Page 5 of Stalked By Raiden

“Payment?” River suggests.

“Maybe,” Royal responds.

“Or someone pissed him off,” Roman says, chipping in.

My jaw tightens. “Either way, we stay on him,” I say.

No one argues. We never vote on targets lightly. Once a name has made the list, it stays there until justice catches up with it, one way or another.

A burst of laughter drifts in through the front windows. Instinctively, I glance across the street. Parents are arriving for the school’s annual open house. Children dart between adults, proudly tugging their mothers and fathers toward classrooms they’d spent the last few weeks in.

I return my focus to searching for Drake and find him framed in a lit classroom window. It faces the street straight on, and from up here, the glass may as well be a screen. Another person walks toward him. I refocus my binoculars and see a woman. She stops before Drake, maintaining a little distance.

In that moment, I forget all about the surveillance, my focus now entirely on her. She is wearing a pale blue summer dress beneath a lightweight cardigan, greeting families with a smile that transforms her entire face.

She’s young. No older than twenty-two to twenty-three, if I have to guess.

Strawberry-blond hair spills over one shoulder, catching the last of the evening light until it looks almost copper. A scattering of freckles dusts her ivory skin, stretching across the bridge of her nose and disappearing beneath flushed cheeks.

Her bright blue eyes soften as she crouches to speak with Drake’s son. From that little interaction, I assume she’s Teddy’s teacher. She isn’t trying to command attention, but she has all of mine. There is something gentle about her—the kind of gentleness that this neighborhood aims to beat out of people.

Without even being around her, I can tell that she’s soft spoken and kind. Not someone who can handle my shit. Yet, I’m completely and irrevocably drawn to her. Her smile is a light, and my darkness wants to bask in its warmth and brilliance.

The need to have her suddenly holds me hostage. It’s a simmering heat that goes straight to my cock. I want to protect her, and at the same time own every part of the curves I imagine she has beneath that dress. The darkness in me stirs, wide awake now.

That I’m familiar with. Yet somehow, this girl—whose name I don’t even know—draws it out anyway. She says something to Teddy, and for the first time since arriving, he smiles. Once he leaves her to sit, she stands, her gaze shifting automatically to Drake.

Drake closes the distance between them. An unmistakable anger and possessiveness rears its head. I don’t need to hear the conversation to recognize discomfort. The teacher’s smile turns polite. She shifts her weight almost imperceptibly, creating space between herself and Drake.

Drake ignores it and leans closer. He sets one hand flat against the doorframe above her shoulder, close enough that she’d have to duck under his arm to get past him. It’s a small thing. Nobody else in that room would call it anything at all. But I’ve watched men do it across interview tables, and I know exactly what it means. He says something that makes her shoulders stiffen. She glances toward the classroom door as though searching for an escape.

My grip tightens around the binoculars. “I’m going to fucking kill him,” I grit out, forcing myself to maintain a tightly held control.

“What the hell is going on?” River mutters in my ear.

The haze in my vision clears a little, reminding me of where I am. I don’t even know this girl, and she’s already affecting me so deeply.

“Drake’s cornering his son’s teacher,” I answer flatly, making sure to keep my rage hidden.

I’ve seen enough predators in courtrooms to recognize the signs. Drake isn’t interested in the conversation. He is testing boundaries and seeing how much discomfort she’ll tolerate before objecting. The teacher finally excuses herself, gesturing toward another arriving family.

I watch Drake watch her walk away, his eyes tracking her in a way that makes my stomach turn and my madness roar.

River swears softly under his breath, his voice carrying to my ears. “She has no idea who she’s dealing with.”

“No,” I agree quietly. “But we do.”

“You want me to identify her?” Royal asks.

I don’t answer immediately. Because I need to make a split-second decision. I keep watching her as she laughs with two students who tug excitedly at her hands. I realize that I want to hear the sound of her laugh, and I want to protect that innocence and softness that she effortlessly exudes.

Now I’m torn. I want her splayed in bed before me, begging for mercy as I fuck her to oblivion. Yet, I want to protect her so that no one, not even Drake, can set their sights on her. Though one thing is certain. I’ll protect her from Drake, at all costs.

With that thought, I make my decision. “Find out who she is,” I say.

I return to my watch. Drake Krane has just made a mistake. Whether he realizes it or not, he’s drawn the attention of the only men in Atlanta willing to do what the law wouldn’t. And if the young teacher truly has become Drake’s next target…

He’s picked the wrong one.