Chapter 9
KEVLAR
Iwas steps away from my bike when my phone buzzed in my back pocket. The sun was dropping low behind the trees, and the darkness fit my mood just fine.
I pulled my cell out and glanced at the screen, expecting an update from King or Wizard. Instead, it was one of our prospects.
Prospect—Jace
She insisted on going to work.
Before I’d had time to fully process that, another text popped up.
Prospect—Jace
She wasn’t wearing your cut, so I wasn’t sure what to do. But I’m following. Watching her six.
A muscle in my jaw cracked so hard I nearly snapped a fucking molar.
My fingers clenched around the phone hard enough that the casing creaked. I stared at the message, my heart kicking behind my ribs. The tight coil in my gut that had finally started to ease after the meeting with King was back.
Maren had disobeyed me.
I’d left her a note with clear instructions. I’d told her to stay put. Stay safe. Left her my damn cut. But she left the fucking compound.
And the kid let her!
Yeah, he’d be dealt with later. Right now, my focus was locked tight on Maren.
She’d been half-naked and soft in my arms less than twelve hours ago, all trembling trust. Now she was out there like nothing had changed.
Bullshit.
I shoved the phone back into my pocket and swung my leg over my bike, my grip tightening on the handlebars until my knuckles went white.
Rage surged hot in my veins. I started the motorcycle, and the engine roared to life beneath me, a guttural, snarling promise of what I was bringing with me.
I twisted the throttle and peeled out onto the road, burning down the streets with tunnel vision. There were no distractions. No thoughts about anything but getting to Maren.
She was without my protection. Without the club’s. Exposed and unaware of the danger.
I made it to the diner in record time, my tires chewing up the road as I tore through town. The second I turned into the alley behind the diner, the world narrowed to a razor-sharp point.
The black SUV was parked in the diner’s back lot, the engine still running. The same vehicle I’d seen tailing her for days.
Motherfucker.
My bike skidded to a halt in the lot, and my heart hammered, then the rest of me turned to steel.
The prospect was down. Jace lay on his side, blood blooming brightly across his shirt. He was barely conscious, with one hand pressed to his side where he’d been shot. His jaw was clenched, teeth bared in pain, and his glassy eyes were locked on the scene ten feet ahead of him.
Maren was fighting like hell against a man who was dragging her backward by the wrist. The sleeve of her uniform was torn, one of her shoes was missing, and her eyes were wild with panic as she tried to wrench away from him.
But the man didn’t stop marching toward the waiting black SUV with its back doors wide open.
It was the same bastard I’d seen her serve that first night. The one who stared too long. Who masked his interest in a bland expression so forgettable it was calculated.
I saw all of this in a blink.
My vision went red.
I didn’t even feel myself dismount as my hand reached for my gun.
My boots hit the ground before the engine finished rumbling.
I moved fast—silent, efficient, and locked in on my target.
My brain cataloged every detail without slowing me down: the angle of his arm, her body twisted in resistance, and the placement of the SUV behind him.
My fingers closed around the grip of my pistol, pulled from the inside of my cut in a smooth draw, my finger already sliding into the trigger guard.
The asshole didn’t see me until I was on him.
He got the first shot off, but it went wild since he was trying to keep his grip on Maren and hold his gun steady at the same time. Mine came a half second later.
One round to the shoulder. It spun him, the force of the impact jolting him sideways and sending Maren sprawling to the pavement. She hit hard—her hands spread out instinctively, and her palms scraped raw from the rough blacktop. But she was free.
“You good?” I asked her, keeping my eyes and gun trained on the whimpering asshole.
“Yeah,” she breathed.
Her reassurance gave me the ability to focus my mind on the motherfuckers who’d tried to take my woman from me.
The driver’s side door opened, and the man in the seat tried to scramble out of the car.
“Wait your turn, asshole,” I snapped, keeping my eyes on the man who’d touched Maren as I put a bullet in the driver’s leg to take him down before training my weapon back on the would-be kidnapper.
“Sorry for the interruption.” My next shot went through his thigh, and he dropped like a sack of bricks. I was already on him by the time his knees hit the dirt. He screamed like a fucking pussy, but I didn’t mind. It told me he felt every ounce of the pain I was inflicting.
