Road captain to the bone.
When the door shuts behind them, the sudden quiet feels cruel.
Alpha sits back down at the table and rewinds Lady’s video again.
I walk to his side.
On the screen, my best friend looks into the camera with blood on her lip and fire in her eyes.
I press my bandaged hands flat to the table.
“She hates roses,” I whisper.
Alpha’s fingers pause over the keyboard.
“What?”
I stare at the white bloom in her lap.
“She hates them. Since high school. Some boy sent them after he cheated, like flowers could make betrayal smell better.” My throat tightens. “She said roses were just apologies with thorns.”
Alpha looks at the screen again, then at the buckets in the background.
His expression changes.
Not much.
Enough.
He starts typing faster.
“What is it?” I ask.
“White roses are expensive in bulk outside wedding supply, especially this clean, especially fresh. If Reyes is moving that many under contract, there will be a purchase trail.” His eyes sharpen. “And if Amour Reyes hates attention as much as her records suggest, someone using her flowers as a murder signature might make her very angry.”
“Angry enough to help?”
Alpha pulls up Amour’s photo again.
His gaze rests on her face for one second too long.
“Angry enough to make mistakes,” he says.
I look at Lady’s frozen face until the blood and roses blur together.
Diablo finally chose me in front of Miami, and Carmen answered by putting my best friend in danger.
Fine.
Carmen wants chosen women to bleed.
She is about to learn we bite back.
Chapter 4
Shady
I ride with blood drying under my cut and Lady’s voice caught in my helmet.