6k Follower Special || Sneak Peek at 'Red Dawn'

Sneak peek at Chapter One of Red Dawn (The Way We Bleed, Book 2)

The city was quiet.

Too quiet.

Stella Rook stood in the doorway to her family’s manor, the early-morning breeze making her dark hair play across her face. Her eyes were trained on the distant horizon, at the city just visible through the glow of the rising sun.

Lochridge was silent. That worried her.

Stella turned inside, letting the door swing shut behind her. Voices drifted to her from the kitchen, accompanied by the sweet aroma of Evelyn’s famous glazed oatmeal cake. Marcus jumped to his feet the moment Stella entered the room.

“Don’t bother,” she snapped, grabbing two plates and dumping generous portions of oatmeal cake and scrambled eggs onto them. “I’m not sticking around.”

Marcus didn’t say a word, just returned to his seat as Stella stalked out of the room. Evelyn pressed her lips together but remained quiet, the tight set of her shoulders telling Stella that her mother was unhappy with the tension in the house. Zoey huffed, and in the chair next to her, Harvey continued to tear into his breakfast like half the family wasn’t on the verge of ripping each others’ throats out.

Stella balanced the plates in her hands as she walked upstairs. She nudged her bedroom door open with her foot, grateful to be back in the safety of her room and away from her father’s murderous gaze. He hadn’t spoken a word to her since she pointed that gun at his head. He could barely even stand to be in the same room as her, if the incident a few seconds ago was any indication. Not that Stella had exactly been pleasant in return; she might have held a rather loud conversation with Zoey right outside Marcus’ office yesterday evening about how she didn’t regret anything she did, and if the gangs wanted any chance of going back to their old dramatics, it would take the miracle of Marcus and John getting along for long enough to work out a plan.

The comments hadn’t gone over well, apparently.

She breezed to the bedside, where the source of so much of her family’s conflict snored away. “Rise and shine, feathers. I brought food.”

Jordan buried his face into the pillow. “Five more minutes,” he mumbled.

Stella marched over to the balcony doors and flung the curtains open, inviting in every bit of the early-morning sunshine. Jordan groaned and threw his arm over his eyes. The raven tattooed on his wrist glared at her.

“I’ve already let you sleep,” she chided with a click of her tongue. “I did my hair in Zoey’s room this morning to avoid waking you, but now I’m tired of tiptoeing around.” She snapped her fingers at him. “That means get up.”

Getting up for Jordan meant slumping against the pillows, wincing as he pressed a hand to the bandages encircling his abdomen. Although on the mend, the injury was causing him pain, and the doc had ordered him to stay in bed until it healed. That hadn’t stopped Stella from moving him to her room the moment he felt well enough to walk. She hadn’t felt comfortable leaving him anywhere else, not when she caught both Marcus and Harvey hovering outside the door when they thought she was busy. Her family might be tempted to assassinate the Raven heir while he was down, but they knew better than to come into Stella’s room unbidden. Even Harvey hadn’t dared step foot in here since she went batshit on him when they were kids for messing with her stuff.

Stella passed Jordan the spare plate and sat next to him. “You better not get crumbs on my sheets,” she said, eyes narrowing as Jordan took a huge bite of his oatmeal cake. “Injured or no, I’ll make you clean it up.”

He laughed under his breath. “Nice to know where I fall on your list of priorities, little thorn.” He took another bite. “This is amazing.”

“I’ll tell Mother you liked it.”

Jordan snuck a glance at her. “Marcus still giving you the cold shoulder?”

She daintily bit into her cake. The glaze melted on her tongue. “I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”

“He has to talk to you eventually.”

“He doesn’t seem inclined to.” Stella set down her fork, her appetite gone. “I imagine your father won’t be any better.”

Jordan’s chewing slowed. “They’ll get over it. I know both sides want more than anything to return to our normal standings, but that won’t happen if we don’t get Silas out.”

Her mouth twisted. “I’m going to the border today.”

His brows shot up. “By yourself?”

“Zoey will be there.”

Jordan sat up straighter. “I’m coming with you.”

“Like hell you are.”

He swung his legs out of bed, searching the room for a shirt. “Silas has an army, in case you’ve forgotten. There’s no way I’m letting you go alone.”

Stella pushed him back into the pillows. “I won’t be alone. Zoey’s coming, and we might be able to convince Harvey to tag along. You need to sit tight and rest.”

“I’m tired of resting,” he grumbled.

“I know. But we can’t wait until you’re better to check on the border. All our reports say it’s been quiet, but I need to see it for myself.” She paused. “It worries me that Silas is keeping to himself.”

“They need some time to regroup, figure out their next step. Silas might be contacting his people in Stokes to see what they have to say about it. He could also be waiting for Celia to recover.”

“Well, there’s no way to know until we get some information.” She slid the rest of her food onto Jordan’s plate and stood up. As good as Evelyn’s cooking was, she’d found herself without appetite more often than not these days, but she wasn’t upset by it—she was strict about watching her figure, and her mother’s wondrous meals had never helped matters. “I woke you up so I could say goodbye before we left. The hope is that we can get past the border and see what’s up on your turf, but I don’t know how much luck we’ll have.”

