Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Corbin
“Where are we with the run we’ve got coming up?” I demand, looking around the table at each of my brothers.
Most would say we’re an odd combination. I would agree, but no matter what blood we all share, we’re brothers. We’re all different breeds of shifters. However, we all share one thing in common. We’re predators, one with our other halves sharing one body.
Some of my brothers are wolves like me. Others are coyotes, lions, tigers, leopards, and panthers. Even a couple of them are crossbreeds.
For me, I’m a wolf, one of the deadliest around. It’s thanks to the Alpha blood running through my veins. It courses through me as if it were first nature rather than second. I don’t take shit from anyone. Not human, shifter, or any other creature out there.
“We’ve got everything under control, Prez,” Abel, my Sergeant at Arms and third in command, states, nodding and lifting his chin to Dane, my Road Captain. “Dane and I have worked out all the details for this run. Nothing should go wrong.”
“That is, long as we don’t have any more spottings of those blood witches we’ve seen in the area.” Dane grunts, eyes flaring and lip curling in anger.
He’s not one for the witches. His mother was killed by a blood witch, leaving him down to one parent, Daniel.
He’d been my dad’s Road Captain until he stepped down.
When my dad handed over the gavel a few years ago, all those who held an officer patch stepped down with him, leaving it in the hands of those now sitting around this table.
That doesn’t mean those men aren’t around all the time. They’re not that old, not at five hundred. We’re not immortal, but we don’t live short lives. A thousand years is a pretty damn long life as long as a shifter doesn’t get themselves killed before then.
“Speaking of witches, last night, while out running, I smelled one,” Tucker announces. “Don’t think it was a blood witch, didn’t have the same foul scent. It was different, almost blended in with the earth itself.”
“Did you find where it came from?” I ask, rolling my head side to side, my neck popping.
“No, went searching for it, but didn’t find it. Even went into Cyrus’s part of town looking for it. Nothing.”
At the mention of Cyrus’s name, my nostrils flare.
He’s my brother. We’re a year apart in age and also rivals.
He grew up in this club and turned his back on us all to go start a club of his own.
The Iron Howlers MC. They’re not like us.
They have different beliefs and views on how to do things.
I wouldn’t have a problem with it if Cyrus didn’t think his shit didn’t stink or that this club wasn’t beneath him.
For fuck’s sake, it’s our heritage. One that Big Daddy started for us.
He intended for us to run this club together, but we deal in things he doesn’t want anything to do with.
That’s fine with me. I don’t need his ass around here.
In fact, the only time I have to tolerate his ass is when we’re all at our dad’s for cookouts and family dinners.
Big Daddy may have stepped down as President of the Spiked Raiders MC, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t put his foot down in demanding his family’s attendance.
I get why he does this. He’s not choosing sides, which is fine, I wouldn’t ask him to.
He does this shit not to try and keep Cyrus and me somewhat tolerant of each other, but rather for our daughters, Sage and Jazmine.
They are just little girls who don’t need to be affected by the rivalry between my brother and myself.
Sage is seven and Jazmine is six. The two girls are the light of Big Daddy’s life now.
During the week, they both end up getting off the bus at his house after school.
With the town being as small as it is, it only has three schools.
All on the same grounds. Those who live in the city district and county district all go to the same school.
This works out great for me since Sage can go to her granddad’s after school, and I get her from there.
Granted, sometimes she’ll get off the bus here at the clubhouse and hang with me when she wants to while I’m doing shit, though most of the time, she goes to Big Daddy’s.
When it comes to Sage, she’s the best part of me.
I fucked up seven years and nine months ago by fucking her biological mother.
She was one of the doxies that we keep around the clubhouse.
Doxies are what we call the club girls around here.
Sage’s mom, Hummer, fuck, I didn’t even know the bitch’s real name until it came time to put a name on the birth certificate.
She wanted to trap me, and when that didn’t work, she signed over all rights to my little girl before disappearing.
Since the day she pushed Sage out, I haven’t seen her since, and she best not ever come back around here.
I’d probably try and kill her if she attempted it.
However, my Sage, she looks nothing like Hummer, nor does she act like the bitch. No, she’s pure innocence and light. The guys around here look at her as the little princess she is.
“Did any of Cyrus’s men see you?” I find myself asking.
“No, I didn’t sense any of them around,” Tucker remarks.
Weird.
“Let’s see if we can’t find where that scent was coming from. If there’s a witch in these parts, I want them gone,” I declare, banging my fist on the table before flexing my fingers.
With all the problems we’ve had in the past, I don’t need to deal with blood witches or any other that could be out there.
Lately, blood witches have been popping up in our area, and we’ve either killed them or sent them running.
I know there are different types of witches out there, but in my opinion, they’re all the same.
I don’t give a fuck what they deal in. A witch is a fucking witch and needs to be put down if they dare fuck with me and mine.
“Did you check by the river?” Justice, my VP, asks, looking toward Tucker.
He’s a coyote and is one cunning bastard.
He’s got no problem killing in a blink of an eye, but he’s also a man who takes no shit, which makes him the perfect second in command.
In this club, it doesn’t matter what type of shifter you are, we’re all family.
