Knot Without You: An Omegaverse Romance

Chapter 51

Chapter

Fifty-One

Cracking my neck, I sit on the edge of the stripper stage looking around at the carnage before I look back at one of Rex’s men.

The Death Riders were expecting a visit from me, and they got one.

“King,” Joker flicks his head.

Joker is a stubborn cunt who shouldn’t be here. He can barely stand without holding on to something but he refuses to back off for a minute. My eyes track over his frame, aside from a cut lip and a cherry red outline of someone’s knuckles on his cheek he looks half dead but still ready to go to war for me. And despite the rage at being drawn into Rex’s fucking games, I feel better seeing Joker okay; he might be my second in charge but he’s also one of my oldest friends.

I stand up, my foot kicking out, sending the fucker I’ve been interrogating sprawling backwards. This Rider is barely fucking conscious, and since he’s already sung like a canary, he’s of no use. I line up the shot, but Maverick bends down and twists his neck before I can fire the gun. The angry bastard storms off without a backwards glance walking further into the other part of the clubhouse.

But I don’t leave things to chance anymore. I fire off a couple of rounds—one in the head and two in the heart, watching his blood and brain matter flow to join the ponding of the others. The other members of the Riders who were interrogated in similar fashion met the same fate this one did. It’s eye for an eye in this world and I have no regret sending these cunts to their maker.

Stepping onto a clear patch of floor, I make my way over to Joker who’s sipping on a lemonade behind the bar. He’s even got a pack of crisps open on the counter, like he’s having a fucking party.

“We found Steel,” he says once I’m close enough.

Not that there’s any ears left in here, we’ve either removed them or killed whoever owned them. I’m not here playing around; my message is loud and clear—mess with the Fallen and we will make you pay. Mess with mine and I will make you suffer.

“Bad?”

Joker shrugs without answering, meaning ‘bad’ is open to interpretation. Considering I know him, and his strange definitions, I take it to mean he’s alive.

“Where was he?” I ask, washing my hands in the sink, accepting the towel he throws my way.

“A barn three hours from here. I sent the address to your phone.” Joker finishes his drink and starts walking off in the direction of his bike as an alert hits my phone.

“Joker, I got no issue if you come out with me, but I see your wound bleeding. I will stab you bad enough to send your ass back to surgery. Or… you could do me a solid and go home and be my second like what’s expected.”

He twists around, and grunts. “I know when I’m not wanted.”

“Nah you don’t. I told you to fuck off what, thirty years ago now?” I laugh. Relieved he’s going back to our compound. “You’ve done enough, and we’re only getting started.”

The both of us know I’ve pulled the pin on relations between The Fallen and The Death Riders, and any or all of their associates. And like all good MC rivalries it’s gonna be years until we see the end of reprisals and hit backs.

He shrugs, being a stubborn prick as always. “I’ll ride out slowly, take my time and see if we can find any other rats hiding about.”

I level a glare at him, daring him to argue with me. “The rest can clean up here, and then meet you at the first stop.”

“What about them?” he grunts, flicking his head in the direction of the Rider compound where Maverick and Tyson currently are.

I sigh, resigned. “Package deal. She’ll gut me alive if they’re not with me.”

“How’d Rex not see the connection?”

“Pretty sure Rex has his head so far up his ass he can’t see much.”

“And your plan is what?”

“Not that it’s your fucking business but I will not be mixing my personal with Fallen business. Never have and never will.”

“You ain’t stepping down?” He asks, sounding more than a little shocked at my revelation.

“Do I look like I’m retiring any time soon?” I snap, but I also take a big inhale to curtail the rage in my head, “But, there’s no way in this fucking life or the next, I will let her be a part of this.”

Joker stops walking and turns to face me, his lazy sardonic smile almost comical before he slowly shakes his head like he’s got bees buzzing inside. He goes to walk off but then ambles back over. Clearly, he’s got something he needs to get off his chest. “King, I mean this with the complete lack of respect you deserve for a stupid fucking comment like that. You got no fucking hope. She does what she wants, and you let her do whatever she wants too.”

He tips his head, daring me to pull him up before he issues a sharp whistle, cutting off the chance I had to chew him out. A couple of The Fallen prospects come running like dogs to their master, while a couple of our other members come out from their positions waiting near their bikes to ride out with him. There’s another group that will follow, everyone is waiting for my final signal which comes in the form of my middle finger directed at Joker. He laughs.

