Read A Midsummer Night's Scream (The Dulcie O'Neil Series Book 7) for Free Online Page A

us.”
    “Maybe it’s just a matter of time before they do?”
    Knight cocked his head to the side as he nodded. “That’s what we’re worried about. The day that happens, we could have a serious fight on our hands.”
    “So how does Jax figure into this? Was he trying to usurp power?”
    “No,” Knight answered as he shook his head. He placed one of the pillows behind him so he could sit up against the headboard more comfortably. “I’m not sure how he fits in, to be honest.”
    “Okay,” I said doubtfully, wondering whether or not he had anything more to add to his statement. “Soooo, how did you catch him?”
    “I wouldn’t say we caught him.”
    I leaned up onto one elbow and studied him quizzically. “Well, he’s in one of our jail cells at this very moment, so I’d say you caught him.”
    “It’s more correct to say that Jax caught us,” Knight amended. “He turned himself in.”
    “Why would he do that?”
    “Exactly,” Knight answered before tapping his index finger on the tip of my nose, as if to say I’d hit it right on the nose. “That’s the exact question I’ve been asking myself and, more importantly, Jax.”
    “And?”
    “And nothing,” he replied with a sigh, shaking his head. In general, Knight didn’t like it when his questions outnumbered his answers.
    “He hasn’t told you anything?”
    “Well, he hasn’t told me anything I believe, anyway,” Knight admitted with a shrug.
    Why do you think he turned himself in?”
    “He said he wanted to leave the thug life and start a new life and needed protection, yadda yadda yadda.”
    “And you don’t believe that?”
    “Of course not!” he responded with snort of disbelief. “Why should I?”
    It was my turn to shrug. “Maybe he’s telling the truth? Is it so inconceivable to believe some of these guys might want to start over and leave their old lives behind them?”
    Knight shook his head. “With someone else, I might buy it, but as it pertains to Jax Rochefort, I can’t and I won’t.”
    I nodded, even though I wasn’t sure what to make of it. “So why did you come all the way to Splendor to lock him up? The Netherworld prisons weren’t secure enough?”
    Knight shook his head. “Jax is too high profile. It would be impossible to hide him. And he was very up front about all the hits he knows are out on him. Regardless of what I might think, we have to take him seriously.”
    “If he has a hit out on him, or multiple hits, that has to mean he spilled information to you, right?”
    Knight nodded. “Yes, of course. But whether or not that information is valid is another question. So far, we have yet to validate anything that comes out of his mouth.”
    “So you think he’s lying?”
    “We shall see.” He smiled at me and secured the tendril of hair he’d been playing with behind my ear. “In the meantime, we have to take any threats to his safety seriously. That’s why I decided to bring him to Splendor. It won’t be as easy to find him here as in the Netherworld.”
    I just nodded, unsure how to interpret the information. “For how long?”
    Knight shrugged. “Not sure yet. Maybe a couple of days.”
    I just nodded as I remembered the large man with the dimpled smile who was now calling our jail home. “So I got the feeling that Jax is a Loki like you?”
    “I thought you weren’t able to detect my species?” Knight replied with a raised eyebrow of suspicion aimed at me.
    Cocking my head to the side, I stared at his well-defined pecs for a few seconds before I started snaking my fingers down his chest. “I can’t detect your species,” I admitted finally. “But based on my inability to place him, I figured that meant he was a Loki, just like you. That and you guys look like you could be twins, well bodily anyway,” I glanced back up at him and smiled to say I was proud of myself and my powers of deduction.
    “Twins?” he asked with a frown. “Should I take that to mean you thought he was