“She’s still sedated,” Veronica said behind me, and I whipped back around in shock. She gave me a sad smile. “She’s going to be okay. She’s going to be hurting, and it’ll be a long road ahead, but she’ll be okay.”
“Can I have a minute?” I asked gruffly.
She nodded, then stepped out, sliding the glass door closed. I pulled out my phone.
“Hey, brother. What’s up? Your text was pretty vague.”
“I have a problem.”
“Talk to me.” Venom said, his tone immediately going serious. In the background, I heard Raptor ask who it was. “Voodoo,” he told him.
“Kira was abducted from the clinic as she was leaving. Sasha, her dog, was shot and left for dead. I need Facet to see what he can find out.” I was furious. Someone was going to pay for this shit.
“I’ll get him on it. Call me back if you get any news.”
“Roger that.” I ended the call and stepped closer to Sasha, who I could now see was breathing. My fingers sifted through her thick fur. “It’s gonna be okay, girl. We’re gonna find your momma. I promise.”
My chest ached so bad I could hardly move. Each breath was agony as I tried to hold my shit together. A rattle from the stuff on the walls told me I wasn’t doing very well.
More than my next breath, I wanted to hunt down whoever had done this, but I had fuck all to go on. As I continued to run my fingers through Sasha’s coat, I started to get that familiar hazy feeling.
Part of me welcomed it; part of me was afraid of what I would see.
The air sucked out of my lungs, and I fought to stay upright. It was the same as the dream I’d had as a little boy. I’d all but forgotten about it until it slammed into me. What I hadn’t realized then was that the woman in my dream was Kira. She was dressed in white and calling for me. She reached out her hand as she cried on a bed.
What I’d learned since the first time it had happened was to take in the details present in my visions. Sometimes I could see more than others.
There was a floor-to-ceiling window behind her, to the side of her bed. What I saw told me where she was. At least in a general aspect.
Fuck.
Coming out of the vision, I had to shake my head to clear it. I needed to get on the road. Opening the door, I called out to Veronica. I was dialing my prez as I did.
“What’s wrong?” she asked as she popped out of another room, sounding worried.
“I have to go. I might know where Kira is. Take care of Sasha?” Venom was saying my name as I spoke.
“Yes! Go!” Veronica said in a rush. Without waiting, I rushed out the door I’d come in.
“Prez, I think her father has her,” I said in a near-whisper.
“Shit. Raptor, I need you to do something for me,” he said. I heard Raptor reply in the background.
“I’m on my way. Be there shortly.” I ended the call and got on my bike. The cop that had tried to stop me before gave me a dirty look. I wanted to flip him off, but I couldn’t be bothered. I tore out of the lot and dared any of them to try to catch me.
Making it to the clubhouse in record time, I parked haphazardly and raced inside. Angel and Ghost were coming out, and I plowed into them, turning sideways to slide between them, and kept moving.
Though I heard them call out, I was focused on making it to Venom and Raptor. Right as I was headed into his office, Venom called to me from the chapel.
By the time I stepped through the door, Ghost and Angel were on my heels. They must’ve notified the others, because everyone that had been close came in after them.
“Voodoo, I need you to sit down. Raptor wants to try something.” My gaze darted from one to the other before I warily sat. They had the chair Venom had indicated pulled out, and Raptor sat in one facing me.
My agitation was simmering hot under the surface of my skin.
“Bear with me. I don’t know if this will work, but I want to try.” Raptor reached out and held my hand. It shook in his, and I tried to steady it. He closed his eyes and was silent for a few minutes.
“It’s not working. I think he’s too angry. Or maybe it just won’t work at all.” Raptor turned to look at Venom, who came closer. He crouched down and stared at me.
His hand wrapped around my forearm, and I jumped. Tilting his head, he narrowed his eyes, and I eased. In the back of my mind, I knew what he was doing, but I became languid as I sat there.
After I’d calmed, I realized what they were trying to do. Normally, Raptor would simply focus on a remote or distant target and he could sense coordinates and details of the area. Except he needed to know generally what he was looking for. In this case, I was the only one who knew. It was different for him to try to do it through one of my visions, and I wasn’t sure he’d have any success.
