“It’s in the oven, lucky boy,” she says. Her eyes sweep over Axel and me. “Let’s celebrate your visit then.”
Axel grunts as she leads us to the living-dining room where we spread out and drop into the green corner couch and matching armchairs. The walls are snow white and form a perfect background for the antique furniture made of mahogany.
After a few minutes of chatting about nothing, Athena serves her delicious moussaka and we focus on eating. For a moment, only the sound of the forks scratching against the plates travels in the air then Axel wipes his mouth with a paper napkin and tries to kill Athena with his glance.
“Talk to me, woman,” Axel says.
“I don’t know anything,” Athena says as her face turns dark red.
“Did she tell you anything, Jax?” Axel turns his face to Jax.
“Nope,” Jax says. “She’s been very mysterious for two days.”
“The witches’ coven,” Axel mutters and glances at Aphrodite. “You too?”
“No, Uncle,” Aphrodite says and stirs like a bird in the rain. “I’m not going anywhere. It’s too dangerous.” She sucks in a breath, drops her head and rises to her feet to collect the dirty plates.
“Are you going to visit Daisy?” Jax asks, turning his face to Athena, and he scratches his head.
“Of course,” Axel says and spreads his hands.
Athena freezes with her palms on the table then takes a deep breath. “Leave it Axel. Sol needs it. We’ll take care of her.”
“Who will take care of you all?” Axel snaps.
“Mike,” Athena says.
“You can’t go on your own,” Jax says.
“Jax,” Athena says and flashes him a naughty smile. “I work for a Russian Mafioso, remember? I’m a big girl.” She turns her face to Axel. “Your girls will be safe, I promise.”
I guess, Axel has never gotten over what happened to Sive. I don’t blame him. I will never get over what happened to Sol.
“When exactly are you going?” Axel asks.
“In four hours,” Athena says.
“Tell them…” Axel’s voice falters.
“I will,” Athena says.
Axel nods. “And remember each time you have to use a different ID.”
Jax chuckles as Athena frowns.
“I know,” she says.
“Avoid the cameras at all costs,” Axel continues like he’s giving orders to a prospect.
“I know,” Athena growls.
Axel flashes a beguiling smile to her.
She tidies up the table and brings dessert then we say our goodbyes and she leaves the house. Jax watches her through the window as she gets in the taxi then he puts a bottle of vodka on the table and grabs a guitar from the wall.
“You,” he says to Aphrodite. “Your job for tonight.” He passes the guitar on to her. “Entertain us.”
Aphrodite rolls her eyes but holds the guitar and settles herself into the armchair. I like it when she’s singing. She has a four-octave voice and loves rock music like Jax. Jax used to sing when he was younger and far away from the Shadow Wolves. I really like him—he’s the coolest guy in our family, different to the other club members. Shay was a bit like Jax.
We drink, talk about the club and listen to Aphrodite’s songs.
I visit the bathroom then enter the kitchen to grab some apples from a wicker basket. My eyes travel to Aphrodite standing by the cupboard. She wipes the tears flowing from her eyes away with the back of her hand.
“Are you crying?” I ask.
“No,” she shrieks.
Jax’s and Axel’s laughter and rumbling drift in the air from the living room.
I grab four shiny green apples. “Why didn’t you go with the rest of the witches?”
“I’m going to see a talent agent on Friday next week.”
“That’s great. Are you going to give concerts or something?”
“No, I’m going to tell her that I’m not going to accept her offer.”
“Why not?”
“Why not?” She stares at me like I’m an idiot. “The whole Voronin Bratva want to kill us. That’s why. I can’t give any concerts because their hitman might spot me on TV or something. We’re criminals and other criminals are hunting us. God, how I hate this family.”
“You’d better shut up and stop talking this bullshit. This family cares for you.”
“I hate this life. We have to change our identity every two years. We have to live in some holes all the time. I have no friends, except my cousins.”
“You’re alive.”
