by Harley Wylde
“You’re banned from the Devil’s Fury clubhouse,” Demon said, holding Bethany’s gaze. “You come here again, and I will personally see to your punishment, and it won’t be the kind you enjoy.”
Bethany gave a jerky nod and stumbled her way to the door.
“Sorry, Demon.” I shook my head. “I’ve never…”
“I know, brother. Come on. Steel, Dagger, and Blades are in Church trying to figure this shit out. I have a feeling that’s why you’re here. I know for damn sure it wasn’t to get pussy since you have Glory at home.”
“Why do these bitches have to cause so much drama?” Frost muttered. “They have to know the score. Since when has any of us taken one of them as an old lady? Never, that’s when.”
The clubhouse doors flew open, and Van rushed inside, looking seconds from puking. He shoved a small cooler into Demon’s hands, then ran down the hall. I saw him slam his way through the bathroom door and heard the sound of retching a moment later. Something told me I wouldn’t like whatever was in the chest.
“Let’s take this elsewhere,” Demon said.
Frost and Doolittle followed us into Church. Demon set the cooler on the table and opened the lid, his eyes hardening when he saw the contents. As much as I didn’t want to know, I needed to find out how sick the bastard was who had taken the doc. That had to be where this had come from.
I peered inside and my knees felt a little weak. It wasn’t one thing in there, but many. I saw at least four fingers. A few toes. Teeth. When I saw what the other bags held, I understood why the Prospect had thrown up. I was damn close to it myself.
“That sick son of a bitch,” I muttered. “Demon, there’s no way she’s survived all that. And if she did, I don’t think she’ll want to live.”
Demon frowned and reached into the chest, shoving the ice around. He pulled out a clear zipper bag with a flash drive inside. “Anyone have a computer handy?”
“Are we sure we want to see what’s on there?” Doolittle asked. “Man, with the contents of that ice chest, I’m not sure I can handle seeing it in person. Cutting off a dude’s fingers and other parts is one thing, but a woman as sweet as the doc? Fuck.”
“I’ll get a Prospect to find one and bring it here,” I said, stepping into the hall. Too bad the one in the office was a desktop. I couldn’t exactly pick it up and move it. I tracked down Garrick and sent him to retrieve one from Outlaw. I knew he always had extra ones lying around.
While we waited, I got all of us a beer, having a feeling we’d need it. Hell, I probably should have grabbed the Jack off the shelf instead. I downed mine in a few swallows and tried to sit still. I wanted to pace. Hit something. Scream the damn building down.
“The fucker is killing her while we sit here doing jack shit,” I said. “Assuming she’s not already dead. I only hope she didn’t suffer. And Glory is next on his list.”
“We’ll find him,” Steel said. “No one is getting to Glory. We’ll put as many men on her as we have to. Even inside the compound.”
“Fuck if I’m letting her go outside the gates until he’s caught! I don’t care if she gets pissed at me or not. The thought of opening one of those chests and finding her parts in there? No. I can’t… I will lose my fucking shit.” I closed my eyes and prayed for a damn miracle. We needed one. I couldn’t lose Glory.
“Brother, we’ve got your back,” Dagger said. “The club isn’t going to let anything happen to Glory.”
“I’ll take a shift watching your house if you want extra security,” Frost said. “Wouldn’t hurt. I don’t see the fucker getting inside the compound, but I won’t completely discount it ever happening either.”
He wasn’t wrong. The compound wasn’t perfect. If someone really wanted in, they could find a way. Over the years, we’d made it more difficult. However, difficult didn’t translate into impossible.
A knock sounded at the door and Garrick popped his head inside. “Got the laptop you needed. Outlaw said it’s not password protected.”
Demon took it from him and booted it up. He plugged in the flash drive and pulled up the contents. The scream that blasted through the speakers made my hair stand on end. Demon’s jaw tightened as he turned the computer so we could all see the screen, then he took a seat next to me.
“Holy shit,” Doolittle mumbled.
