Uncaged (Ghost’s mother’s story)
Slave – A Dark(ish) Faerie Tale
Only Human series, urban fantasy
Only Human
An Unhuman Journey
Of Humans and Monsters
Unhuman Acts (TBA)
Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Series
Duke
Brain
Bash Volume I
Bash Volume II
Bash Volume III
Horse
Gonzo (where we first meet Britches/Briana)
Nix
Ghost
Bud
The Dark Underbelly of The Chattanooga Supernaturals
Pride (A short story featuring The Lion King)
Indentured Freedom: Owned by the Vampire (Gavin)
Leashed (Abbott)
An Elegant Weapon (Bran)
The Safeword series, intense BDSM contemporary romance
Safeword Rainbow
Safeword: Davenport
Safewords: Davenport and Chiffon
Safeword: Quinacridone
Safeword: Matte (Sam and Ethan Levi’s story, we first meet Frisco and Cassie)
Safeword: Matte – In Training
No Safeword: Matte – The Honeymoon
No Safeword: Matte – Happily Ever After
Safeword: Arabesque (Frisco, Cassie, Abbot, and Cam’s story)
Safeword: Mayday (TBA)
Check out other books by Candace Blevins at candaceblevins.com.
Keep reading for an excerpt from Bash.
I
Excerpt from Bash
Bash
Volume I
Candace Blevins
What do you get when you mix a bad-ass werewolf biker with a beautiful she-wolf who grew up as the MC President’s daughter?
Sparks.
Angelica was raised not only as a biker’s daughter, but as Bud’s daughter — the president of the Atlanta RTMC, which meant she also had dozens of ‘uncles’ who made sure she was safe, happy, loved, secure.
Needless to say, her virginity was still solidly intact when she left for college.
She goes to school up north, where no one knows she’s a biker’s daughter at heart, and thoroughly enjoys her time as a civilian. She gets rid of her pesky virginity right away, but is mostly a good girl while she buckles down to get her degree, staying at school even during the summers to take as many classes as she can fit in.
She’s a different person when she comes home with her Master’s degree, and in spite of her intention to remain a civilian, some of the bikers don’t seem so much like uncles, anymore.
Warning: Lots of hot sex, a touch of BDSM, and an abundance of bad-ass werewolf bikers who are used to getting their way.
1
Eight years ago
Bash
“Got an assignment for you, prospect.”
“Thank you, boss. Won’t let you down.”
The president of the RTMC looked so casual, sitting at his desk, but the expression on his face was anything but.
“You may think this is a shit assignment, but I’m entrusting you with one of the most valuable pieces of my life. You fuck it up, I’ll gut you and end you.”
He stood and walked out of his office. I followed him into the shop area, past the bikes to one of the car bays, and he stopped in front of an antique MGB. “There’s two more, wrecked to hell and back, on the rear lot. I’m givin’ the lot of them to my Angel for her fifteenth birthday tomorrow, and she’s gonna be responsible for turning them into a single-functioning vehicle if she wants something to drive when she turns sixteen.” His eyes were dark as he studied my face. “I know you have particular talent here, so when I can’t be available to help her, she’ll have you. You are not to put this car together for her. I don’t want you doing the work, just supervising and helping.”
He ran his hand through his hair and added, “Brain was responsible for takin’ her to school and pickin’ her up after. Now that’s your responsibility.”
Brain had been a prospect until two days ago, and now he was a fully patched member. This might be a shit assignment, but at least I knew it could still lead to getting my colors, someday. I’d been a prospect for nearly three months and I was so sick of going on beer runs, watching the bikes while the club members went inside somewhere, or whatever other shit job needed doin’. This might be a welcome change.
“I’ll email you a link so you have access to her online calendar, and you’ll need to keep up with when she has cheerleader practice, or track or soccer practice, or math club, or whatever the hell else she has goin’ on. You’ll either take her home or to the shop. Anywhere else, you clear with her mother or me. Use a cage while it’s cold, but if you aren’t picking her friend up, too, it’ll be fine to pick her up on your bike once the weather warms.”
