Spawn's She-Wolf

Spawn Chapter 16

We were back in Lake Charles. Our flight yesterday had been a bit crazy with after-Christmas travelers, but we made it. I was glad we’d left Toro in Bristol. The club offered to take care of him. It was hard to leave him, but I knew he’d be in good hands and have a ball.

The trip home had been quick, but we’d enjoyed Christmas with everyone. It was an added celebration for one couple. Lash chose Christmas Day to ask Troian to marry him, and he presented her with a ring. Of course, she said yes, and the women excitedly talked about planning a wedding.

Kimera had been so happy for her friend and promised she’d help her do anything she needed her to do to plan it. The rest of us knew it wouldn’t be a long, drawn-out engagement. Once we hooked our women, we didn’t like to wait. I wish I could’ve asked Kimera to marry me, but it was too early for her to handle it. We still had stuff to learn about each other, and I had to lock her down. I would’ve been satisfied if I could’ve given her the property cut I had on order, but I knew I needed to wait until after this shit with Paden was over, and she said yes to being mine without reservation. I hoped it wasn’t long until it happened.

There had been some progress on the Paden front, too. A dive into his parents revealed that right before he spoke to Claudia on the street, his parents had withdrawn a large sum of money from their bank account. There was no subsequent deposit in any of his, but they could’ve easily given it to him in person. Our research showed they’d kept in contact over the years, and when they moved away from Lake Charles, they moved to a town near him in Athens, Texas, which was barely over four hours from Lake Charles. Having him on the same planet was too close, in my opinion.

He still wasn’t using his bank accounts, and his phone wasn’t showing as active. The only reason I could think for him to keep it turned off was he knew it could be used to track him or at least to show where he had been. His car hadn’t been found on any camera feeds in town either, but again, we could only assume he was using his own vehicle. He hadn’t rented one from any of the big rental companies because if he had, it would’ve shown up on our search. Even if he paid cash, they’d enter it into their systems and have to have his driver’s license. Monitoring the major car rental companies wasn’t hard. It was the tiny mom-and-pop ones we had to worry about. We had no way to know or watch all of those.

The average citizen wouldn’t think to hide their paper trail or digital footprints; however, my dive into him told me he wasn’t just anyone. He had a computer background, not at my level, but enough not to be totally stupid, unfortunately. It was him being so careful, which made me positive he was up to no good and intended harm for Claudia and Kimera. His comments to Claudia were a threat, not just him spouting nonsense.

We were waiting to go over to Sonny and Claudia’s this evening once they got home from visiting family and had the kids settled so we could talk. We offered to bring everyone dinner so no one had to cook. They said it wasn’t necessary, but we insisted.

To pass the time, I did more searching, but not the whole day. I wanted to spend time with Kimera and she was bored, even though she tried to stay busy. One way she did that was to search for jobs back in Bristol. When she went to see her boss about extending her leave, she was told she could take another week, and if she weren’t back after that, she’d have to let her go and get someone else. Since we couldn’t guarantee we’d have this wrapped up by then, even though we wanted to, she was planning for the worst and doing a search now. Even if she couldn’t interview, she’d know what the market had to offer.

Alisse promised to talk to her boss, Dr. Simpson, to see if she was hiring soon. They didn’t have any openings, but she was in the process of taking on a partner, and when this happened, they would need more staff. I was hoping she’d get on there. Dr. Simpson was great to work for, and she understood the MC life. She never explained how, but we’d met her, and she treated us great. She obviously had been around bikers before. Her flexibility with Chey and Alisse was wonderful, too. They didn’t take advantage, but sometimes things happened, and she had no problem covering them or having us around to keep them safe.

I didn’t want to keep us holed up in our hotel the whole time, so we went out to lunch, and she took me around to show me the town. It was probably a good thing since, upon our return from Bristol, we’d moved into the same room. It had two queen beds, but we decided to do this so we could spend more time together. It tested my restraint, but I would resist the temptation. I was waiting for her to let me sleep with her, even if all we did was sleep. I meant what I said. I would go at her pace, but it didn’t mean it was easy.

When I first suggested we go out in the town, she worried what would happen if Paden saw us, but then she realized how that would be to our advantage. I felt confident I could protect her from him, and if it let us find where he was hiding, all the better. In order to be ready if or when I should say we found him, a few of my brothers were coming in tomorrow.

Maniac’s contact in the area Dom club, the Savage Highwaymen MC, had come through in a big way for us. It seemed they were a club despite what their name suggested, who was like us. They weren’t a typical one-percenter into illegal shit and making war. A lot of them had been in the military and had a code very similar to ours. They’d fuck you up and kill you if you deserved it, but they had hard lines they didn’t cross.

