Munroe and Stanka: The Beginning (Shadow Wolves MC Book 3)

by Daniela Jackson

  Mike sold her to the Devil’s Tears MC and almost fucked his whole life. The vice president of that club claimed Lizzie and she had a happy life until she died of breast cancer. Thunder, her old man, raised Rebel, her son, as his son, unaware that the boy was in fact Mike’s son. The bitch spilled the beans just before letting out her final breath.

  Rebel hates Mike and Mike sometimes regrets that he didn’t put a bullet into Lizzie’s skull.

  “Daisy can manage,” I say.

  My granddaughter is a tough young woman. She’ll help Mike and Rebel to work out all the shit between them.

  “Of course, Daisy can manage,” Dimitri says. “She’s my granddaughter. I taught her to be tough.”

  “She’s a wolf,” I say.

  “No, she’s Alekseev Bratva.”

  “She’s more of a wolf.”

  Dimitri growls with fury. “She’s Bratva. She’s Alekseev.”

  “You better control your emotions, you old dick, or you’ll end up with a stroke like me.”

  Dimitri chuckles and pats his thigh with his palm. “Zane is doing great as the president of the Shadow Wolves.”

  “He is my son.”

  “Mine too.”

  Now, I need to fight off a coughing fit. What a pussy. Where is that ruthless Samael I met many years ago?

  Silence plasters us for a moment then the song of cicadas settles in my ears as a cloud of vapour leaves my mouth. A chill bites my skin and penetrates my old bones.

  “And finally Gunner Junior,” I say, rubbing my palm against the front of my cut.

  “Da, Sol is blind. I talk to her twice a week, but she doesn’t want to listen. She will just say ‘grandpa don’t be prying’ and ignore me.” He sweeps his hand furiously.

  Right. Nobody is allowed to ignore Dimitri like nobody was allowed to defy Samael many years ago. Some things never change.

  “Sol’s been a widow for almost three years,” Dimitri continues. “She needs to recover at last.”

  The sound of light footsteps diverts my attention and I look over my shoulder. Sol is moving closer to us, her three-year-old son hopping on her hip. A half-smile crosses her lips and she looks exactly like Sive when my daughter-in-law was eighteen. Anger pervades her glance. She’s never allowed herself to grieve over Shay. She let anger fill her and keep her going, but that doesn’t do her any good.

  Dimitri rises to his feet and extends his arms towards her, taking her son over. His ruthless face lights up as the boy pats his head and pulls his hair.

  Sol leans towards me and helps me turn my wheelchair.

  “Come on, grandpa,” she says. “Time to go back.” She turns to Dimitri and inhales deeply. “You know you’re not allowed to smoke, grandpa.”

  “I don’t smoke,” Dimitri snaps.

  “Yeah, really,” Sol says as her eyes flick over two cigars on the ground and she flashes me a smile. “I bought you an e-cig last Christmas—“

  “I don’t need any fucking e-cigs,” Dimitri snaps, but Sol ignores him.

  She helps me into her car, folds the wheelchair, and throws it into the boot. She leans towards me, kissing my cheek, and puts her boy into the child’s seat next to me then waves her hand to Dimitri.

  “Get in the car, grandpa,” Sol says.

  “I want you at my place tonight,” Dimitri says like she’s his soldier and he’s her general.

  “So you can serve me two hours of your uplifting monologues?” Sol snaps. “No way. Get in the car, grandpa.”

  Yes, Sol has definitely found her own way of dealing with Dimitri.

  Dimitri’s face darkens, his fingers rolling into fists and straightening, but he composes himself. “We just want to help.”

  “You want to help?” Sol puts her hand on the back of her neck. “Talk to my dad. I want to go to Slovakia and he goes mad each time I mention this.”

  “Slovakia?” Dimitri explodes. “Devotchka, why do you need to go there?”

  “I thought it would do me good,” Sol says. “I wanted to find out whether Stanka’s family home is still standing. Her story has always intrigued me.”

  Dimitri nods and a hell fire flickers in his eyes. “You want to go to Slovakia? Fine. I’ll sort it out for you.”

  “You will?” Sol raises her eyebrows and a bright smile parts her lips.

  “But,” Dimitri says, raising his finger, “Gunner Junior is going with you and your kid is staying in my house.”

  “Why the fuck Gunner Junior?” Sol explodes.

  “Don’t swear,” Dimitri rumbles. “Your son is here.” He takes his head in both his hands. “Youth.” Two quiet Russian swear words roll off his tongue.

  Sol’s eyes flutter. “Sorry.” She clings to his arm and kisses his cheek. “With Gunner Junior? No problem. Just sort it out for me. Dad is sometimes so... so difficult.”