I kicked the gun from his hand before he could even think about lifting it. Then I gripped the front of his shirt, hauled him up just enough to drive my fist into his jaw and again into his gut. The wet retch of breath leaving his lungs followed the sharp crack of cartilage.
“You touched the wrong woman.” I grabbed a fistful of his collar and slammed him face-first into the rear quarter panel of the SUV. He groaned, spit trailing down his chin. “Now I’m gonna break you for it.”
He didn’t get the chance to respond.
I shoved him to the ground and drove my boot into his ribs, sending him sprawling. Then I finished with a hard, controlled strike to the temple with the butt of my gun, leaving him still.
“Now, it’s your turn,” I grunted in a condescending tone as I walked toward the driver, who was trying to crawl back into the SUV.
I’d just reached him when he fell to his ass on the ground and raised a pistol that he must have retrieved from the vehicle.
I cracked his wrist sideways with the barrel of my gun.
His weapon clattered to the pavement, and my elbow crashed into the side of his neck, driving him back against the side of the car.
He reached for the door, probably to hoist himself to his feet, but I grabbed his wrist, twisted it behind his back, and hauled him to his feet.
“Your exit strategy sucked. No backup. No surveillance. Just a bullet and a body bag with your name on it.” Then I smashed his face into the window until it spiderwebbed with a sharp crack.
I threw him to the dirt like the garbage he was and turned on the balls of my feet, my chest heaving and blood in my mouth from where I’d bitten the inside of my cheek.
My heart was racing, and my body burned with the aftershock of adrenaline. But I couldn’t look at Maren until I checked on Jace.
I knelt at his side and tried to take a look at the wound. It wasn’t something a little field medicine would take care of. The bullet was still in there, and he was gonna need surgery.
“Texted,” he huffed, then squeezed his eyes shut, his face twisted in pain. “Medic. Clean up.”
Despite the fact that my woman was here and in danger because he was a fucking idiot, I couldn’t help being a little impressed. Even in his state, he’d managed to get the help we needed rolling out.
We were definitely gonna have Shadow work his magic. The Riverstone cops wouldn’t look twice at this, but we didn’t want to scare anyone.
Finally, I stood, and my eyes sought out Maren.
She hadn’t moved. She was still on the ground, her breath shallow, her hair falling around her face, and the knees of her uniform scraped and dirty. Her eyes were wide, and her lips parted as she looked up and saw me.
All of me.
What I was. The things I’d done. What I was truly capable of.
I expected to see fear or revulsion. Maybe even the kind of horror that said she’d realized the man who’d been kissing her last night could also beat someone to death without blinking.
But she didn’t look away. Didn’t even flinch. Her breath hitched, and understanding filled her beautiful blue eyes.
I stalked toward her, grabbed her gently but firmly by the elbow, and hauled her up, my eyes still locked on hers.
“This is why you do as you're told,” I snarled, the words low and thick, rougher than I meant. But I couldn’t stop the edge in my voice. It was fear echoing through fury. “Because next time, I might not get here in time.”
She blinked, then whispered, “Okay.”
I nodded and went to put my arm around her waist when she put her hand on my chest and murmured, “Thank you.”
Frowning, I looked down at her.
“Don’t thank me for protecting you, baby. It’s my damn job.” I speared her with a look that was full of dark promise. “Doesn’t mean I’m not gonna punish you for disobeying me. Especially when it puts you in danger.”
Maren’s lips parted, and her breath caught. But it wasn’t fear I saw clouding her eyes. She looked like she’d never been more turned on in her life.
Fucking hell.
I wanted to kiss her and shake her all at once.
But I knew if I got my lips on her, I’d be taking her virginity in the storage closet of the diner.
Not an option. So I settled for gripping her waist and guiding her to my bike, then opening the saddlebag and pulling out a clean rag to press into her scraped palms. Her hands were trembling, and I kissed each scraped palm.
The roar of motorcycles filled me with relief. My brothers were here, which meant I could get Maren the fuck away from this shit.
Without a word, I opened my saddle bag and pulled out the helmet I’d picked up for her. She beamed as I put it on her head and buckled it under her chin. Then I climbed onto the bike and helped her get on behind me.
Giving Blaze a nod as he rode into the parking lot, I gunned it and took off. One hand stayed on her knee the entire ride back—partly to remind me that she was there and safe, partly to anchor myself. If I let go of her right now, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold myself back when I got her home.
