Chapter 1
Priest
On average, it took about eleven hours to drive from Flagstaff, Arizona, to Sagebrush, Nevada. We made it in nine.
It had been over two years since I rode so fast and with such a feeling of urgency.
The last time I felt like this was the morning we realized Ellis was missing and not just out with friends.
The wind tore at my jacket and ripped against my face as I soared down the highway on my bike, with four of my brothers at my back.
As soon as I told them our home was under attack, they’d flown into action, and we’d aborted the second half of our plan to finish the Alvarez Cartel arms delivery.
We should have been resting at our club's Cedar City, Utah, chapter after delivering the arms we were carrying, heading home to Sagebrush the next day. Instead, we’d left Flagstaff and driven straight back to the Los Cuervos compound.
Thinking about all the possibilities of what could be happening at home, Clover’s words rang through my ears, muffling the roaring of my Harley’s motor.
“Priest… someone’s there.” Clover, a brilliant hacker and human trafficking survivor, had been monitoring the security system guarding my home when five men appeared in a remote corner of our property.
The men attacked Bones and Indigo as they walked toward the clubhouse.
A savage sense of pride surged through me when Clover told me that Bones and Indi had managed to kill two of their attackers before they were joined by a sixth person and knocked unconscious.
Then they were dragged away, into a blind spot on our cameras and, I assume, into a vehicle.
Clover identified the sixth individual immediately, and the moment his name passed her lips I’d sworn viciously and almost thrown my phone.
Fucking Pyro.
Bones and Ace had both mentioned Pyro to me, concerning his verbal abuse of Indigo.
I’d brushed it off as simply hard feelings over the time she’d put him in his place in front of God and everybody.
Pyro had always been a touchy bitch, but surely a Crow would be loyal to his brothers?
When we patched into the club and officially became a part of the Los Cuervos family, we swore to be loyal to our prez and our mission.
Hurting Indigo went against Duke’s express word, and the brand on my chest stood as a testament to the punishment of going against a president’s orders.
On the surface, we were a regional motorcycle club with ties to various criminal organizations through the underground in Reno.
Unofficially, we were the spearhead of a covert effort to end human trafficking as far as we could.
No one who held the Crow’s beliefs at their core would stab their brothers in the back like Pyro had done.
My grip on my handlebars turned punishing as I remembered the day Pyro showed up three years ago to our compound; the Sagebrush, Nevada, chapter house and home of the OG Los Cuervos.
AC/DC bellowed from the Bluetooth jukebox in the clubhouse corner as I strode through the door.
Ratched and Thor were at my back, recounting the match we’d just watched over at Savage Delights.
Bear had been on the docket for a fight, and whenever he was in the ring, we always tried to have at least two Crows in the crowd in case shit went sideways and someone was needed to rein Bear in.
He was one of the most ruthless street fighters I’d ever seen; cutthroat and viciously efficient.
Thankfully, he’d stayed in an acceptably violent headspace, given that everyone was there to witness a little blood sport for fun, not an actual homicide.
“Jesus Christ, man,” Thor rambled to Ratched, “I swear I saw teeth fly out of that guy’s mouth when Bear nailed him with that right hook.”
Ratched shook his head, but agreed with our brother. “Oh, he definitely lost at least one tooth. I saw one land in the hair of the chick next to me, and she lost her shit.”
Ratched and Thor quit their recount of Bear’s fight as my voice harshly cut through the stream of their banter. “Who in the ever-loving fuck is that?”
Some random asshole with a huge wine stain birthmark splayed across his left cheek loomed over Ellis at the bar, trying his best to flirt with her.
He obviously wasn’t aware he was chatting up our resident club princess, leering at her like she was for sale.
Ellis was humoring him a bit, knotting one finger in a tress of her long dark hair and giving him a pity smile as she tried to find a reason to walk away from the conversation.
She needed to stop being so nice and just tell the guy she wasn’t interested.
Always concerned with everyone else's feelings before her own, Ellis kept up her pleasant mask until the fuckstick touched her.
She had waved and turned away like she was going to leave the bar when the rando grabbed her arm to stop her.
Now she looked pissed, and I knew my face was dark with anger over this guy.
As I strode forward to knock his hand off my little sister, I saw that the newcomer wore a Los Cuervos patch from one of our Texas chapters on his leather biker cut.
This must be the transfer Duke had been telling me about last week.
Officially, he was a brother looking to relocate.
Unofficially, his prez was having some behavioral issues with the guy, and he needed him out of Texas before he ended up catching a charge.
Tinker, prez of the East Texas Los Cuervos, thought a change of scenery for him would benefit the club.
My hand clamped down on his shoulder with slightly more force than was necessary as I gained the new guy’s attention and subtly edged my sister behind me, giving her a chance to make a break for it.
“Hey, man, how’s it goin’?” I’d try the pleasant approach first, so I resisted the urge to tell him to keep his eyes off my baby sister’s ass.
“Well,” he sneered, shrugging my hand off his shoulder and running frustrated fingers through his greasy hair, “it was better before you cockblocked me. There’s plenty of club bitches to go around, man.
Find your own. That one’s mine tonight.” I chuckled mirthlessly as he tried to edge past me.
My hand shot forward and landed on the center of his chest, abruptly ending his efforts to chase Ellis.
“I know you’re new here…” I raised my eyebrows at the guy, waiting for him to supply his name.