The man on camera wore a mask covering the top part of his face. I couldn’t see a tattoo or scar anywhere that might help identify him. Watching him rape and torture the doc broke something inside me. He’d filmed every second. Including her death.
He leaned in close, his eyes large on the screen. And that’s when we finally got a small break. He had one green eye and one blue.
“Heterochromia,” I said.
Demon nodded and turned up the volume since the asshole had lowered his voice, probably trying to disguise it.
“I’m coming for sweet little Glory next.” He backed up and held the knife up, licking the doc’s blood from the blade. “I bet she tastes even sweeter.”
He licked the blood off his lips and grinned. “Is her cunt nice and tight? I bet you boys have ridden her ass good and hard. Does she scream as pretty as the doc did? I can’t wait to find out.”
He reached up and right before he ended the video, I caught a glimpse of something.
“Wait! Freeze that.” Demon paused the video, and I dragged the laptop closer. I backed it up a few clicks and zoomed in. “Think we can clear this image up? That looks like a tattoo.”
“Let me see it,” Frost asked.
I slid the laptop over to him. After a few minutes, he turned it back around and we had a clear shot of the ink on the guy’s arm. I leaned in closer, and the breath stalled in my lungs. This was a fucking nightmare.
“He’s dead. It’s not possible,” I said. “His corpse is rotting in pieces on our property.”
“Twister,” Steel said, his eyes going hard. “No fucking way he came back from the dead. The ink says RIP under it. Anyone know about his family? Does he maybe have a brother? Can’t see his face too clear, but the overall build and hair color are the same?”
Demon slammed his fist onto the table. “Fuck!”
“Is that a yes to the brother?” I asked.
“Yeah. Twister had a twin brother, but we’d heard he was long dead. POW or some shit who never came home,” Demon said. “When Twister came here, he’d had no one. Grizzly brought him into the club as a Prospect to get him off the streets. Found out later, he had two siblings. A twin brother who’d gone missing overseas and an older sister.”
“Why the hell are we just hearing about this?” Steel asked.
“Because Twister was dead and it didn’t matter,” Demon said. “The sister isn’t a problem. She worked as a secretary in Atlanta until she passed away two years ago. Has a daughter who writes romances. I’ve kept tabs on her. Alora Danvers is the name she goes by. Twenty years old and lives outside Blackwood Falls out in the county.”
“Got an address?” I asked. “Should we send someone to check on her?”
“Got a better idea,” Demon said. He pulled out his phone and put the call on speaker. When it connected, I knew exactly who he’d called. “Beau, you ready to earn your club colors and name?”
“Name it and it’s done,” he said.
I eyed Demon, wondering if he had the authority to offer the kid his colors. He might be the Sergeant-at-Arms, but he knew damn well we’d have to take that shit to the table for a vote. And Badger or Slash should have been the one to offer it to Beau. I hoped this didn’t blow up in our faces.
“Need you to head down the highway a bit. I’ll send you an address. Find Alora Danvers and make sure she’s safe. In fact, I want you to bring her here. Take her to your place if you need to. Her uncle is the one after Glory.” Demon paused and cleared his throat. “The doc is dead. Fucker raped and murdered her on camera and sent us the video.”
“Shit,” Beau mumbled. “I’m on it. Get me the address and I can lea
ve right now.”
“Thanks, kid.” Demon disconnected the call and sent off a text. As he leaned back in his chair, he looked tired. Hell, we all were feeling a bit worn down from this shit. “It would be nice if we could just have some peace and quiet around here.”
“Think we’d have to go completely legit for that to happen,” I said.
“Yeah, and that ain’t happening.” He sighed. “All right. We at least know who took the doc. As much as I don’t want to see that footage again, we need to look for clues as to where he took her. I want this guy dead. I don’t give a shit if he comes here and dies slowly, or if it’s a quick bullet to the brain. Just make sure he isn’t breathing.”
“I have to ask,” Blades said, speaking up for the first time. “Any other relatives of brothers we need to be worried about? Dead or alive. I know Badger, Dragon, and Slash all claimed Grizzly’s daughters. Did Twister have more family? You sure the brother and sister are it? And some niece from the sister?”
