Vicious (Salvation’s Bane 1)

by Marteeka Karland

  Vicious (Salvation’s Bane 1)

  Marteeka Karland

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright ©2020 Marteeka Karland

  BIN: 009370-03035

  Formats Available:

  Adobe PDF, Epub

  Mobi/PRC

  Publisher:

  Changeling Press LLC

  315 N. Centre St.

  Martinsburg, WV 25404

  www.ChangelingPress.com

  Editor: Katriena Knights

  Cover Artist: Marteeka Karland, Angela Knight

  Adult Sexual Content

  This e-book file contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a young audience. Changeling Press E-Books are for sale to adults, only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

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  Table of Contents

  Vicious (Salvation’s Bane 1)

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Marteeka Karland

  Vicious (Salvation’s Bane 1)

  Marteeka Karland

  Lucrecia: All I have in the world is my sister Mae. We were adrift, on our own until a guy from Black Reign, one of Lake Worth’s most infamous MCs, spotted us and took us in. Rycks isn’t cruel, but he’s hard on us. We have to earn our keep, but then everyone does. Me? I dance for the club. I get a secret thrill from it -- until Mae is kidnapped by enemies of Black Reign, and Rycks sends me to Palm Beach -- straight into the hands of Salvation’s Bane.

  Vicious: It all started when some MFer stole my f-n pizza and two cans of beer. I went looking for the SOB. What I found was a raven-haired spitfire too sexy for my own good. Her sister’s in trouble, and wouldn’t you know it that bastard El Diablo’s at the very center of yet more trouble. It’s his club Mae’s been taken from. His club Lucy was sent away from. Now, we have to get Mae back. Because I might be falling for the little dancer in my care. Not that I’ll ever admit it. We’ll have to call out all the stops for this. Bones. Shadow Demons. Hell, even Black Reign. If we’re going to rescue Mae, nothing is out of bounds. But busting her out of some rich banker’s estate will be a piece of cake. No worries.

  Yeah. Right…

  Chapter One

  “God fuckin’ damnit! That fuckin’ pizza box had my fuckin’ name on it! Who the fuck ate my fuckin’ pizza?”

  “My, Vicious, aren’t we a grumpy bear.” Havoc, vice president of Salvation’s Bane MC, was a huge smartass, but Vicious put up with him because he was also one of the best men he’d ever served with. Both as a SEAL and as an MC brother.

  “I want my Goddamned pizza!” He was grumpy. That pizza had been the best fucking pizza he’d ever eaten, and he’d been looking forward to eating the rest for breakfast. “What the Goddamned fuck?”

  “Beats the fuck outta me. Maybe it was Mercedes. Looks like she finally cleaned up the fuckin’ kitchen.”

  Vicious snorted. “Mercedes never did this good a job. Girl needs to leave but is either too stubborn or too stupid to take the hint.” He rubbed the back of his neck, the fine hairs there prickling a subtle warning. Why, he didn’t know, but something didn’t seem right to him.

  “True.” Havoc flashed him a lecherous grin. “But, Goddamn, the girl has a sweet pussy.” When Vicious gave him an exasperated look, Havoc added, “What? Tell me I’m wrong.” When he opened his mouth to tell Havoc to go to hell, the man held up a hand. “Keep in mind you’re the fuckin’ chaplain. Don’t that mean you ain’t supposed to lie? Cause if you say you didn’t have her, or that her pussy ain’t sweet, I’ll call you a Goddamned liar.”

  “Fine. Fucker.”

  “So? Do you agree or not?”

  He couldn’t help it. Vicious chuckled, scrubbing his hand over his face. “Yeah. The girl has a sweet fuckin’ pussy. Knows how to use it too.”

  They both laughed.

  “Don’t think I’m letting this go, brother,” Vicious said. “I’m findin’ out who stole my fuckin’ pizza and I’m gonna nail someone’s balls to the fuckin’ wall.”

  “So, let’s talk about Mercedes.”

  “I just won a fuckin’ million dollars, you cocksucker.” Vicious tried to snarl at Havoc, but it only came out a sigh.

  “Oh? How’s that?”

  “I bet myself a mil that was why you brought up Mercedes’ name in the first Goddamned place. What the fuck did she do now?”

  Havoc raised his hand in surrender. “Not a fuckin’ thing, brother. Just wondering where we stood with her. You know as well as I do -- great lay aside -- the girl don’t belong here. She needs to go back to wherever she came from before she gets hurt.”

  “I know. Thought assigning her stuff to do, outside of fuckin’, would help her realize just how much she wasn’t ready for this, but I think she’s got it in her head she’s gonna be Thorn’s ol’ lady. You know. Get some clout in the club and have the girls all submitting to her every whim.”

  Havoc shook his head. “Yeah. Figured. Girl ain’t smart enough to figure out a brother doesn’t take an ol’ lady from the club girl population, especially if everyone in the fuckin’ club has already screwed her.”

  “She’s a spoiled little rich girl, trying to thwart her daddy or some shit. I’d hoped she’d leave on her own but I’m afraid I’m gonna have to get Thorn to go with me and help her come to the decision.”