I leave him sorting out our members to enter the business side of the Death Riders’ club house, walking straight into Rex’s office where Tyson is. He’s tearing his way through filing cabinets and drawers, looking for clues.

“Tyson,” I say as softly as I can. All of us are armed and twitchy. “We found Steel.”

His shoulders seize up and he keeps his back to me, asking what I’m sure he doesn’t really want to know. “Is he alive?”

“Looks like. We need to roll though. You good?”

“Mav’s just grabbing a few things. Mostly Harley’s stuff, worthless to anyone but her.”

I know what he’s talking about, about having grown up on the wrong side of the trailer park myself. But trailer park trash was too hopeful a mantle where I came from. And it’s not my business what they save but at the same time it’s good to know we’re on the same page—the Death Riders’ compound is about to be burnt to the ground.

“You find anything in here?”

“Yeah.” He brushes his hair back, flattens it down before turning around and holding up a frighteningly small piece of paper. “Four addresses. The first makes sense, it’s the trailer park we used to live at, the next is a club sleeper house, the other two I have no idea, but they keep showing up in his files.”

“All right. We go get Steel then we find her. Hopefully he’s got more of an idea. I’ve sent Joker home but…”

Tyson nods before walking past me, his fingers flying over the safe he’s been trying to crack. Gun safe, not money. He doesn’t look happy; he looks relieved when it opens and the both of us arm up courtesy of the Death Riders.

“You gonna be good, fixing your brother up while we drive?”

“Yeah. Let’s stop in the kitchen and grab whatever the ladies were making. Looks like we caught them about to celebrate.”

We didn’t catch the compound unaware; they were expecting us. You’d have to be fucking stupid thinking any person alive would let Rex’s disrespect go, plus he had something of mine. There were people everywhere when we drove down the road. Maverick and Tyson calmly shot dead each and every person we faced, even calling them by their name before they did it. Not that I remember much about the start, at that point all I was doing was seeing and breathing rage.

The Death Riders at the front gate probably wished they got another position because they were the next of many to fall.

The three of us, plus the rest of my boys who followed behind us showed no remorse or kindness. Anyone patched paid for their loyalty to Rex with their lives, and the spoils of anything surrendered is mine to take or do what I want with.

I follow behind Tyson as he walks through to the kitchen. I grab a box and start piling it with what we need, while he goes and gets Maverick. With enough food and water we won’t need to stop for anything but fuel. I drop our supplies in the truck before loading up the guns and ammo we found.

The two of them meet me at the truck with a couple of duffle bags and a few boxes. It’s clear by their energy, Maverick knows we’ve found Steel.

“Let’s finish this up,” I suggest.

At my go, Tyson lights the rag in the bottle of fuel handing one over to Maverick, the two of them talk quietly amongst themselves before they lob the flaming cocktails into the open doors of the Death Riders’ hall.

“I probably should have mentioned I left the gas in the kitchen running too,” I snicker. We move quicker at that, and I manage to get to the gates before the fire in the club house takes hold.

We make it a good couple of miles before the echo of the blast reaches us, the fireball on the horizon a fitting finale for the Riders’ compound. But it’s only the start for us.

“The four addresses are in almost a square around the barn,” Tyson muses once he’s checked the coordinates on his phone.

“And your gut says?” I ask, driving faster.

“Rex is a prick. He’ll have her at Sallyanne’s place which probably means he knows Steel got the girls out.”

“Or he thinks he knows,” Maverick says. I check on him with the rear-vision mirror, he looks as fucking exhausted as I feel. But he looks at me and nods, letting me know he’s good too. “Rex doesn’t know shit. Steel covered his tracks. So he might think he knows but he doesn’t for sure.”

“An easy jump either way. Which one is Sallyanne’s?” I ask and Tyson has a map up in front of me. I have to pull over to check it out and it’s an easy decision the three of us make to take Sallyanne’s house as the one we check.

I hit redial on JB’s contact on my truck computer and he answers before the second ring. “Split the crew into three. I’m sending you addresses. You know what I’m looking for and whoever locates it for me watches it with their fucking life and gets ten grand in the hand. I want names of who’s leading and I want updates.”

“Of course.” JB hangs up.

