up alongside us at a stop light last week.”
“And I don’t believe in coincidence. If she’s in the area, I’ll find her. Tam, let’s go home. I want to start looking for this woman. She’s not going to get the chance to go after Mav and the boys.” Lucy hugged Maveryck from behind. “I’ll find her, Uncle Mav. I promise. And when I do, she better pray she is innocent.” Lucy may have only come into their lives a few years ago, but she was one of them. Fiercely protective of all of them, the same way they were of her. When she and Tamian were gone, Mav stood from the table and looked through the back door. He could see through the house into the living room where the boys were on the floor, playing.
“I can’t lose them,” he whispered.
Sutton squeezed Mav’s shoulders from behind. “You’re not going to lose them, Son. Lucy will find this woman.”
“What if it is a coincidence, and she isn’t the one who accepted the contract?”
“Let me handle that.” Ryker’s demeanor was back to pissed-off. “I have a contact at Nexus I’m going to reach out to.”
“How do you know you can trust them?” War asked.
Ryker hesitated, rubbing a hand down his face. “You’ll just have to trust me on that.”
And like the last twenty-something years, his older brother was still keeping secrets.
Chapter Thirteen
Maveryck
Maveryck was Leaning against the doorframe, watching the twins sleep. Marshall was curled in a little ball with one arm wrapped around the Aquaman figure. Major was lying crossways, having kicked off the covers, and was snoring softly. Neither one was aware of the threat their house was under. Ryker, before he left, called Tank, Shadow, and Spyder to come sit on the house. Mav and the twins were going to have round-the-clock protection until the threat was over. His phone vibrated in his back pocket. When he pulled it out, he read the text.
Lucy: I have something.
Mav walked across the hall to his room and called his niece. “Lucy? What did you find?”
“It took a bit, but I found her. N
atalia’s last name is Jones, and she lives about twenty minutes from you. She’s been renting a house on the outskirts of New Troy for a few months. Since a couple days after Tatiana Volkova disappeared. Whoever set her up with her new identity is good. They didn’t just wipe Tatiana off the grid, they gave her a back story, complete with travel documentation dating back to her teens, as well as school transcripts.
“I was able to get a good look at her car and license plate from the security cameras at the grocery store. I was worried she was the one after you, so I also checked the feed from the cameras at the compound. Natalia has been watching from across the street, every day for the past week. She’s even followed the Hounds when they left. If it weren’t for her using the same vehicle every time, I wouldn’t be sure, because the woman was wearing a different disguise every time. Uncle Mav, I think she’s the one who accepted the contract on you.”
Mav sat down hard on the bed, blowing out a breath. “Then who put the copy of the contract in my mailbox? It had to be someone who wanted to warn me, right?”
“You would think so. I’m emailing some pictures I made from the videos, and I’m sending her address to your phone, but promise me you won’t go after her alone.”
“Lucy, I’m a Hound. I can take care of myself.”
“Yes, and she’s a trained assassin for the Russian mafia. You can’t stop a bullet.”
“Don’t worry. She won’t see me coming.” He hoped.
“Promise you’ll be careful.”
“Always. And Lucy? Thank you. You are more important to our family than you will ever know.”
“I do know that, but I appreciate you saying it. Now, I’m going to snuggle with my Gargoyle and get some sleep. I still have to find Josiah Talbert.”
“Good night, Luce.”
“Night.” Lucy clicked off, and Mav dropped onto his back, staring at the ceiling. He had been a mercenary for over twenty years. He’d had several close calls, but back then, he didn’t have as much to lose. Sure, his family would miss him if he were taken out, but now he had the boys. His sons needed their father, and he was going to make sure he was around long enough to watch them grow up. Find out if they were Gryphon. Help them acclimate to their shifter if they were.
To do that, he had to find Natalia Jones and deal with her. Find out if she was the one who took the contract. He had to get his head in the game. Be the professional he’d been all these years and do what he did best – hunt. Something Lucy said niggled at his brain… the woman was wearing a different disguise every time. Maveryck lunged from the bed and stalked out the door. He stopped to look in on the twins. Marshall was in the same position, but Major had turned around so his head was on his pillow, still snoring.
Downstairs, Maveryck sat with the photos Lucy had printed off. He fired up his computer and opened the email. When he looked over the pictures, his breath caught. He should have known. Her smell on the sidewalk had infiltrated his senses, the same way it had in her bedroom. When he passed Natalia on the street in her white-blonde wig and big sunglasses, he felt it. This connection. Had she been stalking him back then? Or was she the one who took the shot? Why would she be after the same mark unless she worked for Nexus? Mav sent Ryker a text. It was the middle of the night, but his brother needed to know what Maveryck suspected.
Maveryck studied all the photos closely. Memorizing every look Natalia had. Long brown hair, shoulder-length blonde hair, red curls, all different looks. The photos weren’t close enough to show her eye color, but Maveryck bet his Harley the woman wore colored contacts. But he had seen the real Natalia Jones with her candy-colored hair and chocolate brown eyes. That was the look he couldn’t get out of his mind. The one he wanted to see more of. The one that made his boys giggle. No, he couldn’t have that. There was no way he could allow an assassin anywhere near the twins. That kind of woman wasn’t mother material.
Getting ahead of yourself, aren’t you?
Don’t tell me you didn’t feel it. You were the one pushing me to ask her out.
I felt it. What I didn’t feel was anything threatening. You saw her with our boys.
