by Zoey Parker
She wasn’t going to make it through the night if I had my way.
Besides, I had Sierra, and I was pretty sure I would had have had no problem getting her to act domineering in the bedroom so I could break her down and make her serve me. I reached down and pulled her hands back up, keeping one hand on the handlebar of my bike. It was enough, I hoped, to get the message through to her that her advances were unnecessary and unwelcome.
Then, we were turning into the driveway of the mansion. We were pulling through the gate behind the pickup truck, and I got a look at her hideout and home for the first time. It was a glorious mansion with lights everywhere. Everything was brightly lit by lamp posts in her yard and accent lights on the house.
The house itself looked like a jewel already, which I thought was pretty fitting considering whose house it was. The place sparkled like a diamond ring, but we were going to fix that before the night was out.
As we pulled up, her guards poured out of the front of the house, realizing pretty quickly that we weren’t who they were expecting to return. They all had guns drawn. Luckily for us—unluckily for them—they weren’t quick to pull the trigger. They were going to regret that once twenty or more bikers stormed the house with guns blazing. There weren’t enough of them to even hold off a few of us.
I had an even better idea than to just hop off the bike and start shooting. I pulled around in front of the car and the truck. I saw a few of the men relax their aim as their boss was paraded in front of them on the back of my motorcycle. By the time I parked, I noticed that we had quite a few guns aimed at them as well.
“Come on,” I told Coyote, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her off my bike. I drew my gun and put it to her head as we marched up the steps.
“Don’t do anything crazy,” she said in her typical, stern tone. I couldn’t tell if she was talking to me or to them.
“Tell them to put their guns down or they’ll see crazy,” I growled in her ear.
“Put your guns down,” she said, and they did so obediently.
Sierra ran up beside me and peeked around in front of me to wave spitefully at Coyote.
“Sierra, send a few guys in with me to secure the house, but tell the rest of them to hang back and handle the security,” I told her.
“Got it. What about me?” she asked in a sober tone.
“I want you to hang out here and make sure they get everything handled. I’ve got things inside. I’ll be out after I get the diamond.”
She gave me a pouty look and started to walk away.
“Hey, I’m asking you to watch over what happens out front because I trust you enough to make sure it’s done,” I told her, and her face brightened. I figured she had given me that dejected look because she thought I was pushing her aside.
On the contrary, I was putting the woman who had tried to screw me over front and center. That was sure to piss someone off.
Chapter Thirty
Sierra
The guards at the mansion parted ways along the steps going into the house to let Gunner enter with their boss at his side. They’d even surrendered their weapons, and without having to be told, members of The Immortal Devils approached to take the guns away. They took the guards down and lined them up along the edge of the driveway.
“What did he say?” Duncan asked as I walked down.
“He said he needs a few guys to go inside and quickly secure the house. He said everyone else needs to hang back. Someone needs to handle the guards,” I told him.
Duncan’s almost black eyes sparkled. “I can handle these assholes,” he said, pulling a gun from behind his back. He nodded to a few other guys standing together, and they ran inside, already working the house without even being explicitly told to.
I was impressed to see how these men handled their work. Tonight, I had seen a side of Gunner and his MC that I didn’t think really existed. He seemed like such a businessman that I had ignored the fact that he was the same Gunner who lead The Immortal Devils. He had founded the MC along with Duncan and three other men, and the word on the street was that they had earned their name.
It was overwhelming to assume a role in all of it, though. It was one thing to witness it, or to know what went on. It was another thing entirely to actually be part of it. I stepped back and crossed my arms. I didn’t have to issue any of Gunner’s orders. The men were already handling everything that needed to be done. The members left out front were securing the perimeter and making sure there weren’t any security guards hiding or coming up the drive from beyond the wall surrounding her property.
They even went as far as to close the gate to keep anyone else out. The MC truly was a fine-tuned machine. The discipline and focus of the men set them apart from other biker gangs. They weren’t just a bunch of street thugs. They were organized. They had a goal in mind, and they worked together to make it happen. It was almost like they had trained for what they were doing.
I laughed as I imagined them running siege drills at the clubhouse or headquarters. They’d probably used Gunner’s mansion since it was so similar, which I still found rather odd.
I looked behind me at the house. I wondered how the men inside were doing. I hadn’t heard any gunshots or anything from in the house, so I assumed they either hadn’t found anyone or had subdued them with minimal violence. It wouldn’t have surprised me. They operated with almost military precision when it was time to really get down to business.
Even back on the highway, they had quickly taken down the men coming at them, and I knew what kind of training went on here at Coyote’s mansion. I had seen the men in uniform come in to get her men in fighting shape. To take them down the way the bikers had was incredibly impressive. They made Coyote’s men look like amateurs.
