On the Edge of Love (Mama's Brood Book 1) by Shay Rucker Read Free Book Online

work. I came here for change. I like photography, so when I saw the job listing for the gallery, it felt…right. I like my life in Oakland.”
    “You don’t have any family there?” Mama asked.
    “I don’t have family anywhere. I was put in the foster care system when I was a kid.”
    “What happened to your birth parents?”
    “Overdose. My dad too early to even have a memory of him.”
    “No foster parents you were close to?”
    She snorted. “I’ve been living on my own, supporting myself, since I was fourteen. Emancipated at sixteen.”
    “No siblings?”
    “Had an older half sister who died, but she left me alone long before her death. So no.” Her sister Samantha’s suicide in New Orleans almost three years ago was what had led to her decision to move to California.
    “I’m sorry.”
    Sabrina frowned at the older woman, wondering exactly which part of her story had elicited the apology. It didn’t matter, really. She’d heard a thousand sorries in her life. Most of them wouldn’t have been necessary if someone had thought to stop bad things from happening instead of offering useless sympathy after.
    The other woman was probably well intentioned, but Sabrina didn’t need another person’s good intentions, especially when it helped them justify interfering in her life. She’d had enough of that bullshit. She knew all she really needed to know. Someone, someone new , was after her; she could handle it. Though not impossible, it was damn unlikely that Ernesto and his people had anything to do with a big-money organization like the one Kragen seemed to be a part of.
    “I appreciate that you rescued me, possibly saved my life, but I can take care of myself from here on out. All I need you to do is drop me back in Oakland.”
    “How exactly do you plan on taking care of yourself?” Terry asked.
    She didn’t like having to explain herself. This was her life, and for the first time in a long time, she was living it however she chose.
    “I’ll lie low for a while. If push comes to shove and I feel like I’m in danger, I’ll call the police.”
    She didn’t appreciate the laughter that met her statement. Even Zeus grunted in derision. It wasn’t like she’d actually call the police, anyway. She was just saying what she thought she needed to, to get them to let her go.
    “How about, until you come up with a better plan than ours, we watch over you?” Terry said.
    “What’s your plan?”
    “Keep you here safe until we find out why Kragen’s in the Bay Area, find out what he wants with you—”
    “Kill him,” Zeus interjected.
    “And yes, Zeus, eventually eliminate the threat he represents.”
    “Kill him. Simply stated.”
    It wasn’t so simple. She only had their word that this Kragen was behind her kidnapping, and though she felt the crime should be punished, she wasn’t ready to have his death on her conscience. “I have a life and a job that comes with a lot of responsibilities. I appreciate your desire to help, but I won’t hide out until you solve your mystery.”
    “You don’t seem to appreciate the level of danger you’ve found yourself in,” Price said.
    She had some idea. She’d just woken up beaten in a warehouse about fifteen miles from her home.
    “Kragen is not a nice man,” Mama explained. “He rapes; he kills; he tortures; he exploits. And when he doesn’t feel the need to do these things personally, he has enough money and power to have others do them for him. His organization has ties to legitimate companies and government contracts the world over. The Oakland PD will not be able to protect you.”
    “But you will?”
    “I will,” Zeus corrected.
    “ We will.” Mama frowned at Zeus.
    Sabrina gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, rubbing her temple. It wasn’t just her bodily injuries or the stress of having somebody after her. It was them. This Brood. Their personalities, their tensions, their constant energy were causing her senses to overload. She