Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
WOLF
The cool, sterile air of the mostly-empty warehouse should be a familiar comfort to me, but not tonight. Something is different. Out of place. Wrong. I don’t have any evidence to back up my gut feeling, but I’ve learned over the years not to second-guess myself.
The rest of the warehouse is quiet, wrapped in an automatic power-saving grid that leaves rows of towering shipping crates stretching into pitch-black chasms, illuminated only by the amber emergency lights near the exit doors.
Everything in me is on high alert, though, again, I can’t say why.
My skin feels too tight and a prick of pain trickles down my spine.
Every sound echoes unnaturally, from the high-pitched drip of a leaky roof vent to the low hum of the server racks, and the distant, sharp crunch of gravel outside in the dark lot.
Suddenly, a harsh, mechanical pop echoes from the secondary side-gate.
I freeze, my entire body going rigid. Without a single word, the fiercely protective biker switch flips instantly inside me.
I grab a heavy-duty flashlight and move toward the door, my eyes dark and lethal.
I quickly send a text to Hadley up in my office.
Stay in the office. Lock the doors. Don’t come out until I’m there.
Turning my phone to silent mode, I shove it in my pocket and slip out into the cavernous shadows of the warehouse.
My heart hammers a frantic, deafening rhythm against my ribs.
I know why someone is breaking in. They want the servers housing the corrupted manifests.
They want to wipe the local data bank and silence anyone who found the glitch.
Panic tries to claw its way up my throat, but beneath it, a dangerous spike of adrenaline takes over.
No way in hell am I going to let anyone get those servers, and I’m sure as fuck not going to let anyone lay a finger on my woman.
As I make my way farther into the dark aisles of the warehouse, toward the side gate, I hear two men shuffling along the cement floors. I track their shadows, one looking to be about my height while the other a few inches shorter.
Creeping along the periphery, I see the two men turning left toward the server room.
They are likely muscle from the mystery syndicate, or even worse, dirty local cops who are in the pocket of whoever is targeting us.
Either way, I have a threat to eliminate.
Things might be more complicated if the men are law enforcement, but I have no problem doling out punishment to cops.
Having a badge doesn’t make someone inherently trustworthy.
It does, however, make them more powerful than the average citizen.
Power can corrupt even the purest of intentions. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
The intruders whisper harshly to one another, debating whether to pick the lock or smash the glass door of the server room. Before they come to a decision, I charge at them with full speed, a snarl caught in my throat as I close the distance between us.
I drop the first guy with a brutal, bone-crushing right hook to the jaw, spinning just in time to catch the second enforcer charging me with a crowbar.
I slam him hard against a stack of pallets, watching as he slides down the wood into an unconscious heap on the cold hard concrete.
Breathing heavily, I take a second to check my surroundings in case there are more men coming.
When I’m convinced these are the only two fuckers that were sent, I let out a sigh. I crack my knuckles, cursing at the sharp pain in my hands along with the blood from myself and the two amateurs who thought they could topple the Rebel Kings so easily.
Hadley.
How can I calm down without knowing she’s safe?
Adrenaline pumps through my veins once more, pushing me to run hard and fast up the stairs to my office.
I grab the doorknob, remembering that I told her to lock it.
Fuck it all. I rip the door off its hinges, the creaking and popping of twisted metal filling the silent warehouse.
I’m ready to choke anyone who is attacking her and toss them off the balcony, or at the very least, wipe away her terrified tears.
Instead, I freeze in what’s left of the doorway.
Hadley isn't cowering under the desk. She’s sitting straight in the chair, her fingers flying across the keyboard in a blur.
"I locked them out," she says breathlessly, her dark eyes flashing with fierce, unbroken adrenaline as she points toward the monitor.
"I got into the secondary internal network and locked down the terminal before any external IPs attempted an override. But don’t worry, I encrypted the local cache and backed up everything to the club's cloud. "
I stare at the screen, then look back down at her. The sheer, unadulterated awe blazing in my chest steals whatever breath I have left. In two massive strides, I cross the room, hauling her out of the chair and crushing her against my solid, trembling chest.
"Are you okay?" I demand, my voice raw, fierce, and entirely breathless. "Did they touch you?"
"I'm okay," she breathes out against my shoulder, her hands gripping the back of my shirt.
Heavy footfalls echo outside as the front doors bang open.
I’m sure my brothers got a notification when the warehouse side door was breached.
