by E. C. Land
“I love you,” she murmurs in her sleep.
“Love you too, Firefly. More than you’ll ever know,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ally
“You’re mine, Ally. You’ll always be mine. Do you really think I’ll let you go? I trained you just the way I wanted. Those men will never give you what I can,” Casimir’s voice yells through the darkness, yet no matter where I turn, I don’t see him. “Didn’t it feel good to have the bitch’s blood on your hands? To do what I love to have you do? I bet your pussy was soaked.”
Covering my ears, I shake my head. “No, you can’t be here. Get out of my head. You have no power over me anymore. My heart belongs to Burner,” I scream.
“Your heart doesn’t belong to anyone. Your body, however, belongs to me. Don’t worry, I’ll be coming for you soon, my sweet Chosen.” Casimir’s voice disappears from my mind as the darkness slips away and warmth surrounds me.
Burner. His name suits him since he seems to have a way of lighting up the darkness, even in my dreams. He holds the demons at bay.
Snuggling further into his warmth, I find myself pressed against his naked front. Moaning, I grind myself into him more.
“Firefly, I suggest you stop before I fuck you,” Burner grumbles. His dick slides between my legs as he moves to pull me tighter against him.
“Maybe I want you to fuck me,” I murmur, rotating my hips back and forth.
In one quick sweep, Burner has me on my back and is settled between my legs. “Baby, I’d love to fuck you here and now, but I’m not gonna. At least not until I know where your head’s at. That was some seriously heavy shit out there in the shed. I need to know you’re okay,” he rasps, his voice thick with emotion.
Meeting his gaze, I reach up and cup both sides of his face. “I’m okay because of you. I did what needed to be done and I won’t regret it, not one bit. Do you wanna know why?”
“Why?”
“Because you take the nightmares away,” I whisper.
“Firefly,” he starts, but I stop him by placing a finger over his lips.
“No, listen to me, William. I asked you why you call me Firefly, and your response had been that I was the light to your darkness. Well, it’s the same for me, you burn the darkness out of my nightmares with your fire. I don’t know why your road name is Burner, but to me, it means you burn the demons before they touch me,” I say as I lift my legs around his waist and angle myself to take him in my pussy.
“Fuck, baby,” he growls as he sinks the rest of the way in, though he doesn’t move any further.
Lifting my head up off the pillow, I press my lips to his as I rotate my hips, encouraging him to move. He doesn’t disappoint as he slides almost completely out only to slam back in. Moaning into his mouth, our tongues battle for control as my hands move from the side of his face to his back.
Burner repeats his actions, pulling almost all the way out and slamming back in, giving me what I need. When he breaks our kiss, he removes my legs from around his waist, bracing them on his shoulders. Smirking down at me, he holds my gaze as he begins a rough tempo thrusting into my core.
“You’re so fuckin’ beautiful when you’re takin’ my cock, Ally,” he rasps huskily.
Just as I start to come, he pulls completely out of me. Gripping my ass, he lifts my lower half to his mouth, bowing my body. I scream out when Burner begins to fuck me with his tongue. When he latches onto my clit, my orgasm rushes through me like I’ve never felt before.
He doesn’t stop there. He continues torturing me with his tongue, moving back and forth between sucking my clit into his mouth and thrusting his tongue into my pussy.
As I come a second time, he lifts his month and rolls us until I’m on top of him. Lining my body with his dick, Burner thrusts inside me. “Ride my cock, baby,” he growls, digging his fingers into my chest.
Bracing myself, I begin to rotate my hips. Finding my rhythm, I sit up as I move over him. Cupping my breasts, I pinch my nipples between my fingers, pulling on them as I pick up my pace, taking him faster.
My body begins to shake as my third orgasm hits me. “That’s right, come on my cock, Ally,” he growls, lifting his hips and taking what he wants. Before I can come down from my orgasm, Burner flips us so that he’s on top of me again. Powering into me, he sends me over the edge once more as he comes roaring my name.
