3. Lightning

“Lightning, wake up!”Atlas yells into my room, and I sit straight up in bed.

“I just got a call…” He trails off as he sees Piper sitting up and stretching. A smirk crosses his face, saying everything I need to know about what he thinks happened here last night. I pick up the covers and hold them in front of Piper. She may be dressed, but her tiny tank top leaves nothing to the imagination. That seems to knock Atlas out of whatever moment he was having.

“I just got a call that your cabin is on fire. The fire crew is on its way, but you should head up, too. I”ll send Juice and a few of the other guys with you,” he says as I jump out of bed.

Atlas leaves as I”m tossing clothes on.

“Get dressed, Piper,” I tell her, and she looks over at the clock.

“Why? It”s barely seven. I can sleep a bit longer,” she says, about to lie back down.

I rip the covers off the bed, causing her to sit up again.

“What the hell?” she asks.

“I made you a promise last night to keep you safe. That means not letting you out of my sight while you are here. That means you are coming with me. Now get dressed.”

She hesitates for just a moment before getting out of bed and grabbing clothes.

I head into the bathroom, and by the time I come out, she”s dressed and heading into the bathroom. She”s quick to get ready. I”ll give her that.

I take her hand, and we head downstairs. Juice meets us by the door, and Thunder is there, too.

“Let”s take my truck. I”ll drive,” my brother says.

“I can drive,” I say, and he gives me the older brother glare that says shut up and do as I say.

I sigh and follow them out. The upside to Thunder driving is that I can sit in the back with Piper who hasn”t said a word. Once in the truck, I grip her hand tight as all the thoughts of what is actually happening come flooding in.

My cabin is on fire.

Was it set by someone, or was it electrical? Did I leave something on?

“Did Atlas have any more info?” I ask.

“We know what you know. It”s on fire, and fire rescue is on its way. They’ll probably beat us there,” Thunder says.

As we turn on my road, my heart starts racing faster than a horse at the Kentucky Derby. My palms are sweaty, and my grip on Piper”s hand tightens. If she was weary of Mustang Mountain before, I”m sure her opinion is even lower now.

Focusing on Piper allows me to keep a calm and level head. I can focus. Once all this calms down, I need a game plan to keep her safe and convince her she is mine as well.

As my cabin comes into view, my eyes take in the scene. The fire truck and fire chief with his pickup are both there with their lights flashing. The fire crew is already out and dousing my garage with water.

“Well, it looks like it was the garage, not the house. Is your bike there?” Thunder asks.

“No, it”s at the clubhouse with my truck,” I say, relieved.

The garage is separate from the house and over a hundred feet away. Right now, the only thing in the garage is some lumber for a project I am doing on my cabin, my tools, and a lawn mower. Nothing big. Nothing that can”t be replaced.

“That”s good. So, nothing big to lose?” Piper asks.

“Yeah, nothing big. Stay here. Let me go talk to the fire chief. Juice, stay with her,” I say, not wanting to leave her alone.

Thunder and I head toward Fire Chief Jameson.

“Kellen. Sorry about the garage,” Jameson says. He always uses my given name and not my MC name. He does it to all of us.

“Nothing of value is there. My truck and bike are at the club. Everything else can be replaced easily. What started it?” I ask.

“Normally, I”d have to wait until it”s out to tell you because I”d done a full inspection. But judging by the empty gas cans by the tree line behind the garage, it looks like someone set it on fire on purpose. Maybe thinking your bike was inside…” he says, giving me a look and then looking pointedly at my injured shoulder where I was shot. “Make anyone angry lately?”

I look at Thunder, but neither of us says a word. I know we are both thinking about it.

Savage Bones.

“The fire is out,” one of the firefighters comes over and says.

“Well, let”s go check out the damage,” Jameson says, and we follow him over.

The back wall is going to need to be fixed, as well as the side window. It looks like they tossed something through to get the fire going. My workbench will need replacing along with some tools, but the fire didn”t seem to reach any of the wood up front.

“Who called this in?” I ask.

“All I know is a neighbor,” Thunder says.

