1. Dane

Dane

" T hey're saying he's gone," Rafe slumps in the seat, his tone devoid of his usual warmth. He's lost weight, and black shadows make his eyes look bruised. Luckily, the dim light of the night is hiding them. Every time I see them, I think about how we fucked up. How huge and costly our mistake was.

We lost her because we were wrong. Our choices left her vulnerable.

"He's not gone," I snap and spin my keys around my finger. The car we're sitting in isn't mine. It's some piece of shit I bought for exactly this reason. Waste of money, but I'd throw it all away for her. I sink down in the car when I see a rectangle of light across the road, in the wall of the building I'm glaring at.

I hold my breath, waiting, watching. Please…

The last thing we need is to be caught spying. It's been hard enough keeping a safe distance from Sparrow. That insane psychiatrist is like a dog with a bone when it comes to Jax. He won't let anyone near her. Until today, he randomly announced this morning that he was going to give her into her father's keeping.

"They think Titan was the Black Dahlia Serial Killer," Rafe mutters.

"They're all morons and they're wrong," I insist darkly. I grip the keys and stab them into the ignition. A black SUV pulls up to the back door, and I tense as I see the tiny figure in the hospital gown transferred from the building into the car .

The moment she's in, all the tension in my body eases for the first time in weeks.

Beside me, Rafe, my best friend and, for all intents and purposes, brother, brushes his hair back and stares with the same desperate intensity that I do. It's been too long since we've seen her, too long since we had a word about how she's doing.

Six months ago, if someone would have told me I'd be sitting in a car park watching Jackie Blackwell, aka Jax Shade, be transferred from the psychiatric facility she's been imprisoned in to her father's care, I would have laughed. Not the woman I suspected of murdering my brother. Not the woman I was determined to pry all the answers from. Certainly not the woman I fell in love with.

Yet, here we are, waiting to see who else is watching. The world is more than people think; it's bigger, it's darker, it's full of monsters. Ghosts exist. When we end our lives here, we don't disappear. We linger. Our unfinished business keeps us chained to this world. Our connections with people keep us strong in spirit. And there are too many people and ghosts in Hurricane, and all of them centre around that one woman. The dark shadows dart around her car, thick and numerous. She is a magnet for them, but we don't know why.

I watch as the car drives away, followed by half the ghosts, but I wait just a little bit longer. From the rectangle of light, I see the outline of the repulsive Doctor Ivan Sparrow. Jax's personal psychiatrist, who is as corrupt as they come. He's refused all visitors simply because of the court order that handed him possession of my girl. He glances around and goes inside, closing off the light.

I don't know what he's done to her, but if I ever get the chance, I'm going to make him pay.

Down the street, a car starts, the engine the only sound on this lonely night. We watch as Detectives Maria Descario and Chris Wayland drive away. I knew they would be here. They are convinced Jax had something to do with the murders and are trying to find anything to pin on her. They are relentless.

An immense man I recognise as the bouncer of the Red Shard pushes off the brick wall by our left. He's a friend of hers, but I'm not sure why he's here. We can't trust anyone, so I make a note of his presence and keep scanning the dark.

Busy, busy night here in Hurricane.

In the pale street light, Jacob Keylore puts his head down, his hands in his pockets, and walks quickly from the area. His misery is understandable. His wife was brutally murdered by the Black Dahlia Killer the night Jax was taken into custody.

He wants answers.

There are none to be had.

I make notes of each and every one of them. All who came to witness her weakness, to watch as she was transferred to her family's home. What do they want? What are their motives? Who is trying to hurt her?

In the short time I've been in Hurricane, I've come to realise its dog eat dog. And the biggest dog right now is running rings around the rest of us.

Louis Falcon.

Her ex-lover, ex-fiancé. The man she loved. Who is also the man she murdered. The serial killer who is somehow back from the grave and determined to take her from me. From us. The Black Dahlia Serial Killer.

I bare my teeth and start the car. "They can't have her," I answer my own thoughts.

Rafe doesn't seem surprised by my one-sided conversation. In fact, he agrees with a murmur. He loves her, too.

So does our brother. My heart jolts just thinking about it. He's back, too. Our brother is back. But what happened to him? Where was he? How did he die ?

"Take us home, Dane," Rafe says irritably.

I drive through the poor suburbs of Hurricane, looking at the dumpster fires and the people who curl in on themselves. She hid amongst them once. For five years, she lived like these people, trying to hide from him, from us, from everyone.

But she was born for more. We enter the estate and drive to Edward Harmon's mansion. He and Mason stand out the front, watching as we approach. Edward, even in his grief, is a figure of elegance. Mason is pure power.

"Well?" I bark out as we walk up the stairs.

Mason simply stares at me without reaction. "She's here. We'll wean her off the drugs over the next two weeks."

My relief is instantaneous. "Good."

"Come, I've got rooms set up for you boys," Eddie says. "My daughter would want you close."

"Thank you, sir," Rafe says.

I leave the manners to him. I'm tired. But, first, I find my way to her room and push the door open.

She looks like a ghost of who she was. Her face is pale, and she's lost too much weight. But it's her. I sit on the edge of the bed and lift her hand to my lips, pressing a kiss to the inside of her palm.

"I'll never let them take you again, Jax, I promise."

She sighs in her sleep.

I move to the chair to begin my shift of guarding her until she's herself again.