He shook his head, looked away a few seconds, and then back to me. “I assigned Brain to her ‘cause I knew he was old enough and smart enough to keep it in his pants. My baby girl’s a virgin, and she’s gonna stay that way for a long time to come. You’re gonna be the chauffeur when she and her friends wanna go to a movie, or when she wants to go to a friend’s house. You’ll be spendin’ a lot of time with her, and being friendly will be a helluva lot easier than not. Got no problems with friendly hugs, but you ever get a hard-on for my baby, you’ll never get another again — if I castrate you with silver, it won’t grow back.”
The menace comin’ off him took the oxygen out of the room, but even though my wolf desperately wanted to challenge him, I forced my eyes down. My temper had gotten me into so much trouble at home, they’d had to send me away to keep me out of prison. This was my last chance, and I liked these men. I wanted to be a part of them. I wasn’t going to blow it.
“I understand, boss.”
“She knows part of your job’s to cock-block her, and she’ll be pissed, but the anger’s at me, not you. She knows you’re following orders. You’ll intimidate the hell outta any guys who show attention to her. Wear your colors, flaunt your bike once it’s warmer, but be careful about weapons on school grounds. They’ll put you under the jail if they catch you with a piece.”
He looked away, then back to me. “She gets in trouble, you do whatever you gotta do to get her out of it and keep her safe. Otherwise, you don’t go caving anyone’s skull in. You’re a legal adult now, and not even our lawyers will keep you out of prison if you bash a minor’s head in. If her safety isn’t in immediate danger then bring any problem to me and I’ll be sure it’s handled. Keep that temper of yours under wraps. Got it?”
His phone buzzed and he checked it. “I gotta handle this. Get with Brain for advice and pointers. Your time with her’ll be a helluva lot easier if you can make friends with her, but this is your assignment whether you like or hate each other, so figure it out. In essence, you’re her bodyguard now, responsible for her safety when she isn’t with me. My agreement with Angelica is you’re there to drive her and keep her safe, not to report back to me. So far, we’ve kept that illusion up. You see something you think one of her parents needs to know about, you bring it to me and we’ll figure out how I can use the information so she doesn’t think you ratted.” His eyes narrowed. “You’ll think of my Angel and every one of her damned friends like your little sister. I ever smell a fucking hint of arousal on you when you’re with them, I’ll tear you apart.”
As he walked out of his office he added, “She don’t have any kind of practice today. Be in the car line at school no later than three o’clock. Brain’ll point out which of the club vehicles have the window sticker so you can pick her up. I’ll arrange for one for your bike and your cage, and my ol’lady’s already put you on the list so you can check her out of school, in case she gets sick and needs a pickup.”
I watched the back of his head as he walked away, and realized this job was way more dangerous than watching the club’s bikes. One fuck-up with Bud’s daughter and I’d be six feet under.
Eight years ago
<
br /> Angelica
Kayla met me in the bathroom after last period, and watched as I changed out of my super tiny mini-skirt into jeans. God, if my dad saw me in this skirt he’d have an aneurism.
“I can’t believe you lost Brain. God, Ang, he’s the best biker-bitch you’ve had yet.”
Speaking of aneurisms, my dad nearly had one when he found out Kayla called me Ang. He calls me Angel, but says no one else is allowed to shorten my name. One of the reasons I love Kayla is she isn’t afraid of my dad, or any of the other bikers, and she just kept calling me what she wanted.
I shrugged as I buttoned my jeans and stowed the skirt in my backpack. “I got one of the new guys. I’ve only met him a couple of times. He looks like he’s pissed at the world, and I seriously doubt he’s going to be any fucking help at all with my calculus or chemistry homework.”
“He have a cool name?” she asked as we left the bathroom.
“Bash, and best I can tell, it isn’t ‘cause he’s bashful. And damn, the boy is beautiful.” And he’d be so fucking pissed if he knew I’d called him a boy.