Aphrodite growls and raises her hands, palms facing the ceiling. “Still. Others were not that lucky. Mac…” She sniffles. “I have nightmares, you know, about my mama shooting that assassin dead.”
“He wanted to shoot you dead, Tete.”
She shivers. “My mama has nightmares too.”
“We all have nightmares sometimes.”
The Voronin Bratva once came to kill us all, but we smashed them. Many years after that attack, they came again in a greater number and we had to flee. I killed for the first time then.
Only do the Shadow Wolves truly exist when we gather in the Spanish Pyrenees, once, twice a year. We can wear our cuts there. Our real cuts with the inscription ‘Shadow Wolves MC’. We can have a proper church then. We are the Shadow Wolves for a few days, but as soon as we’re back home, we’re hunted prey again.
Jax enters the kitchen. “You two okay?”
“Gunner called me a shithead again,” Aphrodite says.
“Grow up, you two, at last,” Jax says and shakes his head. He opens the fridge and takes two bowls filled with Athena’s salads out of it. “That’s why she was so busy cooking,” he mutters. “Come on kids, we’re watching a movie tonight.” He nudges Aphrodite’s chest with his elbow. “You can choose it, you little flea.”
“Dad!” Her face turns red. “Don’t call me a flea.”
I take one bowl from his hand and we move to the living room. It’s nice. Well, the movie Aphrodite has chosen for us is rubbish, but we’re occupied with reminiscing about the past anyway.
It’s really nice until I look over my shoulder and my glance meets Aphrodite’s. The little flea looks like some maggots are eating her insides.
She’s plotting something. I just fucking know that.
Chapter 5
Sol
Athena and Brianna join us two days later. It feels so good to be with them all. Each of them is different and oozes a different aura. Athena is warm and caring, the embodiment of a Greek goddess, but she’s nervous as hell. She suffers from OCD. Brianna is kind of sarcastic and very practical, a dwarf with black hair and coal-like eyes. My mom always brings the air of subtle darkness to our gatherings. I know she’s gone through hell. Her mom died, her dad died. She killed her stepfather. She had a miscarriage.
After Brianna has greeted us with warm words, she winces at the sight of Mike holding his daughter in his arms.
“You will crush my granddaughter,” Brianna says.
“You haven’t seen me for six months, woman,” Mike snaps. “Be nice to me for just five minutes.”
“You’re not drinking, are you?” Brianna tears Amber from his arms and hides her in hers. “Poor baby. You father forced you to live in that horrible place like he couldn’t live with us.”
“We’re happy here, Mom,” Daisy says and rolls her eyes at me. “And somebody needs to be on guard here.”
“Mike has a family now,” Brianna says. “Someone else could replace him. My house—“
“We want more privacy, Mom,” Daisy says.
“The house is big,” Brianna insists. “You’d have your privacy.”
“With Dimitri?” I say as Brianna shoots knives towards me with her glance.
“Let’s eat,” Athena says.
“Right, let’s eat,” Mike says and exchanges glances with Rebel who’s been watching us like we’re monkeys in a circus.
I heard him talk
to Mike yesterday. Rebel said we all should be whipped and then starved for three days.
“And you’re Rebel, right?” Brianna sends him a curious glance.
“Yes, ma’m,” Rebel says with a pinch of sarcasm.
“Welcome to the family,” Brianna says.
“I’m not a wolf,” Rebel says with translucent anger.
“You are,” Brianna says. “Look at you. A true wolf at heart.” She holds her lips tightly together and nods several times.
“Are they always this annoying?” Rebel turns to Mike.
“Most of the time,” Mike says.
“Fucking hell,” Rebel mutters as Brianna raises her finger to him and shakes her head.
Daisy gestures for us to spread around the table and serves us food as Brianna smothers Amber with kisses and hugs.
The house is small so I’m sleeping on the double mattress spread in the kitchen and my mom is my companion. Carrie is sleeping on the couch in the living room as Athena and Brianna are going to occupy Amber’s room.
But, it’s so nice to be with them. We can’t stop talking. Even Carrie seems to look more alive.
