Chapter 6
SIX
Dempsey
My throat was itchy, my head pounded and my arm ached. All three of those symptoms were due to the goddamn injection. I knew it all too well. Opening my eyes, I found myself in church, alone, my head on the table.
No sign of Pit or Bullet, but that was to be expected. I tried to pull myself up but everything ached to all hell.
Fuck.
The boys had needed me tonight. Shae had needed me tonight.
Somehow, I found the burst of energy I needed and got up, lurching for the door and opening it. The clubhouse had a couple of the women who had been left behind in it. They all looked at me, their faces etched in concern. Shona and Maree ran to catch me.
“Call Morena!” Maree barked out as she dragged me to one of the couches. “What did they do to you, sugar?”
I could barely open my mouth to answer. Everything was turning dark again and I was losing consciousness.
“Shae.”
It’s all I could get out before everything went dark.
The sound of everyone outside had my eyes opening. I looked around to see I was in the room I’d been in the night before. My boots were on the floor, but the rest of me was covered. I sat up, feeling the rush of blood pounding in my head as well as my joints aching.
Fuckin’ Outlaws.
On my bedside table, I saw a note from Morena to take the pill and drink water. She’d left me a painkiller and water.
Thank fuck for having an onsite nurse.
I swallowed down the pill and washed them down with water before I pulled my boots back on and headed outside. The clubhouse sounded busy as fuck. I wondered how long I’d been out.
“Where’s Shae?” I called out to Shona who seemed surprised to see me.
“How are you?” She asked, coming over to me. “You look like you need another couple of hours of sleep.”
“I will when I see Shae.”
Shona looked around at the busy clubhouse, looking for her as well. “I didn’t see her come in, but that doesn’t mean she’s not outside. We’re a full house tonight. I’ll see if Viper is back. She went with him.”
I nodded, and leaned against the bar. Alex was in front of me before I could register anyone coming over.
“You don’t look good, what happened?”
“They needed answers. There’s only one real way to get that.”
“They drugged you?”
I nodded. “Yeah, it’s a truth serum. They do it when they initiate us as well. I’m used to it. Takes a few days for the grogginess to wear off though. What happened tonight?”
“Successful mission. Waiting for the survivors to get their shit together and come to us for discussions now. We’ll see what happens, but we cut down their clubs a lot.”
I nodded. “And the law?”
“Outside of Kilkenny, we were in and out before anyone knew what happened in their towns. Even if they did follow us here, I doubt they’ll have anything to use against us.”
“Good.”
“Go and lay down before you fall down, for fuck’s sake,” Alex said. “You look like roadkill.”
I felt the chuckle before I heard it bubble to the surface. “Thanks, little brother.”
“Seriously, Dempsey, go sleep it off. We got you.”
“Where’s Shae?”
“I don’t think they’re back yet,” Alex said. “They went all the way down to the Wolves’ territory.”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s what Shona said. When she gets here, tell her to come and find me.”
Alex nodded. “Of course.”
I moved back down the hall and to the room. Collapsing on the bed, I let sleep claim me, no matter how much I wanted to be awake when Shae walked through that door.
Shae
I gasped as I felt the ice cold water splash over me, waking me. Blinking the water out of my eyelashes, I looked up at my captor. My arms were tied behind my back with rope based on the rough feeling of rawness on my skin.
Flynn squatted beside me, tossing the bucket to the side of the room. I couldn’t tell where I was, but it was dark, and I smelt like mold.
“Fucker.”
Flynn laughed. “Nice mouth you got on ya.”
“Fuck off.”
“Now, now, shouldn't you be nice to me since I’m your captor and all?”
“Why the fuck did you take me?”
“You attacked my club,” he said simply. “I know you know who I am.”
I didn’t want to give him anything that he didn’t already know, so I stayed silent.
“Come on, love, give me somethin’.”
“You need to brush your teeth,” I said through gritted teeth. “Your breath stinks.”
His smile died for a moment before he barked out a loud clap of laughter. “Damn, you got balls, I’ll give you that. You shouldn’t be so loyal to that club. After all, they haven’t come looking for you.”
“I don’t need saving,” I told him.
“I sure hope so,” he said, standing back to his full height.
“Why did you take me?” I asked him before he left.
