Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Dane
I didn’t like this. Not in the least bit. With all the shit surrounding us, going after Brady right now isn’t what I want to be doing. Not when I need my woman. Not when I feel my sanity slipping away from me. All it takes is for someone to threaten to take what’s mine from me, and I want to give in to the threat I’m inwardly facing to take out the heart of the fucker who dares to take what’s mine.
Raine.
My woman.
My mate.
My everything.
It doesn’t have to be weeks or even months to know exactly what she means to me. Through the connection my wolf has had with her, it’s like I’ve known her for years rather than days.
She’s beautiful and smart. Witty and full of laughter. I don’t have to be around her constantly to know what she’s like. The times I’ve been able to be around her, I’ve gotten to know her in ways that only I’ll ever know her. It’s me who gets to feel her passion. Me who gets to see deep into her soul when she allows herself to let go.
The fact that someone wants to take that away from me has me feeling savage. A bullet won’t be enough to satisfy the hunger to take him out with my bare teeth, but it’ll suffice for the time being.
I don’t like it. We should rip his throat out.
Agreed, but it’s not how we play this. He’s human.
Human who knows about us. Knows the risk of crossing a shifter. Rip his throat out.
I want to agree with my wolf. But to do that, wouldn’t be a rational decision. Making Brady eat a bullet will be the best course right now. We don’t know the full extent of his organization. What we thought when the intel came in that he’d used force with the shifters he’d taken over, it could mean several things. None of which I want to think about ‘cause it’ll simply piss me off that much more. I don’t need that, and neither do my brothers.
Together, we make our way through town. I don’t know exactly where we’re going, only that we’re heading somewhere where Brady is waiting. He’s a bastard who smells a certain way and we’re all following that scent.
I know we’re getting closer to him when the scent changes, and I catch the scent of the two men who’d attacked my woman.
Kill them.
Rip their heads off.
I want to listen to my wolf. Give into the rage and do that. But we have to play this smart. I do that, without Raine here, I could lose myself to it and not come back.
She will not care. Our mate will take us as we are. Ruthless and savage. We’re one, not separate. Stop fighting and give in to being who you are. Shifter. Man. Wolf. Beast. We’re one, and fighting each other in times like this is what will hurt our mate in the end.
I think about what the wolf in me says. He’s right. I know this, and in knowing this, I make the decision. Raine will take us as we are. One together fully merged, no longer fighting each other. He’s me, and I’m him. What’s insane is that we’re having discussions as we are. I didn’t think it was something shifters did. Before meeting Raine, we never did that. Then, after, I’d felt my wolf and I merge together. However, until this very minute, we weren’t officially one with the other.
Agreeing with him now. Making my decision, the two of us completed the bond that separated us in the first place.
Sucking in a sharp breath, my fingers tighten on the throttle.
I could feel myself ready to shift at a moment’s notice, and I intend to do just that. I’ll rip out all the throats of those responsible for the pain my mate has endured before I found her.
My brothers and I come to a halt just at the town line, right near where we consider it to be neutral territory between the Iron Howlers MC and ours. Before we created the truce we now share with the other club, it’s where we’d meet if there was a meet necessary. Corbin and Cyrus though at the time despised the sight of each other, they didn’t bring problems to Big Daddy’s territory when they were there at the same time.
Nose to the air, I don’t miss the fact that we’re indeed not alone. Brady was there, though I knew he was because he was standing among two other men. A woman sat on the trunk of a car, legs crossed, and she seemed to be examining her nails. Don’t know who she is, but she wasn’t a shifter. I could smell the scent of multiple shifters in the breeze. They might be hidden from sight, but they dump enough not to mask their scents.
I also don’t miss the fact that the Iron Howlers were also here.Seems Corbin was out to prove a point that none of us take kindly to threats, first and foremost.
I shut off my bike, eyes on Brady to find him also staring directly at me. Without taking my eyes off the other man, I swing my leg over, get off my bike, and start moving toward the front of the group.
Brady watches them, his eyes glittering with amusement. He seems to think he’s untouchable, but he’ll pay for what he did to my woman. I also intend to make him eat that bullet. I’ll give to my wolf, we’ll rip his throat out, but first we’re going to fuck with him. Make him feel the pain he’s caused.
“I see you decided to come meet with me in person as I hoped you would,” Brady says, his voice filled with amusement. He turns slightly to the woman sitting on the trunk of the car. “Rebecca, come here.”
“We’re not here to play games with you,” Corbin remarks .
“Oh, I’m not here to play games either.” Brady chuckles.
There’s no way to hold back the growl that rumbles in my chest.
“Easy, brother, not yet,” Tucker murmurs for those of us who could hear him without the humans hearing. He must know what I’m planning. They all do.
Just goes to show how well my brothers know me. It’s how we’ve always been. Our club, though, we might do shady shit, we all know and trust each other a hundred percent.
I flex my fingers at my sides, keeping the movement from being detected by the others present. They don’t need to see that my hands were already partially shifted, ready to strike without the slightest hesitation.
“Here you go, baby,” Rebecca coos and brushes herself up against Brady. Her eyes come to me, and she takes a good, long look and licks her lips.
Not fucking happening.
Brady waves her away after taking the tablet she handed to him. His eyes on the tablet. “My man is still in place to take out Raine’s beautiful mother.”
“You don’t get your man off my mother, I’ll slit your throat here and now,” Bandit advises, stepping closer.
“Don’t worry, Bandit, he’s on her to make sure everything goes according to plan,” Brady states, waving a hand nonchalantly and acting like he didn’t just get his life threatened by a pissed-off shifter. Brady brings his eyes back to me and twists the tablet for us all to see. “Now, Raine is my property, and I want her back where she belongs.”
“She no longer concerns you,” I inform him, doing my best to keep my voice calm. “Raine is my mate.”
