Fierce Shadows: Shadows Landing #4

by Kathleen Brooks

  “We?” Harper snorted with amusement as he helped her onto the speedboat.

  “Some couples get matching tattoos. We get matching bullet wounds. Ain’t it sweet?” he asked her in the deepest Texas drawl she’d ever heard him use.

  Dare watched as the woman of his dreams, the woman of his heart, the woman of his eternity looked down at the chunk of her shoulder missing and shrugged.

  “It’ll be a good story to tell our kids someday.”

  “It will be, especially since we won’t be able to tell them all the things I’m going to do to you after we get stitched up.” Dare lowered his lips to her ear. As Trent piloted the boat home, Dare told his fiancée just how much he loved her and exactly how he was going to show her that love.

  Dare walked down the stone stairs of the federal courthouse with a smile on his face. His testimony was going to put The Coronado Bastards and Isabella’s little group of boy toys in jail for a very long time.

  “Mr. Reigns!”

  Dare turned to see the Charleston Police Detective, Willie Chambers, calling out to him. Behind him a couple was standing hand-in-hand with their young teenaged daughter and several other people.

  “Detective Chambers, what can I do for you?” Dare asked as the family tentatively followed Chambers down the stairs towards Dare.

  “I wanted to thank you for your hard work. It sounds as if the Palm Meadows crew will spend a long time in jail. The list of charges brought against them was staggering and none of this would have ever been possible without your investigation.”

  Dare caught a movement in the corner of his eye and saw a young lady clenching her hands tightly. He remembered her from the night they caught The Coronado Bastards.

  “How are you feeling, Miss?” Dare said looking beyond Chambers to the young woman.

  “Nelson. Emily Nelson. I wanted to thank you for capturing the man who . . . who hurt me. And for covering me up. Detective Chambers told me what happened that night. I wanted to meet you and thank you in person.”

  She held out a shaking hand and Dare took it gently. “I should be thanking you for being brave enough to endure a rape kit and testifying. CJ will be in jail a very long time because of your bravery.”

  Detective Chambers moved to stand next to Dare as Emily took a deep breath and stood up straighter. “I did it for them. To give the victims who will never be able to face their accuser on the stand a voice.”

  Emily looked behind her as the family Dare had noticed a minute ago stepped forward.

  “Our daughter is—was Allie Crisp. Thank you for bringing her murderers to justice,” the husband said as he tried to hold back his emotions. The wife couldn’t and before Dare knew it, she was in his arms and hugging him tight as she cried.

  “Thank you,” she whispered as Dare felt little arms wrap around his waist as Allie’s younger sister hugged him too.

  Dare was choked up with emotion and just nodded to them before Detective Chambers introduced him to more victims and their families. They’d all come to see justice served even if their individual cases weren’t part of the charges.

  “Are you sticking around or are you off on another investigation?” Detective Chambers asked after the last person left.

  “I plan to be around for a very long time,” Dare said with a smile as he shook the detective’s hand.

  “Glad to hear it. You have friends in the PD if you need us.”

  Dare watched the detective amble off. He looked down and saw Harper wiping tears from her eyes as she leaned against his car. “I thought your brother took you home after your testimony,” Dare said to her as he strode towards her.

  “I was going to, but then I just couldn’t leave you. I wanted to wait to hear how it went.” Harper took a deep breath and looked to where the last of the victims were driving away. “I’m glad I did.”

  Dare wrapped his arms around his love and kissed the top of her head. “I’d have introduced you if I’d known you were here. You helped with the case too.”

  Dare’s phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out.

  “What is it?”

  “I’m late!” Dare hurried to open the passenger door for Harper and then ran to the driver’s side.

  “For what?” Harper asked as she buckled her seat belt.

  “I’m giving the knitting club a lesson today on a particularly complex Aran cable pattern.”

  He tried not to laugh as he saw the shocked look on Harper’s face. “You knit?”

  Dare nodded. “Wait until you see what I’ve been making for you.”