  I know my son, Axel, is difficult so I don’t comment. He loves his family like mad, but has a bad temper. Like all the men of the family. Sol got her bad temper after him. She’s a talented biker better than any other woman in the family, a true wolf.

  I nod at my grand grandson and he smiles at me as though he can hear my thoughts. He reminds me of little Axel.

  Dimitri strokes Sol’s head and kisses her forehead. “Just smile more often, sweetheart.”

  “I will, I promise,” Sol says as she settles herself into the driver’s seat.

  Dimitri raises his thumb up to me and I respond the same way.

  I shove my hand into the pocket of my cut as my fingertips touch a cold oval shape, a coin. Sol starts the engine, but I pat her shoulder and take the coin out of my pocket. Sol twists her chest and glances at me.

  “Grandpa?” she asks.

  I raise the coin. “You see that coin, sweetheart?”

  Sol wrinkles her nose. “Yes.”

  “It’s a very special coin,” I say. “A German aristocrat gave it to Stanka. Keep it, sweetheart.”

  I know Sol will look after this coin properly. More than that. I feel like this coin should belong to Sol the way it belonged to my mother. She devours every story about Munroe and Stanka’s crazy journey through Europe; she loves watching my parents’ photos I managed to save.

  Her fingers close around the coin. “Thank you.” She tilts her head as my mother would.

  Very fucking creepy and interesting at the same time.

  “It will bring you happiness,” I say.

  “Like what?” Sol snaps. “A good husband? This is your idea of happiness?” She shakes her head.

  “A good husband will do you good,” Dimitri says from the passenger seat, making Sol growl.

  We are really old, two piles of mush prying in the life of every kid in the family. But that’s what such old gits as us do, right?

  Epilogue

  Stanka

  My name is Stanka Natalia Tesarik-Holme. I once was a Slovakian aristocrat. Now, I’m an outlaw’s wife.

  My house will burn as will almost all the evidence of my existence. It will burn, splashed with blood and the wind will scatter the ashes over this little town I love so much.

  But my family will survive as I once survived. It will grow strong and ramified like the oak tree my father planted. It withstood war, the communist regime, and bad storms.

  The women of my family will be tough. Tough enough to love outlaws.

  I will watch over them. Forever.

  I will watch over Amanda, over Sive and Brianna, over Sol and Daisy, over Athena, Aphrodite and Carrie, Maria and Reyes, Cindy and Star. Even over Dasha and Wendy.

  I will be the whisper in their ears.

  I will be their ardent heartbeat.

  I will be their hope when everything seems to be lost.

  Excerpt

  (Subject to change)

  Samael: A Dark Romance (Shadow Wolves MC Book 4)

  Prologue

  Yegor

  He killed my sister. Dasha was our joy, our ray of light, our pure lily. I, Yegor Voronin, have sworn to erase his k
in, his comrades, and his servants.

  Samael, they call him.

  I knew him as Dimitri Alekseev.

  My glance sweeps over the papers spread across the desk. The president of the Broken Crusaders nods at me.

  “They are in the Spanish Pyrenees,” he says. “The directions and the photos.” He points his fingers to a small map and trails a line.

  I stifle an urge to put a bullet into that honourless piece of scum. My men will do that instead of me. I don’t need him any longer. Not him and not his club. They must be erased and they will be as soon as that piece of scum leaves my house.

  I’ve found Samael and his family at last.

  I will finish what started many years ago.

  Within a week, my grandson, Luka, has gathered thirty men and we set off to erase our enemies.

  They are asleep as we get inside their house and haul them out of their beds. We gather them in the kitchen, three men and three women, tied and at our mercy.

  The youngest girl is barely eighteen. A beautiful young woman. Their lily.

  “What’s your name, again?” I ask as Luka tightens the grip on the knife across her throat.

  “Cindy,” she whispers and shivers.

  “Kill me,” Samael says. “And let’s end this bloodshed. You want only me, Yegor.”

  I turn to him. “I want my sister back. That’s what I truly want. But she’ll never be alive again so killing your precious little Cindy will give me peace at last.”

  Brianna’s too old. Reyes will die of the excess of emotions as soon as Luka slits Cindy’s throat. The rest will suffer as I’ve been suffering.

  Then a thought blasts in my head like a supernova has been born and I make a decision in an instant. “I will take the girl. She will be married to my grandson.” My glance meets Luka’s and his jaw muscles twitch. He’s only twenty-five, but is my most trusted man and knows what to do without being told. “You will never know whether she’s dead or alive. Uncertainty about her fate will eat at you like the uncertainty of Dasha’s fate was eating me. You broke all the rules, all the code. Now, it’s your time to pay.” Luka moves back towards the exit with Cindy in his arms as I tilt my head towards my men, ordering them to retreat. “This is my revenge, Samael. Enjoy.”