Buck #2
Buck reached beneath his kutte and pulled his handgun free. Wren’s eyes widened slightly, but she didn’t panic. He felt pride over that, which he had no right to feel. The thought came out of nowhere and nearly pissed him off.
A twig snapped somewhere behind them, and Buck turned to find three men stepping out from the trees. They were dressed in snow camo, holding rifles, and their faces were hidden beneath masks. They weren’t locals, not hunters, and definitely not fucking tourists.
“Well,” one of them drawled, voice muffled beneath his face covering. “Look what wandered into our territory.” Buck moved slightly in front of Wren without thinking. The rifle nearest to him shifted toward her, and everything inside him went cold.
“You’re trespassing,” Buck said evenly.
The man laughed. “Funny, we were gonna say the same thing to you.” Wren’s fingers curled around the back of Buck’s jacket.
Fear finally radiated off her in waves, but she stayed silent.
Buck counted steps between them, automatically.
They had three rifles, and he only had one woman to protect, and the snow was too deep to outrun bullets.
His odds weren’t ideal, but he had been in worse situations.
“You marked the trap,” Buck said.
“Had to make sure the Kings knew who’s taking over now,” one of the men said.
Buck recognized the symbol now. They were the Black Vultures. A small trafficking crew that’d been trying to push farther north for months. They were smugglers and killers. They were men who were too stupid to understand that the North ate weak men alive.
“You’re a long way from your territory,” Buck warned.
“So are you,” another man spat.
The leader’s gaze shifted toward Wren slowly. “And who’s this?” he asked. “Didn’t know the Kings started bringing pretty little pets along on rides.” Buck’s trigger finger twitched as Wren stepped closer behind him.
The man chuckled darkly. “Relax. We ain’t gonna kill her.
” He paused and looked her over again. “Yet.” Buck moved before his brain could catch up.
He fired once, and the shot exploded through the trees, striking the nearest man in the shoulder.
Chaos erupted instantly as gunfire cracked through the forest. Buck grabbed Wren around the waist and dragged her behind the bike as bullets tore through the snow around them.
“Stay down!” he barked.
Her breathing came fast and sharp, panic finally breaking through. “Buck?—”
“Don’t move,” he ordered. Another shot rang out. Buck fired back twice, forcing the men behind cover. Fuck. They were pinned behind his bike, and the Black Vultures never traveled alone. He knew that more men would be coming once they heard the gunshots.
Buck reached for the radio clipped inside his jacket and growled into it. “Ghost, we got company.” Static crackled, and then Ghost’s voice came through smooth and deadly.
“Tell me where you are,” he insisted. Buck’s eyes stayed locked on the tree line while he gave coordinates.
A grin slowly spread across his face despite the bullets flying overhead, because whoever these idiots were, they had just declared war on the Kings of Anarchy.
And one thing they were good at was war.
The first thing Buck noticed was the blood on Wren’s hands.
It wasn’t her blood. It was his. Somewhere in the middle of the firefight, a bullet had grazed his arm.
He hadn’t even felt it until they were tearing through the trees on the bike with Wren plastered against his back and Ghost riding hard beside them, laying cover fire like a madman.
As soon as they got back to the compound, Wren jumped off his bike and stood in front of him with murder in her eyes. “You need a doctor,” she insisted.
“Don’t worry, we’ve got one. Help me get him to the infirmary,” Ghost ordered. Wren wrapped an arm around him and helped Buck into the clubhouse and down the long hallway to the infirmary.
“Sit down,” she snapped.
Buck leaned against the counter instead. “It’s just a scratch. There is no need for all this fuss.”
“You’re bleeding all over the floor,” she said.
“Adds character,” Buck drawled, making Ghost chuckle from the doorway.
Her glare sharpened. “You’re impossible—both of you are.”
Ghost snorted. “Told you that you were hard to live with, man.”
Buck shot him a look. “Don’t you have bodies to bury or something?”
“Not yet. Those assholes ran before we dropped enough of them.” Ghost folded his arms across his chest, eyes glittering with adrenaline.
“But we got ourselves a problem now.” Buck knew that already.
The Black Vultures had crossed onto King's territory openly. That wasn’t random.
That was a strategy. They wanted the northern routes.
They wanted river access, and now they knew the Kings had something worth targeting—or in this case, someone.
His gaze drifted toward Wren automatically, and Ghost noticed. Of course, he did because the guy couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the pretty doctor either.
“That woman’s gonna get herself kidnapped if this keeps up,” Ghost said bluntly.
Wren stiffened. “Excuse me?”
Buck’s expression darkened instantly. “Watch your mouth, Ghost.”
Ghost lifted both hands mockingly. “I’m not threatening her, brother. I’m stating facts. The Vultures saw her with us. That makes her leverage.” The room went quiet because he wasn’t wrong.
Wren looked between them slowly. “This has nothing to do with me.”
“It does now,” Buck said.
Her chin lifted stubbornly. “Then I’ll leave.”
“No,” Buck practically shouted. The answer came too fast, too hard, making Wren blink. Ghost’s mouth curled slowly into a knowing grin, but Buck ignored him completely.
“You can’t seriously think I’m staying here,” Wren argued. “Those men are criminals. They kill endangered animals and traffic weapons through protected land. I need to report this.”
“You report it,” Buck said evenly, “and you’ll have every corrupt badge between here and Winnipeg asking why you were alone with the Kings of Anarchy.”
“I can handle myself,” Wren insisted.
“I know you think that,” Buck said.
“I know I can,” she spat.
Buck stepped closer before he could stop himself. “You almost caught a bullet today.”
“And you got shot,” she pointed out.
“It’s just a graze, and that’s different,” he said.
Wren’s eyes flashed. “Because you’re bigger than me? Because you wear a patch?”