by Selina Woods
She tried a smile. “I hope I am.”
“You are.”
Leaning forward, I kissed her. “Iliana, will be my mate? To stay with me forever? Raise a family?”
She flung her arms around my neck. “Yes, oh, you know I will, Griffin. I can’t wait until we get to Denver and I can meet your mom.”
I laughed, holding her close. “I haven’t met her. Well, technically, I suppose I have, but I was too young to remember.”
Iliana kissed me, her arms resting on my shoulders. “Why would she have given you up? Put you in an orphanage?”
“That’s a question I suppose we’ll have to ask her.”
“I imagine it wasn’t easy for her to do,” Iliana went on. “I can’t think of any reason I’d give up my babies.”
“Iliana,” I said slowly, gazing into her eyes. “We, I, might not make it to Denver. I want us to be mated, have the ceremony, before we go.”
She brushed a lock of my hair from my brow. “All right. When?”
“Tomorrow, maybe. Or the day after.”
“If Dad is well enough, able to stand,” she asked, “can we have him officiate?”
I grinned and kissed her. “I’d like that.”
We made sweet, slow, yet passionate love under the covers of my bed. Fearing the next few days might very well be my last, I hoped my seed would find root in her belly and she would become pregnant with our cubs. Perhaps she felt the same, for she encouraged me to mount her, to enter her hard and fast. I kissed her as I did, our tongues twisting together, my loins on fire.
Iliana clasped me to her, her head thrown back as I licked and sucked on her throat, her breasts hard into my chest, her tight tunnel sucking my shaft deeper into her. Our passion, our love for one another, drove us to new heights of pleasure. There was nothing casual about how we made love. We cast all our emotions into that single act, and I had no doubt that when I shot my load into her, she would grow new life in her womb.
I rose from her warm side just before dawn. I gazed out the window at the faint flush of pink and purple on the horizon, the moon gone, and the stars fading. I start a new life today. I’m no longer Griffin the gang lord. Now I’m just plain Griffin. Not knowing when I’d have the opportunity again, I showered, and by the time I came out, Iliana was awake.
“Morning,” she said, brushing out her lengths of silken black hair.
“So it is,” I answered, kissing her.
We dressed quickly and left the bedroom to find Hyde groaning as he lay on the couch, Brand and Pierce still asleep, and Kincaid watching the city wake up from the balcony. Iliana went immediately to her father while I stepped outside.
“All quiet?” I asked.
“So far.” He glanced at me. “We need to move right away. There’s no telling what the enforcers did last night, or if they managed to select a new leader. Even if they haven’t, after the massacre last night, they’ll be headed here.”
“I’ll go downstairs and get the guards moving to the new location.”
I went back inside to find Iliana watching me, her expression anxious. “You have painkillers for him?”
Glancing at Hyde, I found him silently pleading as well. “I’ll get them now. But we’ll be heading out right away.”
I fetched the painkillers and antibiotics from the bathroom, then gave them to Iliana before taking the stairs down. I found my people rousing, eating breakfast, taking their showers. “If you can spare some food,” I said, “send it up? Then get as many cars as you can and take different directions to the warehouse.” I told them where it was. “If there aren’t enough cars, go on four legs, and again, don’t go in a bunch. We need to keep it a secret.”
Before I headed back up, some of them loaded me up on food to take up to the others, and I had some in the penthouse’s kitchen. But we would need a food source for us all at the warehouse while we found a way to escape the city over the next few days. Returning to the suite, I found Brand and Pierce up and yawning.
“Eat, and let’s get going,” I told them. “Iliana, did you tell him what we’re doing?”
“Yeah, she did,” Hyde told me as she helped him to sit up so he could eat. “I hate to leave my place, but we don’t have much choice.”
“We don’t.”
Hyde nodded as he chewed a Danish pastry with what was obviously a sore mouth. “Get over there, Griffin,” he told me. “Load up on everything in there—there’s meat in the coolers and the freezer, produce, canned goods.”
