Savage Craving (Ghost Rebels MC: Kilkenny #7)

Chapter 1

ONE

Shona

Blinding lights, startled cries and people yelling.

I felt like I was in a movie sequence. Everything was moving in slow motion as I tried to come to terms with the news.

We’d all fled to Limerick in our cars, or on our bikes.

We all came here, except for Maree and Butch who stayed to watch over the kids.

Ryleigh was demanding to see her sister, while Sheridan was trying to hold the peace between the bikers needing to get in to protect Chains.

Chains had been shot.

He may not make it.

He may not make it.

This was the life we expected. This was club life.

You’d think I would be used to it by now and yet, the idea of one of our own dying at the hands of a monster? That frightened me to no end.

It felt like we were all being targeted now. Razor died a year ago and they were no closer to finding the killer, or whoever was targeting the club. Neal Foley had been released, his sentence overturned thanks to buying his freedom by selling his own daughter.

This world was sick. This town was corrupt as hell.

I wanted out.

I couldn’t breathe.

I needed air.

I backed up, moving back through the sliding glass doors and out of the emergency drop off point, down the side of the building. I sucked in as many desperate, deep breaths of oxygen as I could so I didn't break down/fall apart. They didn’t need that right now.

They needed strength. Resilience.

I gasped when I felt someone grab my elbow and wheel me around. I was ready to fight before I smelled his strong, masculine cologne. Looking up into the eyes of the one man who had healed me and then broken me, I broke down into sobs as he wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight.

Savage.

As he held me tight against him, his cologne invaded my senses, making me feel warm and protected. He always had that ability. Our on/off relationship had gone mostly unnoticed for years as the others found their women. I hated and yearned for him at the same damn time.

A need and a want all wrapped up in a tidy little bow, and yet, I couldn’t let him have me.

Ever.

Just when I thought I had made up my mind and come to peace with my decision, he’d joined the Nomads to be away from me. I hated him for that, for not sticking around, but I also missed him. I missed him more than anything else I had ever had or loved.

This love I had for him went deeper than anything I had ever felt before, and it scared the hell out of me. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know why he felt like home, or why I kept running.

“I got you,” he whispered in my ear. Tears streamed down my face and onto his shirt as I cried into his chest. I couldn’t do this anymore. I couldn’t be here and deal with the unknown, with the fact that Savage was never going to be the man who would love me the way I needed to be loved.

Pulling away from him, I wiped at my face, and looked into his dark eyes. The same ones that held no emotion, except for me.

I knew how to read him.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him, my voice a shaky mess.

“They called us in to help,” he said, his deep voice reverberating around in my skull, and I knew I was in trouble. I could so easily fall back into his embrace and ask him to take me away and I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, he would. “I saw you and I knew you…needed…”

“What? What did I need, Niall?”

He sighed, running his hand over his head. His hair was a little longer now, the dirty blond that was almost brown was lighter, like he’d been getting more sun.

“Don’t push me away, Shona, not again.”

“Niall, you should go inside. They need you.”

“I’m not leaving you alone,” he said. “It’s not safe here. This isn’t Kilkenny.”

I scoffed. “Kilkenny isn’t safe anymore either. Nowhere is.”

“Shona…”

I backed up. I knew if he held his arms out to me again, I would probably run into them and never let go.

That’s what he wanted, but it’s not something I could give him.

Shaking my head, I headed back toward the hospital. I could feel him behind me, always watching, always keeping me safe. It hurt my heart that I couldn’t ever feel what I wanted to feel with him. I was too fucked up from my ex to let him in, and that tore me to pieces.

I knew if I ever called him, no matter the time, the place, the situation, he would come for me. That broke me more.

I wasn’t good enough for Niall. I never had been.

Sheridan and Ryleigh were sitting on the seats, tears running down their faces as the boys all stood around. Waiting.

It was the one thing I was good at, but no one else had been.

“Any word?” I asked them, pulling myself together for them.

For my friends. My family.

Ryleigh looked up. “No. Shauna has been admitted and is resting. Chains is still in surgery.”

Ace looked like a man haunted. I’d seen that faraway look in his eyes before, and it was never good. He knew something that we didn’t. Did he know if Chains would live or die?

Savage was beside him now, offering Ace the help he needed.

I tried not to watch him as he went about his business.