After the meal, Daisy takes me out for walk around the house.
“You look happy,” I say.
“I am happy.”
“I heard. Your bedroom is next to the kitchen. Let me think. It went like this… Mike, oh God, Mike, I want your big cock in my ass.” I nod. “My mom just didn’t want to comment, but she was really amused.”
Daisy laughs as her olive face turns red and she strokes my arm then sends me a serious glance. “Why are you here, Sol?”
“I needed a break.”
“From what?”
“From everything.”
“Gunner Junior—“
“That shithead is driving me mad.”
“Nobody expects you to be a widow forever, Sol.”
“My baby expects me to be a widow. And Jeez, Daisy, are we talking about Gunner Junior? You know I hate him. Me and him—never.”
“Carrie said he was really caring for you.”
We drop onto the bench under the dome of an oak tree. A cold breeze kisses my cheeks and makes me shiver so I zip up my black hoody.
“He feels guilty, that’s all,” I rasp.
“Everyone feels guilty. Dad, Mom, Mike, Uncles. Everyone. Me too.”
“You? Why?”
“I’m a good biker, better than Shay was. I should have gone instead of him.”
“You live too far. There was not much time. Axel, Hawk, and Uncle Gunner were on a business trip. Uncle Zane had to watch our backs and create more distraction. We didn’t have much time to plan anything.”
“You see. That was nobody’s fault.”
“That was my fault. Mine and only mine, Daisy. I swerved and pushed Shay towards the truck.”
There is silence, crispy and cold like the air in the mountains. Daisy sighs and strokes the back of my hand.
“We all know we lead a dangerous life, Sol. Shay knew that too. Such accidents happen, honey. They just happen. They happen more often to people like us. We know that. All of us. We bury those left behind and continue to live our fucked up life because we love our way of life.”
I feel a cry welling up in my chest like a volcano is going to explode at any moment, but it can’t find the way out. “Can I stay here with you for a while?”
“You’d better.” Daisy wraps her arms around me and kisses my cheek. “Stay for as long as you want.”
Gunner
Sive and my mom returned six days ago, but Sol didn’t. It stabbed my heart like a knife. It’s still stabbing me all the time. I’m a zombie living my routine—my work in the garage, a shower, sometimes a drink with Nikko and Hawk, or sitting with my mom and watching her tired face.
Sol must be like seven months pregnant now. She’ll be in labour soon.
There’s no fucking way I’m going to miss her labour.
I call Mike.
I speak to Axel.
On Saturday grey chilly morning, I pack a small bag and jump on my bike. The rain starts drizzling as I start the engine. Dad waves his hand to me from the veranda. I raise my thumb up and he returns the same gesture.
“Everything will be alright, son.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
I repeat ‘everything will be alright’ in my mind and claw at his comment like my life depends on it. Then I go to the Devil’s Tears. A sense of nostalgia wafts through me at the thought that soon, I’ll walk slowly along the asphalt road in the compound and absorb the way of life my primal part craves so much.
But, I need to see Sol even more. I need to see her desperately. I need to touch her or I’ll go mad.
The Devil’s Tears’ members are not thrilled to see me, but Mike’s one of them now so I’m allowed to enter the compound.
Things turn out crazy.
Fucking hell. Sol’s made such a mess that I’m almost impressed with her.
***
Two members of the Devil’s Tears MC take my gun and knife as the noise of a fight comes to my ears—growls, hoots, swear words.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“Rusty and Squirrel are fighting for that blonde bitch of yours,” Ace says.
I met him four years ago when I visited Mike with my dad for the first time. Ace looks like a massive bear and like a man who has a good sense of humour.
Flutter goes through my chest. “She’s fucking pregnant.”
“She’s fucking pretty,” Buzz says and rubs his hand against his crotch, grunting. “Really pretty.” He glides his palm over his bald head and grunts again.
Rage fills my veins. Sol’s mine. No man is allowed to call her a pretty girl. No man is allowed to have filthy thoughts about her.
