Book of the Lost: AAV-07d25-11: (A reverse harem, post-pandemic, slow-burn romance) (The JAK2 Cycle, Book 3)

by V. E. S. Pullen

  “A little,” Tai said carefully, sitting back on his heels. “Enough,” he amended, making a face loaded with consternation. “You’re still bleeding a little, but I don’t think we need to do anything about it.”

  I sighed, satisfied, and nuzzled back up against Sev, closing my eyes. “I’m glad. I’d hoped. I wanted us to stain the sheets, the kind of mess that nobody could mistake. Ruin the fucking sheets. You could rip them off the bed and bring them as proof to the king or priest that the deed was done. Or some other barbaric ritual to show the world that I’m yours. Both— all of you. Claimed—”

  “I think she’s actually asleep,” Sev said in a low voice, “but I’m not unhappy about where her mind is going with this.”

  “Primal,” Tai agreed, his voice unsteady. “I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything, but not gonna lie, there was a moment there that I could’ve easily killed you to get you out of the way. Felt like a fucking cave man, a beast even—“

  “Not gonna lie, was kinda surprised you didn’t.”

  “I can be patient,” Tai muttered, and in my half-awake, half-dreaming state, I recognized that the shower was still running but I was no longer in it, I was being wrapped in a soft towel and another twisted around my hair. Tai’s strong arms lifted me up again as Sev finished a quick wash of his own before following us back to the bedroom, where there were way too many lights on.

  I cracked open my eyes against the glare and found Sasha standing next to the bed, staring down at the rumpled, stained sheets. He looked between the three of us, expression unreadable. Tai set me on my feet and I leaned back against him, amused to realize he was completely naked.

  “Uh, hey,” Sev said, closing the door behind him, a towel wrapped around his waist. “Sooo… yeah. Umm—“

  “Relax,” Sasha smirked. “I’m not—“

  “Full service,” I interrupted, a little bleary-eyed and sleep drunk. “No waiting.” I nodded at him. “Now, I mean. No more waiting. Deed is done. Safe is cracked. Eggs are broken. Wrapping paper ripped from the packages on Christmas morning—”

  “Is she drunk?” Now he was starting to sound angry.

  “Noooo,” I batted a hand in the air. “Just tired. So fucking tired. Not tired of— you know where I’m going with this. Your brother wore me out, Sasha.” I blinked at him, sighing when the anger was gone again, and he was giving me one of those rare Sasha grins that I loved so much.

  “Cool,” was all he said.

  “Are you staying?” Tai asked, and I felt him tense up. I opened my eyes again, and Sasha was shaking his head with a grimace.

  “We need to go. New information has come to light, and we can’t risk delaying and giving them time to put up roadblocks now that they traced us to the school. We all need to be outside in ten minutes — is that possible?”

  I was suddenly wide awake. I stepped away from Tai and towards Sasha, studying him. “What’s going on?” I asked calmly, despite the maelstrom starting to form inside me. “What new information?”

  “There isn’t any non-fucked up way to say this. You did two blood draws back in Salem, right? Before we left?”

  I nodded. “One partial, one full.”

  “It was all over the news, I guess, and Trick says it’s legit and not just the propaganda machine kicking in — the vaccine from those two draws was sold to the Japanese for about fifteen million dollars, a deal brokered by the fucking CIA who I didn’t even realize still existed, and it was the start of negotiations to use the vaccine to get Hawaii back. JANUS-27 isn’t and hasn’t been a threat here, it’s only in Japan and Hawaii. They were able to isolate it since the country is a bunch of islands, keep it from spreading farther, but it’s bad over there. Whoever told you it was here was lying.”

  “Fuuuuuck—” Sev whispered in horror. “They won’t ever stop— I mean, we knew they’d look for her, but now? They won’t ever stop.”

  I staggered back, my legs no longer able to hold me up, my spine like a piece of licorice. Tai caught me before I fell, holding me up against him as I tried to process— all that, for nothing. No, not for nothing, for money. For power.

  I’d been played. And I fucking fell for it.

  Stupid. Naïve.

  Gullible.

