Chapter 24
Alannah
Rocking Wolf to sleep, I close my eyes and relax in the rocking chair.
Holly is dealing with Roman and Rayna. Harper is bathing Gunner.
The house is settling down. For now, it’s peaceful.
I recall Cas’s phone call and how we’ve never shared a goodbye like that before.
My heart fractured with every word he poured down the line.
Spending two days believing he was already dead isn’t something I can ever do again.
My mind needs to shut down and rest, but I haven’t been able to sleep in days.
There's a knock at the door and I answer it before it disturbs the peace. King, from Luca’s chapter, is stood on the porch. His jaw is tight, and he can’t quite meet me in the eye.
“What’s going on?” I demand.
“Maybe I should take the kid before I tell you,” he suggests.
“I’m more than capable of listening and holding a baby. Spit it out.”
“We just got word that JJ and Myles are dead,” he says and stares down at his feet. “You should sit down,” he points over to the porch chair.
“Tell me,” I choke out, my heart pounding in my chest.
“They found Cas with them, too. He's gone. I'm so fuckin’ sorry, Alannah.”
What the hell is happening to this club? Hopper is no different to any other enemy the club has faced. It’s unfathomable to believe this is how it ends, or that my husband has been taken out.
“Cas? My husband, Cas?”
“Yes.”
I stumble back and fall onto the swing seat. Wolf sleeps peacefully in my arms, unaware of how much death has been around him in his short life. I was once told Pope was dead and he later walked through the door. A flicker of hope ignites in my heart.
“I need proof,” I tell him. “It means nothing until I see his body.”
He's kept his promise for over thirty years. He vowed he’d never leave me, and I know how lucky I am that he’s been able to keep it for so long. Besides, if he were gone, one of my sons would have told me.
“Where are my boys?”
He lifts his eyes and death oozes from him. A rumble of thunder rolls across the sky, and rain drops begin tapping against the porch roof.
“Where is Leo and Luca, King?”
One of the brothers runs over, shoving his phone toward King. He presses it to his ear and turns his back to me.
I have no idea how I'm still breathing. I always thought I'd feel it if anything happened to Cas. We’ve spent too many years together to not feel one another when something goes wrong. Unless that’s just me and wishful thinking.
King turns slowly, and this time he meets me eye on and holds it.
“That was Zach, I hate to be the one to tell you that...”
“That what?” I shriek.
His mouth opens then closes, nothing coming out of it. Standing, I cross the porch and snatch the phone from his hand.
I call Zach myself and wait with bated breath for him to answer.
“Yeah?”
“What’s happened? King isn’t telling me shit.”
“We got Leo, Lana, then… they got him, and now... he’s gone.”
I struggle to breathe but my need for answers wins and I ask, “What do you mean, gone? Spell it out, Zachery.”
“He’s dead. Hopper slit his throat.”
King is quick to take the baby, and the phone drops from my hand. I hear nothing but the rushing of my blood. Cas and Leo gone. Numbness slowly works it way up my body, but I still remember my youngest.
“Where’s Luca?”
I don’t know if I ask out loud, or if my lips even move. Clammy hands clasp my face, and King is too close, staring at me.
“They’re lookin’ but they can’t find him.”
No, not my whole family. I refuse to believe it. They're not untouchable, but they are good at keeping themselves alive. They wouldn’t do this to me. They wouldn’t leave me or their old ladies, or their kids, alone in the world without them.
I hear King speaking to me, but I can’t make out what he is saying. Not until he comes closer and tips my chin up.
“Is there somewhere you and the others can go? We’re gonna lock the club up and go join the other chapters to find Luca and bring home the dead.”
The dead. He’s talking about my family.
“Come on, Alannah, we need to leave but we can’t until you’re all out of here.”
“Leo’s old cabin. We can go there.”
He takes my hands and it’s strange, he shouldn’t touch me. I’m Cas’s old lady.
“I need to find Holly and Harper.”
“They’re in the house, right?”
I nod or I think I do. He leads me into the house and they’re both sat on the couch. They have no idea their worlds are about to be turned upside down. Nothing is going to be the same ever again.
“Alannah!”
I look over my shoulder but no one is there.
“Alannah!”
My eyes spring open and Holly is trying to hand me a phone. It takes a beat to remember where I am. I'm in the rocking chair while Wolf sleeps in my arms. I must have drifted off. My heart pounds and I’m left shaken.
“It’s Luca,” she tells me and takes Wolf, dropping the phone into my lap. Grabbing it, I stand and pace trying to shake off the nightmare.
“Luca? Where’s your dad and Leo? Have you found them yet?”
“It’s me, Mom.” Leo’s voice fills the line, and the rush of relief is too much to bear. I sit on the couch and close my eyes. He's alive.
“Where’s your dad?”
“Hopper has him, with Sparky and Jay, and the twins.”
Hearing my son’s voice is enough for now.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m good. We're on our way to get them back.”
Like Leo, Cas can handle himself. He’ll keep himself alive long enough for Leo to reach him. With Leo and Luca working together, my faith is unmeasurable. And when Cas walks through the door, he’s going to hear about his goodbye phone call and how much he scared the shit out of me.
“He was alive the last time you saw him?”
“Yeah. He was good.”
“Everyone was good? Unhurt?”
“Yeah.”
He could be lying but I don’t push. He wouldn’t lie about them being alive so I leave it at that.
“Let me know the moment you have him.”
“Will do. Can you pass me back to Holly?”
“Sure.”
I hand over the phone and walk over to Leo’s stash of whiskey in the kitchen. I pour myself a large measure and throw it down my neck, relishing in the after-burn spreading across my chest.
“I told you Leo would be fine,” Holly says coming up behind me.
As it stands, everyone is still alive, and I keep that in mind so I can go on living the day-to-day life here. The same as I have my entire life within the club.
It's not for everyone, but it is for me. This is the closest call by far, but I still have faith we’ll overcome it, and we’ll settle back into daily life.
Come on, Cas. We’ve been through worse.
“I need to pop over to the bar, will you be okay for ten minutes?”
“Sure.”
The fresh air hits me as I open the door and I bask in it.
I look around the place as I walk over to the bar.
There is always a shift in the club when a brother dies, but when three have gone and then the thought of all of them, this place could never be the same.
It wouldn’t matter if other chapters came and rebuilt.
King, Warren, and Maxwell are huddled around a table with beers and an overflowing ashtray in the middle of them.
King stands as I approach, and I nod. “If anything was to happen here before the brothers return, there’s a cabin just outside of town the old ladies and I can go to.”
“We know the place you’re talking about,” King says. “But we should be safe enough here.”
“In case we’re not, that will be my plan.”
The three of them nod and I leave the bar, having learned I can’t stand to be in there when my men aren’t home.