Squatch (Rolling Thunder MC Birmingham Book 4)

by Candace Blevins

  I could tell both men now regretted putting themselves into this situation. I didn’t scent fear, but neither man wished to be here anymore. Not quite remorse, but it was close.

  “Whoever wins tonight is still a prospect, but no one’s going to vote you in unless you can prove you aren’t a hothead, and that you won’t get the entire club involved in bar brawls just because you can’t hold your fists when letting them fly isn’t called for.” I stepped back a little, so I could still intervene if they went for each other, but I could also look at both of them without turning my back on the other. “If either of you wants to hand over your patches and walk out, now’s the time. You don’t have to finish the fight if you speak up now.”

  Both men shook their heads. Neither was going to walk away.

  While Frost took bets, Clean moved the men’s shirts and boots off the mat, along with holsters and weapons. The men also handed over the contents of their pockets, and I checked to make sure neither had more weapons on them.

  It took another couple of minutes for Frost to decide everyone who wanted to place a bet had done so, and he gave me the all-clear.

  “This ain’t MMA or boxing,” I told them. “No rules but the ones Mad Dog already gave you.” I took five steps back and said, “Ding.”

  Most of our sparring mats are just that — mats. This one had a small fence around it, and I popped over it and out once they got started. I was there to call it if someone cried uncle or got knocked out, or to step in and stop things if someone changed and kept fighting, but otherwise, there wasn’t anything for me to do. With this kind of fighting, there are no illegal moves, no place you can’t strike. If you fuck up and kill the other person, you die, too. Accident or on purpose, it didn’t matter. Both men were expected to have enough control to damage and injure without striking a killing blow.

  Red wolf versus grey wolf, but in human form. Freckles would’ve had my money if I’d been betting. He looked like the boy next door in clothes, but when the shirt came off and his lean muscles showed in stark relief, he looked like someone you didn’t want to fuck with.

  And as Mad Dog had foreseen, Freckles easily knocked his opponent out in less than forty-five seconds. He didn’t even make me step in and pull him off — he stepped back and held his hands up as soon as he realized the other guy wasn’t going to get back up anytime soon.

  I looked at the winner, gauging whether I could ever vote him into the club. Ginger-red hair, green eyes, pasty-white skin, and freckles. I had a feeling people had been discounting him as a bad-ass all his life, but before we’d let him wear a Rolling Thunder cut, he needed the confidence to walk into a room without needing to prove he could kick ass.

  “You need to change?” I asked him.

  He looked at his right fist, which was red and raw, but not as bad as I’d expected. He opened and closed his fingers a few times, shrugged, and let his hand drop to his side, his thumb looped into his jeans pocket. “Nah. I’m good.”

  “I’ll handle this asshole’s exit interview when he comes to,” Mad Dog said, looking at the man on the floor.

  “I’ll hang out here with them,” Clean told me. “You can usher everyone else back upstairs, and then go hold your woman.”

  Kitty

  Squatch and I had decided he’d tell me everything, even if that meant I might have to lie on the stand if someone ever went to trial. I didn’t respect the human justice system, so it wasn’t like I felt I owed it my honor.

  So, he told me about the fight later that night, and we finally talked about him fighting my father.

  “It’s harder to fight someone when you have to be careful not to kill them. I was careful with your father, but I don’t think he was trying to be careful with me.”

  “No, he probably wasn’t, and I’m sorry for that. You have to promise me that if it comes to it again, you’ll value your own life more than his. I’d rather him die than you, if you have to choose.”

  “If it comes to it, then I choose the same, Kitten.” He pushed a lock of my hair out of my face, and the gentle motion melted my heart. So much strength, aimed at me, so tenderly. “I don’t want you going to the ambush without me.”