  Harper shook her head. “I could use a sweater.”

  “Oh no, sweetheart. Never doubt a knitter to make something sexier than a sweater. A lot sexier. After all, you already know I’m good with knots.”

  Harper gave him a sultry look as she remembered the last time they were together and he used knots. Dare pressed on the gas and shot through downtown. He could be a little late for knitting club.

  Epilogue

  Gavin watched as his sister fit perfectly into her husband’s arms for their first dance as Mr. and Mrs. Reigns. The Faulkner family had gained Ellery, Darcy, and Savannah, but Harper was the first one to give up the family name. Although, these past months felt as if they’d gained a member of the family, not lost one. Dare was a great brother and would be a great husband for his little sister.

  “It’s hard watching your sister get married, isn’t it?”

  Gavin turned his head to see his cousin Jace Davies from Kentucky joining him.

  “Even harder when it’s your younger sister,” Gavin replied with a sigh. Jace’s older sister was happily married and dancing with her husband.

  “You like him?” Jace asked as Gavin’s cousins from Shadows Landing and his cousins and uncles from Keeneston started to join them.

  Gavin glanced to where the women of his family gathered by Great-Aunt Marcy. She’d already let everyone know—many, many times, who was responsible for Harper and Dare’s wedding.

  “Too bad we couldn’t keep Dare in Keeneston. If we had to lose a potential son-in-law, at least we kept him in the family.”

  Gavin raised his eyebrow at his Uncle Cole.

  “As if you’d let any man near our sister,” Cole’s oldest, Ryan, laughed.

  “As if I’d let any man near our sister,” Cole’s other son, Jackson, growled as his fingers tightened over his glass of bourbon.

  “We heard you had some spooky ghosts in town. I’ve never taken down a ghost before,” Gavin’s cousin Dylan joked. Although, from what little Dylan and others told Gavin, he was probably only half joking. He and his wife, Abby, overthrew countries as foreplay.

  Walker Greene, Edie’s brother and Gavin’s childhood best friend, rolled his eyes. “Y’all need to learn to respect the dead or they’ll teach you respect.”

  “Aye aye, matey,” Dylan mocked. He suddenly jumped and grabbed his butt cheek. “Hey, who did that?”

  Laughter about ten feet away had them all turning to see Skeeter bending at his waist and thumping his leg with amusement. “Ye better watch out. She likes the look of ye.”

  “Why is he speaking like a pirate?” Dylan whispered.

  “He does that when he’s talking to the pirate ghosts,” Wade told him.

  Dylan shot Skeeter a cocky grin. “So, a pirate ghost likes my ass?”

  “Aye, Anne says you’d have made a great pirate back in the day if you only had a beard.”

  “I think he’s drunk. Did he really pinch my ass and say a pirate did it?” Dylan whispered and suddenly jumped again. “Okay, that’s weird. I would have sworn—” Dylan looked to where Skeeter was still laughing. “Anne?” Skeeter nodded his head in response.

  “Well, I don’t care if Anne Bonny likes you or not. She can’t have you,” Abby, Dylan’s wife, said as she joined them. “So back off, Ghostie, or I’ll hold a séance just to conjure you up so I can fight you. Now, let’s go dance, babe.”

  Gavin watched Abby lead Dy
lan to the dance floor as Skeeter joined them. “Anne really likes her. The only other woman she’d liked before was Harper.”

  Gavin slapped his hand on Skeeter’s back. “That’s some good company. The three of them would strike fear up and down the coast.”

  Trent nodded his agreement as Gavin left to join his wife. He listened to his family talk about ghosts and badass women and smiled. He loved his family, and while he was happy for Harper, he was feeling a bit let down, too. Harper was the one in the family who understood him the most and now she had Dare.

