Chapter 4 #2
Reluctantly, I shifted Delaney carefully in my arms before standing from the chair.
She stirred faintly when I lowered her onto the hospital bed, her fingers briefly tightening against my shirt even in sleep before finally loosening again.
I adjusted the blanket carefully over her, my knuckles brushing lightly against her cheek one last time before forcing myself to step back.
Hadley moved swiftly toward the bedside the second I stepped away. “You go handle club business. I’ve got her.”
My eyes lingered on Delaney for another long second before I finally forced myself toward the door.
The walk across the clubhouse felt surreal after the intensity inside the clinic. Music drifted through the warm Florida night air while laughter echoed around the clubhouse grounds, completely at odds with the fury still simmering beneath my skin.
There was a wedding happening tonight. Our soon-to-be former treasurer had married his old lady, and they’d be moving out to California in a couple of weeks so she could make a run at the Olympics.
Tyre and Cecily’s wedding reception was still in full swing out back of the clubhouse.
Christmas lights glowed across the compound, strung between poles and wrapped around trees in warm white strands that reflected softly off the pool water behind the clubhouse.
The Florida air carried just enough chill to justify the giant heaters scattered beneath the tents without ruining the night entirely.
Music drifted through the yard alongside laughter, clinking glasses, and the low rumble of my brothers giving each other shit near the makeshift bar setup Fury and Gauge had thrown together beside the clubhouse.
Under any other circumstances, I would’ve been out there with them, but the last-minute run I’d been asked to go on had taken longer than we’d expected. And tonight, the only place I wanted to be was with Delaney. All I could think about was her asleep in that clinic bed alone.
The clubhouse back door slammed open hard enough to rattle windows as I stormed outside, still covered in dirt, sweat, dried blood, and fury. The entire reception quieted almost instantly, every biker instinct in the yard sharpening the second they saw my expression.
Kane was already moving before anybody spoke. His brother, Edge—our VP—and Tyre followed right behind him.
I stalked halfway across the yard toward them, my chest heaving while my gaze locked onto Kane. “Need to talk.”
“What happened?” Kane asked, his eyes turning dangerous while taking in the blood and the state of my clothes.
I dragged a hand through my hair, pacing once because I was too wired to stand still. “Woman ran out into the road in front of my bike on one of the backroads near the outskirts of town. Damn near fucking hit her.”
Edge’s brows lifted beneath the glow of the string lights while Tyre’s expression darkened immediately.
“She’s in deep trouble,” I continued, my voice colder now. “Bad enough she practically climbed onto my bike begging me not to leave her there.”
Silence settled heavily for half a beat as recognition settled across all three of their faces because every man standing there understood exactly what was happening to me.
They’d all seen it before. Possession. Obsession.
That raw certainty that settled into a man’s bones the second he found his woman.
When he realized he’d burn the fucking world down before letting anyone take her away.
“Do we need a safehouse?” Kane asked.
My jaw flexed. “She stays with me. If she needs moved, I will go with her.”
Kane nodded, solid and steady as always. “Let’s go inside and talk.”
Only then did it fully register that I’d just exploded into the middle of Tyre and Cecily’s wedding reception looking like I’d crawled out of a fucking war zone.
My eyes flicked briefly toward Tyre. “Sorry for interrupting your wedding party, brother.”
He waved my apology off without hesitation, understanding flickered instantly between us. “Go take care of your woman.”
Kane turned toward the clubhouse first, Edge falling into step beside him while I followed, every instinct already dragging me mentally back toward Delaney before we’d even made it inside.
When we reached Kane’s office, he shut the door behind us before moving around the massive walnut desk that dominated the room. Edge stayed leaning against the wall near the conference table and watched me pace across the rug because sitting still wasn’t fucking happening right now.
The office was quiet compared to the reception outside, although the muffled bass from the music still carried faintly through the walls beneath the low rumble of voices and laughter drifting across the compound.
The contrast scraped at my nerves after the past hour.
One minute, I’d been riding through the dark backroads outside Crossbend with nothing on my mind except getting home after a long day.