“Voodoo, I want you to think about your vision. Sift through the details you remember,” Raptor said. “It was in Chicago?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Can you see what you saw in your vision?” As I relaxed further, I leaned back in the chair. I nodded.
“Okay,” he said as he breathed slow and deep. After a couple of minutes, he said, “I can see Navy Pier. And the Sears Tower.”
“It’s Willis Tower,” mumbled Facet.
“Shut the fuck up,” whispered Angel. “No one cares, you smart fuck.”
“I think I know the coordinates of where she is. Get me a pen and paper,” Raptor murmured as he continued to hold my hand.
Venom released my forearm. I watched as Raptor used one hand to scratch out something on the paper without looking at it. Then he let go and sighed heavily. I shook off the eerie feeling.
“Facet,” Venom ordered, and Facet jumped to grab the paper. He’d brought his laptop in, but I hadn’t noticed it before.
It didn’t take him any time at all to excitedly blurt out, “I’ve got it. Pricey digs. Oh, wait!” He opened a file. “I’m pretty sure this is the address I found for him. Hang on, and I’ll clarify.” The keys clicked at a rapid-fire pace.
“Bingo. That’s where she is. We’re about five and a half hours away. How many of us are going?” he asked excitedly. The kid was not only a certified genius, he was as loyal as they came. None of us had hesitated in the least to patch him in. He’d done a four-year enlistment in the military like most of us had, but he’d been into some super-secret squirrel shit. They hadn’t wanted to let him get out, but he’d been done.
Hell, I guess he wasn’t a kid anymore, but twenty-three was still young.
“Venom, you stay here. I’ll take Angel, Facet, Ghost, Shank, and of course Voodoo. Between the six of us, I think we’ve got the skills we need to get her out and take care of her if we need to,” Raptor offered. I knew damn well why he’d chosen the brothers he’d named. Though I prayed we wouldn’t need his skills, Angel had the ability to help her if she was hurt.
“Sounds good. Voodoo? You gonna be okay to deal with this rationally?” Venom had turned to me. His eyes shifted from blue to green as he waited for me to reply. My jaw clenched as I pulled out all three of the pieces I carried on me. Ensuring the clips were fully loaded, then checking my additional two clips, I nodded.
“I’ll be fine. Kalashnik isn’t going to be walking out of there. I’ll be talking care of his son too.” My eyes raised from my immediate task. I met every brother’s somber gaze. Each one gave me a nod or chin lift. They were all behind me without question.
We’d voted on it, but we’d all thought we’d have time to plan better. Fuck, I should’ve had Facet gathering all the necessary info to do the job the second Venom had shown me the folder. Except I’d been too wrapped up in Kira the past week.
“Kickstands up in twenty minutes, boys. Get your shit,” Raptor called out. His golden eyes met mine, almost glowing. He blinked slowly. “We’ll get her back.”
Staring at the skull and crown on his back as he walked away, I stepped out of the chapel to call out to our prospect at the bar. “Prospect!”
&nb
sp; “Yes, sir?” he asked as he set the rag he was wiping the bar down with to the side.
“I need you to take care of my dog.” The poor guy swallowed hard when I slapped my house key on the counter but nodded.
“Yes, sir,” he firmly replied. People were afraid of Zaka, and I didn’t understand why. Okay, so he bit a prospect a while back. Dumb fuck shouldn’t have walked in my house without knocking.
Making quick work of packing a bag from the shit in my room at the clubhouse, I was already shoving it in my saddlebag when the rest of the brothers came out.
“You ready?” Raptor asked everyone.
A round of affirmative answers ensued.
“Anyone gets any weird vibes or feelings, you share it immediately. Voodoo? You see anything, you let us know.” I nodded at his instructions, as did everyone else.
“She can’t be more than two, three hours tops, ahead of us,” I added, based on what time Veronica said she was leaving the clinic. “But we need to get on the road.”