  My heart went from melted to almost racing, because I didn’t want to go without him, either. The agreement had been written out that I had to be with someone a year before they could go to the ambush with me, and that I’d go to the solstice and equinox celebrations. We also had to have formally mated in some way, by either his traditions, mine, or human traditions, which would mean marriage. My vest probably counted for that, but we hadn’t been together a year.

  “His Majesty the Amakhosi is going with me,” I reminded both Squatch and myself. “Daddy can’t keep me. I’ll be safe.”

  The muscle near his temple flexed. “And your Uncle Mike?”

  I looked down and focused on the air going in and out of my lungs. I’d loved him as a child, but I never wanted to see him again. I wasn’t sure what I’d do when I saw him, and I was pretty sure it was important Squatch never end up in the same room with him.

  “I don’t know, Squatch. I haven’t asked His Majesty.”

  “I need you to do that, Kitten. I’m not sure you should go if he’s going to be there.”

  I nodded and looked at the time. “Tomorrow. I’ll talk to Kirsten tomorrow.” I didn’t have the nerve to bring it up to His Majesty.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Squatch

  My kitten had never ridden in a helicopter before, and she wasn’t dealing well with it. I didn’t want her ambush to smell her in a panic, and Nathan had the same idea as me.

  “Val, you need to breathe. We’re landing outside the ambush fence in a few minutes.”

  “Shouldn’t we have, like...” She squeezed her eyes closed, “Shouldn’t we have a pilot, Your Majesty?”

  I squeezed her hand a little. His Majesty was piloting the ’copter, and I hoped he didn’t take offense.

  “As much as I want to tease you and tell you I printed my license out before I left the office this morning, you’re terrified, so you should know I had a license to pilot a helicopter within a few years of the birds being available for purchase. I was flying them before there was a computer to assist.” He took a deep breath and reached back with an arm. “Touch me, Val.”

  She tentatively rested her hand on his, and I felt her relax. Her breathing evened out, and she no longer stank of fear.

  “What did you do?” I asked him.

  “Shared my calm with her.” He pulled his arm back and placed it on a control. “The effect is stronger with contact, but I can’t hold her hand while I land.”

  “Focus on how it feels to be calm,” I told her. “You’re fine. You trust His Majesty.”

  The helicopter came to a soft landing in a field just outside the ambush, and Kitty and I stayed put until we were given the all-clear to remove our seatbelts and exit the vehicle.

  The three of us walked to the gate of the ambush, and a Drake Security employee stayed with the helicopter to make sure no one messed with it. You don’t want to find out someone cut a hydraulic hose after you’re up in the air.

  Our ‘welcoming’ committee looked more like a military standoff, but we walked to the gate and stood, waiting for someone to speak.

  Kitty’s father finally broke the silence, his voice an angry vibration I wanted to swat. Or punch.

  “Our agreement didn’t allow for you to bring the wolf, Valentina.”

  “No, it didn’t,” the Lion King said, and his voice was the calm of a deep ocean, full of sharks and stingrays and other assorted beings with teeth and worse. “But I told you I’d be bringing a guest when I invited myself. You put no stipulations on my guest.”

  “So our king is choosing sides?” Vincenzo asked. The asshole has balls of brass.

  “Val is mine, as are you, and so is Mike. I asked you to send Mike away for this day, the first time Val returns, and you refused, as is your right. I want to spend the day ge
tting to know the residents of your ambush, but if I have to stick with Val all day to provide moral support around her ‘uncle’, it would interfere with my ability to properly get to know even the smallest in this community. So, I brought someone else to provide Val moral support. If you choose to take issue with this, I can put Mike in a cage outside the ambush and have Squatch stand guard over him for the day.”

  Vincenzo’s stance was that Mike was following his orders, and he’d taken the consequences that should have gone to Mike — though His Majesty had told Kitty and me that we didn’t need to know what he’d deemed appropriate. Following this logic, if someone were to be kicked out of the day’s celebration as a consequence of Mike’s actions, it would be Vincenzo, and not Mike. The Amakhosi wanted to keep Kitty from having to come face-to-face with her Uncle Mikey, but he wasn’t willing to step outside the rules to make it happen. He could have, but I understood why he didn’t. Besides, as Kitty had told him a few days earlier, she was going to have to see Mike eventually, so it may as well be sooner rather than later.