“Yeah, VP, checked all up and down the river.” Tucker nods, his jaw ticking. “I checked every damn place I could think.”
“I’m willing to bet the witch has a shield hiding her.” Dane grunts. “Dad told me about one that could hide herself, other witches, and creatures. Something about earth witches, I think he said.”
“Then we need to find a way to get this bitch out of here sooner rather than later, I don’t like that shit, and I’m not putting up with it.
Fuck that,” I growl. I keep the trouble out of this county .
. . out of the town. The bullshit doesn’t come near those I protect, and everyone knows it.
I might be a cold-hearted bastard most of the time, but that’s because I don’t take shit and have no problem getting bloody.
I thrive for the taste of blood in my mouth.
Enemy blood is on my hands, on my wolf’s snout . . . yeah, I thirst for it.
The very thought of enemy blood has my wolf ready to be let out. He’s a beast and bigger than even my dad’s wolf. Solid black with a small patch of white on the chest, according to Big Daddy. My coloring works in keeping me blended with the night.
“Dane, why don’t you talk to Daniel and see if there’s a way around this possible shield,” Justice states.
“And while you do that, I think I might go and check out the areas for myself,” I add in.
“Don’t you and Justice have to go meet with Orpheus in a bit?” Abel reminds me.
“Fuck.” I growl, hating that he’s right. “Yeah, we’ve got to go over to Dyrk and meet with the vampire.”
I don’t mind the vampires that much, they stick to themselves and have rules they follow.
Ones that, to them, are laws they all abide by or end up at the hands of one of Orpheus’s men.
Orpheus is the king of the vampires and rules with a firm hand.
What I don’t like doing is going to Dyrk, a nightclub where humans go act like they’re some child of the night or some shit like that.
All those B-rated horror movies out there have people thinking they can just be what they can’t.
Everyone in the supernatural world keeps the truth to themselves.
We don’t need more shit than what we have.
To the outside world, the Spiked Raiders is just a one percenter club that runs drugs and shit.
We do that, but we also do other shit too.
Hence the reason for the meeting with Orpheus tonight.
Guess you can say he’s the kingpin similar to a cartel.
What we have to do for him is broker a deal for blood bags.
It’s part of the shipment coming in. These bags are important because, supposedly, they’re not just your regular blood bags.
The blood contains something in it that makes it so the vamps can get high or some shit like that.
It’s interesting and all, but it’s not my thing.
“We’ll go patrol the areas, Prez,” Coby says.
“Yeah, Salem, Quincy, and I will join in. See if we can’t find the witch,” Tobias states.
“If I didn’t have to be at Club Heat, I’d join in. It’s been weeks since I’ve been out,” Jett remarks.
“I can join in after I finish up at Raider’s Hook,” Jackson grumbles.
The two of them handle two of the four establishments the club owns and have yet to hire a manager since they’re both new businesses.
Club Heat is a strip club we finally decided to open.
Raider’s Hook is a surf and turf restaurant that’s become a hit in town.
We also have Spiked Customs Rides, the custom-build garage where a few of us work.
Then there’s Moonlight Ink, our tattoo parlor.
Both places already have an excellent reputation and bring in a shit load of business.
We brought in some of the best artists for the parlor and a design artist for the garage.
My brothers all help in handling the businesses while Justice and I focus on the other shit. That doesn’t mean we don’t do our part with each establishment. I get out there a few times a week in the garage and get my hands dirty.
“Good, then while you all are out there, Justice and I can deal with Orpheus, then join in.” I grunt and rotate my neck, inwardly groaning at how good it feels when my neck pops.
I’m gonna need to shift soon, I can feel it.
My wolf isn’t going to wait much longer.
So, hopefully, the meeting with Orpheus won’t go on for long.
I want to get out there and look as well, but I also know I have to make sure Sage gets her nighttime story.
It’s one thing that I do with her every night, and she doesn’t want anyone else to.
No matter how much she loves her granddaddy, she’s a daddy’s girl through and through.
Just the thought of my little girl settles the wolf inside me.
He loves my girl just as much as I do. I can’t count the times I’ve shifted just to let her ride on my back.
Sage loves to climb up and hold tight while I run through the woods.
If it were summer, I’d take her for a run, but it’s still winter, too cold for her to be outside for long periods of time.
Once the time comes for her to have her first shift, then she can go with me.
Until then, her body isn’t ready for it.
Shifter pups don’t start getting their strength until they’re ten.
So, for now, Sage is all but a normal human.
At ten, she’ll get her sense of smell and strength, along with becoming faster.
Then, at thirteen, she’ll have her first shift.
At sixteen, she’ll be able to do a half shift.
It’s always been a question in the back of my mind as to why this is how it is, but Big Daddy explained when I was growing up that it was a way for shifters to grow accustomed and get used to their new abilities without becoming overwhelmed.
So, until the time comes, I treat Sage as if she’s a normal human girl, though I know she’s a full-blooded wolf, which is also a rarity these days.
There are a lot of half-breeds and hybrids out there.
A lot of times, a shifter will end up mating with a human.
But that’s only if said shifter finds its fated mate.
And here I am, two hundred years old. In all this time, I’ve gone without knocking up a bitch, until Hummer that is, or finding my mate. I’m also not fucking looking for her either.