Voodoo (Royal Bastards MC: Ankeny IA)

by Kristine Allen

  Breaking away gently, he looked at me and grinned. Then his thumb rubbed my lip and chin. “You have my face paint on you.”

  Pulling him in again, I said against his black-and-white lips, “I don’t care. It’s kind of sexy.”

  I got very dirty by the end of it.

  “A Wasted Hymn”—Architects

  Little did I know that Kira was so perfect for me the first day I’d walked into the vet clinic all those months ago. The club certainly didn’t consist of saints, but we liked to think we worked for the greater good. The fact that she didn’t freak out when she found out what we were capable of was a relief.

  “Baby, we need to shower,” I said to her as I looked down at her beautiful body covered in black and white smears. Trying to keep from laughing, I twisted my lips to the side. Cat-like, she stretched in the bed, and I trailed my fingertips along her curves. I’d never met a more beautiful woman inside and out. The fact that she had a little dirty in her was a bonus.

  “Mmm, I say we just stay naked and dirty until morning,” she murmured sleepily before she rolled to her stomach.

  Unable to resist, I leaned over and bit her ass. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough that she certainly felt it. When she purred and raised her ass, I gave her a sharp swat that echoed in the room.

  “Hey!” she exclaimed as she rose up to her elbows and looked over her shoulder at me.

  “What?” I asked, daring her to tell me she didn’t like it.

  “Don’t tease,” she said with a sexy grin. Then she laid her head back down but continued to watch me impishly.

  “Hell, woman. You’re insatiable,” I teased. Her beautifully kiss-swollen lips curled.

  Needing to see my brand on her, I pushed her heavy hair to the side. My tongue traced the lines of the ink on her neck. Then I nipped her shoulder and grinned at the goose bumps that broke out across her back and down her arms.

  “Get up, or I’m throwing you over my shoulder and bringing you in there my damn self. I want to go home to my bed. It’s more comfortable than this one.” One last swat, and I stood up. My dick might have been drained, but it still gave a half-hearted thump at the sight of her in my bed.

  With a grin, I went into the bathroom.

  Getting a look at myself in the mirror had laughter bursting from me. My face paint resembled a melted mime, and there were smeared handprints all over me. “Jesus,” I muttered as I soaped up my hands and scrubbed my face. The water ran black for a moment before it was mostly clear.

  “Last chance!” I called out as I cranked on the shower.

  “I’m here,” she said in a seductively husky voice. Again, I tried not to laugh at her. Instead, I gently pulled her into the bathroom to stand in front of the mirror. When she caught a glimpse of herself, she busted a gut laughing.

  “Oh sweet Jesus, no wonder you said we needed a shower. I knew we were a mess, but I didn’t realize it was that bad.” There was almost a perfect impression of my face in black, smeared gray, and white on her stomach. From the look in her eye, she remembered exactly when it had happened too.

  We’d already gone one sweaty but quick round. I’d pressed a kiss to her abdomen and rested my tired face against her skin. Things had heated up quickly from there, and our fatigue was forgotten.

  “Get in,” I rumbled as I swatted her perfect ass again. She now had my handprints on both sides of her ass. It had me wanting to bend her over the sink before we showered, but she’d stepped into the steaming water.

  Though it was crowded in the small shower, we managed to get clean. Once we were dried and dressed, we stopped by Venom’s room. I had Kira wait off to the side, because one never knew what they might see at one of the brothers’ doors.

  After I knocked, it was a moment before he answered. Like the rest of the brothers, my president had no shame as he stood there buck-ass naked. Behind him, I saw one of the club whores in his bed. Reya stared me in the eye as she fingered herself, and I quickly averted my gaze. No way was I getting pulled into that shit storm. She was half-crazy, and if Kira caught a glimpse of that hot mess, I’d never hear the end of it.

  “We’re heading back to my place.”

  “You sure that’s a good idea? We still don’t know if Gambler is out there. You know as well as I do that it’s likely he is.”

  “We’ll be okay. I’ll text you when we get there safe.” I waved my phone in the air in front of him before shoving it in my back pocket. As usual, I was packing pretty heavy, so I wasn’t too worried.