“How you gonna break him in?”
I shook my head. “Haven’t decided. He’s actually kinda scary, even for one of my dad’s men. Also, I don’t think he’s that much older than us. I know when he first came, he couldn’t have even the prospect patch yet, ’cause he wasn’t old enough. They treated him like one, which had to suck, but he didn’t get his first patch until a few weeks ago, so I think he just turned eighteen.”
“You know his story?”
I shook my head. “He has a fucked up accent though. He isn’t from around here.”
Kayla showed the assistant principal the note from her mom saying she could ride home with me, and he waved us to the RTMC vehicle waiting in the car line.
I got into the front passenger seat and settled my backpack at my feet as I put my seatbelt on and told him, “Bash, meet Kayla. She’s my BFF and you’re her ride now, too. Not just mine.”
He breathed deep, and I assumed he’d just realized she’s human and not wolf, and I added, “We have a problem, you take care of her first, then me. I can handle myself a few minutes, but she isn’t a fighter. Get me?”
He pulled forward and glanced in his rear view mirror at Kayla before looking forward again. “My orders are to keep you safe, Princess.”
I sighed and leaned my head back, looking at the road instead of him. “Those are your orders from my dad. Thing is, I can make your life a living hell if I want, or I can help make this a cushy assignment until you get your patch. I’ve grown up in the club, I know the drill.”
He didn’t say anything, so I kept going. “When Kayla and I became best friends in the fourth grade, our dads had a talk. Their agreement was she’d come to the house, but never to the club, and there’d be no parties at our house when she’s over. She hasn’t been around ya’ll much at all. Her parents have met my prospect chauffeurs over the years, and they’re mostly chilled about it now, but they’ll need to meet you sometime this week.”
“Basically,” Kayla said from the backseat, “you’re our bitch now. You’re our ride when we need one, and you go get stuff we need, even if it’s tampons at two in the morning. You’ll carry our packages for us when we go shopping at the mall, and if we ask if our ass looks fat when we try on clothes, you’ll be honest and tell it to us straight from a guy’s perspective.”
“And not,” I added, my voice low and deep, “from my father’s viewpoint.” I held my wolf in, so I didn’t growl at him in front of Kayla. “I know you’re supposed to cock-block us, but I also know you can’t actually hurt any of the guys.” He held his hand up, thinking he could silence me, and I said, “Fuck you, asshole. I’ll talk when I fuckin’ want to.”
He pulled into a church parking lot, put the SUV into park, tossed his cellphone into the little compartment in the dash, and got out.
Bash might only be eighteen, but he wasn’t a boy. He paced like a caged animal and I realized he was on the edge. This wasn’t a wolf thing, though — it was something else. He moved with a lethal, fluid grace that set something inside me on fire, and I didn’t get out of the vehicle, knowing he’d smell it on me.
I’d had a crush on my prospect when I was twelve, and my dad had given me someone else and then hadn’t assigned anyone else who was my type, since. Brain had truly been like a big brother to me. I mean, I knew he was dangerous, all the men of the RTMC are, but to me, they mean safety. I’m their little sister, the president’s daughter, and they’ll all protect me with their life.
I instinctively knew Bash didn’t necessarily represent safety for me, though.
With his back to me, he said, “Out of the car, Princess. You and I need to have a talk without your friend hearing.”
My insides shook from the threat of violence in his voice, and I didn’t want to get out of the car. I reminded myself he couldn’t hurt me without risking my dad’s wrath, and felt my body chilling out. I couldn’t go outside smelling of fear — he’d eat me alive.
I heard him with my wolf hearing, but Kayla wouldn’t have a clue he’d spoken. I sighed and told her, “Stay here a sec. Maybe we pushed him too hard? I’m gonna go talk to him.”
“He’s kind of scary, Ang.”
“My dad wouldn’t have assigned someone who’d hurt us, Kayla. I’ll just go talk to him a second. It’ll be okay.”