  The pain I went through. Being sick again, helpless and weak. Dependent. Having others witness my humiliation. Having them witness my degradation. It hadn’t hurt our relationships, but watching me suffer changed them. Made them hesitate when they shouldn’t. Made them worry, constantly.

  Made me weak in their eyes. Delicate. Fragile.

  An invalid.

  “I knew those fuckers weren’t CDC,” I growled, lunging away from Tai and slamming both hands against the dresser, feeling some small satisfaction when it banged against the wall. I did it again, needing to let out this violent fury somehow. Those fuckers— those fucking jackhole motherfuckers.

  If I see them again, I’m not going to hold back, I’ll fucking shoot them and deal with the consequences.

  Goddamn them all!

  Every one of them that used me like a puppet, pulling my strings.

  I stilled, resting my hands on the top of the bureau and taking a few deep breaths. We didn’t have time for me to lose my shit. I wrapped it all up in a neat little package, and tucked it away inside to bring out later, when I could either examine and deal with it, or I could use it to fuel my life-rage.

  “Let’s get moving,” I said, bowing my head and closing my eyes. “We’ll talk about what it means later.”

  Sasha left after pointing out a pile of clothes he’d set on the end of the bed. They’d pulled together clean clothes for Tai, Spider, and me — Spider had showered in another house while Sasha came to wake me up to take my own shower but I didn’t need it. I’d had one. I finally smiled again, thinking about it.

  My stack of clothes included a pair of skinny jeans with rips running up both thighs, a couple thin shirts to layer, one of which appeared to be a long-sleeve t-shirt made out of silk, and a leather biker jacket only slightly too big for me. I towel-dried my hair and french-braided it into two plaits, anticipating a helmet in my future.

  I realized that I also needed to check in on Spider because he got shot — sure it was a ricochet but bullet went into body! — and as of yet, he hadn’t slowed down one bit or acted like anything was wrong. Stoic… so ridiculously stoic. A bullet wound buys you some babying, that’s just a fucking rule or something, and I guess that’s part of my job now as the girlfriend.

  Find a way to baby Spider?

  Challenge. Accepted.

  Less than ten minutes and we were back out in the courtyard with all our bags. Along with most of the Hellspawn I’d met before, there was a dark-haired Middle Eastern woman in her 30s and a younger, heavily-pregnant blonde woman passing out mugs of coffee and whipping up breakfast sandwiches on a couple camp stoves and propane burners for all the men readying their bikes.

  Sasha led me to an all-black motorcycle with a few bits of charcoal gray trim. Not a lick of chrome on the thing, even the wheel spokes had been replaced by a solid disk of black. It looked like a wolf hidden among sheep, if a couple dozen Harleys could ever be considered a herd of sheep.

  “This yours?” I asked and he nodded, helping me put Mouse’s pack into his saddlebags next to his. “I’m riding with you?”

  He nodded again, peering at me out of the side of his eye as he got everything in place.

  “Cool,” I breathed, and his cheeks cracked into another grin. Banner-fucking-day, I got two Sasha grins!

  “Hey, I need to do something,” I said, digging a flash drive out of my pack, and he nodded, not even asking. Love that man.

  I found the bag I needed, lashed on the back of the bike Tai was going to be riding — he and Spider were “borrowing” some spares that the local chapter had available. I didn’t think anyone but the two of them thought they’d get returned, and I was definitely looking forward to their badass biker makeover.

&n
bsp; I found what I wanted and sealed the bag back up, then crossed the courtyard to where the women were dispensing the second round of sandwiches to everyone. Having my priorities fucking straight, I snagged a couple of the tinfoil-wrapped egg/cheese/bacon-y goodness on warm bagels — okay, I grabbed four, and if Sasha was nice I might share with him — and tucked them in my pockets before clearing my throat.

  The one woman, who I assumed was Ishaq’s cousin and Gamble’s wife, eyed me as she continued to fry eggs and bacon in a half dozen pans while the pregnant woman assembled the final products and set them out on the table.

  I gestured with the bag of vaccine vials I’d grabbed and she glanced at them but didn’t stop moving.