“Voodoo, you saw her safe in her father’s house, so we can only hope that doesn’t change and she ends up there like you saw.” Raptor laid a comforting hand on my shoulder and gave me a reassuring squeeze. Venom and everyone staying behind nodded and waited for us to take off.
“You all have the address, but Ghost will lead the way as Road Captain,” Raptor instructed. “Let’s go!”
Our bikes roared to life, throttles cranked as our pipes rumbled. We pulled out of the compound as a tight unit and hit the road. The miles slipped under our tires, and we stopped as little as possible.
Hang on, baby. I’m coming for you, and I’m bringing the hounds of hell with me.
“Black Honey”—Thrice
“Nice to see you’ve cleaned up and made yourself presentable for your husband-to-be.” My father’s voice registered in my mind as I blinked and started to wake myself. Groggy, I raised my head in confusion.
“Ogun?” I called, though I knew he wasn’t there and there would be no one to save me.
My head was jerked up by the hair, and I yelped in pain. “You thought you were too good for Ivan, yet you want to spread your legs for some biker trash? You’re a fucking whore just like I always knew you’d be. Fucking shlyukha.” Whore.
“I’m not a whore, but if I am—you made me one.” My disdain for him dripped from every word.
Smack!
My head whipped to the side as he hit me. Warm wetness trickled down my chin, and I was pretty sure he’d split my lip.
“You act like you’re too good for the man I chose for you, yet you fuck trash? You’re a fucking slut just like your mother!” My astonishment knew no bounds that he could speak of my mother like that.
“She’s been a good wife to you!” I argued with angry tears in my eyes.
“A good wife? You call a fucking whore a good wife?” He scoffed in indignation. Then he dragged me off the bed by my hair. My hands grabbed at the base of my skull in an attempt to alleviate the pain.
“She is no whore!” I screamed. My mother had been the rock I’d leaned on. She’d encouraged me to chase my dreams and not to settle for less than the best. When I was a child, she’d often tried to protect me the best she could from my father’s wrath, even at the expense of her own safety. After my father had sold my virginity, she held me as I cried for weeks. She’d blamed herself for not being there. Then she’d covertly arranged counseling for me that earned her two black eyes when my father had found out months later.
“Isn’t she? She fucked my own man behind my back. You call that a good wife? She thought I would never know! Then nine months later, she spits out a fucking child that looks nothing like me. She thought I wouldn’t know you were Aleksandr’s child!” He screamed in my ear as he hit me again. My mind whirred as shock froze me on the spot.
“What?” I whispered as my heart shattered. Not at finding out the horrid man I’d thought was my father wasn’t but wondering if this Aleksandr was still alive. Did he know about me? Did he care? Had my mother loved him or was it just sex? The questions spinning in my head were endless.
“Yes, you heard correctly, which is why you’ve never been anything but a pawn to me. If you won’t marry Ivan, then you are of no use to me. In that case, I’ll at least recoup some of what you’ve cost me over the years.”
From the floor, I looked up at him and snarled. “Oh, because the million dollars you sold my virginity for wasn’t enough? What more can you do to me?”
He jerked my robe from my body so hard, I heard it rip. Trying my best to shield my nudity from him, I clutched the torn pieces in front of me. I should’ve kept my mouth shut.
He crouched down in front of me and trailed a finger along my cheek. I recoiled and pulled my face back, but he grabbed it in a bruising grip. In an evil whisper, he said the words that made my blood run ice-cold. “You’ll go to the highest bidder, where your new owner will fuck you whenever, wherever, and however he wishes, my dear Kira.”
I gasped in disgust.
“Get dressed. You have a fiancé to impress. Unless you’d like to choose option B. Oh, and if you do? Your pretty little friend you were living with will go with you. You have half an hour. If you’re not dressed, I’ll drag you out like you are.” He gave me a cruel smile, then stood and walked away. Curling in on myself, I lay on the floor staring out the window and pleading in my mind for Ogun to find a way to save me.
No surprise that my prayers didn’t get answered. Desolation unfurled in my chest, and I wanted to cry, but I wouldn’t give my father—no, Grishka—the satisfaction. Numbly, I got up and splashed cold water over my face. The cut on my lip stung and started to bleed again, so I held a washcloth against it until it stopped.