Stryker, Phoenix, and Onyx storm into the building and up to my office, heavy tactical gear shifting, weapons drawn, expecting to walk into a bloodbath and a hostage situation.
They, too, freeze in their tracks as they step into the office.
My brothers take in the bloodied, protective Vice President standing guard over a fiercely composed woman who just single-handedly executed a high-level cyber defense maneuver. I’ll have to ask her where she learned how to do that. It seems a bit more complicated than data entry.
Onyx lowers his weapon slowly, whistling low under his breath. Phoenix stares at the monitor, then at her, his usual skepticism gone. And Stryker—the iron-fisted President of the Rebel Kings—gives a slow, deeply respectful nod of his head.
In that single, heavy silence, the dynamic shifts forever. She’s no longer just an employee or a temporary distraction. She is iron-willed, brilliant, and one of us.
Stryker steps fully into the office, his heavy boots crunching on a stray piece of broken glass. He looks from the unconscious bodies down below to the glowing green screen of the monitor.
"You did this?" Stryker asks, his deep voice carrying a rare note of genuine astonishment.
Hadley doesn't shrink back from the President of the Rebel Kings. She lifts her chin, her posture straight and her voice remarkably steady. "I locked the system down, encrypted the caches, and sent the physical copies to your secure cloud server. The data is safe. They got nothing."
Phoenix lets out a low, impressed whistle, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. "Damn, Red. Remind me never to piss you off around a keyboard."
Onyx grins, slapping a heavy hand against the doorframe. "Looks like our VP found himself a goddamn keeper."
I pull her a fraction closer to my side, a low rumble of possessive pride vibrating in my chest. I don't bother denying it. She is a keeper.
Stryker holds my gaze for a second before turning his full, undivided attention back to Hadley.
"You saved our asses tonight, Hadley. This club owes you a massive debt.
" He extends his hand toward her, and this time, I don't swat it away.
Hadley reaches out and shakes it firmly.
"You're under Rebel Kings protection now," Stryker says, his tone final.
"Officially. Anyone looks at you sideways, they answer to the entire charter. "
Hadley’s eyes shine with unshed emotion, but she holds it together, giving him a tight, appreciative nod.
"Alright," I say, my voice rough as the adrenaline finally begins to recede, leaving behind a bone-deep need to get my woman somewhere safe. "I'm getting her out of here. Have prospects clean up this trash." I nod toward the bleeding syndicate goons.
Stryker nods, stepping aside. "Go. We've got the warehouse."
I keep my hand firmly on the small of Hadley's back, guiding her out of the office, past the chaos, and out into the cool, misty coastal air. The parking lot is quiet now, the only sound is the crunch of gravel under our boots as we approach my bike.
When we reach the heavy metal machine, I don't tell her to get on. Instead, I catch her by the waist and gently spin her around to face me. The moonlight catches the pale curve of her throat and the pride lingering in her beautiful brown eyes.
Everything I can't put into words, from the blinding terror of almost losing her to the overwhelming awe of what she just did, and the deep, terrifying love that has entirely hijacked my soul… It all wells up in my throat, choking me. So I don't try to speak.
I cup her face in both hands, tilting her head up, and bring my mouth down on hers.
It's a full, devastating kiss. I pour every unspoken emotion into the way my lips move against hers, drinking her in, silently claiming her and letting her claim me right back.
She gasps softly into my mouth, her arms winding tightly around my neck as she kisses me back with the same desperate, fiery intensity.
When I finally pull back, we're both breathing heavily, our foreheads resting against each other. I trace my thumb over her cheekbone, gently wiping away a smudge of dirt.
"I’m so damn proud of you," I whisper, the raw honesty scraping against my vocal cords. "I have never seen anyone handle fire the way you did tonight."
She lets out a shaky laugh, a stray tear escaping to wet my thumb. "I was terrified, Wolf."
"You were magnificent," I correct her instantly, my gaze locking onto hers.
"You are amazing, Hadley. And you are so damn strong, all on your own.
You've been fighting everyone else's battles your whole life and surviving just fine.
" I slide my hands down to rest over her chest, feeling the steady rhythm of her heart.
"But you don't have to fight alone anymore.
We are stronger together. Better together. "
Her breath hitches, a radiant, tearful smile breaking across her face, illuminating the dark lot. "Better together," she echoes softly.
I kiss her forehead, lingering there for a long moment to brand the promise into her skin, before finally stepping back to help her onto the bike to take her home.