by Lana Grayson
Thorne didn’t get to talk. Grim put his gun down first, tossing it onto the bed next to Lyn’s broken leg. That was as good a truce as we’d get.
“Priest’s on the move.” Grim nodded to me. “It’s not gonna be pretty.”
Fuck. “What the hell is he doing now?”
“He’s about to steal about twenty kilos of cocaine from Temple.” Grim winked at Lyn. “Need me to pick any up for you?”
Lyn held up the IV. “No thanks, I’m good.”
Goddamn Priest. I put my gun away. No sense worrying about Anathema if Temple would set fire to every corner of the city to burn us alive. Thorne understood it too. He nodded to his men. The weapons eased.
Keep sat on the sink, crossing his arms. “Where the fuck is he getting twenty kilos of coke?”
“He’s planning on harassing one of Temple’s distribution centers?” Reaper asked.
Grim gave his old friend a nod. “You know it.”
It was a nightmare wrapped in a shit show that turned into a clusterfuck. My head ached even without the inevitable bullets that’d lodge in my skull as a consequence to this disaster.
I exhaled. “He’s going to blow the fuse on this war. Temple’s already caused enough pain tonight.”
“Did Heathen do this to her?” Vega’s bulk hardly fit in the room, but at least he blocked the idiot doctors trying to get inside. “You okay, Lyn?”
Lyn always seemed to like Vega, probably for taking care of one of her dancers. She gave him a smile she rarely offered anyone in The Coup. “I’m fine. Heathen came looking for me, but I got away. If he had found me…” Her words broke. Every man reached for his gun, the only comfort we could give. Rose offered her water and squeezed her hand. Lyn recovered with a harsh breath. “They’re looking for blood.”
“If Priest fucks with them again, it’s anarchy,” I said. “He’s rogue. Split from my crew.”
Thorne eyed Grim and Vega. “You guys have any outstanding loyalty to Priest?”
“Absolutely not,” Grim said.
Vega crossed his arms, his vest creaking. “Nah. Fucker’s nuts. Gonna get us all killed.”
An understatement. Thorne nodded, and a momentary peace was granted.
A strange truce.
His men and mine dropped the attitudes, and, for the first time in a year, it felt like it had before the split. Men were dead and blood had spilled. Too many insults passed and problems started. But we stood together without violence. Without guns. Without killing each other.
And it wasn’t just a silent agreement to extend the neutral territory to the hospital.
Lyn was hurt. She wasn’t a brother, and she didn’t wear a cut, but she was someone who deserved every respect that came from the leather. Her pain reminded us of the true enemy—the bastards who dared to hurt one of our own.
“Do we know where Priest is heading?” I asked.
Grim hedged the question. He had a decent head on his shoulders. Knew not to start shit.
“Got an idea,” he said.
No sense hiding the only thing that would prevent Temple from slaughtering us. I glanced at Thorne. “We have a listing of all of Temple’s safe houses and addresses. Truck shipments. Warehouses. Last known addresses. It’s kept us one step ahead of them for the past month.”
“Fuck.” Gold flexed his good arm, the one not scarred to hell from the IED he took overseas. “We could do a lot with that information.”
No doubt. Gold ran surveillance just as good as he ran cigs. I nodded to Thorne.
“It’s yours. Not doing any good except tempting Priest. Where’d he head, Grim?”
“North. Outside the Valley. Little warehouse they use to cut the product before shipments.” He raised his eyebrows. “We could be there in twenty from here. He’s hitting it after dark.”
That didn’t give us a lot of time, especially if something happened to Lyn. The doctors had mentioned surgery. I wasn’t letting her face that reality alone.
But the thought of Priest pissing with Temple?
It didn’t just upset my stomach. That was a fear that recoiled my balls and left me chilled. If Temple was already in the city looking to kill us, nothing would stop them from bleeding us all out.
We had no choice. I had to trap Priest in his own fucking greed. His punishment would be harsher than a slap on the wrists and a time-out mopping floors in the garage.
Rogue was worse than traitor.