Demon pinched the bridge of his nose. “Meredith.”
“She’s related to him?” Blades asked.
“His daughter. But she never knew him.”
“Merry wouldn’t hurt anyone,” Doolittle said.
“And you would know,” I said. He folded his arms over his chest and stared down his nose at me. Everyone knew he hung out with Meredith a little too much. Some of us had taken bets on when the two would become a couple. If it had happened, they were keeping it secret.
“What the fuck?” Doolittle stood. “What the hell does that mean?”
Demon sighed and pinned Doolittle with a glare. “You think no one notices the amount of time you spend with Meredith?”
“She’s only eighteen,” Doolittle said. “You think I’ve spent the last two years screwing a teenager? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Glory is nineteen,” I pointed out. “Meredith is of legal age so if you went there, no one’s going to bust your balls over it except maybe Grizzly.”
Doolittle retook his seat. “I haven’t gone there. We’re friends. She needed someone to talk to, and she likes coming over to hang out with the animals at my house. It’s therapeutic for her.”
I’d let him have his delusions a while longer. Even if he didn’t look at Meredith in that particular way, she’d certainly been eyeing him. The girl lit up whenever Doolittle was around. Far more than she would if they were just friends as he claimed. If she made a pass at him and he walked away, I had a feeling it would crush her fragile heart. I hoped he knew what the hell he was doing.
Demon played the video over and over. Every time was worse than the previous, and it didn’t get us any closer to discovering the dickhead’s location. The walls were a plain white. The floor had what looked like cheap carpet. It could have been anywhere. Motel. Apartment. Hell, maybe he even used his own home. Sick bastard probably would get off walking through the room where he’d tortured her, remembering every twisted moment.
If it hadn’t been for the cyclone tattoo on his forearm, peeking from under his shirt, with RIP written under it, I may not have ever pieced things together. As it was, assuming he was related to Twister was taking a bit of a leap. Except, once the idea had lodged in my brain, I’d noticed a lot of similarities between the two. It made me question if this was personal. In which case, there likely wasn’t a connection with the patient from the clinic. So who the hell was the woman who’d come in? And was someone else after the patient who’d been there?
“Wait, back that up,” Blades said, leaning closer. He pointed at the far corner of the screen. “Is that a shadow?”
I squinted and realized he was right. “There’s someone else there.”
The doors to Church swung open and Outlaw came in, taking a seat across from me. “You done trying to figure it out all out?”
“No, asshole. We just realized there’s another person there.” Demon slid the laptop over to Outlaw.
The broken hacker cracked his fingers, wincing, before he started typing. I didn’t know what the hell he was doing, and I didn’t much care as long as he could get us a lead. Well, more of one than we had so far.
“No one checked the drive to see if there was anything else on it?” Outlaw asked.
“The other file wouldn’t open,” Demon said. “I figured it wasn’t important.”
Outlaw smiled. “It’s encrypted, but look…”
He spun the laptop so we could all see it. Two men were on the screen this time. I recognized the one who’d tortured the doc by his mismatched eyes. The other must have been the shadow we’d noticed in the corner.
“Didn’t see that one coming,” Dagger said as the sounds of sex filled the room.
“So it seems Twister’s brother is bisexual. Or… maybe he doesn’t like women at all. Could that be why he rapes and tortures them?” Frost asked. “He could despise women and that’s how he deals with it. I mean, rape isn’t about sex. It’s not the fact he’s going to fuck them that gets him hard. He gets off on the pain, the agony on their faces, the fear.”
The two men finished, and Twister’s brother flipped the other guy onto his back, placing his hand over the man’s throat. We watched as he squeezed and pinned the man to the floor. They fucked again, and Twister’s brother kept going, even after the other guy passed out. My stomach knotted at how sick the bastard was. If I hadn’t thought the shadow we’d noticed was the guy on the floor, I’d have worried he was dead.
