Chapter 26 #2
Everyone else is dressed, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they just stripped behind the SUV to get it done. Rolling my eyes, I put my clothes away, and half an hour later, we’re on the road.
“How’s it feel?” I yell once Marie has been riding for a few minutes.
“It’s sexy!” she laughs, the visor of her helmet pushed up to talk to me.
Smirking, I pull up my neck gaiter and let her enjoy her first ride on her own motorcycle. She’s not a backpack, she’s riding on her own steam. There’s nothing like the freedom of riding, and knowing no one can take it from you.
It makes me miss my motorcycle for a brief moment, but this is her time. I’ll ride the loaner so I can be a part of it. My bike will be waiting at home for me.
We’re pulling into the park when the loud sound of motorcycles that clearly aren’t ours fill the air.
“Can you go a little faster, Princess?” I ask, breathing a sigh of relief when she gives it some gas. There’s no hesitation, she simply guns it. “Ransom, Storm—”
“Bringing up the rear,” Ransom growls.
Wilder and I flank Marie in the middle of the pack, flying up the path. The trees should cover us, but the guys behind us race behind and catch up quickly. It’s when a damn bullet hits the bark to my right that I decide we’re going on the offensive.
“Spread wide,” I say, making sure my voice won’t carry further than our pack.
The sound of a shotgun being pulled, while quiet, has my nerves tightening as I glance over my shoulder. Ransom turns, aims, and pulls the trigger calmly, and one of the six fucking motorcycles wrecks. Ransom hit the front tire perfectly, and the fucker crashed.
One down…
There are too many men following us to tell me this isn’t a coincidence.
Marie rides toward my left and I growl when I see one of these fuckers attempting to follow her.
Apparently their goal is to pick us off one by one, and that doesn’t fucking work for me.
I pull my gun from under my arm, and take a shot.
I decided I’m riding with my weapons out today. I have no fucks to give.
These guys are being buried today.
“It’ll be better for you to go down, fucker,” I yell. “Chase her and I’ll make your death fucking hurt.”
Marie gets space between us to get away from the Reaper, but it’s too much. I end up chasing after her and the fucker I managed to clip while also defending behind me.
She glances over her shoulder, her hair tied up in braids, and I push reassurance through the bond. I want her to keep going, because slowing down won’t help at this point. The gap has already allowed a breach in our pack.
Riding in a diagonal, Wilder and I catch up to the idiot who decided today was a good day to fuck with us, and we grab his cut. Hitting the brakes, we yank him right out of his seat as he screams before releasing him, so the motorcycle on our asses behind us runs over his body.
Ransom shoots the body on the ground as he brings up the rear, while Storm stops and puts two bullets in it to ensure he never gets up again.
…and then there were four.
Shooting two shots to my right as I ride after my girl, I listen as that biker also wrecks.
“Dead!” Storm calls out.
“What the fuck!”
“The Reaping Marauders patch in idiots,” I say conversationally, chasing the complaining club member.
“I’m going to fuck your bitch until she bleeds,” he snarls.
Kicking out on my motorcycle, I smirk as he wobbles hard. Ransom kills him with a headshot, and we speed up to avoid the crash.
“Marie!” I yell, watching as she turns sharply to the right. “She’s leading them to the cliff. Fuck, that’s smart.”
“And scary as hell,” Wilder breathes.
While he’s right, I won’t say as much. It’s simply borrowing trouble, and I refuse to do that when we have two bikers who are on our girl’s ass.
We break apart to follow her, weaving between the trees to catch up. It’s when I hear a gunshot, the screech of tires and a scream that my heart clenches, and I swear the fucker stops.
“No, no. Come on, Kitty,” Storm growls.
As he likes to say, Marie has claws. Let’s see if she has more than one life too.
Marie
“I’m gonna fuck your ass till you bleed and then fuck your cunt with my gun, bitch,” the disgusting human behind me snarls.
The other one creeps up next to me and I have to swerve as he tries to get me to crash.
“We’ll kill your alphas and make you watch. Fang and I are going to have some fun with you,” he grunts.
