Wolf (Devil's Fury MC 9)

by Harley Wylde

  We all looked at one another, none of us having a plan. If we could take Saul out of the picture, it would be easier. In this instance, killing him would only make more problems. He had too many men behind him, ones who would want revenge. None of us wanted to start a war, especially with such a large organization.

  “What if she can’t come up with anything?” I asked. “Shouldn’t we still work on a plan?”

  “We will,” Badger said. “All right, ladies. Why don’t you head to the main room? Not everyone saw the video from before, and it’s not something you want to see.”

  Glory stood, bent to kiss my cheek, then followed the others from the room. I wished like hell I didn’t have to watch the video again. Either of them. Outlaw played them for the entire club to see, and we spent the next several hours trying to find a way to get rid of the Sons of Vassago. It wasn’t until Badger’s phone rang that we had any hope at all.

  “It’s Wire,” he said, as he answered the call. He placed it on speaker so we could all hear. “What have you got for us?”

  “The Sons of Vassago have two enemies, and only two that I can find so far,” Wire said. “Don’t get me wrong. Lots of people hate these fuckers, but none are powerful enough to take them down or send them running for the hills.”

  “But there’s someone who can? Or several someones?” Slash asked.

  “Oh, yeah. And men we all know. Some of us more so than others,” Wire said.

  “Will you spit it the fuck out?” Badger asked, a growl to his voice belying his frustration.

  “Casper VanHorne and the assassin we all know as Specter,” Wire said.

  The bomb he’d dropped made the room go silent. What. The. Fuck. Seriously? Why the hell had none of us thought to reach out to Casper before this? The man might be retired, but it didn’t make him any less a badass.

  “Did Torch already speak to Casper?” Badger asked.

  “Just so happens, Casper is here visiting. He was going to head to Tennessee to see his granddaughter over at the Reckless Kings after he left here, but he said he can make a stop in Georgia. He’s heading out within the hour,” Wire said.

  “And Specter?” I asked. “Anyone know how to reach him?”

  “Casper does,” Wire said. “He’s already on it. Both men will be in your area later tonight. If they need any backup, do you have men who can help?”

  “Yeah, but we don’t exactly have a connection to Casper or Specter. Not sure us being there will do much of anything,” Badger said. “Farrah might be with Demon, but she’s Venom’s daughter. Not Torch’s. Which means she’s not related to Casper. My club being present might escalate things instead of sending these fuckers running, not to mention they may decide to come back once Casper and Specter are gone.”

  Wire cleared his throat. “I have an idea about that, actually, but you may not like it.”

  “Hit me with it,” Badger said. “At this point, I’m not afraid to say we’re desperate. We’re a bit out of our depth with these assholes.”

  “Mariah. Venom’s youngest is… Well, she’s got a crush on a cop and Venom caught her trying to elope with the guy. He’s furious to say the least and has her on lockdown.”

  Badger scratched his beard. “I’m not sure what the hell that has to do with us. Besides, we already have Farrah. Isn’t one of Venom’s kids enough?”

  “Venom wants to negotiate. Casper will guarantee your problem goes away -- permanently -- if one of your men will claim Mariah. I know it’s not a connection to Casper himself, but it’s more of a you do us a favor we do you one sort of deal. In this case, our favor is that Casper comes to help you out.”

  Badger’s gaze shot over to Demon, who was shaking his head. “Wire, I’m sensing a trap. How old is Mariah?”

  “Seventeen.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Badger demanded. “She’s still a kid! How the fuck was she going to elope anyway?”

  “Age of consent in Georgia is sixteen. She’s finished with high school, and you’ll be taking her with Venom’s blessing. Well, not you but one of your brothers. As to the other, we found a somewhat decent fake ID in her possession. Guess she thought she could get away with it if they went somewhere else, like Vegas or south of the border.”

  “Beau,” Dingo said.

  “Did you say Beau?” Wire asked. “Isn’t he just a Prospect?”

  “We’re voting him in. Already promised him a patch. We were waiting until all this crap was over with, but to hell with it.” Badger eyed all of us. “All in favor of Beau being patched in raise your hand.”