When he collapses against me, I’m lucky he catches himself on his forearms. Otherwise, he’d have crushed me.
Pressing his forehead against mine, our lips are a breath apart.
“Fuck, baby, that was incredible,” he breathes, slowly gliding his dick inside me.
“More than incredible,” I moan, running my fingers along his back.
“How about we get a shower, eat, then have a repeat?” Burner suggests, giving me one of his wicked grins as he pulls back enough for me to see his face completely.
My stomach chooses that moment to make a noise, reminding me I hadn’t eaten since the day before.
Chuckling, Burner slides out of me. “Come on, Firefly, sounds to me like we better feed you.”
“That might be a good idea,” I groan, covering my face in embarrassment.
“No need to cover your face, Ally. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” he murmurs as he grabs both my wrists and pulls me off the bed. “We’ll make this a quick shower, then feed you before you become hangry.”
“Very funny,” I mutter.
“That’s me, funny guy.” Chuckling, he wraps his arms around me while he walks back into the bathroom.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ally
After a quick shower, Burner and I made our way toward the main room where he’d told me to sit while he went and made me a plate. I’d almost been reluctant about him leaving me alone with everyone, thinking they might think I was a freak. However, as I glance around the room, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Evidently, I’d missed something important while I was asleep, what with everyone laughing and drinking.
Taking in the room, I find Kenny standing next to Horse, smiling as she cradles something in her arms.
Holy shit, that’s not just something— Caden must have come home!
As I get ready to stand and head toward them, Kenny meets my gaze and her expression changes. The smile on her face drops. Turning back to her husband, Kenny hands him the baby before she comes over to sit in the chair across from me.
“You okay?” she asks, surprising me.
Running my hands along my jeans nervously, I nod in response.
“That’s not answering me, Ally. Are you okay?” she asks again, her features showing nothing but concern.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I croak out nervously.
“You sure?” She probes again as she leans forward, bracing her arms on the table and holding my gaze as if she were trying to decipher if I’m lying.
“I swear, Kenny, I’m good. Are you? You know, about what happened this morning?” I whisper.
“Honestly, you scared me, but not by what you did to that bitch. She deserved everything you did to her. Rather by the after-effects. I’d never been there for the others when things came to a head for them. You know, the emotional shit that just causes you to break,” Kenny murmurs.
“Yeah, not my finest moment. I’m sorry you had to see that. I don’t know what came over me. One minute, I was focused on what I’d been doing, and the next, I was fighting my past,” I say truthfully.
“Have you ever spoken to someone about your past?”
“No, not really. I’ve shared some with Burner and Momma B, but telling my entire story to someone . . .” I rasp as I shake my head. I don’t think I could tell anyone the true depth of my story. It’s too horrific. To speak of it will give those who heard it nightmares.
“I get it,” Kenny says, reaching over to touch my arm before finally smiling. “So how about you meet Caden?”
&
nbsp; “I’d love that.”
“Great.” Turning around, she waves at Horse to come over just as Burner sets two plates piled high with my favorite.
Baked Spaghetti and garlic bread.
Yum.
“Dig in, Firefly. I want you to eat everything on your plate. This not eating but once a day is gonna stop,” Burner murmurs into my ear. As he pulls away, he presses a kiss to my cheek before sitting in the chair next to me.
As soon as Horse gets to the table, he sits in the chair opposite Burner and hands Kenny the baby.
“I’d like you both to meet Caden,” she says, her voice filled with pride as she turns the tiny bundle for us to see.
The moment I see his face, I fall. He’s the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen.
“Congratulations,” Burner says softly.
“Thanks, brother,” Horse responds, his attention on his little boy.
“Would you like to hold him?” Kenny asks, looking directly at me.
“Umm, yeah, I’d love to,” I say nervously. I’ve never held a baby in my life.