I pull forward, but Ace blocks me with his arm. “The knife in your boot.”
“I have no fucking knives in my boot,” I snap.
“You always have a knife in your boot,” Buzz says as Ace grumbles a few swear words then pats his round belly.
I bend and take the knife out of the sheath attached to my ankle, handing it to Buzz. “Now, fuck off at last.”
I pull forward as the noise guides me. The clubhouse rises in front of my eyes, an industrial building that used to serve as a small agricultural machinery factory about fifty years ago. The owner went bankrupt and the founders of the Devil’s Tears MC bought the building at a laughable price.
The compound is situated twenty miles away from the city and the wide wall of pine trees encircles it.
As my eyes roam over my surroundings, I see all the people have gathered in front of the clubhouse. I notice Mike and Daisy then my eyes lock on Sol. Her stomach is bigger than I remember and, fucking hell, staying with Daisy did her good. She looks beautiful, glows like an angel. Her hair has regained its previous shine and her cheeks are fuller, child-like.
I don’t have time to waste it on staring at her though. I have a job to do.
I elbow my way towards the two fighting club members and throw myself at them. A wave of hoots and howls follows.
Adrenaline courses through my veins. I sweep my arms precisely as Dimitri and Boulder taught me. Every punch is deadly and my two opponents are stunned by my sudden intrusion. I knock out one of them with three punches as the other kicks me in the side of my chest. I’m gonna smash the motherfucker.
I’m a cold instinct.
I’m a clean precision.
I’m a furious strength.
The crack of a bone slices the air then another and my opponent trembles on the ground, vomiting and screaming. Right, he’ll need a surgery on his arm.
I wipe the blood gushing from my nose. “Anyone here wants to beat me? No? She’s mine, you motherfuckers. My bitch. None of you touches her. Ever.”
Mike sends me a wolfish grin as Gabriel, the president of the Devil’s Tears moves closer to me.
We shake hands.
“Heard him, motherfuckers,” Gabriel says, his voice raspy fro
m the excess of cigarettes, the smell of tobacco heavy around him. “She’s been claimed. Fuck off, you all.” Gabriel fixes his pale blue eyes onto me. “I don’t have to tell you—“
“I know what to do with the bitch,” I say.
Gabriel slaps me on the back. He’s sixty-four years old, but has the stamina and posture of a thirty-year-old. Well, he fucks like a thirty-year-old. Star, his daughter, is like living proof of his stamina.
The people disperse in all directions as I approach Sol. “Pack your stuff.”
Mike nods at me as a man about my age stands beside him.
“Told the bitch to keep quiet and stay in the house,” the man says and shoots lightning towards Sol with his glance.
I raise my finger. “Only I can call her a bitch. Do you fucking hear me, asshole?”
Sol snorts as the man raises his hands in a warding gesture.
“Take her,” he growls. “She’s trouble.”
I look at Sol. “I said something.”
Sol pulls forward as Daisy hugs me briefly and runs after her. Mike hugs me and slaps me on the back.
“Good to see you,” Mike says. “Really good to see you.”
“Just about time.”
“Rebel was going to win her.” Mike grins at me. “That was our plan—win her and kick her out of the compound.”
Heat runs to my face. “Rebel?”
Mike points his hand to the man standing beside him.
“You fucking stay away from her, Rebel,” I say and bring my fists up to my chest, my blood still suffused with adrenaline, all my instincts still fighting for Sol.
“I fucking don’t want that bitch,” Rebel says as subtle repulsion appears on his face. “Too mouthy for my tastes. But we had to do something.” He moves closer to me, and leans slightly forward. “I’d have packed her and sent her back to the Shadow Wolves a long time ago, if that had been my decision to make. She needs a short leash, man. Far from here.”
The most important members of the club know who we are. The prospects ask questions, but they’re never answered. They won’t be answered until we’re officially back in business.
Anyway, it’s good to know Sol is not Rebel’s dream. I don’t have to smash his face.
Gunner (Devil's Tears MC Book 1) Page 5