Chapter 5
FIVE
Shae
Igot off my bike and headed inside to the clubhouse.
It was a busy day with multiple bikers all gearing up for war.
I’d already messaged Hawk that I was in and he gave me the time to be here by, and told me to come straight into church.
I bypassed some of my old Nomad buddies who all nodded at me before I opened the door.
Everyone’s eyes were on me as Hawk sat in the seat Ace normally would.
He would be hating having to fill in right now, and that made me smile.
Alex stood up. “Good to have you here, Val. Come in and take a seat wherever you can.”
I nodded, shooting my eyes over to Dempsey who stood in the back, a slight smirk on his lips, probably recalling what we did in the shop earlier.
The little shit.
“Wolf is clearing some bad shit up with the Outlaws,” Hawk said.
“He’ll join us later. We’ve pulled everyone in on lockdown, but we’ll be outside the compound.
I’m leaving Rebel and Fury here to take care of the clubhouse.
We’re going to split up, half will cover the Wolves and half cover the Reapers.
Plan of attack, we strike both clubhouses at the same time. ”
That was surprising.
There was no negotiations, no talking things through - straight to attack. It meant Dempsey was right to run. He would have been hunted down and killed. My chest squeezed at that.
“Dempsey, Val, stay behind, the rest of you clear out.”
I did as instructed and let everyone walk around us. The door was closed after Bear left, and I looked over at Hawk.
“You two can’t be at the same clubhouse,” he issued. “It’s too dangerous, you’ll be more worried about each other. We need you guys at 100 percent, and not worried about the other so you either make a decision that one of you stays behind or one is on the Reapers and one is on the Wolves.”
I looked over at Dempsey who was moving toward me. “That makes sense. I don’t speak for Shae. Whatever she wants.”
My chest swelled again, but I pushed back the feeling. Hawk dragged my attention back to him.
“Good. Val, you’ll be on the Wolves detail given your past with the Reapers.”
I sucked in a breath, but having Dempsey right beside me gave me the strength to nod and accept my assignment. Hawk left the room and I turned to Dempsey.
“You good?” he asked. “Are we good?”
“Let’s talk about that after we kick these clubs’ asses.”
The smirk that made its way onto his face had my iced heart melting. How was it possible that I was willing to forgive this asshole after only a few days?
Because you love him, my brain decided to pipe in.
He nodded. “You got it, baby.”
“Don’t call me that in front of the boys. It’s Valkyrie or Val, not Shae.”
Dempsey nodded. “Sure thing, Val.”
I rolled my eyes as his gaze drifted down my body and toward my legs. Those same legs that had been wrapped around him earlier.
Moving out of the room, we joined everyone at the bar. They were all suiting up with guns and knives. I did the same and kept a distance from Dempsey. We needed to keep our game faces on for this.
As we were nearing time to leave, darkness was descending around us, so it would be time to hit the road so we could hide out if we needed to.
Wolf came into the clubhouse with two men behind him.
They were just as scary as Wolf looked, and they both honed in on Dempsey.
I turned to see his smile shift, concern etched over his face.
I felt protective of him as they moved inside.
Wolf shook his head at me to warn me not to intercept.
They headed over to Dempsey just as Bear and Hawk followed.
They all moved back into the room we held service in.
“Wolf.”
“Let this happen, Valkyrie,” he warned. When Wolf spoke, you listened. I’d learned that the hard way. If he thought this needed to happen, then it needed to happen. I had to have faith that Bear and Hawk could handle this.
I loaded my guns, and slid my knives into their holsters on my thigh and ankles. I was the only woman here.
The others were probably all keeping shelter in the back rooms or in Hawk’s cabin with Morena. I had been so damn proud to patch in as a Nomad, and then to be shifted to the Rebels.
But I’d give it up in a heartbeat if it meant we needed to run, because there wasn’t a way in Hell I would leave Dempsey or let him leave again.
We were a team.
He was the only one I wanted to be with.
I found Viper and Savage by the door and headed over to them.
“Where do you need me?”
“You go with Viper and hit the Wolves,” Savage said. “I’ll take Viking and the others to hit the Reapers. You know the Nomads better so you can help lead them.”
I nodded and looked at Viper who had a cunning smirk on his face. “Time to go huntin’.”
I chuckled as he led me out of the clubhouse and down to my bike.
“You and Viking, huh?” He said as we put our helmets on.
“You know him as Viking?”
“By reputation. He’s a pretty damn good Outlaw from what I've been told. Had no idea Viking was Bear’s fucking brother though.”
“Yeah, that had been a little fun fact I learned the hard way too.”
Viper chuckled but didn’t speak again. Some of the boys from the Nomads came up, patted me on the back in the way they acknowledged each other and jumped on their bikes.
“How exactly are we going to stop the sound of our bikes?” I asked them.
Viper shrugged. “I just follow the orders, kid.”
I knew he was right, he had to have faith. He led us out of the compound, being the highest ranking for our troupe and we followed. My heart was in my ears as we moved down the long road that led to the compound and into the city of Kilkenny.
Dempsey
Bullet and Pit weren’t bikers you wanted to come across.
They were senior members of the Outlaws and by their reputation alone, I knew this wasn’t going to be pleasant.
Hawk and Bear sat in church, waiting for them to speak.
Wolf had hung back, but I had faith in him, he wouldn’t have brought them here if they were going to flay me alive.
“Speak,” Hawk ordered. Bullet looked to Pit who nodded once quickly before he moved closer to the table where I sat.
“Your actions need to be explained, Viking,” he said, his voice deep and fierce.
He was a no nonsense kind of guy and when he spoke, he never wanted to repeat himself.