Standing up, Kenny rounds the table and places the baby in my arms. As I look down at Caden’s precious face, tears well in my eyes as I think of how I never got to hold the ones I’d lost. Although I don’t regret losing them. To be a part of a sadistic world where they’d be nothing more than pawns on a chessboard is the last thing I wanted for my child.
Blinking the tears away, I lean down to kiss the baby on the forehead. “You are a trodaire rugadh,” I whisper.
“You know it drives me nuts when you all say words in another language, but whatever you just said sounded beautiful. What did you say?” Kenny asks as she moves to sit back in her chair.
Looking between mother and son, I give her a smile. “I said he was a born fighter,” I sigh.
Everyone at the table is quiet as they take in what I said.
“How is it you can speak Irish so fluently?” Horse asks as he reaches for his son. I don’t blame the man. After the past several weeks of not being able to hold his child, I’d be the same way, not letting anyone keep him for long.
“It’s the language all the members of the cult used. They only spoke to outsiders in English. The rest of the time, if I didn’t speak in Irish or Gaelic, I would be beaten,” I say, shrugging my shoulders as if it were no big deal.
Needing to change the subject, I look at Kenny. “What did JC and Kayla think of Caden?” I ask.
Seeing it for what it was, Kenny smiles and goes on to tell me how Kayla screamed bloody murder when she met him, and JC wanted to hold his little brother. I laughed when she told me JC threw a fit when Horse took him out of his arms. When I asked where JC and Kayla were, she pointed at a table across the room where Kayla was snuggled up in Stoney’s arms while JC sat next to him, looking all serious.
You could just see he was gonna grow up to look and act just like his dad and pop.
As she talked, I ate as much of my dinner as I could, which ended up being maybe a fourth of what Burner gave me.
Pushing the plate away, I sit back in my chair.
“You need to eat more than that, Firefly,” Burner grumbles.
“I ate as much as I could. If I eat any more, I’ll puke,” I tell him.
“Fine,” he murmurs as he slides his chair closer to me. “You wanna hang out here or do you wanna head back to our room for a private party of our own?”
Smiling at him, I answer by getting up and taking his hand. As much as I’d love to spend time with everyone else, I want to be alone with this man.
When he stands from his seat, he does something I never expected him to do. Leaning forward, he lifts me up over his shoulder and carries me off in a fireman’s hold. Catcalls and whistles follow us along with my brother, yelling that he didn’t need to know about my sex life.
Yeah, this is something I could definitely get used to.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Burner
“Why are we still on lockdown? Couldn’t I at least go to Devil’s Ink with you?” Ally groans as she throws herself on our bed with a small pout as I step into our room having just finished working out in the gym we have in the back of the building. She’d still been asleep when we’d finished church this morning, so I’d decided to go lift some weights before heading to the shop for the day.
Smiling, I stride over to her and trap her in my arms as I climb on top of her. “You bored, Firefly?” I chuckle. I know she’s not used to these lockdowns. The last one we had, she’d been keeping herself hidden in her room at the time, so this is technically her first time. I'm pretty sure she’s getting cabin fever from not being allowed outside.
It’s been two weeks since Twister called for lockdown. Since then, everything seems to be quiet. At least no more than your typical drama. A couple of the new clubwhores had tried to gain attention from Hades, Dragon, and Gadget, only to be handed their asses. Emerson and Connors aren’t to be messed with when it comes to their men. For that matter, all the ol’ ladies can be scary when it comes to keeping the whores off their men.
Doesn’t help that Emerson is about to pop at any given moment and being on lockdown is making her go into a crazy hormonal fit about everything. Swear, I’ve seen the woman go from all smiles and laughter one minute to crying her eyes out the next.
“More than bored. I miss working at the shop and being stuck inside is driving me up the wall crazy,” Ally says, running her finger up my arms.