The clubhouse gate was already open when I roared in.
Rebel, our road captain, Echo, and Cross were waiting outside with a gurney.
As I skidded to a stop, a black van raced in behind me.
They’d barely hit the brakes when the back doors were flung open, and Razor jumped out, followed by Nora, Ash’s old lady, and an EMT.
Echo pushed a gurney over just as Razor and Blaze began lifting Jace out on a stretcher. He was pale, shaking, and barely conscious. Blood was seeping through his jacket where one of the guys had stuffed gauze against the wound.
“Get him inside,” Razor barked.
Then he started shouting out orders as he, Blaze, Echo, and Cross lifted Jace onto the gurney and rolled him toward the side building that housed the club’s private clinic with Nora at his side.
I waited until I knew we wouldn’t be in the way before I got us off my bike, put the helmets where they belonged, and lifted her into my arms.
As I carried her to the door, Maren didn’t argue or demand to be let down. Instead, she rested her head on my chest and sighed as if she’d never felt safer. I wasn’t sure if that calmed me or made me want to be inside her even more. Maybe it was both. I didn’t know…I’d never been in love before.
The smell of antiseptic hit me the second I carried her through the door. But the clinic lobby was decorated in warm colors, meant to be soothing.
Maren’s head turned as they wheeled Jace toward the back. “Is he—”
“He’ll make it,” I gritted out. “They’ll take care of him.”
She blinked at the words, confused. “Who are they?”
A voice from the next room answered for me.
“Doctors, sweetheart. Surgeons, actually.” Flint stepped into view, already in gloves and scrubs, clipboard in hand.
Maren’s mouth parted. “Surgeons?”
“Some of the best,” he added with a wink. “I run trauma rotations at County, and Razor works in cardiothoracic. But the club comes first, and for our brothers and their families, we’re whatever we need to be.”
I growled at him for his borderline flirty attitude with my woman as I carried Maren past him into the exam room. It was the complete opposite of the front, all sterile white and stainless steel.
Flint gestured for me to set her on the padded exam table. I almost said no because I didn’t want to let her go, but I wanted her checked out to make sure I hadn’t missed any injuries.
He kept talking as he grabbed a blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around her arm. “This place exists because hospitals have pesky things like paperwork. Gunshots get reported. Questions get asked. This way, we skip the part where the feds get curious.”
He glanced over at me, and I shot him a look. His lips twitched as he removed the cuff and checked her temperature. “What? I’m easing her into it.”
“Ease quieter,” I muttered.
Flint chuckled and stepped closer. “You okay if I check you over?”
Maren nodded mutely, her eyes still wide. Flint went through the basic physical, then gently prodded her shoulder and legs, before asking her to do a series of movements. Last, he turned her hands over carefully, inspecting the scrapes.
“No broken bones. Nothing dislocated. Just bruises and superficial abrasions.” He looked over his shoulder at me. “You can stop hovering.”
“I’m not hovering,” I growled.
Flint rolled his eyes as he stepped back. “She’s fine. Just exhausted and shaken up.”
Maren turned, swinging her legs to the side and scooting to the edge. I moved as close as possible, and she rested her head on my chest and wrapped her arms around my waist.
My fists flexed at my sides. I’d never hated anyone more than the motherfucker who put that look in her eyes.
But I couldn’t punch him again because that would probably kill him.
I wasn’t opposed to that outcome, but I didn’t want to have to admit I’d killed him if Maren asked. And I would never lie to her.
She looked up at me with glassy eyes and torn clothes, scraped palms and trembling legs, and all I wanted to do was wrap her in something soft, lock her in my room, and make sure no one ever touched her again.
“You’re okay.”
“I know,” she whispered.
There was nothing but honesty in her gaze, and my desire for her burned so hot I was surprised everything around us hadn’t gone up in flames.
I gripped her waist and lifted her off the table, then gently set her on her feet. She was steady, but she didn’t pull away.
I wrapped an arm around her waist, pulled her tight against my side, and turned toward the clinic door. My hand stayed firm on her hip as we stepped into the hall and moved toward the clubhouse.
She was warm and soft under my arm, and I didn’t say a word as we walked because my self-control was already frayed. When I finally took her to bed again, there’d be no holding back. Not this time.