He’d explained why we were in their area. The enforcer for them happened to be a biker Maniac had met and befriended years ago named Abyss. They’d stayed in contact, but we hadn’t ever needed to ask for their help or them us until now. With us being in Virginia and them in Louisiana, we didn’t have our paths crossed. When Abyss told his president and the rest of his club about what we were doing, they offered any assistance we might need.

I doubted we’d need any of their men to help capture the fucker, but we would need a place to take him to when we did. It would be easier to torture and kill his ass here and get rid of the body rather than risk transporting him across multiple state lines to do it at home. Tomorrow, once my brothers got here, we were to go to their clubhouse to meet all of them.

When I told Kimera we’d be going and I wanted her to go, she’d been nervous. Ideally, I’d never take my woman to another club’s clubhouse unless I knew them personally, but Maniac vouched for not only our safety, but hers, too. He said they had some old ladies, and Abyss told them to bring her so they could meet her. I knew she was nervous being around anyone who wasn’t part of our club, but this would help her to see there were others like us. At least until we got a chance to have her meet our friends closer to home.

We spent a few hours around town. She showed me where she went to school and her favorite spots. After we had lunch and before going back to the hotel, she wanted to take me to see what had been the Gallagher’s house. I told her it wasn’t necessary. In the end, she agreed to do it another day. I wanted to avoid her having to look at it. I could go alone to see it. I had the address.

I didn’t want it to trigger even more bad memories. I’d discovered last night she had nightmares. She’d awakened me with her whimpering and begging someone to stop. It had torn out my heart and made me even more determined, as if that was needed, to end the bastard. I’d ended up crawling into her bed and holding her. She never woke up, but she did settle down and sleep peacefully the rest of the night. I got back in my bed before she woke up this morning.

We were on our way to have dinner at Claudia and Sonny’s house. We’d all decided last night that pizza, wings, and breadsticks would suffice. Brent was old enough to eat the pizza and breadsticks, and he loved them. Baby Brie would have to stick to her baby food and breadsticks. I grabbed a twelve-pack of beer. Sonny drank it, and we both could agree on a brand. For the ladies, they had a bottle of wine. I’d have a couple of beers with him, but not enough to make me unable to drive. I was hoping Kimera would relax if she had a couple of glasses of wine.

Sonny answered the door and waved us inside with a smile when we knocked. He laughed. We could hear Brie crying, and Brent was running around the living room, making airplane sounds as he waved a toy plane in the air.

“Welcome to the insanity. Run while you can because if I close the door, you’re trapped,” he teased.

“I’m used to this, and I think Kimera is more than capable of standing it. What has upset little Brie?” I asked.

He closed the door before he answered. “Better close it before the neighbors hear and call the cops. Well, let’s see. My sweet daughter has taken exception to her bath tonight or getting dressed. She’s decided we’ll all have to listen to her displeasure until she is ready to stop.”

“Honey, go take the stuff to the kitchen will you, and I’ll go see if I can help Claudia,” Kimera suggested. Sonny took the bag she was carrying. I had the bulk of the food and the beer.

“We got this, babe. Go rescue her,” I told her before I gave her a quick kiss, and she hurried off. I followed Sonny to the kitchen. As we worked to get things organized, we talked.

“So, what did you guys do today?” he asked.

“I did more searching for you-know-who. Then Kimera took me around town and showed me some places, and we had lunch. It was pretty low-key. When did you all get back from visiting your family?”

“A couple of hours ago. God, I do like to see them, but it’s exhausting. We’ve gotten them to come together for the most part, so we only have to go to one or two places on the holidays. Before we had Brent, it was running from house to house and even more tiring. Soon, we’ll have to start having them come to us when they get a bit bigger, especially for Christmas. The kids don’t truly understand Santa yet, but Brent’s getting there. I can’t wait until that day. Dragging all those gifts to the parents is a pain in the ass.”

I chuckled. “I can imagine. I guess us all living on the compound makes it easy.”

“Yeah, I think that would be so cool. Although, don’t any of you have family you spend holidays with?”

I was about to answer him, but the ladies joined us. Brie was still crying. Kimera had her. Claudia looked frazzled. I held out my hands. “Let me have a try,” I offered.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Claudia asked.

“Oh, let him. He’s the baby whisperer back home. I swear he gets a hold of Lily or Arya or even Flynn, and they settle right down for him. It’s rather disgusting, actually,” Kimera told her as she gave me the baby.

I inhaled that fresh baby smell. Man, I knew I’d lose my man card if I admitted I loved the smell, but I did. I tucked her against my chest and cuddled her to me. Almost instantly, her little fist went into her mouth, and her eyelids began to get heavy.