Chuckling, I lean down to capture her lips for a brief kiss before pulling away. “Guess you better get dressed then. You're coming with me to work. Lockdown has been lifted.”
“Really?” she asks, excitement shining in her eyes as she hops off the bed.
“Yep.” It’d been discussed in church that with Casimir not showing his face, we should lift the lockdown for everyone but we’d stay alert at all times. I wouldn’t put it past the fucker to be lying in wait to get his grimy hands on Ally, thinking we’ve let our guard down.
It’s why my brothers and I came up with the plan we did in church. Although lockdown is being lifted, my brothers were gonna keep the women and kids here at the clubhouse. We’d at least let them go outside as long as they stayed behind the clubhouse.
No one had a problem with this since we’d had a fence installed encasing the entire land the club sits on. The only way in and out is the gate at the front. Gadget also upgraded the security system, having designed one.
By the time I’m ready to go, Ally’s raring to go. “You wouldn’t be happy about going to work, would you?” Chuckling, I grab hold of her waist and pull her into my front. “I want you to listen to me before we go. Just because we’ve lifted lockdown doesn’t mean the threat of Casimir is gone and I won’t have you doing anything alone. You go where I go or you don’t go anywhere. Am I understood?”
Nodding enthusiastically, she says, “I understand, Burner. I promise I’ll listen. Now come on, let’s get out of here.”
Chuckling, I lead my woman out of the clubhouse for the first time in weeks. I’m sure she would love nothing more than to be on the back of my bike, but until this situation is taken care of, that’s not happening. Instead, she’s in my truck.
As I get her to the passenger side, she glances back at me. “How the hell do you expect me to climb in this monstrous beast?”
“I don’t,” I say, grinning as I lift her up into the seat. “And her name is not beast, it's Ghost.” Closing her door, I walk around to my side of the fully restored 1980s Chevrolet Silverado I’ve had since high school. It was the first vehicle I ever got besides my bike. Climbing in, I put the key in the ignition and let her come to lift. She might be named Ghost, but she screams like a banshee driving down the road. I fuckin’ love it. Technically, she’s illegal to have in Virginia with the exhaust and lift, but I got around it by buying land in North Carolina.
Before I know it, we’re at the shop and Ally is throwing her door open and jumping down out of the truck. Guess I
should invest in sidebars so she won’t sprain her ankle by doing what she just did.
“Come on, slowpoke. I wanna draw something. Better yet, I want to pierce something,” she yells over her shoulder, giving me the biggest smile I think I’ve ever seen.
Laughter consumes me as I follow the woman into the shop. However, that laughter stops as Ally screams in terror. Rushing the rest of the way into the shop, I draw my gun from behind my back as I stop directly behind Ally.
Motherfucker.
The head of the prospect who’d been missing since the day Ally was taken is sitting on the reception desk. The eyes are hanging from the sockets and a dead snake is sitting in the opened mouth.
“Ally,” I call her name, but with the way she’s violently shaking, I know she’s more than terrified— she’s withdrawing.
Pulling out my phone, I dial Twister’s number as I stare at the head.
“Yeah,” Twister answers immediately.
“Get down to Devil’s Ink,” I growl into the phone before hanging up. I don’t have time to give him details.
Grabbing Ally’s hand, I have no choice but to take her with me as I check the rest of the building. Badger was supposed to be here.
As I check each room until I get to Badger’s station. My gut is twisting into knots at what I might find. Opening the door to his room, the first thing I notice is the words painted on the wall with blood.
You can’t hide from me.
Glancing around the rest of the room, I find it empty, thank fuckin’ God. But where the hell is Badger? He was supposed to be here, and the door was unlocked. No one else has keys to the place but my brothers and everyone else was busy doing their own shit.
Stepping out of his space, I finish looking around. The building is completely empty.
At the roar of engines coming down the road, I guide Ally into the office and set her down in one of the chairs. Leaning down, I kiss her on the top of her head just as my phone beeps in my pocket.