  Trent’s brother, Ridge, was happily married and now his best friend was too. The thought had him feeling lonely. Dare was a great guy and he made Harper happier than Trent had ever seen her. He didn’t complain when Trent stopped by at midnight, but those nights were changing. Trent had stopped by numerous times to only be stopped from knocking by the sounds coming from inside the house.

  His phone vibrated in his pocket and he looked down at it. He declined the call from California, again.

  “I heard you helped take down the Coronado family.” Walker handed him a beer as he joined him on the periphery of the family gathering.

  “That’s me. Maybe I need to put down my hammer and chisel and join the Army.”

  “If you join anything, it’ll be the Navy,” Walker said seriously before the two of them grinned at each other. “But seriously, I heard the government grabbed Roberto Coronado when he was on his yacht. The dumbass went into international waters thinking he was untouchable.”

  Trent nodded. Dare had told him all about it. The Coronado Bastards, as the media had named them, turned against their father and his three sons and spilled everything. The illegal alcohol they sold to other countries, the sexual assaults, the robberies, the deaths, and how travel sites, government tourism bureaus, and government leaders all helped cover it up for bribes.

  “Are all y’all excited about the baby?” Jace asked.

  Trent took a step closer to the group and looked just as confused Ridge, Wade, and Ryker.

  “What baby?” Ryker scoffed. “You’re drinking too much.”

  Jace’s eyes went comically wide. “I’m sorry. I assumed everyone knew. I mean, it’s so obvious.”

  All eyes turned to where the women were standing and Ryker busted out laughing as Wade and Ridge shoved through wedding guests to get to their wives.

  “Twenty bucks that it’s Ellery who is pregnant,” Ryker said, pulling out his wallet.

  “No way,” Walker said with a shake of his head. “Totally Darcy.”

  “I got twenty on Savannah,” cousin Porter called out.

  “What about that hottie from California who is blowing up Trent’s phone?” cousin Colton asked. “I’m placing my bet on Trent being the next man down.”

  Trent rolled his eyes as suddenly bets for weddings and babies went flying around him.

  Harper’s new husband twirled her around, sending her knee-length wedding dress spinning. She laughed as her husband then pulled her close and dipped her. This was hands-down the best wedding ever. It was so perfect for them. They’d closed Main Street and invited the entire town. They were literally dancing in the street.

  Georgina and Rudy had wanted to serve drinks since they were now both bartenders at Shadows Bar, but Harper had hired a whole crew to come in and cater the wedding so that they could enjoy the party too.

  Manny was there as well, along with Roy Lee and Austin. They’d all been cleared of any illegal activity. Although a crying Roy Lee had realized it was his fault that Cristian and his group set up their operation in Shadows Landing. He and Austin had told the boy toys about the tunnels and felt responsible, even though they weren’t.

  “Why does your cousin Jackson look ready to beat the crap out of Agent Castle?” Dare asked as he pulled her close for the dance.

  Harper looked around and then grinned. “Because he’s dancing with Jackson’s sister, Greer.”

  “Is that your Aunt Annie wrestling Gator?”

  Harper’s grin grew as she nodded. “Yup, and that’s my Aunt Paige with your family throwing a lasso.”

  “Should Miss Winnie be on the mechanical bull?”

  Definitely the best wedding ever!

  “I love you, Dare Reigns.”

  “I love you too, Harper Reigns.”

  Harper felt Dare slow to a stop and then felt the tap on her shoulder. “Great-Aunt Marcy!” Harper hugged her aunt for the hundredth time that weekend.

  “I was wondering if I could cut in. I heard your brother declare he could beat you on the bull and thought my new great-nephew and I could dance while you show Gavin what’s what.”

  “Like hell he can beat me.” Harper kissed her aunt’s cheek and ran to defend her name.

  Dare placed his hand around Marcy’s as he held her for the slow dance. “My Greer just isn’t ready for marriage yet or I’d have kept you in Keeneston for myself. You’re such a fine young man.”

  “That’s nice of you, ma’am, but I can’t imagine anyone I could love more than Harper.”