I sighed with no small relief. “Great. I was worried about how to feed us all on our way across the country.”
“My truck is still there,” he said. “Fill it up with as much as you can put in it. And grab my stash of money. I’ll need it to start over.”
I glanced at Pierce and Kincaid, who both nodded approval. “Once we get to the warehouse,” Kincaid said, “we’ll work on supplies. Really, Griffin, we need to go now.”
I shoved the available food into sacks, then grabbed a canvas satchel from a closet. Pierce helped me stow the rifles, the extra ammunition, and the hand grenades into it, and I hoisted it over my left shoulder. Kincaid took the sacks of groceries into his arms while I headed for Hyde. I observed them both carry their semiautomatics, and the extra magazines protruded from pockets.
They mean business when it comes to protecting me.
“The guards will spread out and get there,” I said, putting Hyde’s arm over my shoulder to help him up. “Iliana, will you grab the bags?”
As I walked Hyde toward the elevator, Iliana went to grab the two bags, and I unlocked the doors. Taking the car down to the lobby, I found my former guards streaming steadily from the stairwell. Most of them carried their own packed bags.
“Good luck,” I called. “Meet us at the warehouse.”
I received grins and salutes from them as they, too, headed for the vehicles in the parking lot. A bunch shifted into their lions and wolves to lope away after giving their bags to others to stow in the cars for them. Iliana threw my luggage into the rear hatch and shut it as Pierce and I helped Hyde into the back seat.
“I hope the painkillers kick in soon,” he said with a grimace, sweating from the effort.
“I just hope we can find a bed for you to sleep on,” I told him with a grin.
“That would be nice, too.”
Brand had his own vehicle and waved as he pulled from the lot with four other guards in with him. Other cars followed him, and per my order, they each took a different road. At last, all the guards were gone, and the relief I felt was almost palpable. They were safe, thus far, anyway.
Iliana got into the front passenger seat as Pierce and Kincaid joined Hyde in the back. I slung the canvas satchel into the rear hatch as well, then got in behind the wheel.
Driving away from the grand apartment building, I felt no pangs of regret as I watched it vanish in the mirrors. Though I had lived there for a year, it was never my home, nor did I love it. It was what was expected of me as the city’s top lion, and I didn’t mind leaving it. “Hyde,” I asked, trying to see him in the mirror, “how strong are you feeling? Can you make a cross-country trip?”
I ignored Iliana’s dark glare in my direction.
“Yeah,” he replied, but by the wavering in his voice, I knew the painkillers had kicked in. “I’ll be all right.”
“No, he won’t,” she hissed. “He needs more rest.”
“Dammit, I can sleep in the car,” Hyde groused.
“We have to get supplies, Griffin,” Pierce said. “We can give him a few days.”
I grinned across as Iliana. “I need him strong enough so he can officiate at our mating ceremony.”
As I’d hoped, Iliana’s scowl melted into a sweet smile, then included the others in her smile. “He proposed last night.”
“Congratulations,” Pierce exclaimed with a laugh.
I was fairly certain he was going to add more to that before the two trucks sped out of a side street and the lea
der tried to ram us. “Shit,” I yelled, spinning the wheel to the left and accelerating at the same time. The truck missed the SUV by inches and kissed a utility pole, tearing a great gash along its side. As I straightened out my vehicle, I stared into the side mirror and saw the armed enforcers standing in the back of both trucks.
Chapter Twelve
They leveled their rifles at us, and I took time to wonder how in the hell they managed to stay inside the truck’s bed as it careened from side to side.
“Where the hell did they come from?” Kincaid bellowed.
“Don’t matter. They aim to start shooting. One of you get up through the moon roof.”
I floored the accelerator, the engine screaming, as I pushed the button that rolled the glass moon roof open. The SUV was powerful, but so were the trucks that chased us. The street we sped down had other vehicles on it, and I ducked and dodged around them, throwing my passengers around like dolls. “Sorry.”