Then, I heard gunshots out front. I turned around and saw that Duncan was executing the guards. He had commanded them to get down on their knees and put their hands behind their heads. In what looked like a wartime scene, he was shooting them in the back of the head one at a time. The bodies were slumping forward as he shot them.
I couldn’t look, but I couldn’t turn away either. My gaze was fixed by the terror I felt. They presented no threat to the MC or to the current operation. It was unbelievable that he would feel the need to kill them. It was incredible that he had thought to execute them the way he was. It both appalled and amazed me to watch him handle the situation.
That was when I realized what the look in Duncan’s eyes had meant. All of Gunner’s men were power hungry and enjoyed taking control, just as he did. They also seemed to greatly enjoy murdering people the way they had been doing all night. They were bloodthirsty. They were monsters.
More horrifying than the fact that they were so in touch with such bestial, primal desires was the fact that I was watching over them as Duncan took it upon himself to execute relatively innocent men just because of their boss. They hadn’t done anything. In fact, considering the circumstances, they had been rather welcoming.
Given my position, I felt like I could have done something to stop him, to prevent at least a couple of the unnecessary deaths, but I couldn’t find my voice when the time came. I moved my mouth and nothing came out. I was powerless.
I was also learning the ropes, I realized. I was getting an education as to what The Immortal Devils were all about. It was essentially a crash course, but at least I wasn’t a new member being made to dole out the punishment. I just had to witness it.
When the last body fell over, Duncan turned to smile at me.
“I handled security,” he said proudly, almost jokingly.
“I see,” I said flatly, letting him know I wasn’t amused. I didn’t find any of this funny, but I also wasn’t going to protest. This wasn’t my MC, and their culture of punishment and abuse had already been in place long before I came along.
“Don’t pretend you didn’t know what this was all about,” Duncan teased me. “You had to know something about us. I’m sure Coyote warned you before she se
nt you to infiltrate Gunner’s home.” His tone was teasing, but there was something vaguely threatening behind his words as well. I didn’t like it. He was too unpredictable. They all were.
He put his gun away and started walking up the steps to me. He stopped next to me and turned around to look out over the grounds with me.
“Just tell me this,” he said. “Are you planning anything else after this? Or are you done?”
“I’m definitely not done,” I said, smirking at his reaction.
“You better not be messing around,” he warned, reaching behind his back for his gun again. “You’ve already seen that I won’t think twice to put a bullet through your brain.”
“That’s not what I mean, Duncan.” I laughed. He was going to be a fun one to play with.
“Okay. Then what the hell do you mean?”
“I mean I’m not done with Gunner. We’re not finished, man. We’re just going to work to redefine our relationship after this. I’m not trying to screw him over again, or anything like that.” It felt good to explain myself to him. It gave me the opportunity to get some of my thoughts out of my head.
“We’ll see about that. Just know that if you fuck up, we’ll all be there to take you out,” he warned. His tone was hard and serious. He wasn’t playing around.
“Hey, Duncan, chill out, man. I don’t know you, and I’m not really in the mood to play around, especially after watching you shoot those guys who posed no threat to you. I understand that intimidation is a big deal for The Immortal Devils. I know your reputation. At the same time, you should know that my boss pointed two guns at me over the course of the night tonight.”
He stared at me while I talked, speechless.
“She also knocked the shit out of me with the diamond Gunner is trying to get from her right now.” I pulled my hair back to show him where she hit me with it. It still hurt like hell, but it was starting to subside from all of the adrenaline that was drowning out the pain.
“Hey, we’ve all been there. I’m just saying, don’t fuck over our boss.” He shrugged and walked off.
It was a good thing I didn’t have a gun on me right then. I would have pulled it out and shot his ass while he walked away from me for the way he had talked to me. I was pretty sure Gunner wouldn’t have appreciated it either, but I wasn’t going to be the kind of woman who went and told on his friends like that. If it continued, I would just have to handle it myself, I figured.
I started to wonder how things were going inside again. I wondered if Coyote had actually taken Gunner to where the diamond was and got it out of the safe for him. I wondered what would happen once he took the diamond from her.
I watched as the men out front kept watch over the house. Even though it was pretty obvious that no one was coming up to the house and that there was no further threat to the operation except for maybe Coyote, they guarded their posts with dedication.
“Don’t worry about Duncan,” a voice said from behind me.
I turned around and saw Luther, the behemoth they called The Boulder.
“He’s probably just jealous because it’s pretty obvious how Gunner feels about you, and it’s pretty obvious he told you to watch over everyone,” he continued.
