Specter's Wake

by Quinn Ryder

  The stranger turned toward my brother and nodded. “I was just leaving.” He stepped away from the bar, walked over to the corner booth and grabbed the bottle of whiskey from off the table. He then slammed down a wad of cash and turned around to face me and my family. “Thanks for the drink, Love,” he said with a smile spreading across his face. “I’ll be back.”

  I didn’t think it was possible, but an enamored blush crept up my cheeks. One I couldn’t hide from my brother or Switchblade. Somehow a complete stranger had left me breathless, a feat only one man had ever done before. Midas.

  “Like hell you will,” Switchblade snarled.

  “Calm the fuck down, Switchblade. Stop being such a pussy,” Jimmy said, forcing Switchblade to turn his way.

  “Why the fuck are you defending him?”

  “I’m not, but don’t get all pissy because he bested you at your own game. Calm the fuck down and go get yourself a drink.”

  I quickly glanced over at my brother to see his expression, but by the time my eyes swiveled back over to where I last saw the stranger standing, he was already gone—vanishing into the night like a ghost.

  “Where the fuck did that motherfucker go?” Switchblade cursed.

  “I don’t know. One minute he was there, the next minute he was gone,” Cipher remarked.

  Everyone looked stunned. We were all so focused on my brother and Switchblade’s reactions that nobody was paying attention to the stranger. He left without a single person’s eyes on him. If we hadn’t heard his bike start up and peel out of the parking lot, we wouldn’t have believed he was there at all.

  I turned toward my brother, ready for whatever smartass remark was about to come out of his mouth, but the words he said left us all stunned.

  “Boys, I think we may have found a new prospect.”

  Chapter Four

  Holden

  I rode away from the clubhouse with a bittersweet euphoria running through my bones. I had successfully infiltrated and left the Armada without being murdered and no one recognizing me. Even the woman I pledged my life to didn’t recognize me anymore. I wasn’t sure if I should be happy or sad about it. Looking different did work in my favor, but it also kept me away from my goal of getting Faith back. It’s a goal that looks far more difficult now than I first thought. From the short amount of time I spent with the new members of the Armada, I could see things had drastically changed.

  Dutch was nowhere to be found. Scythe was now patched in as Prez, and he chose that fuck up Switchblade as his VP. What kind of fucked up shit is that? Switchblade was a punk-ass kid when I met him nine years ago. That part apparently hadn’t changed. He’s still a punk-ass who has no idea how to treat a woman. There were only a few people I recognized in the club, and of the few I did recognize, I didn’t care for them much in the first place.

  It would only be a matter of time before someone figured out who I was. Until then, I was planning on lying low, taking shelter behind enemy lines.

  I grabbed a cheap motel on the west side of town, deep in the heart of Viper country, securing it under my new identity. Out of all the rival MCs in the area, they were the ones I was least afraid would make a big deal if they found me on their turf. It had nothing to do with the Vicious Vipers being an all-female MC, but everything to do with their low-key footprint in the motorcycle world. Vipers liked to stay on the good side of the law. The Armada used to be that way too, but now that Scythe and Switchblade had taken over, it seemed like they had turned the club into a haven for criminals.

  I pulled into a gas station so I could fill my tank. It was almost seven, so I needed to grab something to eat before heading back to the hotel. A cute little attendant greeted me as I walked through the door.

  “Pretty bike,” she exclaimed, eyeing my machine near one of the pumps.

  “Thanks. It’s my baby.”

  She grinned. “I haven’t seen you around these parts before. Are you affiliated?” She eyed my leather jacket, scoping it to see if I was flying any colors.

  “Nope, I’m a free agent.”

  “Too bad,” she frowned. “You have nobody to protect you, and protection is somethin’ you need around these parts.”

  “I don’t need protection, sweetheart. I work alone.”

  She frowned. “Can I get you anything?” She eyed the front door nervously.

  “Sure, I’ll take one of those chicken burritos, a fountain drink, and two Snickers bars. I’m hungry as hell right now.”