“Dad,” Iliana cried, trying to look over the seat. “You okay?”
“I got him,” Pierce said, and when I shot a look back, he had Hyde half across his lap.
Kincaid stood on the floor while sticking his upper body through the opened roof and started shooting at our pursuers. Focused on driving fast without crashing into another car or hitting a pedestrian, I roared down the main street, then cut a hard right down a street that normally didn’t have much traffic.
“They’re still with us,” Kincaid hollered, firing at them.
The enforcers shot back, but I wove the big SUV back and forth in an effort to not give them a good target. The rear window exploded, but where the bullet went, I had no idea. No one yelled that they had been shot.
“Kill those bastards,” I roared.
“Steady the car,” he shouted back.
I stopped the weaving and listened as he fired the rifle. Still focused on driving, and trying to outrun them, I veered down another wide avenue, the tires screeching as I fought to not slam into anything. But now we found ourselves among traffic again, and I blew the horn in a wild effort to get folks out of my way.
Kincaid’s rifle barked again, then he was forced to put in a new magazine. I heard it clip in, then he started firing, then stopped abruptly. He whooped. “Got the driver! I got the driver!”
In the mirror, I saw the lead truck spin out of control, the driver slumped over the wheel. The truck slewed sideways and crashed into an old wreck along the side of the street. Enforcers flew through the air to crash into the side of a building. The last thing I saw of them was their bodies sliding down the bricks and leaving a wide red smear.
“I’m out of ammo,” Kincaid snapped, sliding back inside.
“There’s more in the canvas bag,” I told him. “If you’re handy with throwing things, blow them up with a grenade.”
“Oooh,” he said, and I half-turned to see him reaching into the back. “I am gonna have so much fun.”
“I am so glad you’re enjoying this,” I told him, exchanging a sour look with Iliana.
He came back with a grenade in one hand and a magazine in the other. “Why waste ammo when you blow them up with this?” I caught his maniacal grin in the mirror.
“Just kill them, will you?”
“Don’t get so touchy.” Kincaid sniffed.
Then he was up and standing with his torso through the roof again. “Hold her steady,” he called and pulled the pin on the grenade.
“I’m turning left,” I yelled. “Hold on.”
I spun the wheel and raced down a mostly unoccupied road that led toward the car manufacturing plants, watching in the mirror as best I could. As I had to drive fast through intersections, there was always the risk of getting t-boned by an oncoming car or truck. The enforcers in the speeding truck behind us fired their rifles, and I heard bullets ping off the sides and rear, and had no idea how Kincaid could still be alive.
“Throw it, damn you.”
“Waiting,” he said, “waiting…”
I heard his clothing rustle as he threw the grenade, and in the mirror, I saw the small object careen through the air toward the truck and the shooting enforcers. It bounced off the windshield, then detonated with a coughing roar. Flames and the truck’s hood shot skyward, and the enforcers in the bed were tossed out of it and onto the asphalt like dolls. The truck slammed into a building and exploded.
“Whoo!” Kincaid screamed. “He shoots. He scores!”
I glanced sidelong at Iliana. “I think he likes killing bad guys.”
“Ya think?” she snapped, her face pale.
I slowed the SUV to a more normal speed as a laughing Kincaid dropped down to the seat. “Wasn’t that spectacular?”
“Yeah, buddy,” Pierce said, his tone soothing. “Now, you want to help me with Hyde?”
“How is he?” Iliana knelt on her seat, turning completely around.
“I’m fine,” Hyde told her, and I knew by his voice he was completely drugged out.
“We gotta get him onto a bed,” I grumbled, turning down a street that would help get us to the warehouse. “That can’t have done him any good.”
“Stop fussing, Griffin,” Hyde complained, and his voice trailed into silence.
“And he’s out,” said Pierce with a sigh.
“He’s not bleeding anywhere, is he?” Iliana asked anxious.
“Your sewing held together,” Pierce replied.