“Yes, to that I’ve been made aware of.” Chuckling, he points out something on the tablet. “But you see, if you look here, it’s a contract that says she’s mine and has been since before she ever met me.”
“The fuck?” Bandit snarls.
“Long ago and far away, I learned a valuable lesson. That being to take what I want. When I learned about the supernatural world, I knew I’d stop at nothing to make sure I was more powerful, and I had the power to take what I wanted. It’s why when her mother and father wanted to escape their miserable lives, I took advantage of this. They signed her over to me, but before I collected her from where they’d left her, she’d been collected. At the time, I was going to use her as a pawn to get what I wanted from the blood witches. However, I reevaluated this plan when I learned who took her in. This part is mute as you see I’ve held ownership of Raine for a very long time. Her parents sold her to me, and now I want my property back where she belongs.”
“How the hell do you own her? You’re human. You don’t look old enough to have been able to know her parents, let alone arrange this. You’d have had to be four years old when you did this,” Cyrus grunts.
“On the contrary, I’m not human. Well, I am, but I’m not. You see, I’m immortal. Made this way after making a deal with a demon.”
Oh fuck no. He did not just say he’d made a deal with a demon.
That changes things. Fuck a bullet. He thinks he’s immortal because of some demon. We’ll see about that. A bullet might not change this, but ripping his throat surely will. He can’t stay living and breathing if he’s still got a head attached to a body.
“Now, if you so will, there’s a contract to abide by, and I would like to be claiming my property. If you do not wish to relent her to me, then I’ll take her by force.”
He barely has the last word past his lips when I launch myself, shifting halfway, becoming beast and man together.
There are shouts and curses behind me. Snarls and other growls as well. I wasn’t paying attention to them. My focus was strictly on the man in front of me. I wanted his head, and I wasn’t going to be denied.
Slashing out, I find it hilarious the way he scuttles backward, eyes widening. He wasn’t expecting me not to bend to his will. He thought he could play games and that I would give in to him with just a few simple threats. He’s highly mistaken.
Behind me, I can hear fighting, but that’s not the fight I’m worried about. Right now, it’s about taking out Brady.
Snarling at the man, I launch for him just as he whips a gun out and pulls the trigger. My body jolts. He keeps pulling the trigger, and still, I don’t feel it. My focus is on getting to his throat. The gun in his hand runs out of ammunition, and I make it fully to him, grip him by the throat, and lift him off his feet until we’re nose to nose. I snap my teeth together, teeth grazing his nose. Brady lets out a whimper, and he realizes he’s fucked. The acidic aroma of piss hits my nostrils, and I ignore it. The bastard has pissed himself out of fear. Time for him to learn exactly what happens when you fuck with a wolf shifter. Or any shifter a part of the Spiked Raiders MC.
Gripping his throat tighter in one clawed hand. I used the other to grip the top, digging my claws into his scalp. Brady’s screams are fuel that fills the rage flowing through my veins. With all the force I need inside me, I rip Brady’s head clear off his body, dropping the lower half of him to the ground. I take his head and turn back toward the fighting animals. My brothers and those of the Iron Howlers were up against foxes—a shit ton of them. I move through them all in search of a sharp limb at the edge of the tree line. Snatching one up, I impale Brady’s head on it and twist the limb so Brady’s head was facing the direction of those who were still fighting my brothers.
One of the foxes shifts and screams out just as the woman, Rebecca, cries.
“This is what happens when you cross the Spiked Raiders.” Tossing the head across the way toward the fox. “You fuck with one of us, you fuck with us all.”
“You killed him,” the fox snaps, eyes coming to me.
“Yeah, and you all but killed my brother.” I sneer, not giving a damn about her. But she rejected the man I’ve called brother since we were kids. She deserves whatever’s coming her way. “Maybe now, without the asshat, you’ll realize your fuck up. Regardless, it’s too late, the damage is done.” Leaving the bitch to her misery, I sneer down at the other one, not missing the hatred flaring in her eyes. There’s nothing she can do, though. Not without losing her own life.
I don’t kill women, not unless they do something that makes it so I’ve no choice. For now, she’s not done anything other than be one of Brady’s side pieces, doing his bidding. Until she does something to warrant killing her, I won’t touch her.
“Brother, you need to calm down and let us see to those wounds,” Zavier remarks, coming toward me, his own body covered in scratches, blood, and sweat. Behind him, members of both clubs were containing the fox shifters. Some of them still shifted, others in their human forms.
“I’m good,” I tell him. I didn’t need him touching me right now. Glancing around the space, I look for the two men who’d been with Brady. Somehow, they managed to hide themselves away from the fight. The fact they did this doesn’t surprise me. They’re pussies, thinking they’re tough and can do what they want, but they’re nothing short of spineless dickheads.
Both men look ready to bolt out of there but don’t get the chance. I rush them both and grab the one holding a gun with a shaking hand by the wrist. I twist the gun out of his hand, still halfway shifted, and point the gun at the head of his friend, pulling the trigger. I watch him fall, then turn the gun on the one I know hurt Raine the most, put the gun to his head, and pull, blowing his brains out .
“Count those as your bonus for working with someone like Brady Contreras,” I snarl.
Breathing heavily, I drop the gun and look to Corbin to see he wasn’t alone in watching me carefully.
“Brother, you gotta see to those wounds,” Corbin states firmly. “Your sister will have all our asses if you die.”
Slowly, I allow myself to shift, only to collapse forward. If not for my brothers catching me, I’d have hit the ground. They kept me from doing this.
“We need to get him back to the clubhouse,” Zavier mutters, but his voice is muffled to my ears. “He’s lost a lot of blood.”
“Don’t think we’ve got time for that,” Corbin mutters right before everything goes black.