Jordan slowly folded his arms over his chest, his brows scrunched together and his finger tapping against his tattoo. “I don’t like that idea.”

“We’ll be careful,” she promised.

She pressed a kiss to his lips, but before she could pull away, Jordan tugged her closer to deepen the embrace.

“Be cautious,” he murmured. “We don’t want any more surprises.”

She gave him a forced smile. “Will do.”

Her family was still in the kitchen when she descended the stairs, tying her hair back as she went. Despite what she promised Jordan, she wanted to be ready in case she had to fight. That’s why her clothes were a bit more tight-fitting today, her usual flowy blouse replaced with a sleeveless tunic that let her move easily, the neckline embroidered with a pattern of roses and thorns. She poked her head into the kitchen, paying no mind to her father’s grimace as she sought out Zoey. “Ready?”

Zoey shoveled down the rest of her food and jumped to her feet. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Stella’s gaze slid to Harvey. “Come with us?”

Before her cousin had a chance to respond, Marcus threw his napkin down on the table. “Where are you going?”

Stella raised both brows. “Bloody hell, he remembered how to speak!”

Marcus’ amber eyes flashed. “Tell me where you’re going.”

“To the border. With any luck we can scope out Raven territory.” She glanced at Harvey. “Well?”

He slicked back his hair as he stood up. “I’ll bite.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

Stella stormed out of the house, leaving Zoey and her brother to trail after her. But no sooner had they stepped onto the front porch did Marcus’ voice sound from behind them.

“I’m coming with you.”

Stella whirled. “You neglected to even look at me yesterday, and now you want to join us? I don’t think so.”

The attitude was unwise, but Stella was fed up. Marcus had spent weeks ignoring her warnings, and when everything happened with Silas, all he could do was criticize his daughter for her part in it. She would start treating her father respectfully again once he at least said thank-you for all the work she had done to save their gang. All the work she and Jordan had done to save their city.

Her heart twisted. She couldn’t even begin to fathom what was going through Jordan’s head—with Raven territory now under Silas’ control and his family stuck on the northern side of the border, the Raven gang was between a rock and a hard place. She knew staying in Rook Manor was the last thing he wanted to do, but it was better than the alternative, staying with the rest of the Ravens in the inn Zoey had squandered for them. There were a lot of people crammed into a building that wasn’t exactly big, and with John Daelik no doubt being in the foulest mood anyone had ever seen, Stella didn’t think it was very pleasant over there right now.

Marcus strapped on his pistol as he joined Stella and her cousins on the porch. “It seems that you have forgotten who makes the decisions for this gang. How about I take these two to oversee the border while you go check on those Raven bastards you allowed inside our turf.” His lip curled. “It’s only fitting, given that you’re the one who decided to throw your hat in with them.”

Stella bristled. “I daresay we would be in a much worse position right now if I hadn’t. It was my idea to check the border. If you’re so worried about the Ravens, check them yourself.”

Marcus’ eyes glinted, but Stella was done being intimidated by him. She turned and stomped down the stairs, glaring at Evelyn’s garden until she was sure the roses would wither.

“That is not how you treat me,” Marcus called after her. “Go see about the Ravens. That is an order.”

Stella kept walking. “Zoey, will you please check on the Daeliks? Since someone seems so insistent upon it.”

Angry footsteps told her that her father was following. “I told you to do it,” he snapped.

She whipped around to face him, fighting the urge to back up a step when she saw how close he was. “Oh, I’m sorry. I delegated the task to Zoey. You seem such a fan of having others do your dirty work that I figured you wouldn’t mind.”

His jaw clenched. “I never expected such blatant disrespect from you.”

“And I never expected such admirable shows of idiocy from you,” she fired back.

“Watch your mouth, girl.”

“I’ll watch my mouth once you stop looking at me like I’ve done something wrong.” Stella took a step towards him, her lip curling as she looked him up and down. “Old man.”

Fury flashed in his eyes, but Zoey threw herself between them before it could escalate. “Knock it off, both of you. I’ll check on the Ravens, and you lot investigate the border.” She glanced between them. “Alright?”

Stella glared at her father. “Sounds perfect.”

Marcus sneered. “You’re about to learn a hard lesson.”

He brushed past them before anyone else could get a word out. Harvey smirked at the girls and ambled after Marcus, his fingers hooked in the belt that held up his prized hunting knife. Stella still glared at her father, but Zoey put a hand on her shoulder, jolting her out of her trance.

“Calm down,” she murmured. “He’s wrong, but you smarting off to him isn’t helping anything.”

“I wish he’d get his head out of his ass,” Stella muttered.

Zoey cracked a grin. “That makes two of us.”

“Are you really alright with checking on the Ravens?”

“It beats hearing you two bicker.”

It was Stella’s turn to smile. “Come find us on the Barter Streets when you get done.”

“I’ll see you then.” Zoey dropped a wink as they headed for the gate. “Try not to piss off Uncle Marcus too much.”

Stella’s laugh was forced. “I’ll try my best.”