Property of Push (Kings of Anarchy MC: Michigan #3)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Push

“Oh shit.”

McKayla’s eyes went huge. She wasn’t pissed and she wasn’t screaming. She was just straight up terrified. She took two stumbling steps backward, her mouth opening and closing like she was trying to say something, but nothing came out except a panicked little stutter. “N-no…”

The flashlight dangling in my hand caught the body at the worst possible angle. Pale skin. Sewn mouth. Blood smeared across the dock boards.

McKayla’s gaze locked onto it and then onto me. That was the exact second I realized this night had just gone completely to shit.

She shook her head hard. “I-I didn’t—” Her heel caught the uneven edge of the path and time slowed. Her arms pinwheeled wildly as she stumbled backward toward the rocky slope beside the dock.

“McKayla!” I lunged for her, but I was too far away.

Her body slammed hard against the ground. The sound of her head hitting rock punched straight through me.

“Fuck!”

She went limp instantly.

The sounds from the haunted house up the hill suddenly felt far away. Chainsaws. Music. Tourists laughing. All of it muffled beneath the roaring in my ears.

I reached her in two strides and dropped to my knees beside her. “McKayla.”

No response.

Her dark hair spread across the gravel and rock beneath her like spilled ink. I grabbed her shoulder gently and checked for breathing. Still breathing.

Thank fuck.

I slid my hand carefully beneath the back of her head and felt wetness. I pulled my fingers back and saw blood. “Goddammit.”

Vin swore behind me. “Another one dead?”

I shot him a look sharp enough to shut him the hell up. Where was he twenty seconds ago when McKayla had snuck up on me? “No.”

Her eyelashes fluttered slightly, but she didn’t wake.

I grabbed my radio off my belt and hit the button hard enough my thumb hurt. “Anchor.”

Static crackled. Then: “Go.”

I looked down at the unconscious woman bleeding beside me and exhaled slowly through my nose. “Got a bit of a situation down at the lower dock.”

There was a pause. Anchor immediately sounded annoyed. “Define ‘situation.’”

I looked at McKayla again. “Just get down here.”

A few minutes later, boots pounded down the path. Anchor came first with Prime and Piney right behind him. Anchor’s expression was already dark, but the second his eyes landed on me kneeling beside McKayla, his face twisted. “The hell?”

Prime stopped short. “Is that the chick who was sniffing around asking about her sister?”

I glanced up at him. “McKayla,” I corrected automatically. “And yeah, this is her.”

Piney looked between me, the body near the dock, and the unconscious woman at my knees. “What the hell happened?”

I rubbed a hand down my jaw and stood slowly. “She saw the body and freaked out. Started backing up and tripped before I could get to her.” I motioned toward the rock beside her head. “She cracked her head on that.”

Anchor stared down at her for a long second before dragging both hands through his hair roughly. “Can shit just ever be fucking easy around here?” he snapped.

“Nope,” Piney muttered.

Prime crouched beside McKayla carefully and checked her pulse himself even though I already had. “She’s out cold,” he said.

“Yeah. No shit,” I grunted.

Prime ignored me and looked up at Anchor. “What are we going to do?”

Piney barked out a humorless laugh. “You know as soon as she wakes up she’s gonna run straight to the cops.”

Anchor’s expression hardened instantly. “We aren’t going to let that happen.”

Silence settled heavily over the dock. The lake water slapped softly against the pilings beneath us. Above the trees, the haunted house lights flickered as the last groups of tourists filtered toward the exit bridge.

Anchor shifted his attention to me, then nodded toward McKayla. “Pick her up and bring her.”

I frowned. “Bring her?”

Anchor nodded once. “She wanted on Skull Island,” he said coldly. “Well now she’s not going to leave it.”