“See, I told you. He pisses me off the way he can do that,” Kimera said as she huffed. Sonny and Claudia were watching me with surprised expressions.

“Hey, you’ll love it when we have our kids,” I told her.

She blushed but didn’t deny it. I glanced back at Sonny. “To answer your question, yeah, some of the brothers have family, and a few are close enough to go visit them, but most either don’t have anyone or they’re not close to them. I go see my family a few times a year in Montana. So far, I haven’t gotten my sister and nephew to Virginia, but I’ll keep trying. I wish they’d all move there. I told Kimera that once we have kids, I might convince them to move. Don’t wait for me. Dig in. I’m content right where I am,” I told them when I saw they appeared to be waiting for me to eat.

“Thanks. Just tell us when you wanna give her back,” Sonny said. I stood gently patting and bouncing Brie while they got their plates and had a seat.

“So, you and Kimera plan to get married and have kids?” Claudia said with a smirk.

“Absolutely. I’m just waiting for her to say the word. She’ll be my old lady and then my wife not long afterward.”

“Old lady? Kim, smack him for calling you that,” she said in outrage.

Kimera laughed. “It’s not an insult the way he uses it. In the biker world, an old lady is the same as a wife. Guys don’t claim an old lady unless they’re serious. Most don’t marry them because it’s more serious to them than an actual marriage. They give their ladies a property cut.”

“Property cut? So why is Spawn saying he’ll marry you too?” she asked in interest.

I answered her so Kimera could take a bite. “I wear a leather cut, what you’d call a vest. It has my name, the name of my club and our logo on it. Our old ladies get the same thing. Only theirs are different. Kimera’s will say on the back Property of Spawn with our logo. On the front will be her club name, which I’ll give her. In our club, we not only make our women our old ladies but also our wives. We like to cover all the bases. It makes it harder for them to get away,” I joked. I winked at Kimera as she gave me a stunned look.

“Oh, so the truth comes out. I have news for you, mister. I can run no matter what,” she threatened.

“You can try, but I’ll just chase you down and beg and plead until you come back. I’ve done it once already.”

This made her blush again, and Claudia’s mouth fell open. “You’re admitting you begged her to have you and go back to Bristol with you when you came here?”

“Damn right, I did. I’ve been an idiot a few times, but she’s forgiven me, and we’re working out any issues. I’ll always do that to keep her with me and happy.”

Claudia got a satisfied smirk on her face. Kimera snorted. “As if I could hide from you. The man is lethal on a computer, and if he can’t find me, he has friends who can. This Smoke I’ve heard about sounds interesting. I can’t wait until I meet him.”

“Who’s Smoke?” Sonny asked.

“Smoke is part of the Archangel’s Warriors MC in Dublin Falls, Tennessee. Our clubs are really close. He’s their computer guy. Hell, he puts me to shame, and I can admit that. He and his wife, Everly, are two of the best hackers in the world. Our other friends’ clubs don’t have slouches in the hacker department either. The other chapter of the Warriors in Hunters Creek, Tennessee, has Outlaw. The Pagan Souls in Cherokee, North Carolina, has Wire, and their chapter in Lake Oconee, Georgia, has Shadow. The Horsemen of Wrath is our newest friendly club in St. Augustine, Florida, and they have Micro. The last one is Beast in the Ruthless Marauders. They’re in Knoxville, Tennessee. We have friends with a security company with their own people, but I don’t know their individual names. Believe me, when we need to, we can find anyone. That’s why I have no doubt we’ll find who we’re looking for.”

“Sh-crap, I had no idea,” Sonny said. He stopped himself since Brent was there. I was trying really hard not to swear in front of him or the kids back home.

We chatted for a bit longer, and then Sonny took his daughter so I could eat. While he put her down to bed, I ate. Brent was excitedly talking to me about my bike. He’d learned I rode, and he was in awe. I let him see pictures on my phone of my bike and some of the others. When he saw the custom ones Ghost, Falcon, Blaze, and Tiger built in Dublin Falls, he was so excited I thought he was gonna pass out.

I glanced over at his mom. “I think you might have a future rider on your hands. Watch out.”

“Oh God, that’s scary. Have you ridden on his bike yet?” she asked Kimera.

She shook her head. “Not yet. He offered before, but I said no. Although when we go back, and the weather is warmer, I want to try it. He rides even in the winter, and that’s too cold for me. He rented a bike when he was here before. All the Punishers are nuts to ride in winter,” she shivered.