He had to die.
But I couldn’t do it alone. Grim had three loyal men, Vega five. Enough to stop Priest. Not enough to deal with Temple if they pissed on the hornet’s nest.
Thorne thought the same. He met my gaze.
I had to be the one to propose it.
“We can set up an ambush,” I said. “But I’m gonna need some help. I need a couple more men to help put the cocksucker down and watch our backs. Especially if Temple realizes we’re rifling through their stash.”
“Who gets the coke?” Thorne asked.
“Whoever fucking survives.”
Thorne shrugged, glancing to his men. His grin wasn’t kind. Seldom was when he wasn’t looking at Rose. “Who wants to rescue prince charming here? Save his rat ass and get ourselves owed a couple favors?”
Keep didn’t hesitate. “Fuck yeah, but we’re gonna need some reinforcements.”
“Can I trust you to contact him?”
“I’ll do it on the road.”
Thorne’s jaw tensed. “You’re not going.”
Keep scowled. “Son of a bitch, man, I didn’t take a hit today!”
Thorne pointed at Rose and Lyn. “Then you get a second-fucking-chance. Someone’s gotta stay with the girls. Gold? Reap?”
They hesitated, but Reaper patted Grim’s shoulder. “I’m in.”
Gold shrugged. “Me too.”
We got our men. Lost our minds, but at least we brought an army.
“We’ll meet at Pixie,” Thorne said. “Gear up.”
Rose followed him, though he waited with her just in the hall, her voice muffled. Frantic.
Lyn didn’t bother with the theatrics. She tried to brush her hair from her face but used the wrong hand. The men cleared as she nearly wept in pain.
“Luke, I swear to God, if you head into Temple territory—”
I sat by her side. “I don’t have a choice. Priest will kill us all.”
“And you think you’re the one to stop him?”
“Someone’s gotta.”
“Does it have to be you?”
Who better? I’d summoned enough devils and tempted more men.
It was about time I did something right.
“I told you—you can’t fix everything,” Lyn whispered. “Don’t try to be a hero, Luke.”
“I’m tired of being the villain.”
“Then be what you are.” Lyn pulled my hand to her lips, kissing with each word. “Noble. Smart. Be Knight. Not the traitor, and not the man trying to make up for it.”
“I don’t know who that man is, Lyn.”
Her eyes darkened, a shade of green so beautiful others would envy it. “It’s the man standing right here. The one who better come back to me.”
I kissed her—deep, hard. Wasn’t remorse, but it wasn’t goodbye. Just a promise.
“This ends tonight,” I said. “The split. The fighting. The fucking Coup. It’s done.”
I kissed her again because I could. Because she was mine and I was leaving her for a goddamned war. But I had to regain some honor, if only so I could protect her if she made the reckless decision to keep on loving me.
I left her with Rose and met Thorne in the hall. He said nothing, but he walked with me. A regained moment of trust.
We led each other into the war.
Like the first time we fought side-by-side.
Like the last time we battled, facing each other.
Tonight wouldn’t be the beginning of peace, not when it drenched in so much blood. But we confronted the same demons and protect
ed the ones we loved.
Because if we failed?
No one would survive.
There was no such thing as a clean break for a dancer.
Not one, but two bones failed me. Tibia and Fibula. Both fucked.
I remembered landing. Remembered the crunch. Remembered the agony.
Nothing about it felt clean, but, then again, I wasn’t feeling too much at all now. I credited the heavy dose of drugs they gave me to cope with both the pain and my uncertain future.
Or where Luke fit into it.
I could do nothing to help him or Anathema from the hospital bed. The doctors examined the x-ray and spoke to me about my options. None of them mattered. If we didn’t stop Priest, and if Temple waited for them at the warehouse, I wouldn’t be running to safety even with two functioning legs.
“You really should rest,” Rose said. She was one to talk. She fluttered around the room, abandoning the chair at my bedside to fidget and pace.
She made me more nervous than Luke. “I’m fine.”
“Do you need anything?”