“You think?” I asked.
“Look, he probably feels threatened. He’s kind of our unofficial second in command, so you’re doing his job right now.” As big and intimidating as he was, Luther was turning out to be the nicest one I had met so far.
“Well, I think the reason Gunner put me here was so I could see how you guys do things. I don’t think he really meant for me to actually take charge of anything,” I confessed.
“That may be true, but I don’t think Duncan sees it that way. You know, you have screwed Gunner over once already with this diamond, so don’t hold it against him if he’s suspicious, alright? Just do what you need to do to earn his respect. And don’t go out of your way to do it or he’ll know you did.” He walked off after saying his piece and joined Duncan at the bottom of the steps leading down to the driveway. I could hear him saying something to make Duncan laugh.
I turned around and looked at the house. I really wanted to know what was going on inside. Luther hadn’t been the only one to go in with Gunner, but he sure as hell was the only one who had come out.
“Hey, Luther,” I called down to him, running down the steps to seem a little less controlling.
“Yeah,” he said, turning around and putting a calming hand on Duncan’s shoulder.
“What’s going on in there? You’re the only person who has come out.”
“Nothing, really. The other guys went and secured the back of the house. Gunner and Coyote went to her office, and a few minutes later they went out back. I’m not sure what he’s doing, but I’m pretty certain she isn’t coming back with him,” he told me.
“Okay. Thanks. I was getting really concerned,” I said absently as I turned around and looked back at the house.
“If there’s anything you need from inside, go ahead and get it. We’ll probably be leaving as soon as Gunner gets back,” he added.
“Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything I need,” I told him. “Thanks, though.” I walked aimlessly back up the steps towards the front door. I considered going inside and checking everything out for myself, but with one of the guys thinking I was trying to move in like that already, I didn’t want to risk really turning everyone off to me just yet.
I didn’t want a position of power in the MC. I just wanted to be at Gunner’s side when it was all said and done. But what the hell was he doing taking her out back like that?
The only answer I could come up with meant she definitely wasn’t coming back.
Chapter Thirty-One
Gunner
The night was slowing down. I could sense it in everyone. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off. The men were relieved when they didn’t find any security guards in the house.
“Leave the door open,” I told Coyote when we walked into her office. I didn’t want to be closed in there alone with her.
“As you wish,” she said. She still had that cold, vaguely threatening tone in her voice, the same tone she’d used back on the road before I shot a hole in her hand.
“Now, come on,” I told her. “It’s time to get the Sun Stone out.” I held my gun out, aimed at her face. I wasn’t going for her hand again. I was going to take her out if I had to pull the trigger this time, and then I would have Sierra show me where the safe was.
She walked around to the desk and touched a button on a device that looked like an office phone. A section of the bookshelf along the wall to my left opened, revealing a safe set back in the wall. My heart raced. I was so close to being reunited with the diamond!
I stepped back to let her pass in front of me, keeping my gun trained on her at all times. I could still remember the combination in case she tried anything funny and I decided to end it right there. But she didn’t move. Instead, she started trying to taunt me.
“You know, you’re not the first mark she left with,” she said nonchalantly.
“I sort of figured that. But, for what it’s worth, you won’t be the first boss I shoot in the back of the head.”
She leaned forward across her desk and stuck her ass out for me. In her tight skirt, I didn’t see any panty lines. I also couldn’t follow any curves or feminine lines in her body the way I could with Sierra. Coyote was narrow and flat as a board. Still, though her body was not seductive, her power was.
I couldn’t help but notice the slit in the back of her skirt, giving me a peek at the muscular lines in her thighs. She turned her head to look at me with her light brown eyes and short golden hair stopping right around her chin, framing her face.
Her shoulders were broad and straight. While Sierra’s body had been crafted for sex and sexuality, Coyote’s had been crafted for power. She simply looked powerful. She was shaped to wield power over other people.
Despite the fact that I only wanted
the diamond from her, and I was planning on shooting her in the woods behind her house afterwards, I caught my desire beginning to stir between my legs. Here in this room, we were alone. I could have closed the door, and no one would have been the wiser.
My men standing outside wouldn’t have watched what was going on in here. I could have bent her over that desk and made her call out my name. I could have taken the opportunity to cut her down to size and make her beg for it.
I had to push those dangerous thoughts out of my head. I also knew that in the short amount of time it would have taken me to walk across the room to the front door, she could have easily pulled out a gun and shot me.
“You’re a strong, powerful man,” she said, as if reading my thoughts through my eyes. “Why don’t you come over here and take control over me?”
“Coyote, now is not the time.”