  The girl quickly grabbed my chicken burrito while I filled my drink and snagged the two candy bars.

  Her gaze drifted to the door again. “Is that all?”

  “Is something wrong?”

  “You’re not safe here,” she murmured, tensing when the roar of multiple motorcycles could be heard outside. “Crap, I’m sorry. I tried to work fast, but now it’s too late.”

  I saw the lights of multiple motorcycles pull up outside and then watched as ten, leather-bound women casually strolled inside the gas station. Each wore a bright green and black cut, with a cobra wearing lipstick on the back. I recognized them immediately.

  The Vicious Vipers, a venomous organization of women that liked cold metal between their legs, and wielded knives like katanas. It was their usual weapon of choice but judging by the glint of black metal hidden behind a few of their cuts, they’d given up knives for a more deadly weapon.

  “Well, well, girls, what do we have here?” A woman with dark purplish-black hair asked as she circled me. She sniffed the air surrounding me in an exaggerated manner and laughed. “Smell that? It smells like fresh meat to me,” she cackled.

  The other girls in her club laughed right along with her. Now they had me surrounded. A few milled around the candy aisle, taking bites out of candy bars and putting them back on the shelf. Another had her head hanging upside down underneath the slushie machine, gulping the orange freeze like she was drinking from a fountain. The rest just stood around in various parts of the store, blocking the exits.

  “Louise, is this bastard giving you trouble?”

  The pretty young attendant shook her head. “No, he’s unaffiliated. He just came in to grab a bite to eat and fill his bike.”

  “Unaffiliated, huh? Are you Nomad?”

  I shook my head. “I’m not Nomad, I’m not anything but me.”

  She pulled out a long hunting knife and licked the edge with her tongue, showing off her sexy tongue ring. The silver metal of the knife glinted off the fluorescent lights lining the ceiling, blinding me for a second.

  “Well, Me, who exactly are you? I smell a rat.” She pointed her knife at my face, but I didn’t feel threatened. It was kind of hot to meet a woman with such a dominant personality. It’s been far too long since I’ve been with anyone, and her confident persona made me that more attracted to her.

  I stared at her cut, reading the patch right above the one that she wore that said president.

  “Filly, huh? Interesting name.”

  Filly laughed. “Don’t let the name fool you; I’m as hard as nails and fuck even harder,” she said the last part while whispering it in my ear. It didn’t bother me. Despite her interesting hair color, Filly was fucking gorgeous.

  “You gonna give me your name, Stranger?”

  “I don’t really have one to give out. I prefer it that way. Can’t nobody get attached to someone if they have no name to use.”

  She slid a very friendly hand up my sleeve.

  “I like that. It keeps people guessing. It also doesn’t work for the current situation, Stranger, because you stepped onto my turf tonight. This here is Viper territory. We don’t like it when men step into our territory without being asked. I may have let it slide, but this isn’t the first time you’ve crossed into our world, is it? You’ve been holing up here for six days, staying at the Green Flats Motel in room 412. The first three days you never left your room, but the last three you’ve been busy—real busy.”

  “You do your research.”
<
br />   “Cami over there is like a stealth ninja. She can follow anyone and never be seen. She’s been following you for days, ever since you got here.” The girl at the slushie machine looked up, smiled while waving at me, then went back to drinking her frozen treat. How she managed to drink it without getting a brain freeze is beyond me.

  “So, you know where I’m staying. You know my movements. What else do you know?”

  “I know that you got in and out of the Armada without getting shot. Which means either you’re their spy or one lucky son of a bitch.”

  “Maybe I’m both.”

  Filly lunged at me, placing the tip of her knife right at my Adam’s apple. “Being a spy will get you dead. We don’t like snitches over here.”