“Revenge,” he said simply. “Dempsey betrayed me and my club. You’re his woman. His betrayal led to my woman being put in danger. In our world, an eye for an eye.”
“Your woman wasn’t hurt.”
“No, but she’s no longer my woman,” he said. “I lost her because of Viking.”
Fear shot through me as I realised I wasn’t going to make it out of her alive. He left me in the room, saturated and cold, and bound.
Fuck.
Dempsey
The door opened and I sat up instantly. Alex stood there, his hair was ruffled as if he’d been running his hands through it.
“Get up, we got service.”
He left without another word.
Something was wrong.
I pushed myself up and headed down the hall and around the bar to head into church. Everyone was there. I looked from face to face and saw the same fear registered.
“Where is she?” I asked, realising the only person not in the room was Shae. Fear shot through my chest hard. She’d been in danger while I was fucking sleeping. How could they let this happen?
“She is capable of looking after herself,” Hawk said, his tone firm.
He was the acting President right now, and I knew what he said went but this was fucking Shae.
“We have people looking for her, and scouting the leftover Wolves. We also have a fucking meeting with the Reapers today to discuss you.”
“You want me to stick around while fuck knows what is happening to Shae?”
Hawk ran his hand over his face, and for the first time, I saw genuine fear on his face. No one expected this when I came back. No one knew the level of danger I had been in all year. It was why I had broken up with her, it was why I fled.
Coming home had been a massive mistake.
“I’m going to the Wolves.”
"You can’t.”
“Like fuck I can’t,” I shot at Alex. “That is my woman they have. You know what they’ll do to her, you know what they are capable of.”
He slunk back in his chair, into his own memories of his woman being kidnapped by them and the Reapers not too long ago.
“I’m coming with you,” he said, standing up. Hawk nodded his approval before he joined me at the door. Rebel stood as well.
“I’m coming with. She’s there because I let my guard down.”
I wanted to be angry with the kid, but I couldn’t.
I knew it would have been pandemonium. With what they did, I could only imagine what chaos they went through.
I nodded quickly and he joined us out in the main clubhouse.
The Nomads were all looking around, trying to figure out what to do.
I knew they knew what the Wolves could do.
I’d ridden with them before, and I knew she had been close with them too.
They’d be worried as well.
But I couldn’t care about that right now. I needed to get her back here, and safe. This was my war to fight, not hers.
I jumped on my bike, finally feeling like myself other than the ache in my arm where they injected me. Nothing was going to stop me from rescuing my girl.
Alex pulled out ahead of us, me on his left and Rebel on his right as he led us down to Wolves territory. My heart was in my throat the entire ride, wondering what the fuck I was going to find. Who the fuck would take her and why?
My mind couldn’t stop going over all the possibilities but I knew it wasn’t going to be good. Once we got close enough to the burned out rubble of the clubhouse, we realised it wasn’t going to be here.
“Do you have any contacts?” Rebel asked me. “From when you worked with them?”
“None that would help me,” I said. “But I do know they had another clubhouse not too long ago, long since abandoned, but we gotta get down to Cork.”
“Cork?” Rebel queried. “That’s O’Farrell territory. We should call them to tell them first.”
Alex nodded. “Good point. You do that while we look around.”
I followed Alex around the burnt remains of bodies and the clubhouse that had been taped off by police. The smell of burnt liquor as well as ash infiltrated my nostrils and I fought off the urge to dry heave. Nothing had survived.
“Did the women and children get out?” I asked him.
Alex nodded. “Yeah, they’d all been out the back anyway. We didn’t light the fucker up until it was almost empty.”
“Still killed a few members.”
He nodded. “That’s the cost of war. They would have done the same to you, brother.”
“I know,” I said. “But I betrayed them.”
“For a good cause,” he replied. “Stop taking it on your shoulders and see this for what it is. We needed to claim our territory back anyway. It was bound to happen. This way, we can negotiate your life and get them off your back.”
I didn’t believe it would be as easy as that.
Nothing ever was.
Rebel joined us, pocketing his phone. “Lorcan told us that we have explicit permission and he told us who we can trust down there. He’s calling him for us.”
“Good,” Alex said. “Let’s go.”
We got back on our bikes and headed down to Cork, flying past the cars and everyone else going about their business.
Hold on, baby, I’m comin’.