Forgoing any makeup, I brushed my hair and twisted it up.
A shaky inhale did nothing to fortify my resolve.
The thought of finding a way to break the glass to the balcony and jumping held more merit than willingly succumbing to becoming Ivan’s wife. The thought of the alternative option made me want to vomit.
Dressing in the red dress my “father” had brought with him when he barged in, I curled my lip in revulsion. The low dip in the front damn near reached my belly button. The back was nothing more than a maze of strings that ended nearly at my ass crack. While I’d have happily slipped into the slinky thing for Ogun, the thought of putting it on to essentially be sold made me retch.
Diamond chandelier earrings that likely cost more than my car were my only jewelry. I wanted to shove them down Grishka’s and Ivan’s throats. If they choked on them, I’d dance on their graves.
“Ogun, I love you,” I whispered into the still air of the room. Tears welled, and I blinked them away.
The red-bottomed shoes I slid on were like gloves on my feet, but I hated them. Each step was like one closer to my executioner. The click of the heels on the tile floors was a death knell.
The two men I despised were sipping on what would only be the finest Russian vodka when I stepped into the room. They both turned in my direction, and I shuddered at the hunger I saw in Ivan’s eyes.
“Kraseevaia zhenshchina.” Beautiful woman, Ivan murmured, and my nostrils flared angrily.
“Kira, come,” the man who’d called himself my father ordered. As if I was a dog. Then again, I pretty much was now.
Gritting my teeth, I advanced to stand before them. Fists clenched, I was anything but demure.
“Time has been a good friend to you,” Ivan said in heavily accented English as he fingered a loose strand of my hair. “I cannot wait to shove my dick in you until you scream.”
“You want to fuck her now? As sign of good faith. Then we sign paperwork?” Grishka asked Ivan, whose eyes glinted greedily, and his tongue wet his lips. My heart raced, and my stomach revolted at the thought that Grishka would do that to me again.
“Bend over,” Ivan instructed as he smiled evilly and motioned to the arm of the couch.
My eyes flickered around the room,
hoping that someone would be around to stop what was about to happen. There wasn’t a soul, though I had not a single doubt that my father’s men were not far away.
“Fuck you,” I spat.
“You think you have choice?” He chuckled darkly. “Do what I say, or I kill your mother, your filthy biker, your roommate, everyone you love. I will burn that piece of shit town in Iowa to the ground. I. Don’t. Care.”
Ivan advanced on me threateningly, and the knowledge that he would absolutely carry out his threat had me doing as he bid. The humiliation that washed over me was nearly suffocating. He teased his fingertips across my back, eliciting a shudder of revulsion that he happily mistook for desire. “You crave my touch, do you not, malen’kaya ptitsa.” Little bird, he crooned.
Then his hand grabbed my throat so hard I couldn’t breathe. He jerked me upright and hissed in my ear, “What is this mark?”
Oh shit. I hadn’t thought about the tattoo when I’d put my hair up. A frisson of fear made its way through me at what he might do. My mouth dry, I was unable to answer.
“What is this?” he screamed in my ear. “You allow another man to put his mark on you? I will burn it from your flesh until you know you are mine! Do you understand?”
He shook me by my neck, causing my hair to tumble free. A rampage of Russian spewed from his mouth as he shoved my face into the couch with my body bent over the arm. Though I thrashed and tried to fight him, he was a huge man, and I was no match for him.
My fighting seemed to amuse and excite him as he rubbed his hard dick against my ass. The cool air hit my skin as he jerked my dress over my hips. Tears trickled over my cheeks and into the couch when he ripped my panties away and tossed them.
I tried to kick back at him as I heard the clank of his belt. He knocked me upside my head for my efforts and held my head down. As I tasted blood from the reopened cut on my lip, I tried to clear my head. My gaze was blurred, but I could make out Grishka’s form as he stood calmly drinking from his glass as he watched.
“I hate you!” I screamed, but unfazed, he simply let out a dark chuckle.
Voodoo (Royal Bastards MC: Ankeny IA) Page 13