Only the last month of my life back. If given the option, I wouldn’t have hid from the events that happened, but I’d do them over again. I could’ve acted smarter, been more efficient.
Saved some lives.
I was always in control of myself, and I answered only to my rigorous expectations. Not like I had other options. Any sign of weakness, and the MCs would have destroyed me and my girls.
God only knew what they do once I had a cast on my leg.
Rose should have known better than to hover around me. I wasn’t one to be doted on. I sent Keep to the cafeteria to smuggle me real food even though I’d never eat it. The pain stole my appetite, but I’d force a muffin down to pretend that I was okay.
I didn’t want anyone to know how badly I hurt. Or that I needed help.
Or that I couldn’t stop dreading what would happen to Luke.
“There’s no harm in sleeping.” Rose was a sweet girl, but she surprised me today. She managed the club a hell of a lot better than when she first snuck into Thorne’s bed. “They have you on some pretty powerful pain-killers.”
“Could you sleep now? Knowing Thorne’s off playing cowboy in the desert?”
“No.” Rose gave me a smile. “I always was a worrier. Even when I was a kid, waiting for Brew and Keep or Da—Blade to come home. I hated it then. Never thought I’d be someone’s old lady.”
“So how do you handle it?”
“I don’t. I don’t think anyone gets used to sending them out, not knowing if they’ll make it back.” She shrugged. “But I get a lot of my term papers and music written in the middle of the night. It’s normal to feel helpless.”
Except helpless wasn’t me. I didn’t fear for my friends. I helped them. I never thought I’d be in a position where I couldn’t protect the ones that mattered.
The man I loved.
“This sucks.” It was as much as I was willing to admit. “I used to watch the guys act like idiots all the time. I never had to worry about them.”
“They don’t need us to worry. Just got to be strong.”
That’d be easier to do if I could walk. I gripped my cell phone and tried to stretch. The brace immobilized me and the pillow elevated the injury. Nothing felt good, but I was used to discomfort. My usual five inch heels and corset weren’t as nice as yoga pants and sweatshirt.
The drugs were powerful. Rose squeezed my hand.
“You sleep. I’ll call the girls. Let Annie and the others know to get to Pixie and wait.”
Sleep only sounded nice if Luke were next to me. At least the morphine made a decent companion. Rose snuck into the bathroom to make her calls. I closed my eyes for a long minute.
I fought to open them again as someone bumbled against my bed.
Not a doctor. Not a nurse.
Agent Greene fiddled with my IV.
“You don’t have to be so dramatic.” I gripped her wrist before she came close to the line with the loaded syringe. “You can just slit my throat and kill me. Not like I can run, Kitty.”
Agent Greene batted me away. Her arms blurred, the motion dizzying my head.
The drugs weren’t helping.
At least I wouldn’t feel it if she tried to kill me.
“I thought you were hiding somewhere in the club.” Her badge flashed at her hip. She didn’t need a visitor’s pass if she could pretend she was harassing me for official business. “What did you hear?”
“Everything before and after you gagged on Heathen’s cock.”
At least she blushed. “He’s a big guy.”
“How lucky for you.”
“Don’t you judge me. We’re the same when it comes to a guy in a leather vest jerking his dick.”
Like hell. “I’m no club whore. How many times have you been passed around Temple’s laps?”
Her breath rasped, hard, and the needle aimed for my face. She didn’t prick me, but it wasn’t a friendly motion.
“I didn’t start with Heathen. I was Toviel Aren’s favorite. Before…” Her voice actually cracked. She cleared away whatever softness burst from his name. “Before he got shot. He’s on life-support because Brew-Fucking-Darnell’s whore blasted him with a shotgun to his face. Heathen took over which meant he got the rights to me. I do as he says.”
“That means killing me?”
“Gotta protect the club, right, Lyn?”
She believed it. Not the wavering resolve of a person with broken sanity and forsaken self-respect. This was conviction. The abandonment of the rule of law for a set of order beyond anything ATF or her criminal justice degree ever taught.
She wasn’t upset. She wasn’t floundering. She’d kill me because it was best for Temple MC.