“For my nearest neighbor to see the smoke, this whole building would have been up in flames,” I say, and that catches Jameson”s attention. “Where did you see the gas cans?” I ask.

“Over here.” Jameson leads us to the tree line where two red store-bought gas cans sit discarded and empty. Next to them Hades is sitting like he was watching the show.

“Those aren”t mine,’ I tell him. I walk around the area, and pet Hades.

Hades allows me to pet him for only a moment before he starts sniffing the ground and moving dirt around. A moment later, the sun glints off something in the dirt. As Jameson gets pulled away by one of his guys, I pick up the item, a lighter.

“What did you find?” Thunder asks, walking up beside me and scratching Hades behind the ears.

I flip the lighter over and see the Savage Bones logo. My eyes snap to Thunder and his eyes snap to me.

“We need to get back to the clubhouse,” I say and Thunder nods.

“Good Job, Hades,” I say and hug him before we both take off toward the truck.

“We’re going to head out to see the newlyweds off. Send me the bill for this. I will cover everything,” I tell Jameson, who nods and smiles.

“Everything okay?” Piper asks.

“Less damage than I expected, but it was set intentionally, and we have a lead on why we need to get back to the clubhouse. We need to call a meeting ASAP,” I say.

None of us say anything on our way back to the clubhouse, but thoughts swirl around in my head, including burning every Savage Bones known hangout to the ground. Not that Atlas would approve, but what he doesn”t know won”t hurt him. I’ve always believed in asking for forgiveness over asking for permission.

Piper doesn”t let go of my hand the whole way, and I wonder if she knows that simple touch is calming me or if she needs as much comfort as I do right now. I can only imagine what is running through her head right now. When we get back to my room and are alone, I need to ask her and check in to make sure she is okay.

We pull up to the clubhouse and head straight to Atlas’s office.

“I should head up to pack,” Piper says, and tries to pull away from me.

“No way, Doll. You’re with me,” I say. She hesitates for only a moment before nodding and following us into the office.

I don”t miss the look the guys give me. Bringing her into this meeting means she is mine. It”s a big deal, and she just doesn”t know how big it is.

I sit on one of the chairs in front of Atlas’s desk, and Thunder takes the other. I pull Piper into my lap, laying my claim even further.

Juice, Bear, Stone, and Six take a spot against the back wall. I wrap my arms around Piper”s waist, pulling her into me, and she seems to relax.

“Savage Bones started the fire,” I say as Thunder hands the lighter we found to Atlas.

“We got a call on the tip line we set up last month while you were gone. Seems like Savage Bones was moving the last of the meth and trying to cash it out while all this was going on,” Atlas says.

“That makes sense why they would call in the fire themselves,” I say.

“How do you know they called it in?” Bear asks.

“Fire chief says it was called in by a neighbor. However, for the nearest neighbor to see even a hint of smoke, the whole building would have had to be up in flames, but only a fourth of the back of the garage was touched. I had wood for the deck I”m adding on at the front, but the fire didn”t even reach that. No way a neighbor called it in,” I say.

“Jameson also found two empty gas cans and confirmed it was an intentional fire,” Thunder says.

“Sounds like this was just a big smoke show to make us look left while they moved right,” Juice says.

“Yep. Thunder, tell your girl that the call line was a genius idea. The town has been calling in some good stuff. We had a second call, too. Some tidbits to look into the Vice President of the Savage Bones in Bozeman,” Atlas says, and Piper tenses.

“Why Bozeman?” she whispers in my ear.

“You can ask him, Doll. You are as much in the conversation as the rest of us,” I tell her.

She looks over at Atlas and hesitates. He offers her a smile, and she clears her throat.

“Why Bozeman?” she asks.

“Apparently, that”s where he is from. We got his name and a few places to check for leads. Since Piper is from there and will be heading home, and you”re injured, it seems fitting you head down and check it out, Lightning. Piper could use the escort home after this weekend anyway.” Atlas smiles and hands me a folder. Thunder grabs it since it”s hard for me to move with Piper on my lap. He rifles through it before handing it to me with a smirk.

He knows I”m not leaving her side.

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