  He didn’t look happy, but he nodded. Then he ordered, “You text as soon as you get there.”

  “Roger that,” I replied with a chin lift. “Let’s go, babe,” I told her as I grabbed her soft hand in mine. I led her out of the clubhouse and to the bikes. The moon was high in the sky, and the crickets were chirping away. Everyone else had either crashed or was buried in wet, willing pussy for the night.

  “Can we get Sasha in the morning?” she asked as she buckled the helmet strap.

  “If Veronica says she’s ready, then yeah.”

  Rolling her eyes, she huffed. “I’m a vet. Remember? I think I’m qualified to take care of my dog,” she replied in a salty tone complete with a smirk.

  “Actually, I was more thinking of if it was okay to transport her, not whether you’d be able to handle her.” She appeared chagrined as she blinked at me from inside the helmet. Though it was fairly warm, I pulled my leather jacket out of my saddlebag and slipped it over her shoulders. She put her arms in and laughed at how big it was on her.

  “Shush. It’s better than you getting skinned if something happened. Dress for the slide, not the ride,” I said with a slight smile.

  “Oh, really? Then why don’t you have a helmet on?” was her snarky reply. My answer was another swat to that sexy ass that ended in me clutching it tight in my grip as I pulled her snug against me.

  “Don’t push me. I will bend this ass over my bike and fuck you compliant right here.”

  She waggled her brows and grinned. “That seems to be your solution to everything. Threat or a promise?”

  A bark of laughter escaped me, I shook my head, and we mounted up.

  In the quiet night, we headed down the road. The music was playing on my bike, and my hand rested on her thigh. Wind blew past us and carried all my worries away for the moment.

  Though I loved having her on the back of my bike, I wanted to get her back to my bed as quickly as possible. So I took the most direct route that would get us home quicker since traffic was almost nonexistent.

  There were very few people on the road at that time of night, so when a single headlight came up quick, I wondered if it was one of the brothers, but put both hands on the grips. “Babe, get my phone out of my pocket,” I shouted to her over my shoulder. Something seemed off, and I wasn’t taking chances again. “If I say so, you text Venom where we are and what’s going on. Okay?”

  Her wide eyes met mine in one of my rearview mirrors as she nodded.

  The bike came up on us faster than I was comfortable with, so I turned off on a side street. It made the same turn, so I turned back toward the main street. When it made the same turn, I made a signal for her to send the text.

  As I sped up and made a few more turns, the bike kept up with us. The second I saw his clutch hand rise and caught the glint of the gun in the streetlight, I yelled to her, “Hold on!”

  Taking the corner much faster than I should’ve, I at least bought us a few minutes, because he needed to use his clutch to downshift on the turn, then accelerate. My heart was racing, and adrenaline was pumping through my veins.

  My bike was a bad bitch. Without Kira on the back, I was fairly confidant I could outrun or at least outmaneuver the guy. With her, it complicated things. We zipped up and down the streets—barely staying one step ahead of him.

  “Shit!” The truck that pulled out in front of me and slowed down told me I’d inadvertently played right into his hand. With cars parked on both sides o
f the road, I couldn’t make it around them. The bike was closing in fast. We weren’t going to make it out of this, and I was sick to my stomach that I’d put Kira in danger.

  “When I stop, you get off and haul ass! Take my phone with you! Call Venom!” I yelled back to her.

  “No!”

  “Goddammit, don’t argue with me! I’ll hold them off as long as I can!” It was difficult to argue with her and try to operate my bike.

  Not waiting for the two fuckers to force my hand, hitting the brakes hard, I stopped on my own. Kira jumped off before I was completely stopped. My heart lurched as she stumbled and fell. She rolled a bit from the momentum, but she got to her knees and ran. The bike behind me nearly hit me, and we both laid our bikes down. I’d have time to worry about the damage later.

  Praying she was safe, I grinned when I heard pounding boots behind me. Dumbasses. Leading them in the opposite direction, I ran to the other side of the street. Blood pumping and mind racing, I hoped they would continue chasing me. The last thing I wanted to do was pull out my gun and start shooting in a residential neighborhood. No matter how run-down and shitty it was.

