Ride Wild (Raven Riders 3)

Which was how Jagger landed in jail, Alexa had gotten burn scars on her hands, and her mother ended up in a coma. Grant had paid with his life for two of those, and it’d been the result of his own actions. But someone still had to pay for the third. And Cora didn’t blame these men one bit for making sure someone did.

“Okay, I’ll talk to them about that, too,” Dare said.

“If we’re going to this dogfight next weekend, I want in,” Slider said, a lethal tone in his voice Cora had never heard before.

“You sure about that?” Dare asked, tilting his head.

Slider stepped forward, shoulders tight, fists clenched, as if bracing for a fight. “Me going makes sense. We can’t walk in there as the Ravens, because no way do we want to be on the Crew’s radar as dicking around in their business.”

Caine’s icy eyes flashed. “That right there is for damn sure. Word on the street is that the Crew’s events usually run four fights at a time and draw well over a hundred people, but the more down low, the better.”

“There you go. Dare and Maverick are too well-known around town, so they’re out,” Slider continued. “Caine’s invitation said he could bring two more. It should be the three of us.” He pointed to Caine and Phoenix. “Caine is the master of keeping his shit tight, so they won’t know him as a Raven. As Road Captain, Phoenix is out of the area a good amount of time, so that gives him some cover. And, fuck, the only good thing about my shirking off my responsibilities around here the past two years might be there’s no chance in hell any outsider would know I’m a member.”

“Damn glad that’s all over now, man,” Maverick said. “’Cause it’s good to have you back.”

“Hear fucking hear,” Phoenix said.

“Slider’s got the plan right there,” Caine said, his gaze approving.

Cora was so glad to witness Slider reconnecting with his brothers, but she truly hated the idea of them going to something organized and attended by such questionable—not to mention criminal—people, especially if this 301 Crew was as bad as Caine said. “Exactly how dangerous is attending that fight going to be?”

Slider turned to her, his pale gaze more frankly aggressive than she’d ever seen it before. “We can handle ourselves. And we’ll just be there to observe, so not very.”

Not very seemed like way too much for her taste, but she knew there was no talking them out of this. “Okay, so what can I do?” Cora asked.

They all spoke over each other at once.

“You did your part, Cora,” Dare said.

“We’ll take it from here,” Maverick agreed.

“You can’t chance messing with the Crew, Cora,” Phoenix said.

“Steer clear of the whole damn thing,” Caine growled.

And Slider hammered the point home by taking her by the arms and pulling her close. Even though the words were sweet, his tone was filled with steel. “You gotta keep out of this, Cora, and trust us to handle it. I didn’t find this with you only to chance losing you. We got this.”

She nearly held her breath. Did Slider realize what he’d just revealed to his brothers?

As if he’d read her mind, he nodded. “I don’t care who’s listening right now. I need you to promise. Go to the shelter. Do your job, of course. You hear anything, sure, pass it along. But otherwise, promise me: leave the rest of this to us.”

He’d just claimed her in front of his closest friends, and it lodged a knot of emotion so tightly in her throat it took her a moment to answer. Finally, she nodded. “I promise, Slider. I won’t go after any of this on my own.”

Cora had the house to herself the next morning because Slider had taken the boys out to spend some time with them—and to tell them about their relationship.

She was equally excited and nervous, which meant she needed to keep busy before she drove herself crazy.

Slider had asked her to work on refreshing the house—and he’d even given her a budget for it, so Cora walked through the old farmhouse with an eye toward what she might do. Pad and paper in hand, she made notes. She jotted down new sheer curtains and comfy throw pillows for the living room. Perhaps a new slipcover for the couch and chair? Cora had always loved colored glass, and the front of the house got such amazing light—maybe she’d find some decorative bottles or sun catchers to add color to the room.

There wasn’t as much she could do in the kitchen, so she decided to choose a bright accent color and find scatter rugs, placemats, and some other things to add a little fun.

In the family room, she’d just made a note to pick up a soft area rug when there was a knock at the front door. The surprise of it startled her, because in all the time she’d lived here, no one had ever come here who wasn’t expected. Slider didn’t have friends—or, at least, not before recently, and he didn’t order anything that got delivered.