The next, a terrified woman had stumbled out of the woods and thrown herself into my arms like I was the only thing standing between her and hell.
We’d stood with our brothers in this room for every kind of problem imaginable over the years—territory disputes, threats against the club, dirty politicians, and dangerous racers. But something about tonight felt different. More personal.
Kane studied me for a long moment before commanding, “Start from the beginning.”
I dragged a hand through my hair, still gritty from the dirt on the road when I’d laid my bike down to avoid hitting Delaney.
I paced once more across the rug because too much restless energy clawed beneath my skin to stand still for long.
“She came out of nowhere. The road was clear, and then she was stumbling out of the tree line directly into my headlights, looking terrified enough I thought she’d collapse before she even reached me. ”
Edge’s expression darkened. “She say anything useful?”
“She begged me not to let somebody take her back.” The echo of her voice in my head ignited the fury in my chest all over again. “That wasn’t panic talking either. She was fucking desperate. Like she’d already convinced herself she was dead if whoever had her got their hands on her again.”
Edge pulled his favorite knife from his pocket and twirled it absentmindedly through his fingers. His voice was dangerously lethal when he asked, “You think she was being chased?”
“Yeah.” The answer came fast because every instinct I had was already screaming it.
Delaney’s voice had been drenched with fear when she begged me not to leave her there.
And I could still feel the way her body had trembled against mine while she clung to me like I was the only solid thing left in her world.
Kane stayed quiet while I continued talking, letting me work through the details in my own order, the way he always did.
“Fresh rope burns around her wrists, cuts all over her legs and feet from running barefoot through brush, and she wore some weird old-fashioned dress that looked completely outta place. Cage checked her over, and somebody definitely restrained her recently.”
Nobody in this club reacted kindly to women being hurt, but the mention of restraints changed the atmosphere completely.
The Redline Kings had never pretended to be good men.
We belonged to asphalt and the shadows most people feared to tread.
Violence ran through our veins as surely as loyalty was inked onto our skin.
Some people saw us as criminals, others painted us as heroes.
In reality, the truth lay somewhere between the two extremes, depending on who was spinning the story.
The written laws of society didn’t matter much to us.
Our rules were internalized—fierce loyalty, earned respect, and ruthless protection of what was ours.
Some brothers walked closer to darkness than others, and Kings handled plenty of ugly business, but none of us would let someone cross certain lines.
If someone stepped over one—like men who abducted women and tied them up—they fell squarely into the category of people we buried.
“You think abduction?” Kane asked.
“Yeah.” I nodded grimly. “I don’t know exactly what kind yet because she’s in no shape to give us a real statement, but every instinct I have says she escaped captivity. Which means whoever took her is probably already looking for her.”
Edge pushed away from the wall a little. “You think this is local?”
“I don’t know yet.” Frustration roughened my voice because I hated not having answers. “Could be some psycho holding women out in the woods for all I fucking know. Or trafficking. Maybe just somebody keeping her locked up privately. Until she can tell us what happened, we’re working blind.”
Kane nodded, absorbing everything while I continued pacing the office.
“She’s terrified somebody’s coming for her.” My jaw tightened as Delaney’s exhausted face flashed through my head again. “Every time I moved more than a few inches away from her, she panicked.”
Kane’s eyes narrowed at that. “She imprint on you already?”
“Feels like it.”
That answer earned another understanding look between both brothers.
Edge’s mouth twitched faintly. “Well, you’re fucked.”
“Helpful,” I muttered.
“Just honest.”
“She tell you her name?” Kane asked.
“Just Delaney.”
“No last name?”
I shook my head. “Not yet.”
Edge snorted softly, “You’re losing your touch, brother. Woman’s already wrapped around you like a seat belt, and you still don’t have her last name.”
“She was half-conscious,” I muttered.
“Still sounds like slacking.”
Kane ignored our back-and-forth, his focus still locked on me. “You trust your read on her?”
The answer came easier than it should have. “Completely.”