  “You can call me Aunt Marcy. We’re family now, dear.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I know I’ve thanked you, but, thank you again for setting me up on a blind date with my wife. I’ll never be able to fully show how much I appreciate you for the happiness you brought us.” Dare looked down at the woman whose hair had gone white, whose wrinkles had won the age battle, and whose sparkling eyes told him there was still mischief abounding in Marcy’s life.

  “Well, I know of two ways. First, Marcy is an excellent name for a little girl. Second, I need some information on your new family, specifically Trent, Tinsley, and Ryker.”

  Dare chuckled as he slowly danced across the street with her. “So, you want me to snitch?”

  “You bet I do. I didn’t go through all the trouble of finding the perfect man for my Harper for nothing. My girls are taking care of Keeneston for now, but with Harper’s parents, aunts, and uncles not as close, well, I owe them what I can.”

  “Happiness.”

  Marcy smiled at him, her eyes making her appear much younger than she was. “Exactly. I can’t die happy until all my loved ones are well loved.”

  Dare looked over to where the youngest Davies, a cute little girl named Cricket, was toddling around in a tutu. “Looks like you have quite a long journey ahead of you. I’ll be happy to help as long as you don’t tell anyone. You know what they say, snitches get—”

  “Apple pie every month.” Marcy pulled him to a stop and crooked her finger at him. Dare leaned down and kissed her cheek before she walked off to join her husband.

  “Totally whupped my brother’s ass on the bull,” Harper said as she rejoined him. “What did Great-Aunt Marcy want?”

  “To send me apple pie.”

  Harper nodded. “She must make a hundred pies a month. She sends them to so many people.”

  Dare burst out laughing. Marcy turned around and winked at him as Harper looked on.

  “Come on, wife. I challenge you to a series of tests: bull riding, lasso roping—”

  “Gator wrestling and darts,” Harper finished for him. “Deal. What does the winner get?”

  Dare pulled her tight against him, his hands running down her back and stopping at her hips. “To be happy and wildly in love for the rest of their lives.”

  “I’ll take that bet.”

  Dare took Harper’s hand in his as they ran off together to start their madly passionate and never boring happily-ever-after.

  The End

  Bluegrass Series

  Bluegrass State of Mind

  Risky Shot

  Dead Heat

  Bluegrass Brothers

  Bluegrass Undercover

  Rising Storm

  Secret Santa: A Bluegrass Series Novella

  Acquiring Trouble

  Relentless Pursuit

  Secrets Collide

  Final Vow

  Bluegrass Singles

  All Hung Up

&nb
sp; Bluegrass Dawn

  The Perfect Gift

  The Keeneston Roses

  Forever Bluegrass Series

  Forever Entangled

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  Forever Betrayed

  Forever Driven

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  Forever Surprised

  Forever Concealed

  Forever Devoted

  Forever Hunted

  Forever Guarded

  Forever Notorious

  Forever Ventured

  Forever Freed

  Forever Saved (coming July/August 2020)

  Shadows Landing Series

  Saving Shadows

  Sunken Shadows

  Lasting Shadows

  Fierce Shadows

  Broken Shadows (coming October 2020)

  Women of Power Series

  Chosen for Power

  Built for Power

  Fashioned for Power

  Destined for Power

  Web of Lies Series

  Whispered Lies

  Rogue Lies

  Shattered Lies

  Moonshine Hollow Series

  Moonshine & Murder

  Moonshine & Malice

  Moonshine & Mayhem

  Moonshine & Mischief (details coming soon)

  About the Author

  Kathleen Brooks is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author. Kathleen’s stories are romantic suspense featuring strong female heroines, humor, and happily-ever-afters. Her Bluegrass Series and follow-up Bluegrass Brothers Series feature small town charm with quirky characters that have captured the hearts of readers around the world.

  Kathleen is an animal lover who supports rescue organizations and other non-profit organizations such as Friends and Vets Helping Pets whose goals are to protect and save our four-legged family members.