  However, on this day, His Majesty wasn’t speaking in terms of who’d done what in the past, but in terms of what needed to happen in order for him to do his job as King during the solstice celebration — and that would allow him to cage Mike and put me in charge of guarding him.

  Vincenzo took a good minute to think through His Majesty’s reasoning and decide he didn’t have a corresponding move. He gave a signal, the guards moved away from the entrance, and Vincenzo welcomed us to their summer solstice celebration.

  Kitty

  For this first visit, my father had agreed I could just come for the evening portion, and not have to come for the sunrise celebration, which would’ve meant spending the entire day, and needing to nap. I’d pointed out that we both wanted this first visit to go as well as possible, and that probably meant keeping it short.

  So, we were here an hour before sunset, and I walked between His Majesty and Squatch on the way to the field. As I expected, the bonfire wood was already placed, and a small fire blazed at the outer edge of the field. Someone only needed to move logs already on fire under the huge structure, and our bonfire would catch and hold.

  It’s always seemed odd to me that we celebrate the longest day by focusing on the beginning and end, napping through the day, and staying awake most of the night with a bonfire so big it may as well be day. As a child, I wanted to swim and play on the longest day of the year. Not nap.

  As an adult, I understood why this was the practice before we had air conditioning. Summer in South Carolina can be brutal. Alabama as well. The bonfire was set on one end of the field, the stage on the other. It provided light, and we stayed away from the heat.

  I’d never before considered the fact I’d stayed on a similar latitude when I’d moved, so I lived in the same heat. I’d probably have done better to move farther away, but I’d hoped Brooke would want to help me. Plus, I’d heard my cousins say they were staying out of Alabama.

  Squatch let my hand go so I could hug aunts and cousins. I noted only my female relatives and friends had formed a group around me. The men were likely angry with me for leaving, the women understood. Not all of them — several I’d expected to be close with a hug were standing with their spouses, glaring at me. I tried not to take it personally. It’s possible they couldn’t defy their husband by openly welcoming me back, but it was also possible they were angry with me for leaving. I wouldn’t know until I talked to them away from their husband.

  The rule is, having two healthy babies with the same man meant you married him. For the first time, it occurred to me the men didn’t have a full say in who they married, either.

  My dad’s voice rang out, and we all turned to the stage.

  “My Valentina has returned to help us celebrate our longest day and shortest night! Accompanying her are His Majesty the Amakhosi, and a wolf lover named Sasquatch. All three have been given safe passage, assuming they do nothing to break the truce.”

  Squatch squeezed my hand. He’d promised to behave as long as everyone else did as well, and that was the best I was going to get from him.

  A portion of our festival field has benches laid out in circular arcs around the stage, and the women had been sitting and talking when we’d arrived. They’d stood and come to us, but now, we went back and sat to wait for nightfall. Squatch, of course, sat and pulled me into his lap, but I was good with that. I wanted his arms around me so no one else could touch me.

  Touch is big in the ambush, but it’s about belonging, and I didn’t feel as if I belonged here anymore.

  “Your Sasquatch appears to me to be more than a lover, Val.”

  This from one of the Ambush’s teachers. We have four, who are responsible for teaching everything. The girls are taught to read and handle basic math, but the boys are taught enough to be able to take the college exams and make it into the highest levels of education.

  “He is, Mrs. Ouro. Daddy introduced him as Sasquatch, but he goes by Squatch.”