  Every hand around the table went up.

  “Then it’s official. Beau is now a member of the Devil’s Fury. Now he just needs a road name, but we can deal with that after the Sons of Vassago are out of here,” Badger said.

  “I’ll talk to Torch and Venom. They may want proof Beau can protect Mariah. Isn’t he rather young?” Wire asked.

  “Twenty-two,” Dingo said. “He may be young, chronologically speaking, but the kid lived a hellish life and grew up fast. I’d trust him with any woman in this club.”

  Since Beau was the reason Dingo’s woman had been repeatedly raped and abused, for him to say such a thing was really fucking huge. If Beau had told us about Meiling sooner, we could have saved her from the foster parents who’d pimped her out.

  “I still need to clear it with Torch and Venom. Any other potential victims?” Wire asked.

  The room was quiet. Long enough it started to feel awkward. I scanned the table, wondering if anyone would speak up. And if not, how long exactly were we going to wait? Because if Beau was agreeable, I didn’t see the issue.

  “I’ll take her,” Savage said.

  Hadn’t seen that one coming. I eyed Savage and wondered why he’d offer himself up on a platter like that. Far as I knew, he’d never met Mariah. What if he couldn’t stand her? Hell, the fact she was being bartered away to another club meant she’d probably arrive here ready to lash out at everyone and run at the first opportunity.

  “And who is I?” Wire asked.

  “Savage,” Badger answered. “Our Treasurer. He’s more than a decade older than Mariah. That a problem?”

  “No, and since he’s an officer, the terms are acceptable. I’ll let everyone know, and once your area is safe, Mariah will be hand delivered to her new home,” Wire said. “And good luck. You’ll need it.”

  Savage snorted, but he smiled faintly. “Think I can handle her. For the record, I’m not touching her until she’s at least eighteen. And agreeable to being touched. She can have a separate room until then.”

  “Not my concern,” Wire said. “She’s yours now. You can handle her how you see fit. Just be warned. She’ll try to escape and get back to the asshole cop she’s crushing on. Venom’s about to blow a gasket.”

  I didn’t blame him. I’d heard the VP over at the Reckless Kings ended up claiming a cop’s daughter, but since they lived in a different state, it wasn’t a huge issue. Although, the dad had shown up to cause some trouble. Venom’s kid shacking up with a cop in the same town? Yeah, that wouldn’t fly. Even if the Dixie Reapers ran a much cleaner ship these days, I knew their hands were still a bit dirty. None of ours were clean.

  “Casper and Specter will need a place to crash. I don’t imagine they’ll stay longer than one night,” Wire said.

  “We’ll have something for them,” Badger said. “And tell them thanks.”

  He ended the call and leaned back in his chair, looking like he’d just aged ten years. I didn’t envy him his position right now. Being the President of a club facing something like an entire group of murderers and rapists? Yeah, not something I’d want to deal with.

  “Think that’s all we can do for now,” Badger said. “Someone get two of the small apartments cleaned up and stocked for our guests. Everyone else, go be with your families, or blow off some steam in some other way. No club whores inside the compound until this is finished, and I don’t want anyone outside th
e gates unless it’s a life-or-death reason. If you’re single and need to fuck, I suggest you get reacquainted with your hand. Now get the fuck out!”

  I stood and made my way to the main area, looking for Glory. I hoped someone informed Alora we didn’t need her services after all. With some luck, this would all be over soon, and she’d be safely back in her home. If nothing else, maybe this would give her something new to write about.

  Or it could just give her nightmares.

  I knew I’d have them for a while, to add to the ones already plaguing me some nights. I had to admit, since Glory had moved in, I hadn’t had any episodes. No PTSD flare-ups, no nightmares about what happened over there. I’d slept peacefully, except for the times I’d woken in a cold sweat the past two nights -- since I’d discovered Saul had put a target on her.

  “Already done?” Glory asked.