  Another guy shot out from the shadows in front of me, and I made a quick turn down a side street. Every time I thought I was one step ahead of them, they had cut through a yard or a back street and cut me off. It was okay though, because we were still moving away from where I’d left Kira.

  There was an old warehouse not far from where we were. If I could lead them out of the neighborhood, I’d blow a fucking hole in them so big, I could drive my bike through it.

  Skating to a stop, I darted through an opening in the fence. Jumping over junk that was scattered around the lot, I headed toward the back. Except as soon as I hooked the corner of the building to pull myself around it, I skidded to a stop.

  If I thought my heart was racing before, it had nothing on the out-of-control rhythm that hit me when I was met with a wall of Bloody Scorpions.

  Goddamn it. I’d been herded and didn’t see it coming.

  In fact, that I could’ve actually handled. Knowing you’re going to die isn’t the best feeling in the world, but seeing the guy we all knew as Mule with a sick smile was another.

  Because he was holding a struggling Kira at the center of their ranks.

  To make everything fifty thousand times better, one of their members pushed through to the front to stand next to Mule. My lungs seized. The evil grin on his face was a memory I’d tried to forget.

  It was the man I’d thought dead for years.

  “My son, you’re a hard one to track down,” he said as he twirled a piece of Kira’s blonde hair around his finger.

  Fuck. My. Life.

  “Like Suicide”—Seether

  I’d done like Ogun had asked, and when I’d dived off the bike, I’d sent a message to Venom. Except I hadn’t stopped there, and it wasn’t the first message I’d sent. Because when we were on the bike and he first handed me his phone, I sent the message immediately. I’d also sent a group message to everyone in his phone with a local number that was under the RBMC subtitle.

  Maybe it was overkill, but I didn’t care. Deep in my guts, I’d known things were scarily wrong.

  Through every turn and acceleration, I’d held on with one arm, but I’d been keeping them up to date with each move we made. A few times, I almost lost the phone.

  After getting my feet underneath me, I’d ripped off the helmet and called Venom. “Where are you?” he’d barked.

  “It’s me, Kira,” I gasped.

  Glancing around for a street sign, I saw one up ahead and kept running. Once I was close enough, I let him know and then darted into a backyard where I tried to catch my breath. The connection was horrible, but he’d told me he was on his helmet Bluetooth.

  “Please hurry,” I panted, and I held the stitch in my side.

  “We’re en route. Hang up to conserve the battery. Keep that phone on and secured, whatever you do. Facet is tracking you right now. Are you far from Voodoo?”

  “I don’t know,” I whispered breathlessly. “He ran the opposite direction.”

  “It’s okay, we have a general direction. We’re on our way. If you’re safe there, stay put, and secure that damn phone,” he growled, and I swallowed hard as I nodded, though he certainly couldn’t see me.

  The call ended. I switched the phone to silent so it wouldn’t ring or vibrate and waste any of the battery. Then I stashed it in a hidden inner pocket of Voodoo’s giant leather jacket and zipped it up. Hoping they would get there soon, I crouched down behind the trash cans I’d stopped by.

  Everything was silent, but I thought I heard the roar of motorcycles in the distance. Moving cautiously, I stood enough to look over the trash cans. Slowly, I moved in a crouch up along the dark shadows of the house so I could see if it was them.

  I’d almost reached the front of the house where I could hide in the bushes when a pebble skidded along behind me and made me freeze. Heart in my throat, I spun around.

  “Well, hello, gorgeous. We meet again. Except this time, I don’t have to hand you off to anyone but my brothers. Fucking Russians fuck up everything.” The younger of the two men who’d taken me to Chicago stood there with a gun trained on my chest. The side of his face with the scorpion tattoo was in the shadows of the streetlight, but I’d know that voice anywhere.

  “Turn around real slow-like and put those hands behind your head,” he drawled as he moved closer to me. Shaking and wanting to cry in frustration, I simmered as he cable-tied my hands behind my back.