As I got out of the car, I suddenly wasn’t so sure my dad wouldn’t have upped his game with the guys he assigned me. He and my mom had a huge argument last week, but she convinced him it was time he let me start double-dating with an early curfew. She’d successfully argued they had to let me take baby-steps and learn responsibility slowly, or I’d go wild when I went off to college without him around to supervise my every move. He’d finally agreed to it, but only if my prospect tagged along. It was more than I’d hoped for, but at the time I’d thought it’d be Brain.
As I got out, Bash said, “Leave your cellphone — and anything else with a battery — in the car.”
This was standard RTMC procedure when we wanted to make sure we weren’t recorded. Apparently, he was gonna say stuff my dad wouldn’t approve of. I tossed my phone onto the dashboard, turned the radio up a little, and told Kayla, “I’ll be back in a minute.”
I followed him off the parking lot pavement onto grass, assuring myself all the while that my dad wouldn’t have sent someone who’d hurt me. Still, Bash was harsher than the other guys my dad had assigned me, and I needed to be careful with my strategy. As soon as I caught up to him, he said, “Here’s the way it’s gonna be, Princess. I may not be able to bash any of your boy-toys’ heads in with witnesses around, but that don’t mean I can’t do it later. You want ‘em to live? You make sure they stay on my good side. Nobody disrespects someone in the RTMC, not even a prospect.” His voice deepened, and I heard his wolf. “Second thing, is you may be under RTMC protection, but you’re a split tail, and that means you do what you’re told. You want me to show you respect? You show it to me. I’ll throw your words right back at ya — we can either get along, or not. I don’t give a flying fuck which you choose, Princess. You think you can make my life hell? You have no idea what I can do to yours.”
Yeah, this I could work with. I gave him a half-smile and shrugged one shoulder. “Take a breath, Bash. You smell any fear comin’ off me?”
He took a whiff, shook his head, his eyes suddenly a touch uncertain.
“My dad stopped assigning me guys I could walk all over when I was about eight. He’s miscalculated a few times, though he quickly gave me someone new once he figured it out. So, I can’t boss you around — okay, I get it.” I offered my hand. “Truce?”
He shook his head. “No, Princess. No truce just yet. Let’s give it a couple of days, see where we stand then.”
Eight years ago
Bash
Three days later, Angelica got in without Kayla. This was the first time it’d been just the two of us, and I wo
ndered which personality I’d see today. Rough-biker-wannabe bitch, or the pretty-and-smart-and-too-cool-for-words bitch.
I’d met Kayla’s parents when I took her home last night. Coulda bowled me over with a feather when I realized her dad’s a cop. What the hell was Bud thinking, bringing me to the attention of LEO? I knew the chapter here has decent relations with them, but shit. I barely skated under a multiple murder charge in Arkansas, and the juvie records might be hard to get to, but there were plenty of articles online. All someone had to do was Google my real name to see them.
And the fact I’d actually killed the men, and the lawyers had gotten me off, made my situation that much more precarious. I’d been sent out of town because local LEO at home had it out for me. This was supposed to be my fresh start.
“So, my mom told me this morning, your dad owned some kind of classic car restoration company?”
I nodded, and noted she wasn’t in bitch mode. “Yeah. Reckon that’s why your dad assigned me to you, so I can help you build your car.”
“My dad bought me a dirt bike when I was six. Most of the other MC kids had them, too. I got pissed ‘cause one of the boys kept beating me when we raced, and when I didn’t get a new, faster bike for my eighth birthday, like I’d asked, I snuck downstairs in the middle of the night and took my bike apart, thinking I could figure out a better way to put it back together, make it faster. I’d watched my dad tear bikes down and rebuild them, figured it couldn’t be that hard.”
She was talking to me like a regular human, so I smiled and asked, “And how’d that work out, Princess?”
“Stop calling me princess.”
It was an order, not a request, so I answered, “Stop acting like one for a few days and I’ll consider it.”
An Elegant Weapon Page 9