  And here is where things might get dicey. Girls in the ambush are kept away from the concept of romantic love. I’d only recently learned about Romeo and Juliet, and the person who’d casually mentioned them had been shocked I’d never heard of them. My education was sorely lacking because I hadn’t been exposed to any classic with the idea of romantic love. We didn’t watch television, and we weren’t allowed on the internet. The teachers used computers to aid in our education, but we only had access to the software they allowed.

  Arranged pairings for procreation were our way of life. Sometimes, a girl was given to another ambush for three months, and she’d be returned at the end, pregnant or not. Sometimes, if the girl was pregnant, she’d stay for another year, or two. Sometimes, the procreation deal required her to marry the father and permanently move to the other ambush should they produce a single healthy child. But always, this was her leader’s decision, and not her own.

  My father had been quite clear that I wasn’t to talk about my love for Squatch. I could talk about needing his protection, but he didn’t want me exposing the girls and women to the idea of romantic love.

  “If he’s more than a lover,” one of my younger cousins asked, “what is he?”

  I looked up into his eyes and smiled. “Mine.” I looked back to my cousin. “He’s mine, and I’m his. I’m not sure I can explain it any other way.” Because my father had forbidden me from doing so.

  “Wolves are monogamous.” Mrs. Ouro helped decide our curriculum, so she had to know about the concept of true love, otherwise she’d have given us the wrong books to read. I wasn’t surprised she’d landed on at least the edge of the truth.

  “They are, but I find I don’t mind being claimed by one.” I sighed. “Daddy doesn’t want me talking much about myself, and I don’t want to upset him, so please help with that by not asking questions. I’d love to hear what’s been going on here since I left.”

  “He doesn’t want you talking about life outside the ambush because he’s afraid more of us might try to escape.” This from another of my cousins, and she wasn’t finished. “Things are so much harder for us now. He even implanted devices under our skin in the backs of our necks, so we can be tracked if we ever try to leave!”

  I froze. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. I’d never thought my father would go to those extremes, but I suppose I should have. Finally, I managed to ask, “Does His Majesty know?”

  “I assume you’ll tell him if he doesn’t?” Mrs. Ouro said, her voice so quiet, I barely heard her.

  I gave her a tiny nod and looked back to my cousin. “I’m not sorry I left, but I’m sorry it’s made things harder for you. The truth is, most of you would be miserable in the outside world. The first month or two was so hard, while I learned the ways of outside society. Even now, it’s hard, but I’ve always been the one who didn’t really fit in here, so for me, it’s been worth it. I’m not certain it would be for most of you.”

  Because li
fe in here is so fucking different than life outside, and that was my father’s fault, but it couldn’t be changed for those who’d grown up in this life.

  “Are all the men so big?” another cousin asked.

  I smiled. “No. Most men are about the size of most of our men. Perhaps a little smaller on average, but about the same. Squatch is huge.”

  “His hand is bigger than your face!” This from one of the juveniles, and I smiled down at her. “You’ll be in trouble when they realize you’ve snuck away from the kids’ activities.”

  The children spend the evening and night in one of our large gathering rooms, where they’ll all sleep on little foldable cots while their parents are enjoying the festivities. You have to be fourteen to be allowed to join the adults until midnight, and eighteen before you can stay up until dawn.

  Unless you become a mom, at which point, you’re considered eighteen, even if you’re only twelve. All education stops once you’re pregnant. Every twelve-year-old in the ambush hopes they’ll be given to someone early so they can be an adult, but few are in our generation. It had been the norm for our grandparents, but I figured the men who’d been sent out to get law degrees had likely advised the ambush leaders to raise the age at which they gave their girls to be impregnated. They got around the rules by traveling to states where the legal age is low, and where the age difference is taken into consideration. In Utah, the age of consent is eighteen, but so long as the age difference is ten years or less and it’s all consensual, Utah doesn’t usually care, though it’s safest if the girl is sixteen. It’s easier to make the girl younger in North Carolina, where a fourteen-year-old and seventeen-year-old are legal so long as the DA doesn’t want to push it, and our people know which counties are safe.