  Where the fuck were the people who lived in the neighborhood? Didn’t anyone hear anything? It shouldn’t surprise me though. People in that area of town probably didn’t stick their noses into anything that happened after the sun went down.

  “Move,” he snarled as he shoved me forward. It caused me to trip, and I thought I was going down on my face because I couldn’t use my hands. I’d like to say I was thankful that he grabbed me by the cable tie and jerked me upright, but truthfully, it hurt like a bitch. It seemed like my shoulders popped out of socket, but I barely made a peep. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

  We didn’t walk long, because as we neared the street corner, the same shitty truck I’d ridden to Chicago in stopped. At least they didn’t shove me in the back again, but I was shoved face-first into the back seat. They went around a few corners but we didn’t travel far.

  The rattle of a chain-link gate was followed by it closing behind us. They didn’t go far before they parked the truck and killed the engine. The door was flung open, and the asshole dragged me out my by ankles, then my wrists, causing my shoulders to scream in agony again.

  “Easy, you asshole! My arms are about to pop out of socket!” I was fed the fuck up with being abducted and beat around. Twice in less than a week was really too damn much. I was pissed.

  “You think I care? I don’t need your arms to fuck that hole of yours,” Scorpion-face jeered, and I wanted to head-butt him. He grabbed a cut out of the truck and gave me a shove.

  Taking in my surroundings, I realized we were in an old warehouse or retail store parking lot. There was a fence around it intended to deter people, but these yahoos obviously didn’t care about shit like private property.

  “Well, what do we have here?” One of the club members saw us approach, and as we neared, they all turned around. They didn’t look much like Ogun’s club. Most of them looked motley and unkempt. There was one guy who was extremely good-looking, but he stayed to the back, looking unhappy. All in all, there was about six or seven of them.

  Then again, they all looked miserable.

  The voice that had called out separated from the crowd, and I groaned.

  “What, you aren’t happy to see me? Looks like dear ol’ dad wasn’t able to keep you long. Not my problem. I got paid to get you there, not keep you there,” the older guy said with a smirk. I didn’t dignify him with a response. When they’d grabbed me outside the vet clinic, I h
adn’t gotten much of a chance to get a good look at him.

  He’d obviously been decent-looking once. As he came closer, I could tell that time hadn’t been kind to him, and if his blown pupils were any indication, he was high as a kite. The name on his cut read “Gambler.”

  “That her?” asked a big burly guy with a beard and an eye patch.

  “Yep, that’s her,” Gambler said with a grin that showed dirty teeth. That’s when I realized there was a scar that intersected his top and bottom lips and went up to near his eye. Any closer, and he might’ve lost it.

  “Good. Now we wait,” one of the other guys said from the group.

  “I can’t believe you two idiots didn’t catch him after he laid down the bike,” another guy said with a disgusted shake of his head.

  “That motherfucker is fast as fuck,” grumbled Scorpion-face.

  “Well, he obviously didn’t get it from you, Gambler,” the burly guy said with a laugh.

  “Fuck off,” muttered Gambler. My mind was reeling when what the guy said settled into my brain. Was the other guy implying that this was Ogun’s father? If I had to guess, he was easily in his sixties, but then again, he might’ve just had a hard life.

  The resemblance was definitely there. The eyes mostly. Maybe the height. Ogun’s coloring had to have come from his mother’s side.

  Scorpion-face had his cut on now, and it read “Skid.” It made me wonder if the asshole didn’t know how to wipe his ass. It almost made me laugh. And I still preferred Scorpion-face.

  “They’re coming!” said a guy from over in the shadows of the lot.

  A squeal of surprise escaped me when one of them grabbed the back of my hair and held it tight.

  My heart soared and fell when Ogun came racing around the building. When he saw me, his face fell, and I swear I wanted to cry. It seemed like we simply couldn’t win.

  Gambler pushed through the crowd to stand next to me.

  “My son, you’re a hard one to track down,” Gambler said next to me as he played with a piece of my hair. “Over twenty-five years I’ve looked for you. Then again, for a few of those I was recuperating and rehabilitating from being tortured and beaten, then dumped in the fucking swamps. All thanks to your grandfather and those fucking Pussy Bastards.”