“We understand there have been extenuating circumstances and that’s all been taken on board, but we do have a code and you broke it and then ran. ”
“You don’t exactly listen before acting,” I spat out quickly. “I ran because I needed to figure out what to do. I didn’t just have you guys to worry about, I had two rival clubs after me.”
“And we’ll get to that, but first, we need to make sure you are still an Outlaw.”
“And how do you do that?”
It was Alex who spoke this time. I could see the unease in his features, and on Hawk’s face too. It pissed me off that Wolf would come here and do this on their turf. He could have easily sent me a text to call me away for this.
Pit stepped forward and put the box down on the table.
I knew what was inside, but I also knew Alex wasn’t going to like this.
I’d been through intense interrogation to get my Outlaw status, it’s what they did.
You didn’t just state vows and adhere to a code.
You had to get through tests to be one of the notorious Outlaws and I had gone through a lot of shit to get my cut and patch. I didn’t want Alex to see that.
“I’m good here,” I said to Alex and Hawk. “I’ll meet you guys after.”
Hawk stood, giving me a look I couldn’t read before he moved over to Alex and tapped him on the shoulder.
“What the hell are you going to do to him?”
“We can take this elsewhere,” Pit said to him.
“No,” Hawk said. “You can have this room. We’ll be out. Stay here, Viking, no matter what.”
I gave him a quick nod, anything to quell the fear creeping up on me. I didn’t want Alex to see this.
Hawk shoved Alex out the door. The resounding click had my nerves on edge. I wish I didn’t know what was about to happen but I did and it made it all the worse. Pit opened the box and inside sat the vial and the syringe that would make me tell them everything.
I prayed Shae didn’t come up.
If I spilled the beans on her, she wouldn’t be safe and I would be as good as dead because I would mutilate anyone who dared to touch her.
“Let’s get this over with,” I said, pulling my shirt sleeve up and giving them my arm.
Shae
I moved behind Viper as we ran through the treeline outside the Wolves territory.
We’d left our bikes up the way a bit, hidden by darkness.
Viper was leading us toward the compound, a large party making our impending war zone easy to infiltrate.
I kept a gun at the ready as I kept low, waiting for the signal.
Rebel was with us, and I trusted him well enough.
My mind drifted to Dempsey and the men he was left with.
I knew it was dangerous to do this, but I couldn’t help it.
They didn’t look good, and I knew he’d been running from Outlaws too.
What if they did something to him?
“Val?”
I looked up at Viper as he hovered nearby.
“You good?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Are we ready?”
He hesitated before he nodded and he issued a signal for me to take the side entrance.
I nodded quickly as I searched for the best way to get there.
Rebel grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and led me down a path, hidden from view.
A few of the nomads were heading for the gate to make a distraction.
Viper was on the other side of the gate with his back up.
The blood was rushing in my ears as we kept to the boundary, and Rebel cut through the wire fence enough for us to crawl through.
He helped me up once I got underneath, some of the sharp metal digging into my skin, but I could worry about that later.
Rebel helped me to my feet and we kept an eye out, our guns raised as we headed to the side entrance.
No one was around, they were all inside or out the back at what I could only assume was a massive bonfire.
I knew they did that at the Wolves quite a lot, but it only helped us to sneak up on them.
Rebel checked his watch and I saw that we were two minutes out. The others would be at the Reapers and they’d take them down at the same time. We just had to stay hidden.
Two minutes felt like a fucking lifetime as we waited with baited breath for the minutes to tick over.
I kept an eye out for anyone who may happen upon us.
The distraction at the gate was getting louder, causing more people to come out and look.
Rebel signalled for me to stay put. They must have imagined this would have happened, surely.
They’d have a plan for the clubhouse emptying.
I noticed the Wolves had started to move the women out to the bonfire. Had they been tipped off?
Rebel was typing on his phone furiously and he shoved it in front of me. I looked down at what he’d written.
They do this when there is a fuss at the gate. Don’t worry.
I nodded and he put his phone away. I saw the time then.
I watched as chaos erupted around me and started to shoot to wound the Wolves as they came running for my brothers in arms. I couldn’t stay focused on one thing, everyone was running and fires were burning everywhere around me.
Rebel was yelling at me to get to the gate.
He and Viper were in the clubhouse, guns were firing, screams were heard all around.
I ran for the gate where I could see the Nomads were battling with the Wolves.
I shot at as many Wolves cuts as possible, mowing them down as quickly as I could.
Everyone was shouting all around, my senses were heightened and my head was finding it hard to keep up.
Rebel came bounding down toward me. The scenes around us were chaotic, and I saw the fire in the clubhouse burning out of control. It was going to blow…they would have as much liquor in their clubhouse as we did in ours.
“We gotta go, Val!” He yelled as he started to run.
Viper and the others were all running, as were the Wolves and their members, all cottoning on that this was nowhere to be right now.
I took off, shooting others to keep out of my way.
My feet were pounding the pavement in the middle of the night as I headed back to my bike.
Screams permeated the air just as a loud boom had me lunging forward and throwing myself into the bushes. Scratched to all hell, I pulled myself up when I couldn’t hear anything else. Looking around, I noticed people running but I didn’t see any of our cuts.
Where the hell were the boys?
I pulled my phone out of my pockets but my hands were shaking so much that it fell to the ground. I bent down to retrieve it, only to see a big black boot come from the shadows and tread on my device, smashing it to pieces.
Looking up, annoyed, I gasped when I saw who stood before me.
Fuck.
“Flynn.”
His cocky, devious grin had my nerves on edge just as I felt something hit me from behind. I fell to the ground, everything turning black.