  “There’s one hundred and forty-four doses in here,” I said, setting the bag down on the only clear space on the table. “We have to leave so they won’t be registered, it takes too long to do them with the gun. The caps have a rubber spot on them, you can pierce it with a hypodermic and administer the vaccine without the gun. It goes into the bicep muscle — if you can, poke it and inject a little, then move to another spot, administer a little more, and then so on. Three or four pokes are enough per vial. It’ll take about ten days for full immunity if you aren’t using a vax gun.” I paused, and waited for her to acknowledge the instructions. She nodded, still not saying anything. “Kids get one mil per year up to ten years, try to spike them at least twice no matter how small the dose is. After ten, full dose. Pregnant women get a full dose, it’s safe, and the immunity will transfer to your baby,” I nodded at the blonde woman who stifled a cry and turned away, covering her face. Gamble’s wife nodded again, ducking her head down. “Riot — Wyatt — told me all about your family. There’s more than enough here for the club, you give him some for his family and you take what you need for yours, okay? I’m giving you a full tray of doses so that you can make sure that your family and Wyatt’s are taken care of, got that?”

  The woman froze, tilting her head to look at me, tears streaming down her face. I shifted in place, looking away, feeling awkward as fuck but luckily she didn’t say a word.

  I waited until they both started working on the food again, then cleared my throat. “The club is covered, then your two families, and if there is any left after that, I’d really like it if someone took whatever is left to Omar at the high school by the river, you know the one near the big bridge? I don’t know why, but he covered for us when they got raided, the helicopters and soldiers went into the neighborhoods west of the school even though they knew damn well we were at the bridge, so if someone could take him whatever’s left and this flash drive, and just… just tell him Aesli said thanks, okay?”

  She stopped again, bowing her head down, her shoulders shaking. The blonde woman walked away and curled up in the arms of one of the bikers I immunized earlier, I think his name was Axel or Ansel or something. He hugged her against him, whispering to her as she sobbed.

  I wasn’t sure why they were flipping out so much, I was chalking it up to hormones. Maybe Gamble’s wife was pregnant too?

  “So, yeah. I don’t see him anywhere, so just tell Wyatt — he wants his road name to be Riot, by the way, because I misheard him and that’s what I thought his name was and he wants to keep it so maybe help him out with that? Thanks. Anyway, could you give Riot a message for me too? When you give him the vaccine for his family, just tell him that everything really is coming up Wyatt now, okay? It’s— a private joke.”

  She nodded, never looking back up at me. Never saying a word until I turned to walk away again, and then I heard a quiet “thank you.” I looked back and she was watching me, enough naked gratitude on her face to make me super uncomfortable. I nodded, and headed back to Sasha’s bike, finding him and Justice standing together, watching me.

  I handed a sandwich to each of them — Justice turned it down, saying he’d already had three, so I shrugged and gave it to Sasha — and then looked around as we ate.

  Men were doing last minute checks of their machines as they ate and drank coffee, often a bagel in one hand and a wrench in the other — Trick and Gamble included, along with at least a dozen others from the local chapter, if not more.

  Justice saw me looking. “They’re going to ride with us to the border then come back. They know this area, know the back roads. They’ll get us around anything but a full-scale military roadblock, and they know what local law enforcement is left around here and none of them will stop us.”

  “If there is a full-scale military roadblock…” I left the statement dangling, not wanting to say it. It would be considered treason.

  “Not an issue,” he said curtly.

  “We don’t turn our backs on our brothers,” Sasha explained. “Everyone who wears the colors is a brother.”

  I nodded. That was kinda sweet.

  “And your little gesture there certainly doesn’t hurt,” Justice said and I peered up at him.

  “What do you mean?”

  “We promised them enough for the club, not the… extended families. And random other people.” His brow furrowed, and he looked at his son who shrugged.

  “Azzie will try to drain herself dry to help whoever needs it,” he said to his dad, ignoring me like the rude jackhole he was, “as long as they don’t expect it. She loathes bullies and anyone with entitlement issues.”

  Damn, my men knew me so fucking well that sometimes it was disturbing.