For whatever their reasons.
Too bad I wasn’t ready to die.
And Anathema was just as loyal.
Rose crept from the bathroom, silent and small and innocuous. She snuck behind Agent Greene, unseen, until the barrel of her gun pressed against Kitty’s skull.
“You?” Rose whispered. “What the hell are you doing here?”
The syringe dropped on my blanket. Rose forced her away from the bed, stealing her weapon and giving her a quick frisk. Agent Greene didn’t turn around. That was good.
The gun trembled in Rose’s hand.
“Rose.” Agent Greene wasn’t at all surprised by the weapon to her head. I imagined it wasn’t the first she felt. “I haven’t seen you in a few months. Not since our little chat.”
Since when did Rose meet with ATF?
She swallowed. “You wanted me to turn in Blade for abusing me. Rat him out and send him to jail.”
“It would have made everything much easier.”
“I doubt that.”
Agent Greene winked at me. “Someone else took care of Daddy for you, didn’t they?”
“Did the world a service,” I said.
“Tell Rose to put the gun away,” she said.
“I think I like the gun where it is.”
“I can break her arm. I’m not a little co-ed masquerading as a queen. She’s not gonna fire it. Tell her to turn around, walk out of here, and she doesn’t get hurt.”
Rose bumped the barrel. “Don’t push me. I’m not the same girl you cornered in that diner.”
“You’re just as fragile. Not likely to pull that trigger.”
The door slammed shut. Agent Greene twisted, reaching for Rose’s gun. She met Keep’s instead.
“Nah, she won’t have to shoot that gun.” Keep pushed Rose out of the way. “Back the fuck up before I pull the trigger for her.”
“Keep Darnell?” Kitty broke out her official voice. “I’m Agent Katherine Greene, ATF.”
Keep’s glance to Rose forced a flush to her cheeks. “Why the fuck are you pissing with ATF? Jesus. I remember when you used to come to me with car problems. Changing a tire for you didn’t land me on death-row.”
“Don’t worry,
Keep.” I held Agent Green’s stare. “She’s not just ATF. She’s one of Temple’s girls. Heathen’s little slut.”
“I’m not a slut,” she said. “Call me an adrenaline junkie. You said it yourself. I get off on danger.”
“Then you’re probably slick enough to slide right out of that forty dollar pantsuit, aren’t ya?”
Rose trained her gun on Kitty. “Why hasn’t Temple killed you? They have to know you’re an agent.”
Oh, that was an easy question now that I knew the type of woman I faced. “Because she went undercover and found greener pastures. Sat on the right cock and decided she liked the MC more than a badge.”
“Nothing wrong with following your heart,” Agent Greene said.
“You were thinking with something a little lower, Kitty,” I said. “Temple uses you for intel, and you protect them from ATF.”
“I protected Toviel.”
“He’s not doing a good job protecting you.”
“Oh yeah? Where’s your prince charming and warlord now?”
The hospital gown hardly covered me, I didn’t have my makeup or a hairbrush, and my leg swelled three times its normal size in the brace, but she wasn’t about to intimidate me.
“They’re looking after their own,” I said. “Seems like Temple could do the same. What the hell is Heathen’s plan?”
She flinched away from the gun. Keep tisked his tongue and moved in close.
“You wanna dance, baby?” He asked. “We’ll tango all night. But you answer her questions first.”
Agent Greene hesitated, probably considering options that faded as the guns pointed. I imagined Heathen’s orders sounded less and less appealing.
“Heathen’s in control of Temple,” she said. “He took it. No vote. Just acting as Toviel’s will. And he never trusted me, not after learning about Blade.”
What about Blade? Christ, something was wrong. We missed one big fucking piece of the puzzle, and it put everyone in harm’s way. Keep and Rose shared a moment of tension. They rarely looked at each other when Blade’s name was spoken. Neither had healed from that pain yet, but it looked like they were about to get some crazy immersion therapy on the subject.
“Blade did everything you wanted,” I said. “Why didn’t Heathen trust him?”