“What the fuck was that, Lo?” Even with her hair falling over her face, her cheeks flushed, and her hands curled into fists, she looked gorgeous.
“Hades was trapped inside. I saw him through the window and had to let him out. He was the one who found the bomb. I couldn’t leave him in there to die.” She sucked in a ragged breath and buried her fingers in the thick fur of the wolf’s neck.
“We’ve got sixty seconds left on the timer.” Scar shook his head. “This doesn’t look good.”
“Back away from the street, please.” Jackson continued to urge people to move back.
Atlas appeared from behind the building. His jaw clenched, and he gave a slight shake of his head. Shit. I immediately joined in, trying to push the crowd back behind the buildings across the street. No telling how many pounds of explosives had been packed into that box.
Marlowe helped. She stood right by my side as we moved farther and farther away from the Community Center. With nothing else to do but wait, I pulled her into my arms.
“We’ve done all we can do now, Lo Lo. Just know that I love you. It’s always been you.” I stared into her eyes, committing her face to memory.
“I love you, too.” She broke eye contact first, glancing at something behind me.
I turned to see Shane rounding the building. The gathered crowd erupted in a loud cheer. Based on the grin spreading across Shane’s mouth, he’d been successful.
Thank fuck.
No one I knew would die today. At least no one I liked. As for the Savage Bones, no one would be able to save them from the wrath they’d just incurred. My MC brothers must have been thinking the same thing. We gravitated toward each other as the county task force arrived.
Sean nodded at Atlas. “They’re going to do a sweep of the building to make sure it’s safe before they let anyone go back inside.”
“Good,” Atlas said. “We’ll have everyone move over to the cafe. Now that the immediate threat has passed, hopefully folks will be willing to cooperate.”
“I’ll get my best guys on this. Hopefully, we’ll get to the bottom of who’s responsible and make them pay for their actions soon.” Sean shook Atlas’s hand, then headed toward the Community Center to check on the new arrivals.
As soon as he was out of hearing range, Scar voiced what all of us were thinking. “We’re not going to sit around with our thumbs up our asses while we wait for Deputy Do-Right to figure out what we already know, are we?”
A collective murmur swept through the group. One that Atlas silenced as soon as he raised his hand. “Sean means well. We didn’t start this fight, but we’re going to be the ones to end it. Get your shit together, kiss your women goodbye, and let’s meet at the clubhouse at dusk.”
“In the meantime, I want all of you scoping out different sections of town. Those motherfuckers have to be hiding somewhere nearby. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll send out assignments.” Thunder pulled his phone out of his pocket and immediately got to work.
“You’re not going anywhere without me.” Marlowe grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze.
“Nice try, Lo. There’s no way in hell I’m putting you in danger. You just about gave me a heart attack when you ran into that fucking building.” My pulse still hadn’t calmed down.
She held my gaze, the fierce look in her eyes challenging me. “Nice try, Viper. There’s no way in hell I’m letting you leave me behind.”
“Is that so?” Under different circumstances, I might actually enjoy her sass. But when her safety was on the line, I wasn’t about to give in.
“Yes, that’s so. We just found each other again. I don’t want to consider the possibility of losing you to some low-life thugs. If you go down trying to save this town, I want to be right there next to you.”
“The only going down I plan on happening is me going down on my woman later tonight after all of this is over.” I meant it, too. Knowing she would be waiting for me would be enough incentive to be careful.
“I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree for now.” Marlowe crossed her arms over her chest. Her body language reeked of confidence. Too bad she was going to be disappointed when I left her behind.
CHAPTER 9
MARLOWE
With the FriendsgivingFeast pretty much forgotten, I peered through the passenger-side window of Viper’s truck as we cruised up the side of the mountain. He thought he was being generous by letting me ride along this afternoon while he scoured the area Thunder had assigned to him. So far, we hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary.
“Are you hungry yet?” I settled my palm on my belly to silence a grumble. Ruby had packed up Thanksgiving dinners to go for all the Mustang Mountain Riders so they’d have something to eat while they canvassed the area. It was sweet of her to do, but the smell of herb-roasted turkey breast had been taunting me from the backseat for the past hour.
“I’m getting there. How about you?” Viper lifted our joined hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to my wrist. He was so much more accommodating when he thought he was getting his way.
“I could eat. Want to find a place to stop?” We hadn’t seen another vehicle on the road for the past twenty minutes. Usually, the stretch of road leading toward Lake Bliss was well traveled, but not today.