“Babe, that’s because I have a tough hide, unlike you and your soft, beautiful skin. Don’t worry; if you ride with me in winter, I’ll make sure you’re toasty warm—heated jacket and gloves and the works.” I told her before kissing her. I made it brief.

“Ahh, that’s so sweet,” Claudia cooed.

Sonny chose that moment to return. He leaned down and kissed her, then stood up to give me the stink-eye. “Thanks for making her expect more out of me,” he joked.

“Hey, we have to keep our women happy, man. Can’t have them running off on us. They have options.”

We talked more as we cleaned up and let Brent play a tad longer. He and I got down on the floor and drove his toy motorcycles around. He made me miss my nephew even more, just as Flynn did back home. We talked more about our lives, just getting to know each other. I liked them. It wasn’t until Brent was down for the night that we got around to talking about Paden.

“Tell us. Any progress?” Sonny asked.

“I’m pretty sure his parents pulled out money to give him. I can’t prove it, but I’m almost positive they did right before Claudia’s run-in with him. He’s staying off the grid. He’s a computer guy, so unfortunately, he knows stuff. Tomorrow, a few of my brothers are coming to join us here. As soon as we find him, we’ll be having a talk with him.” I refused to say we were killing him, even if they knew that was what I meant.

“We’re not gonna ask for details, Spawn, but you don’t know the area. I can try to help you find a place,” Sonny offered.

“Thanks, I appreciate it, but it’s better if you don’t know. Besides, we have another club who has offered to assist us. They’re like mine, and they don’t like raping pedophiles any more than we do,” I growled. Every time I thought of what that man did to Kimera, Claudia, and who knows who else, I wanted to roar and have my hands beating his flesh. I planned to do a lot more than just beat him, but it was a start.

“How did you luck out there? Or do you have another, what do you call it, a chapter out here?” Claudia asked.

“No, not one of ours or the others I mentioned, but we know people and one of our guys knows a guy in a club near here, and there you have it. In fact, tomorrow, after my brothers get here, we’ll be going to their clubhouse to meet them. We want to be prepared to make our move as soon as I track Gallagher’s ass down.”

“Spawn, I need to ask a favor,” Sonny said hoarsely. I already knew what he was going to ask.

“Sonny, I know what you want. Since this involves more than just my club, I can’t promise that. I’ll ask and see if the other one will be alright for you to have some time with him, but they may not be comfortable taking that risk.”

I could tell this didn’t sit well with him, but I had to be upfront and not put anyone at risk. Finally, he sighed and nodded. “I get it, I do. Thanks for asking. I just want to help make him pay for what he did to Claudia. I can’t help but think of others he might’ve done the same fucked up stuff to. If they aren’t comfortable, make sure you give him pain for me.”

“I do, too. I swear if they don’t have an issue with it, you’ll get your turn. If they do, I’ll give him some hard, painful licks for you.”

“He will, Sonny. I promise. Not long ago, something happened, and people who hurt a friend of mine tried to hurt me, too. They’re not a problem anymore,” Kimera assured him. I was impressed by how she didn’t give much of anything away.

“Really? What did they try to do to you?” Claudia asked, aghast. I guess Kimera hadn’t shared that with them before I came. I waited to see what she’d tell them. I wrapped my arm tighter around her shoulder. We were on the loveseat together.

“They thought I was her, and they took me. They were gonna rape me. Then God knows what else, maybe kill me or sell me. They were into forced prostitution. Anyway, Spawn and his club found me in the nick of time. It was so close. Both of our nightmares were taken care of.”

I felt her tremble as she retold it. I kissed her temple. Claudia gasped. “Oh my God, no! Oh, Kimera, I’m so sorry. To have that happen at all is horrible, but after what we went through. How’re you doing? When did this happen?”

“I’m still dealing, but it’s better, I think. It was about a month or so before I came here to see you.”

“And you came here? I wish you’d told me. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have bothered you. God, I feel sick,” Claudia moaned as she held her stomach. Sonny had his arm around her now.

“Please don’t. To be honest, it was kind of a relief to come here. Coming lets me put distance between me and those memories there. I’m happy you called me. To be able to face this and take Paden down is a dream come true. I dreamed of it for years but never thought it would happen. I don’t want you to worry about it for a second.”

Claudia nodded, but I saw the tears. We sat and talked for a while longer, and I gave them some information on the things I’d investigated. After we were done, we went back to talking about ordinary things until we called it a night. On the way back to the hotel, Kimera was quiet. I hoped our talk tonight hadn’t been too much for her. I wondered if she’d have a nightmare. I wouldn’t be surprised if she did. Maybe I could convince her to let me sleep with her to drive the demons away before they could bother her.