  “Well, I ain’t seen her in a couple days. Maybe she already bailed.”

  “Maybe. I’ll check her room in a while. You know. Soon as I find the motherfuckin’ cocksuckin’ son of a bitch who stole my fuckin’ pizza.”

  Havoc snickered then pushed off the counter to leave. “Let me know what you decide. I’ll tell the guys to back off for a while.”

  Vicious waved Havoc on, not sparing him a glance as he continued to stare into the fridge like the stupid pizza would just appear in front of him. He wished it would cause it was a seriously good pie. Which was when he noticed two of the six beers he’d put in the fridge next to the pizza were also gone. Someone was getting a beatdown like never before.

  “Mother fuck,” he bit out. “Mother Goddamned fuck.”

  He stalked into the common room. It was a perfect day for riding, so it didn’t surprise him no one was there. Carnage, the road captain, had organized a ride for that evening, but, true to form, no one wanted to wait that long. Likely, the whole club had taken off in pairs for a little free time on the road.

  With a growl he clenched his fists. No use getting angry right now. His wrath would be waisted with everyone gone. Might as well go check Mercedes’s room. If the girl was gone, he’d need to make sure it was cleaned out and any perso
nal belongings she left behind bagged and stored in case she came back for them. He hoped she was in her room because he was dying to confront someone. While protocol demanded Thorn be with him if he evicted a non-club inhabitant, it wasn’t strictly necessary. His job was to see to the wellbeing of the club and anyone living with them. Mercedes’s behavior was self-destructive. She needed to go home.

  He stomped up the stairs. Club members were on the first floor. Women not ol’ ladies were on the second floor in the middle rooms. Officers took the rooms on the outside, so the women were protected on both sides and below. Mercedes was no exception. In fact, Vicious had been careful to put her as close to the center as he could because he’d known sooner or later someone would come looking for her, and he wanted to be able to tell the girl’s father she’d been as protected as any woman in their club. Of course, he’d neglect to mention she’d fucked nearly every single patched member in Salvation’s Bane. Cause, yeah. No.

  He was surprised to find the door wide open and stripped bare of anything other than the furniture. He sighed. Well, it was one less thing he had to deal with.

  Again, that prickly sensation on the back of his neck had him rubbing it before scrubbing a hand through his hair. His years as a SEAL had him refusing to ignore the feeling. It had saved his life more than once, but what the fuck? Danger? In his own clubhouse? No fucking way.

  Still, he gave the room a visual once-over. The longer he stood there, the louder his senses pinged. He wished he had a better idea of how the room should be, but with the recent departure of its occupant, all he had to go on was immediate visual clues. He moved around the room slowly, looking at the windows, the bathroom and windows there, the walls, and the ceiling. He was about to chalk it up to him being a paranoid son of a bitch when there was a muffled sneeze from the bathroom.

  “What the fuck?” His muttered question seemed loud but was met with silence. Once again, Vicious checked the bathroom. Nothing. It wasn’t exactly like there were a ton of places to hide. The place was pretty small. Wide enough for the bathtub/shower at the far end, the toilet beside the tub, and the sink beside the toilet. The window was in front of the sink with a small, wall-mounted cabinet for towels and washcloths beside the window. The only other closed-in space was the vanity under the sink.

  Before he thought about it, Vicious opened the door under the sink and shut it again. Did a double take. He opened the cabinet door again to find a small girl tucked in the limited space, folded with her knees against her chest. Her eyes were enormous. A vibrant gold framed with coal-black lashes. Jet-black hair tumbled around her in tight curls. Cutoff shorts and a black tank revealed snow-white skin. Skin that looked like it had never seen the sun a single day in her life.

  “What the everlastin’ fuck?” Vicious tried not to raise his voice too much. This girl didn’t look like she could take the shock of a six-foot-seven, three-hundred-pound man roaring at her. She looked like it would be nothing for him to break her in half. “Get your ass outta there, young lady!” Great. Now he sounded like an old man.

  The girl hesitated until he tilted his head, giving her his best “so help me…” expression. Then she squeaked her distress as she tumbled out of the cramped space to stand in front of him. Good thing he was between her and the door, because he was certain she’d have tried to make a run for it otherwise.

  “Wanna tell me what the fuck you’re doin’ in here?” That was when he noticed two empty beer bottles and a mostly eaten slice of pizza lying in her little hiding place. Upon further inspection, the girl had pizza sauce in the corner of her lips and on her chin. “You little thief!” He wasn’t really mad. Kid looked like she was starving. Didn’t mean he could let her transgression go unpunished.

  “Am not,” she said defiantly, her chin going up a notch. “I cleaned that hell hole you call a kitchen as payment. It was worth a whole pizza and a six pack. You’re lucky I settled for what was left of that pizza and only two beers.” The second her mouth was closed, she let out a very impressive and unladylike belch. Apparently, he’d interrupted her meal, and the beer hadn’t yet settled. A pink flush swept up her neck to her face. Her eyes watered, and she turned her head away from him instead of meeting his gaze boldly as she had just moments before. Little thing had a fierce pride.