  “Yeah. Wire came up with a solution, but we can’t implement it just yet. Badger ordered everyone back to their homes. You and Sienna ready?” I looked for our daughter and found her in Doolittle’s arms. Considering he had a monkey on his shoulder, I could see why she seemed so happy. Our little girl stared at the monkey with wide eyes while she sucked on her fist. Not once did she reach for the creature, but it was clear she adored the little furry thing. It kept leaning down to inspect her, making noises that had Sienna squealing in delight.

  “No,” I said, eyeing Glory. “We aren’t getting a monkey.”

  She snorted. “I wasn’t going to ask for one. They throw poop.”

  I stifled a laugh as I watched the monkey and our daughter for another minute. If she liked animals, maybe Doolittle had something more domestic we could adopt. Like a cat or dog. I didn’t think we were up for anything exotic.

  Glory retrieved Sienna, who put up a fuss over leaving her new furry friend, and we headed out to my truck. I didn’t know if I’d be called to back up Casper and Specter later, so I wanted to enjoy what time I had with my girls this afternoon. No one had said whether Casper and Specter would want to strike tonight or wait until morning. Either way, I was thankful we had backup coming our way.

  It also made me realize something… our club wasn’t quite as fierce as we’d once been. I knew back in the day when Blades had been young, and Grizzly had been newly patched in, the Devil’s Fury had been far different than we were now. Good changes, from what I’d heard, but we were weaker. Settling down with families had made us softer. Or perhaps it was the fact we were all getting old enough to want to slow down a bit. I knew our fingers weren’t in quite so many pies, as far as the illegal shit went. We had some legit businesses around town, and we’d been discussing opening yet another one.

  I couldn’t complain. I enjoyed life with the club, and now I had a family. There wasn’t much else I could ever want or need. Except to guarantee their safety. We needed to bulk up our security, or possibly patch in more ex-military guys. There was a reason I’d been medically discharged. I wasn’t as quick on my feet as I’d once been. I knew men who ran marathons on two prosthetic legs, and I only had one. But kneeling down for long periods, and being stealthy, wasn’t as easy as it had been before.

  I slowed as I neared the house, noticing Outlaw’s truck was pulled up out front. He got out and leaned against the front fender while he waited. I parked in the driveway and leaned over to kiss Glory on the cheek.

  “Head inside with Sienna? I need to see what Outlaw wants,” I said. In case it was something bad, I didn’t want Glory to hear it. Not until I’d decided the best way to tell her. And that was assuming it was anything to do with her.

  After she’d gone inside with our daughter, I walked down to meet Outlaw at the street. “Should I be worried you’re here when I just saw you in Church? And how the fuck did you beat me to my own damn house?”

  “You were too busy watching your daughter try to enchant a monkey.” He smiled. Then I noticed the folder in his hand. “Thought you might want this. What you do with it is entirely up to you.”

  I opened the file and my heart nearly stopped. “Is this what I think it is?”

  He nodded. “Lavender decided to work on this while everyone else focused on the Sons of Vassago. There weren’t two men that night. There were three. Their names and locations are all there, as well as the footage Lavender was able to unbury. The school saw what happened and conveniently lost the video, claiming the cameras weren’t working in that area on the night your woman was attacked. They lied to cover their asses and did a fairly good job of hiding the evidence.”

  I eyed the men and realized Sienna had the same shaped eyes as one of them. Parker Waite. That was the fucker who’d created Sienna. Fury rolled through me as I eyed the men in the pictures. Boys, really. Men didn’t rape women. Only sick fucks would do something so horrific.

  “Elena saw what I had,” Outlaw said softly. “She got pissed as hell.”

  I looked up at him. “Why are you telling me that? Is your woman going to track them down and slit their throats or something?”

  He gave a short bark of laughter. “Elena? Not likely. No, but she did ask me to make them suffer at least a little. So I drained all their accounts. Bounced the funds a few dozen times to make it impossible to trace, even went through a few offshore banks, and the money is now all pooled together in one safe place. An account under your name.”

  My eyebrows rose. “My name? Why not Glory’s?”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t know if you’d want to tell her about the men or not. She’s suffered so much already. She may not want to know the details. There’s an SD card taped to the back of the file. You can insert it into your laptop if you want to see the footage, or you can burn it and throw it away.