  I walked an inch forward. Her knife bit into my skin and I felt a drop of blood slide down my neck. I wasn’t afraid of her—I wasn’t afraid of anything anymore. “I’m not a spy. I came here to find the man who tried to kill me and save the woman I love. Nobody knows who I am or why I’m here. I have nothing to hide from you, but if the Armada finds out who I am, the man who tried to take my life might try to do it again, and this time he’d probably succeed. I know that I’m invading your turf, but I’ve always known the Vipers to be the most hospitable of all the MC’s around here. Let me stay, and I’ll help you expand your turf by taking some of theirs.” It was dangerous telling them my plan, but I had no other choice. Lying would only anger Filly, and telling the truth was the only way to get out of this situation alive. The Vipers, from what I remembered, were not a violent group, but it looked like Filly and her crew were more vicious than their predecessors. They liked the taste of blood; Filly’s teardrop near her eye told me that right away.

  She looked pleased with my honesty.

  “So, you’re on a suicide mission to bring down the Armada?”

  I shook my head. “Not all of it—only the parts of it that are corrupt.”

  The women surrounding me cackled. “Honey, all the Armada is corrupt. Ever since Dutch stepped down, shit’s gone to hell and a handbasket. Scythe isn’t all that bad, but Switchblade and some of the other shitbags he recruited are corrupt as fuck. If you’re gonna bring down the Armada, then you’ll have to take them all down, one by one.”

  “If that’s what I have to do in order to save her life, then I will.”

  “She must be pretty special if you’re willing to risk your life in order to save her.”

  I looked at Filly and a cocky smile slid across my face, “She’s worth any risk the world wants to throw at me.”

  Simultaneous smiles slid across the faces of the Vipers. I could see the swooning in their eyes. Even underneath all their leather and hard exteriors, they were still women who wanted to be romanced and cherished.

  Filly brought the knife away from my throat. “I’ll tell you what, Stranger. I’ll let you stay in that crappy ass motel on my turf, I’ll even watch your six while you’re on my side of the tracks so you can continue this suicide mission of yours, but only on one condition.”

  I lifted a single eyebrow playfully. “And what condition is that?

  Filly smiled evilly. “Well, you see. The Vipers are known for playing fair, but that’s because people don’t know how unfair we play. I got a few girls lost out there. One in the Armada, one wrapped up in the Scorched Brotherhood, and the other is behind enemy lines with the Diablo Saints. The twins, Modem and Mayhem, check in every once in a while, but Dusty hasn’t checked in for quite some time. I need you to check on her, make sure she’s okay. She ain’t gonna trust you, so you’re gonna need to know the code.”

  “What code is that?”

  “When the asp bites, the blood runs cold. She’ll know what that means. She’s been wrapped up in the Armada for four years. I haven’t heard from her in the last two. I have no idea if she’s alive or dead. She probably ain’t even going by Dusty anymore. It’s gonna be hard to find her. The only way you’ll be able to tell if it’s her is if she has a tattoo of a cobra right here.” Filly’s hand moved down her body and stopped right above her pussy.

  I licked my lips. Just the movement alone was intoxicating. It had been far too long since the last time I had a little fun with a woman.

  “Eyes up here, Stranger.”

  My eyes reluctantly roved back up to hers. “So, you want me to find her and what?”

  “Get her out of there. If she’s some dude’s Old Lady, she’s dick-locked and can’t get out. You get her out of there, and I’ll consider you my new best friend.” She stuck out her hand. “Do we have a deal?”

  I stared at her hand with great scrutiny. Helping the Vipers would only distract me from my mission, but Filly was leaving me no choice.

  I gave her hand a quick shake before dropping it. “I guess I can fit it in somewhere.”

  She clapped me on the back. “Thata boy. I knew I liked you from the moment I laid eyes on you. Now that we’re friends. We’re going to have to do something about that name. I can’t keep calling my new best friend Stranger, now can I?”

  “It sounds pretty good to me.”

  Filly glared at me. “Give me a name to use or the deal’s off.”

  I sighed. “Fine. You can call me Holden.”

  “Holden . . . now that’s a name a girl can get used to. Now that we’re friends, Holden, it’s time to do one more thing for me before I let you go.”

  “And what exactly is that?” I asked, a little annoyed with the game she kept playing.