I drove on through the morning as Kincaid continued to chuckle over his aim, and Iliana rolled her eyes. Though I watched for any enforcers and took only side streets where there were no businesses and people to shake down, I saw none and reached the warehouse about an hour later.
My guys were smart enough to not park at the warehouse, and I pulled into the parking lot only long enough for Kincaid and Pierce to jump out and lug Hyde’s unconscious body inside the structure. Brand and a guard opened the door for them, and they vanished inside. I, with Iliana, drove away to park the SUV in an old garage a block away to hide it.
“We’ll get your dad settled,” I told her, fetching the canvas sack and the leather bags to sling over my shoulder while Iliana grabbed the sacks of food. “Then, we’ll get a truck no one recognizes and go to the restaurant for the supplies we need.”
“I’ll have to go to the house, too,” she said as we checked for any watchers before heading down the street.
“You both will need clothes,” I agreed.
Even as we reached the warehouse, shifters on four legs drifted in even as some of my former guards had hidden their cars and walked toward it from all directions. Those on two legs still carried their rifles as well as their possessions. I found Brand amidst the milling shifters inside and pulled him away.
“Set watchers on the roof,” I told him, eyeing Pierce and Kincaid as they stood near Hyde, who sat in a chair. Iliana went to him to kneel at his side. “Keep everyone away from the windows.”
“I already ordered that,” he replied with a grin. “Everyone will spread out through the upper and lower floors, and stay quiet. Most of the windows are still intact, so noise won’t escape easily. Four are at all four corners of the roof as we speak, on watch, and I have people running to the old hotel that’s back over yonder for mattresses.”
I felt a shiver of alarm run through me at that. “That could be seen and marked,” I said sharply.
Brand made a soothing gesture. “The guys hustling the mattresses will have people watching for anyone wandering around who might notice. They’ll be quick, I promise.”
“Though I want something for Hyde,” I told him, “the rest is a luxury we can’t really afford.”
“We might be here for days,” he reminded me. “I’ll make sure none of them are seen.”
“We’ll also need coolers,” I added. “We’ll be bringing back fresh food that needs to stay cold. Once the mattresses are in, send a few guys to locate totes for the food.”
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” he said. “There are tons
of old crates in the back, and sheets of Styrofoam. We can make our own.”
“Great. The less time we’re on the street fetching things, the better. Will you locate a truck I can drive? A big one? We’ll need it to load the supplies into.”
“I’ll find one,” he said.
I smacked him on the shoulder and headed over to check on Hyde. Even as I did so, shifters trotted in carrying mattresses. Iliana glanced at me with clear relief in her blue eyes as one was set beside her father. I helped stretch him out onto it and then glanced at the shifters. “We’ll need blankets, too, if they haven’t been taken from the hotel yet.”
“We’ll look, boss.”
Unable to stop worrying that the enemy would see the back and forth running to fetch things to make sleeping more comfortable, I did realize that the night will still be cold, and there was no heat or electricity in this place. I checked on Hyde and saw his weak grin just as a shifter came running.
“Boss,” he gasped. “You need to see this.”
“Pierce, Kincaid, come with me.”
I followed the shifter to the stairs at a run, taking them two and three at a time until we reached the roof. The guards crouched, rifles in hand, at the northwest corner. “What?” I asked, thinking they were going to point out a long line of enemy vehicles driving toward us.
Instead, the shifter pointed to a tall column of smoke in the distance, then glanced at me with a grim expression. “That’s your apartment building, sir.”
I gaped. “No.”
“Yep. You were right to get us out of there.”
“I bet they simply set fire to it,” Kincaid added, “thinking we were inside.”
I sat down on the low wall that ran around the edges of the roof. “But they knew we weren’t inside it. We were chased and almost killed.”
Pierce leaned on the wall beside me, staring at the smoke, and chewed his lower lip. “I will guess that they still don’t have a leader,” he ventured slowly. “Some believe you and your guards are dead, while others lay in wait, hoping to catch you if you weren’t in the penthouse. Which they very nearly did.”