  “They weren’t rich men, so it’s not a ton of money. Between their checking and savings, the total came to around thirty thousand. I put it into a money market account so it will hopefully increase over the next eighteen years. With some luck, it will double, possibly more than double by the time Sienna is of age. She can use it to do whatever she wants. College. Buy a car. Start her life wherever she wants.”

  I folded my arms. “You think I’m letting my little girl go traipsing off far from home? Knowing sick fucks like these three and the Sons of Vassago are out there? Just waiting to get their hands on someone sweet like her? Fuck no!”

  Outlaw smiled. “I feel you, brother. I’m not too keen on my daughter running off to start a life either. But it will happen sooner or later.”

  “Thanks for this,” I said, lifting the file. “I’ll wait until this other shit is handled and then decide what to do. Glory once said she didn’t think she’d want to know what happened that night. I’ll leave it up to her. Until then, I’ll put this in my safe.”

  Outlaw got into his truck and pulled away, leaving me holding a small handful of papers that felt like they weighed a ton. One day at a time. Right now, we had other things to take care of. These fuckers could wait.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Glory

  I put Sienna down for a nap and went to the kitchen. I didn’t know about Wolf, but I was starving. The meeting had gone longer than I’d expected. A Prospect had made some burgers and fries for everyone, but I’d been too anxious to eat anything. My stomach had been in knots. I still didn’t feel settled. I didn’t know what was going on, or how the club was going to get rid of the Sons of Vassago. What if Wolf got hurt? What if their plan didn’t work and those men still came for me?

  I blinked when I realized I’d been staring into the freezer. I shut it and foraged through the cabinets and small pantry, not having any idea what I wanted but I knew we needed to eat. I found a can of chili and some macaroni noodles and decided chili mac would be filling. I boiled the pasta and warmed the can of chili on the stove.

  I heard Wolf’s steps behind me before his arms circled my waist. He pressed a kiss to the side of my neck, and I leaned back against him.

  “I hope chili mac is okay,” I said.

  “I’ll eat whatever you
cook. We should probably go to the store again soon. Get some steaks, pork chops, and chicken breasts. Last time most of the fresh stuff at the store was close to expiring, so I couldn’t grab much.”

  “I keep waiting for this nightmare to be over, but part of me worries it never will be,” I said. “What if they don’t leave? Will I be trapped in the house forever?”

  His hold on me tightened. “No, you won’t be. The club has ties to the Dixie Reapers. It’s part of why Tank knew what we were doing with the clinic. Demon’s woman is the daughter of the Dixie Reapers VP.”

  “What do the Dixie Reapers have do with any of this?” I asked, turning to face him.

  “Their President is married to an assassin’s daughter. Casper VanHorne is feared by a lot of men around the globe,” Wolf said. “And he’s coming here to help us, as well as another man who goes by Specter.”

  “And they’re going to help just because Demon is married to Venom’s daughter?”

  He shrugged and his gaze darted away. Okay, so maybe Demon wasn’t married to her. I knew being an old lady was enough for some of the women I’d met both here and at the Dixie Reapers. Not all of them required a wedding ring.

  “Not exactly,” he said. “Venom’s other daughter will be coming here. And moving in with Savage.”

  I couldn’t recall which one was Savage, but I hadn’t been around the men of the club very much. Only those who had old ladies, which meant Savage was probably single. I narrowed my eyes at Wolf. “Why is she moving in with Savage? And why will they only help if she does?”

  “Dammit, Glory. The club doesn’t work the same way as the world out there,” he said, waving a hand in the general direction of town. “Venom needs her protected and tied to a club far enough away from his own that she’ll stay away from temptation. A cop. She’s chasing after a badge, and the VP isn’t pleased. Just stay out of it, please. It’s not our business. It’s between Savage and Mariah. They’ll work it out.”

  I backed up, pulling away from him. “It’s not okay, Wolf. If she doesn’t want to be with him and she’s forced to --”