“He’s coming around,” Dagger said.
Sure enough, the one who’d passed out shook it off, rubbing his throat as he stood. The depravity continued for another hour and included a third man and later two women. Seeing all the men tear those women apart nearly made me throw up. It seemed we weren’t dealing with just one psycho.
“I think it’s a club,” Blades said.
“What?” I asked, turning to face him. “Why would you say that?”
“You saw the tattoo on the main guy’s arm, but did you notice anything else? Look closely, along the hairline on their necks. Every last one has a tiny pitchfork inked right there. Same size, location, and color.” Blades ran a hand down his beard. “I’ve seen that before. Fucker in prison. Got arrested on three counts of rape, torture, and murder. Guy was untouchable inside. Kept saying something about the Sons would protect him. I didn’t understand it and didn’t care to. Now I have to wonder… is he part of a club that has Sons in the name, or refer to themselves as sons?”
“I have a feeling this is way bigger than we first thought,” Demon said. “Wolf, go home to Glory. The rest of you with women do the same. I’m calling Badger and Slash. I’ll fill them in on what we’ve learned so far. Outlaw, can you pass along all this info to Wire and see if it helps his search?”
“On it,” Outlaw said.
“Don’t let any of your women out of your sight,” Demon said. “I know I damn sure won’t be letting Farrah more than two feet away at any given time. Not until we’ve handled this shit.”
I didn’t know how to protect my family from an entire group of monsters. We had no idea who all these men were, where they were from, or if they were part of something so large it was global. Until I had answers, I’d have to ask Glory to stay at the house. I didn’t even want her wandering through the compound. It felt like there wasn’t anywhere safe for her.
I only hoped she’d forgive me for keeping her under lock and key.
Chapter Eleven
Glory
I’d known something was bothering Wolf. Pain and worry flashed in his eyes off and on ever since he’d gone to the clubhouse two days ago. He’d said it wasn’t safe for me to leave our home, and I’d trusted him to tell me the truth. Whatever he’d learned while he’d been gone, it must have been horrific. If I left the room for more than a few minutes, he came to find me. It was like he worried I’d vanish into thin air and he’d never see me again.
“Are you going to talk to me?” I asked as we lay in bed. “Or touch me?”
He’d gone from not being able to keep his hands off me, to giving me almost brotherly kisses. Not once had he reached for me or given in to my attempts at seduction. To be honest, he was scaring the crap out of me. If it weren’t for all the hovering, I’d think he’d lost interest.
“I touch you all the time,” he said.
“Not what I meant and you know it, Wolf.”
He leaned up on an elbow and glowered at me. “Since when do you call me Wolf when we’re in our own damn home?”
I reached up to cup his cheek. “You’re scaring me. I know something’s wrong. You barely leave my side, and at the same time you haven’t done more than give me a quick kiss on the cheek in the last two days. Talk to me. Please.”
“The doctor from the clinic is dead,” he said. “The guy sent a video of him…”
He closed his eyes and shook his head, as if he couldn’t handle seeing the images in his mind. I snuggled closer to him, breathed in his scent, and wished there was some way I could comfort him. But if he saw what happened to Amelia, then he knew what the man planned for me too. It occurred to me that was why he’d been hovering, why he’d been so worried when he didn’t know where I was every second of the day. Whatever happened to her, it must have been horrific.
“He tortured her. Raped her. Then killed her on camera,” Wolf said softly. “I can’t handle losing you, Glory, especially in such a brutal way. I’m sorry if I haven’t been myself. I didn’t intend to pull away from you.”
“I’m here, Max. By your side. Whoever the man is, he hasn’t gotten to me yet, and as long as I stay in our house I should be safe. Right?”
He nodded. “It’s Twister’s brother. Apparently, he had a twin and an older sister. The club sent someone to fetch Twister’s niece in case she’s in danger too. Meredith is Twister’s daughter, but we have no way of knowing if his brother knows about her.”
He still seemed tense, and I ran my hand up and down his arm. “What else? I can tell you have something else weighing on you.”