His nostrils flared, giving him an even more ratlike expression.
“Pyro,” he gritted out between clenched molars.
“Pyro. Like I said, you’re new, so I’m gonna do you a solid. That girl you were talking to? Yeah, she’s not a club girl. That’s the prez’s daughter and my little sister. So she’s off-fucking-limits. Do we understand each other?”
Pyro brushed my hand away and straightened his cut, giving off the vibe that he couldn’t care less about being told he couldn’t mess with Ellis.
Despite his best efforts at nonchalance, the frustrated entitlement burning in his eyes couldn’t be hidden.
“Hands off the princess.” He smiled tightly. “Got it.” He better.
Immediate concern dealt with, I motioned to Ace, who was tending bar tonight, and two frosty bottles of beer slid into view. I handed one to Pyro and took a long drink from mine.
“You met with Duke yet?”
Pyro took a thirsty pull from the neck of his own beer before he replied.
“Nah, man. I was told to get my ass here ASAP to check in with my new prez, but he’s been busy with something more important.
Figured I’d entertain myself while I waited.
” His eyes slid over the club girls in the room, and a few of them tossed their hair or licked their lips suggestively, excited at the prospect of fresh meat.
The clubhouse was full of brothers tonight—some drinking at the bar, others throwing darts or shooting pool.
Ratched and Thor were spread out on the couch, a girl in each of their laps, as they continued to rehash the fight.
A loud squeal tore through the room as Cricket threw Amanda, his flavor of the week, over his shoulder and sprinted up the stairs.
I doubted we’d see either of them again tonight.
“Have another beer, man.” I signaled to Ace so he could get Pyro a refill. I wanted him to stay put for a few more minutes so I could talk to Duke before their meeting. “I’ll go check on the prez and see what’s holding him up.”
Moving with purpose, I strode through the crowded clubhouse and straight to Duke’s office. I knocked on the door and waited until I heard a gruff, “Whatdya want?” before entering.
“Transfer’s here. Caught him trying to flirt with Ellis at the bar.
” I sank onto the small couch opposite Duke’s desk, which was littered with clutter.
As the prez of Los Cuervos Motorcycle Club, he had to oversee operations under both our legitimate and illegitimate umbrellas, as well as coordinate plans for our philanthropic endeavors.
That “endeavor” being an underground network of MCs dedicated to ending human trafficking and helping its victims. So I guess a little clutter on his desk was understandable.
“Didn’t take you to be the type to narc, Priest,” Duke muttered to me from where he was seated at his desk, icy blue eyes never straying from the payroll records that were scrolling over his PC screen.
“I’m not narcing, old man, I just thought you’d like to know our new transfer had his hands on her.”
Duke grunted a “hummpf” under his breath. “You set him straight?” he asked with a quirked brow.
It was my turn to scoff. “Of course.” My old man finished up what he was working on and put his computer to sleep, ready to head out and meet Pyro. “Before you go to meet him, I have to ask… why’d he really leave East Texas?”
Duke slowly blew out a breath and settled back into his seat.
“This stays between us, VP. The official reason Pyro has transferred into our chapter is because he wants to train to take over for Sticks when he retires.” Sticks might have something to say about that.
He’d taken a shine to Bard, one of our newer brothers.
He’d been low-key involving Bard in our gun-running business with the Alvarez Cartel down in Mexico for several months.
“Okay, that’s the party line. Now, why’s he really here?”
“Apparently”—Duke shrugged—“Pyro has had some teething issues. Keeps picking fights with brothers, trying to move up in the pecking order prematurely and throw his weight around. Things got a little out of hand a while back.”
I scoffed, “So instead of disciplining Pyro and setting an example, Tinker is sending his problems our way?”
“It’s not as simple as that.” Duke sighed and ran a hand down his face.
“Pyro is Tinker’s kid.” I raised my eyebrows in surprise.
I’d never heard word of Tinker having a kid out there somewhere.
“He didn’t know about him till Pyro tracked him down as an adult.
Guess he was a by-blow, raised by his momma in Oklahoma.
Anyway, the man has some issues with authority and Tinker specifically.
Tinker has been trying to do right by him, but it seems like it might be too little, too late.
Tinker thinks he’s letting his bitterness cloud his judgment.
He thinks Pyro might challenge him as prez.
He doesn’t want his own kid out bad, and I don’t blame him.
So we figured he could send Pyro here for a bit.
Maybe some time and space will help ease his resentment, help him see his daddy didn’t abandon him. ”
“Or maybe he’s just a dick and now we have to deal with him.” I sympathized with the guy, I guess, but that didn’t mean I wanted to live with a brother causing unrest in the club because he was having a bitch fit. We had a pretty good vibe going most days, and I was thankful for my brothers.
“We’ll see how he does. Keep an eye on him.
Hopefully, he can settle into himself as a Crow.
Tinker said he was a good strategist, so I thought he could shadow Sticks and learn about the Alvarez operation.
We’ll keep him too busy to start shit.” Duke stood, running a hand through his silver hair.
“Plus, you know what it’s like to have your dad be prez of your club.
Maybe you two have more in common than you think? ’
I rose to follow him to his office door. “Nah, you’re a pain in my ass, but I don’t hate you, old man.”
Duke clapped me on the back, “Guess I’ll just have to stick around for a while, then. And fuck off with that ‘old’ shit.” My dad smacked me upside the back of my head, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.