Somehow, I lost my alphas in the trees behind me.
I can still hear the engines, which means they’re hunting.
I haven’t been keeping track of how many people they killed, but I think the last of the scum is with me.
What’s wild is that my heart isn’t racing, and my breathing is normal.
Apparently, a life of high stress events between nursing and my brother, I’m well versed to handle a high speed chase.
Don’t let them bait you…
I keep my visor down on my helmet to protect my eyes from the dirt we’re kicking up and remain mute to the fucked up shit they’re saying to me.
“Hey! I’m fucking talking to you!” He hits the back of my helmet with his gun, and I decide I’m done.
Pulling the shotgun from my motorcycle holster instead of my other weapons feels like a gut instinct, which is just as well because the man behind me shoots my back tire out. I can’t help my scream as I skid out, and then I’m airborne and rolling with my arm holding the gun outstretched.
“Fucking finally—”
Breathing heavily, I listen as one of the bikers gets off his bike and begins stalking toward me. I ignore my aching muscles as I sit up and shoot the idiot in the face, because I’m ready to be fucking done. I refuse to let anyone hurt me, my baby, or my pack.
I have zero fucks to give, and I’m going to act like it.
“You shouldn’t play with guns you don’t know how to handle,” the last one growls, throwing his body over mine.
“I clearly do if he’s dead, moron,” I gasp, struggling to get him off me.
The fucker knocks my helmet off and backhands me, making me gasp.
Fuck, that hurt. I’m definitely going to have a black eye now.
Dammit! He pins my shooting hand on the ground, cruelly twisting my fingers until I have to release the weapon.
A gun won’t help me when I can’t get any space to shoot him with it, so I pull the knife between my breasts with my free hand and jab it into his shoulder.
I was aiming for his neck, but he moved.
“Aww. We were just having fun,” I croon, getting up as he scrambles to his feet to get away from me.
The shotgun comes with me as I begin to stalk him, my eye on the drop off of the cliff that he hasn’t seen yet. The snowy weather comes with a lot of fog, carefully hiding the surprise behind him.
My ankle complains as I walk, but I do my best to ignore it as I walk forward.
“Your bitch is fucking crazy! I can’t believe I wanted to stick my dick in that.”
The rumble of motorcycles behind me tells me exactly who he’s speaking to.
“Let this be a lesson not to touch what’s not yours,” Lore growls. “Do what you have to, Princess. We’re here if you want us to do it.”
“Wait! I’m just doing what I’m told. I’m just the muscle,” Fang whines. I only know his name because his buddy let it slip, but honestly, he owns the name well.
His teeth are jagged and could use the help of a good orthodontist. I suppose that doesn’t much matter if he’s just going to die soon.
“Muscle for who?” I ask, shooting at his feet.
“Fuck! Stop! I need medical attention,” he says.
“Mmmhmm. I believe my omega asked you a question,” Wilder growls.
“Macon sent me. He’s my President. He said…this would be an easy job now that your Prez is dead.”
“I’m not dead,” Lore laughs. “I’m standing right here. We got what we need, Princess. Fire at will.”
My shot hits true, throwing Fang’s head back. His weight lands his body on the lip of the cliff, and he continues to fall into the abyss below. There’s no scream because he’s already dead, and my knees give out on me as the adrenaline begins to fail.
Lore’s knees hit the ground behind me, and then I’m being pulled into his lap.
“Does anything hurt?” he asks, looking over me as his fingers run up my body. “Fuck, the dipshit clocked you good, Princess.”
“I’m okay,” I tell him, shaking my head even as the tears begin to fall. My hands tremble, but it’s just from coming out of this shit on the other side. “Call Devon, Lore.”
His fingers curl around my throat, and his thumb forces my chin up so he can kiss me until I’m clinging to his arms.
“I love you. I’m going to end this shit.”
His phone is in his hand and ringing by the end of his sentence, and Ransom walks over to drop beside us and steal me away. The entire pack begins to work together without a word, and Storm disappears from the clearing with purposeful steps.