  She walked coyly up to me, sliding her hand up the inside of my thigh until she had a firm grip on the bulge in my jeans. “You’re a sexy man, Holden, and I may not look it but I’m a lonely girl. Living in my world comes with a price, one I think we’ll both enjoy. You see, being club president has its faults. Men are afraid of me. They don’t like women who have power, and I got a lot of it. I can get pussy left and right, but when it comes to dick, men don’t play nice. So, you’re gonna make me come tonight, and I’m gonna take this cock on a wild ride. You better make it fun for me, too, otherwise . . .” I felt her knife pierce the inside of my thigh and I hissed. It was way too close to the family jewels. “you’ll be leaving here without all the appendages that make you a man.”

  My hand worked its way up her back and fisted a clump of hair behind her head. I jerked her head back so she could look me dead in the eye.

  “Filly, if you wanted to fuck me, all you had to do was ask.”

  Chapter Five

  Faith

  “Who was he?” Scythe drilled, asking me for the fifteenth time since the stranger walked out of the bar.

  “I told you, Jimmy, I have no idea. He walked in, scared the shit out of me, asked me for a drink, and then flirted a little.”

  “Did he touch you?”

  “No.” Though I wish he did. I couldn’t get the stranger out of my mind, and now that he was gone, I was even more sexually frustrated than I was before.

  “Damn it, Faith. You know better than to let the public in here. If he comes back, I want to be the first to know about it.”

  “Yes, Sir,” I said, while playfully saluting him.

  Scythe rolled his eyes, turning toward Cipher. “Can you find him?”

  “Sure, I’ll just check the tapes and run it through my facial recognition software. Shouldn’t be long.” Cipher sounded so confident, and if he wasn’t so young, I’d probably be jumping his bones right now. Instead, I’m going to have to make a late-night booty call.

  I grabbed my purse and started walking towards the door. A forceful hand stopped me after two steps.

  “Where in the fuck do you think you’re going?” Switchblade growled.

  “Out.”

  “You’re not going anywhere.”

  “Fuck you, Switchblade. You’re not my daddy.”

  Switchblade grabbed my other arm and pulled me into him. “But I could be. You’d be calling me daddy by the time I was done tearing up that pussy.”

  “Fuck off,” I yelled, wrenching my
arms out of his grasp.

  “Don’t think I don’t know what you’ve been doing every night, Bitch. How do you think your brother would feel if he knew what you were up to?” he whispered in my ear.

  “You don’t know shit.”

  Switchblade smiled evilly. “Oh, I know more than you think I do, Faith. I know where you’ve been going, who you’ve been seeing, and what you are. Fuck me, and your secret stays a secret.”

  I couldn’t tell if he was bluffing or if Switchblade was actually following me around town. If he was, he hadn’t told my brother yet, because Scythe would be fucking livid if he found out.

  “You keep asking me to fuck you, but how do you expect me to do that when your dick can only be seen with the help of a microscope?”

  Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have provoked him, because I barely saw his hand flying toward my face until it had already connected with my cheek.

  “Fucking whore.”

  Scythe and Cipher appeared out of nowhere and I watched in admiration as my brother cold-clocked Switchblade, knocking him the fuck out.

  “Touch my sister again, Switchblade, and I’m calling Church. Your temper is getting really old.”

  Switchblade was lying motionless on the ground, so my brother stepped over him to get to me, cupping my cheek. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, but you need to leash that motherfucker. He’s getting out of control, Scythe.”

  “I know. I know. He’s my VP, Faith, there’s not much I can do.”

  I hated how powerless my brother seemed to be. He was like a puppet that Switchblade and the rest of his goons used for their screen. Everything went through the club, but it was my brother who was the face of it. Every bad decision was now draped over his shoulders, and if the club went down, it would be Scythe that got blamed for it.

  “I love you, Jimmy, but I don’t know how much more of this shit I can take. This club used to feel like home, but now it feels more like a prison.”

  Switchblade started to stir, and I took that as my cue to leave.

  “Don’t wait up for me.”