The drive to where Steel was found takes a while since it is in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. And when we pull up, two anxious looking Fallen boys are at my side door before I’ve turned the engine off.

“We patched him as best we could but he’s still out. We’ll go help the others searching. I want you to know, whatever you need from us, yeah? And I promise, none of us boys are talking but we all want you to know we’re ready to go to war with you for her.” His eyes flick away from mine at his declaration of Tris being under the protection of The Fallen. And it means something different when it’s not a spoken command, it’s a show of support, of loyalty.

“Place is ready when you are. Just flick her and she’ll go mile high,” Dirty Dale updates, handing me over a box of matches.

“Cheers, Dirty.” I manage to get out after a few minutes.

Tyson and Maverick are inside the barn already and I swing the truck around before shuffling shit around so that we can get Steel as comfortable as possible. I also set up everything I think Tyson will need because I don’t want to stop until we find her. Eventually once everything is done, and I can’t put off walking into the place where Rex tried to break my queen any longer.

I fucking stumble though. At the last fucking step, I can’t do it. My constant belief we’re going to find her all but evaporates when I pick up the ghostly trail of her lingering scent. It reeks of my failure to protect her like I said I would. I rub my knuckles over my chest trying to alleviate the blinding pain while also screaming at myself to get my ass in there.

It’s not until Maverick walks past, Steel’s unconscious body in his arms, that I get the boost I need. If he can deal with his partner being taken, lost then found, so can I.

Feeling stronger, letting my fear be burnt by the pure love I have for her, I take that first step with my head held high. The whole time I categorise every inch of that fucking barn, I let the endless memories of Tristan’s overly loud, obnoxiously stubborn side fill my thoughts.

Dirty did good leaving everything as is. And it would have been hard for him to do. Seeing what I see now I know he would have wanted to get rid of the evidence to save me from seeing it with my own eyes because there’s no denying the violent scene left behind.

I can literally track what happened by the spread of furniture, the tracks, the scrapes, the sunken gouges, the trail of blood. It paints a very vivid picture.

Tyson comes back to stand next to me when I’m about finished cataloguing everything Rex and his fucking buddies did. When he doesn’t say anything, I turn slightly to check him out. He’s shut off emotionally, wearing his mask of professionalism, his clothes are way too crisp and neat but he’s coping how he needs. He got most of his rage contained because none of us can afford to get too emotional. The only thing that lets me know he’s struggling as much as me is the tick in his jaw and the bitterness in his scent.

“How is he?” I ask, my fingers fiddling with the packet of matches.

“Steels got a hunting knife in his side. The fact it wasn’t pulled out saved his life.” He laughs, but it’s depreciative and hollow. “Rex would have been too stupid to realise the implication of leaving the knife in which means he left it in as a message.”

“Yeah well, we’re going to be pretty obvious when we speak with him too.”

“Too fucking right. I’ll slice his fucking tongue out of his mouth myself. If he touched her…”

“He didn’t. Let’s both focus on the fact he didn’t. Not here at least.”

“You’re confident of that?” Tyson spits. And his rage is not at me, I know that. I don’t even rise to the challenge in his voice because no matter what, we’re pack.

“Tyson, I need to be able to focus. If I start thinking about what he might have done, I will not be in the position to find her and neither will you. Once she is safe, we can figure out how much damage we’re dealing with. You can still feel her, right?”

He turns away from the scene of where our girl was traumatised, but we all focus differently. “Yeah.”

“And now we’ve got your brother. You’re going to make him well enough to survive until we can get home. Right?”

“Yeah.”

“So, we’re good? We’re focused on finding her? Later once we have them both safe, that’s when we drop all pretences, that’s when you can be unhinged and violent for vengeance and asking her all the fucking hard questions. But not until we have them, and we do it together. Yeah?”

He nods once. He’s not himself but neither am I. He’s also got something he doesn’t want to tell me; I can feel it in my bones and see it in the way he’s avoiding telling me.

“Just tell me, Tyson. Between us we have no secrets,” I say slowly.

His breathing hitches slightly, “Her underwear is missing from the piles of clothes we found.”

I’m pretty sure one of my molars snap under the pressure of how hard I clamp my teeth down. I know she’s alive, I can feel her through our bond but what kills me is I can feel her and she’s struggling.