“He’s getting the bodies,” Lore murmurs under his breath just as Devon picks up.
“You remember I exist. How nice,” he drawls. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?”
I’m going to shoot him the next time I see the little fuckwhistle.
Ransom hides a smile against my hair, while I glare at Lore’s phone.
“Your little problem tried to kill my unborn child and my mate,” Lore says dangerously. Devon’s gasp is almost inaudible, because Lore continues without allowing him to speak. “You’re also speaking to the President of the Knotted Anarchists. I’m not your brother for the purposes of this call.”
“What? Lore, back the fuck up. Is Marie alright?”
“I’m fine,” I rasp, my voice cracking as I pull in a breath. Ugh, I hate crying. “Now shut up and listen to your brother.”
“The Reaping Marauders are done,” Lore rumbles. “They don’t deserve any more time. I will come up to Illinois and burn their fucking clubhouse down if you don’t end this.”
“We will bring war,” Storm grunts, dropping the feet of two men he’s dragging.
“Clean up is on the way, Prez,” Wilder reports pocketing his phone before following Storm to get the last two bodies.
“I didn’t think they’d go after you,” Devon whispers. “I swear, I didn’t. They’re having a party right now at their club.”
“Sounds like a great time to strike,” Ransom says. “They’re all going to pass out drunk. Fuck it up, Prez.”
“God, the hotheads have infected you,” Devon groans. “I promise they’ll all be dead by the time you’re having your morning coffee, alright?”
“They better be,” Lore grumbles. “I’ll let Marie take it out of your hide if they aren’t.”
“Her eye is going to be black and blue,” Ransom adds helpfully, sighing. “We need to call your doctor friend for a visit to make sure you’re okay.”
None of them are really talking about the health of the baby and I shiver, pressing my hand to my stomach. It’s too soon to feel the baby moving, and I close my eyes as I pray she or he is okay.
“Consider it handled.”
Devon screams and throws something at the wall before the call drops, making me sigh as I open my eyes.
“That went well,” I observe, stiffening when I hear the sound of engines in the woods.
“It’s just Ryder and some of the guys from the garage,” Wilder explains, dumping another body. Storm does the same, and they come over to check on me.
Ryder finds us all on the ground, and he sighs as he gets off the bike.
“I should have just handled it myself.”
“And deny me the satisfaction of shooting that shotgun?” I ask, tsking. “You’re shy a body, by the way. The last one went over the cliff.”
“Now you’re Combat Barbie,” Ryder mutters, shaking his head. “Give these alphas a run for their money, kiddo. I sure as fuck couldn’t handle the white hair.”
Lore snorts, getting up off the ground to help me up.
“If you don’t mind, I’d prefer if you rode with me, Princess,” he says, pulling me tightly into his arms. “I’m not quite ready to let you too far out of my sight.”
“Your bike is a little banged up,” Wilder says, picking it up. “It’s not too bad. You handled your first washout well.”
“All that matters is that I held onto the gun,” I say honestly.
Glancing at Ryder, I catch him as he stares at me with wide eyes.
“Leave the bike with me, Marie. I’ll fix it up at the house. It was stupid of me not to mention something before you got here about the Reapers,” he says. “I’m carrying some serious guilt.”
“Shit happens,” I shrug. “I’m pretty sure I’m fine. My ankle is mad at me, Lore.”
“Say less,” he murmurs, scooping me up. “Do you have an ice pack, Ryder?”
“Freezer. Take it with you,” Ryder grunts, throwing dead bodies onto the trailer attached to his motorcycle. “We got this.”
“Thanks,” Lore says, his legs already moving. “Did you hit your head at all, Marie?”
“No, why?” I ask.
“Then you can take a nap in the car. We’re going to be getting home late, and I want to get in to see someone before we go to bed.”
“I love an alpha with a plan,” I say tiredly, sliding onto his bike once he sets me on my feet.
Ransom hands me my helmet, and my pack is getting on the bikes around me.
Fuck me if today was way more than I bargained for.