She’s a godsdamned assassin. You want that kind of woman around them?
You’re also an assassin – a mercenary. And you’re their father.
Fucking hell. His Gryphon was right. He felt the connection when their eyes met. But his beast was also correct in that he was getting ahead of himself. Just because he felt some strange pull to the woman didn’t mean they were meant to be together. Yes, she had been gentle and charming with the twins, but that could have been an act. Mav used to think he was a good judge of character, but that went out the window when Jenna walked out of his life. Pregnant with his boys.
Forgetting about their connection, Mav got in the mindset he needed to go after Natalia as if she were the mark. She is the mark. How had he forgotten that? Ryker had accepted the contract on Tatiana Volkova. Was someone at Nexus pitting them against the other? According to Ryker, Nexus knew who the Hounds were. Not that they were Gryphons, but the MC members were the ones taking the jobs.
He had to get into Natalia’s house without getting shot. That meant stealth. That meant using his eagle. Mav needed to do some recon, but with the boys upstairs asleep, he couldn’t leave the house in the middle of the night like he normally would. He needed help, and there was only one person he trusted. Well, two, because with War came Kerrigan. Mav texted his twin and told him what he needed. If War felt comfortable leaving Kerrigan at home, he could come watch over the boys while Mav did what he needed to do. A minute later he had his answer. They were on their way.
When his brother and his female arrived, Mav ushered them into the living room. “Thanks for coming. I’m sorry to do this in the middle of the night, but I need to stake out her house while it’s dark.” He filled them in on what Lucy had found.
“No, don’t apologize. This needs to be handled as quickly as possible. Go do what you need, and we’ll watch over my nephews.” War looked toward the stairs where his mate had gone. “She hasn’t stopped talking about the twins. I think they’re making her want a baby,” War whispered.
“Yeah? How do you feel about that?”
Warryck’s eyes softened. “I’d love to see her belly round with my child. But there’ll be time to talk about that later. Go. Do what you need to do. We’ll be here.”
“Thanks, Brother.”
Maveryck got in his SUV and drove toward the address Lucy gave him. When he passed by the little house, he continued on to find somewhere to park so he could shift. There was a wooded area not far from Natalia’s home where he could hide his vehicle. After stripping, Mav shifted and took to the sky. The house was surrounded by trees, so it was easy for him to see all four sides from different vantage points. Knowing she was an assassin helped in what he looked for, and when he searched, he found several security cameras. He didn’t know if Lucy had the ability to hack into the servers to cut the feed or put them on a loop. Julian Stone did, but Mav hesitated in asking Tamian’s Clan for help even though they had willingly trained Lucy.
When he moved to a tree at the back of the house, Mav used his shifter vision to look into all the windows. One in particular. Natalia’s bedroom window was open, the sheer curtains fluttering with the breeze. Mav zeroed in on the woman, asleep in her bed. She was lying on her stomach, one toned leg on top of the sheet, which was draped over her lower half. Her face was scrunched, like she was having a bad dream. In that moment, Maveryck felt the need to wake her. Take her in his arms and offer comfort. And wasn’t that just fucked up? This woman who was most likely looking to take him out, he wanted her. He wanted to hold her in his arms and see her brown eyes alight with joy, the way they’d been when she was interacting with Marshall and Major.
Remembering why he was there, Maveryck flew to different branches, noting all points of entry. Two doors, front and rear, and several windows he could easily break into if needed. With security cameras watching the perimeter,
he would not be able to walk right up to her home without alerting her he was coming. There was no second story where he could sneak inside. Maybe he would take a page out of her book and wear a disguise. That, or he could ask one of his brothers to cause a distraction while he entered her home. He didn’t want Natalia harmed. At least not until he figured out if she was the one who’d taken the contract on him.
Mav considered getting several of the Hounds to roll up to her house on their bikes, but he didn’t want to put their lives in jeopardy. She could pick them off with her rifle before they ever had their kickstands down. No, he needed to do this alone, that way he was the only one risking his life.
You could call her and ask her out.
And how would I have gotten her number?
That is a problem.
Indeed, it was.
She’s asleep. Just shift and go through the window. It’s already open.
Now that was an idea. Except he was naked.
Go back and get your clothes.
What if she wakes up before I get back?
Come back tomorrow night.
He would have the element of surprise on his side. She probably slept with a gun under her pillow, so he would be taking a big chance, but it didn’t sound like a bad idea. So, taking his Gryphon’s advice, Maveryck flew back to his vehicle, shifted, put his clothes into his carry pouch, shifted back, and returned to her home. Natalia was still asleep. The only thing that worried Mav about this plan was the cameras. If they were motion-sensor, they would detect his movement and wake her. Unless he aimed the cameras away from where he needed to walk.
Before moving to the cameras on the house, he double-checked the trees all around, making sure there were none hidden among the branches. When he found none, he once again studied the ones attached to the house. The cameras were pointed toward the ground, which meant he was able to fly above them, coming at them from a downward angle. Using his powerful beak, Mav pushed the cameras so they were pointing up. When that was done, he dropped to the ground and waited. Listening for any sign of Natalia waking. He walked until he was directly under her window, then lifted himself off the ground, gently flapping his wings. She was in the same position she’d been in, so Mav decided to take the chance on surprising her. After shifting back, he quickly dressed and folded his pouch, sticking it into the waistband at his back. He pulled his T-shirt over it so Natalia wouldn’t see it. Not that she would know what it was, but still.