I felt a rush of arousal as I saw him taking charge, everyone looking away from him out of fear.

He wasn’t scary to me. He was just Niall, but I knew he had a reputation for being bad when he needed to be.

He was named Savage for a reason, after all.

He moved down the hall with Hawk and Bear, the three of them almost eclipsing the hallway, and I knew in that moment that I’d never stop loving that man.

And because of that, I needed to go.

I needed to get away so he could find someone who wasn’t as broken as I was. Someone who could make him smile every day, who could give him kids, and take his name.

“Shona, why don’t you go and help Maree?” Sheridan offered. “We’ve got more than enough people here to help.”

She handed me her car keys and I nodded quickly, turned on my heel and moved away before I made the terrible mistake of telling Niall just how much I loved and needed him.

How much I needed him to save me.

Savage

Ace took me into the room with Shauna laying on the bed, and I immediately felt anger swell at the fucker who could do this to his own kid.

He’d fucking sold her for his freedom. The only good thing was the sale didn’t go through, which means he had worse enemies coming for him now.

He’d be dead soon, and we wouldn’t have to worry about him.

Good fucking riddance.

“How is she?” I asked him. I liked Shauna, she had balls and I knew she’d always been good for Chains, even if he didn’t want to admit it.

“She is fine,” she croaked, her eyes open and looking over at me. I moved to the side of the bed and helped her to sit up. “They won’t let me go and see Chains though.”

“He’s in surgery,” Ace said, coming to the other side of her bed. “How you feelin’?”

“Sore,” she said. “But not as sore as Neal will be when I get my hands on him. I can’t believe he shot him.”

Ace smoothed her hair back. “Don’t worry, darlin’, he has a death wish if he ever returns to Kilkenny. There’s more than just an entire MC on his ass now. He won’t be a problem for much longer.”

Shauna’s eyes watered and her lip wobbled. “Chains? How bad is it?”

I shared a look with Ace before he looked back down at her. “I won’t lie. It’s severe, and they’re trying everything they can.”

She started to suck in air like she was having a panic attack.

I knew because Shona had these often, and I knew holding her tight helped.

I gripped her hand and squeezed it, forcing her to look at me.

I put one hand on her shoulder and showed her how to breathe to calm down.

She watched me intently and followed suit, until the sobs eased.

“How did you learn to do that?” she asked me.

“Get some rest, Shauna, yeah?”

I motioned to Ace that I was going to join Bear and Hawk outside, and he pulled a stool over to sit with her.

“We got any word?” I asked them once we were clear of the room.

“None,” Bear said. “I have Brogan searching but he’s not heard a peep, which means Neal may have found another way off the yacht with Percy.”

Fury joined us with Rebel, and they both looked pissed. We all were. This attack was close to home, and it could mean we lost another brother.

“Get out there and keep an ear to the ground. Blaze is with the prospects in Kilkenny. Tell him to get out and start looking at all of his old haunts. There has to be someone willing to talk. Brutality. That’s what is going to get us Foley, and nothing less.”

We all nodded at Bear as he barked out orders to the boys. Hawk looked at me then, and I saw the determination in his eyes.

“You, me and Viper,” he said. “Let’s go.”

I didn’t hesitate. I followed him down the hall and away from Bear. Heads were going to roll. I looked in at the waiting area where Shona had been, but she wasn’t there.

Somehow, I knew she left. I could already feel she was gone. I only prayed she was safe. If she got into trouble, I would burn this entire damn world down.

Jumping on our bikes, the engines roared to life before we took off, back to Kilkenny, to find Foley and make him pay.

Once and for all.

Shona

Six Years Earlier

“Buddy, you’ve had too much to drink,” I called out to him as he sloshed his glass down and swayed on his stool. “Head on home to your wife, yeah?”

“Bitch, get me a goddamn drink,” he slurred heavily. “I don’t let women talk to me like that.”

Sighing, I stood back, my arms crossed over my chest. I hated guys like this.

He reminded me of my ex-husband, Dog, who died a few months ago.

He’d tried to fuck over the club and gotten caught, earning him a bullet to the brain.

He hadn’t always been this way, it was the drugs and the alcohol that changed him.

“Why don’t you be a good girl,” he continued, looking at my chest. “Lift that there shirt up and show us your tits.”