  “That was a lot of vaccine,” Justice mumbled and I snorted.

  “I make more. That’s like the one thing I can guarantee, I’m going to need to keep getting blood draws and I’ll make more. But like Sasha said, not for anyone who tries to take it from me. They can ask even, and that’s fine but anyone who tries to take? Never. Fucking. Again.”

  I finished my sandwich and crumpled up the foil, shoving it in my pocket with the other sandwich. I shrugged and pulled it out, taking a huge bite. Who knows when we’d eat next?

  “You gonna be alright on my bike?” Sasha asked, voice tinged with worry.

  “Sure,” I answered, poking a piece of bacon back into the sandwich. “And now I have a built-in excuse for walking funny later,” I continued, not really thinking about who was standing there, “your fucking brother is packing a damn morningstar in his pants, complete with the spikes — do I have more of that to look forward to or—?”

  I stopped talking when Sasha crumpled in half, laughing his ass off, and I realized his dad was turning beet red and glaring between us.

  “Uhh, sorry?” I squeaked as Justice muttered curses and stalked away, shaking his head.

  Sasha wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his head against me, my arms wrapping around him — sandwich held away so I didn’t rub bacon in his hair — and he fuckin’ howled with laughter until he’d gotten it all out of his system. After a minute or so, I managed to keep eating my sandwich by bending towards it rather than bringing it to me.

  At some point, he explained he was worried that I was too tired to ride, not that his brother had fucked me like a battering ram, and I might have blushed over that little misunderstanding.

  “Time to roll!” Justice shouted from nearby, shooting dirty glances our way. I saw all my guys around, looking at us curiously, but none of them approached. It was weird, but since I already kinda felt like an anthropologist among a tribe not sure if they should welcome me or attack, I wasn’t going to question anything.

  Close to fifty bikers mounted up while Sasha helped me get on the bike behind him, reaching back to wrap his hands around my thighs and tug me up to fully press against him, taking my hands and wrapping them around his waist. I had a helmet on but he didn’t, despite my growls — I looked around and almost none of them did. I wondered if having the vaccine would change that? Then I wasn’t thinking about much as the engine beneath me growled itself awake, and rumbled loudly.

  I thought this must be what it feels like to ride a dragon, and I was fucking thrilled that this was my future now.

  Li
ke they’d coordinated it in advance or something, everyone seemed to fall into place without any kind of signal or word spoken: Justice and Trick first, followed by me and Sasha, and then a mix of the other club officers with my men, followed by the regular patch holders from both clubs. I was glad to see Spider and Tai were riding like they’d been born to it, with Lore and Luka among the officers, and it looked like Horse was at the very back of the entire group with Sev.

  I’d ask someone later what it all meant, but for now? Roaring beast between my legs, warm man blocking the wind, and the sun rising over the open road.

  Yeah, I could definitely get used to motorcycle club life.

  Epilogue

  Mouse, Somewhere In Illinois

  I blinked against the sudden onslaught of light as the door swung open on the metal box I’d been hiding in. A man in kevlar body armor grabbed ahold of the canvas and metal cart I was curled up in, and began to roll it out, the tiny metal wheels shrieking and dragging from my weight.

  I heard him curse softly at the flimsy contraption, then he leaned in to see why it was so heavy. He startled as I blinked up at him through my one good eye — relatively speaking since they were both pretty gross, but only one was swollen completely shut — and painfully raised my arm up and away from my body. My possibly-broken ribs sent out ripples of pain disguised as nausea, but luckily my throat was so parched and fucked up that no sound escaped me.

  He looked down at my bare torso, riddled with bruises, cuts, and burns, and flinched. Then he peered closer, and I saw the look on his face when he realized there was an address scrawled across my belly, and my chest and shoulders were covered in stamps.

  Our eyes met again, and he nodded, then rolled the cart away from the mailbox and towards the truck. His companion on guard duty glanced down as we passed, and let out a spontaneous yelp. “Why the fuck is there a naked girl in there!”

  My savior told him to shut the fuck up, and continued pushing me towards the truck, but the damage was done: footsteps went scurrying away — someone heard him. It was only a matter of time.