  Vicious chose to ignore her embarrassment, not wanting her uncomfortable with something silly. Besides, seeing her so miserable did something to his chest. He rubbed it absently as he spoke. “Nobody asked you to clean the kitchen. People here have tasks, and that was supposed to be someone else’s job.”

  “Well, whoever it was wasn’t doing so hot. You should be thanking me instead of giving me shit.”

  “That so?”

  “Yeah. It is.”

  “What’s your name, girl?”

  She put her chin up, her face and neck still a bright red. “Ain’t none of your business.”

  “It is when you steal my pizza and my beer, then hole up in my house.”

  “Oh, please,” she scoffed. “There are so many people here, you never noticed me.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “You think so?”

  “None of you had a clue I was here.”

  “How long you been holed up?”

  “Again. Ain’t none of your business.”

  Vicious still wasn’t mad or even annoyed at her presence. Deep down, he thought more than one of them had thought something was amiss but hadn’t really paid much attention. There had never been anything overt out of place or anything. Just the occasional missing food. Sometimes, the girls had bickered back and forth over missing clothing items, but everything had always turned up in a few days. Also, things had been considerably cleaner in the past couple weeks. He narrowed his eyes at her.

  “You’ve been here two and a half weeks, haven’t you?”

  Her eyes widened before she masked her expression with a shrug as she looked away. “More or less.”

  Vicious looked at her. Really looked at her. “Where’s your home?” When she stubbornly remained silent, he sighed. “You can’t stay here, girl. This is no place for the likes of you.” It wasn’t. She was too young and too innocent looking to survive in their world. The women would eat her alive. The men… Well. They’d eat her alive. She just couldn’t stay here. Unbidden, the thought of him beating the shit out of Beast, the enforcer and resident playboy, sprang into his mind. If the man so much as touched a hair on this girl’s head…

  Where the fuck had that thought come from? Hell, was she even eighteen? She didn’t look it.

  “Why not? You never knew I was anywhere on the grounds. I’m not in the way at all!”

  “‘Cause we don’t work that way. And you would never fit in.” The second the words were out of his mouth, Vicious wanted to take them back. They were true, but the crestfallen look on her face made him wince.

  “Fine.” She said, turning to snag the last of the pizza she’d dropped, taking a huge bite so all that was left was the crust. Two bites later, even that was gone. She pushed past Vicious out of the bathroom, swiping her forearm across her mouth and wiping her hands on her shirt as she went.

  As she marched across the bedroom to the door, Vicious got a good look at her from the back. A really good look. She wore a short T-shirt that showed off her midriff and yoga pants that stopped just below her knees. Canvas shoes were on her little feet. What caused him to suck in a breath and nearly fall to his knees to worship her in adoration was that ass. Until that moment, Vicious had been positive she was no more than a teenager. She might not be much older, but, Goddamn, no kid could possibly have an ass like hers. It was rounded and supple looking, but firm. He could tell because it hardly moved as she stalked away from him. The pants she wore were a heather gray, not making her stand out too much, but definitely not hiding what they so lovingly hugged. He thought he could just make out the outline of a thong.

  “Stop,” he said in his most commanding voice.

  She huffed in exasperation. “Can
you not make up your freaking mind?”

  “You’re in my house, girl. I don’t have to make up my mind.”

  “Well, I can’t very well leave if you don’t pick a plan and stick to it. Either I stay or I go. Makes no difference to me.”

  She shrugged, but Vicious could tell it did matter. “I kick you out, where you goin’?”

  “God!” she snapped as she turned around, obviously exasperated with him beyond her endurance. “You’re right. I’m trespassing.” She flung her arms out. “I’ll leave, and you won’t have to worry about me.”

  “You see, that’s where you’re wrong.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I should not ‘a been such an ass. I’m willin’ to bet you don’t have anywhere to go, or you wouldn’t be here.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I should’ve known you’d be a bastard. He said you would be. Wanted me to go to Kentucky, but I can’t leave my sister here alone.”

  “Who? Who told you I was a bastard?”

  The girl looked away, for the first time looking completely vulnerable. “Nobody.”

  Vicious took the three steps separating them and grabbed her upper arms, forcing her to look up at him. He might as well have sunk to his knees in front of her. Up close, she was perfection. The porcelain skin of her face was framed by jet-black curls in haphazard rings. Her eyebrows were dark slashes over her eyes. And those eyes… a mesmerizing gold. Like new pennies. Black lashes made them stand out even more. She was, in a word, exquisite. A delicate rose-and-honeysuckle scent seemed to cling to her. Those eyes of hers were at once innocent yet had seen too much. Been through too much. Looking into their depths, he could see she fully expected him to hurt her in some way.

  Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Vicious calmed himself. The last thing he wanted to do was make her fear for her safety. He should, but he couldn’t. If he did, she’d probably leave, and he knew the same as he knew his own name she had no one. No place to go.