Prologue
Indigo
You know how sometimes you’ll look back and take stock of your life and ask yourself, “Self, is there anything I could have done differently to avoid the mess I’ve landed in? Is it my fault that I keep finding myself in compromising situations, abusive relationships, or just downright shitty circumstances?” I mean… a girl can wake up in a trunk only so many times before she starts to think that maybeshe’sthe problem. I don’t believe in negative self-talk. I’ve always tried to be my own cheerleader because, honestly, I’ve always been myonlycheerleader. However, when you’ve clawed yourself out of hell and brushed the brimstone off your high-waisted shorts, just for some jack-off to shove you back down into the pit…well, it can leave you feeling a bit raw. Unhinged. Demented. Damned.
The sad part is, when I awakened in the pitch-black darkness of whatever crappy sedan my captors drove to discover for the first time I wasn’t alone in my predicament, I couldn’t even be happy about it. Theysay misery loves company, but I wasn’t so sure. I was plenty miserable, and to be honest, I was seriously disappointed to discover that I wasn’t the only body in this trunk. I didn’t want any company in my misery because that would mean that I’d dragged them into my mess. I wouldn’t wish Uncle Roark on my very worst enemy.
A dismayed groan must have slipped through my lips because out of the darkness, a voice offered solace. “It’ll be okay, chica loca. We’ll survive this.”Bones. One of my favorite people in the whole wide world, beating out Mr. Rogers by a slim margin. That may not seem like much on the surface of things, but it’s actually a pretty big accomplishment. Mr. Rogers was one of the most lovable people in the history of the world. Just try to be mad at him, and you’ll find that youcan’t. The feeling just won’t come; he was that nice of a guy. However, the moment Bones selflessly dedicated himself to the indulgence of my best bitch and ride-or-die van, Sheila, he nudged Mr. Rogers down a place in my top four.
“I’m sorry I got you into this,” I murmured into the flooring of the trunk we were stuck inside. It was my fault men had attacked Los Cuervos Motorcycle Club’s compound, my fault that my friend was hurt trying to protect me, and my fault we were on a bumpy ride to perdition. My body jostled against his as the driver turned, then came to an abrupt stop. Bones and I held our breath as the engine of the car was finally stopped after what felt like forever. Doors opened and slammed, cutting through the silence and dread Bones and I were mired in. “I’m sorry, Bones.”
I flinched away from the blinding light of a flashlight that seared my eyes when the lid to the trunk was thrown open. “Bitch, you haven’t even begun to feel sorry,” a voice sneered as rough hands grabbed my bound and hunched form and hoisted me out of the trunk. Unceremoniously dumped onto a gravel-strewn parking lot, I turned onto my hands and knees and pushed myself up as quickly as I could, considering how dizzy and disoriented I felt. Shuffling and a muted grunt coming from my left told me that Bones was also being escorted from the vehicle. I squinted over my shoulder to see Bones and his twin, each cradling their right arm and swaying slightly. Despite the dire circumstances, I found myself feeling slightly offended that Bones nevertold me he had an identical twin. Or maybe I had a concussion? I wasn’t sure… but it was definitely one of those two options. My bet was on a concussion.
Calloused hands grasped the nape of my neck and shoved me forward. I stumbled and barely caught myself as the asshat manhandling me sneered and snickered. Righting myself, I stuck my tongue out at the jerkface who shoved me.
“Leave her alone, asshole,” Bones snarled. A meatythunksound, accompanied by a scuffle, let me know that the Boneses still had some fire left in them.
I continued to shuffle across the asphalt until a sinister red glow illuminated my peripheral vision. I gasped and looked up from the dizzy asphalt and into the neon glare of what I was sure would become a hellscape. I inhaled, gasping in shock, and the noise must have reached the Boneses’ ears because the sounds of movement coming from behind me came to a screeching halt. Once we crossed the threshold of the building standing before us, I knew deep in my soul we’d never quite be the same again.
“What the…?” one of the Boneses muttered behind me. I couldn’t agree more. What in Bob’s name were they planning to do to us? And why did it have to be here, of all places?
The harsh crimson-and-white sign perched high above us bathed us in a phosphorescent glow of evil intent that seeped through the large glass double doors I was facing. I swallowed down my nerves and whispered the sinister name into the night…
“Dairy Queen.”
Chapter 1
Priest
On average, it took about eleven hours to drive from Flagstaff, Arizona, to Sagebrush, Nevada. We made it in nine.
It had been over two years since I rode so fast and with such a feeling of urgency. The last time I felt like this was the morning we realized Ellis was missing and not just out with friends. The wind tore at my jacket and ripped against my face as I soared down the highway on my bike, with four of my brothers at my back. As soon as I told them our home was under attack, they’d flown into action, and we’d aborted the second half of our plan to finish the Alvarez Cartel arms delivery. We should have been resting at our club's Cedar City, Utah, chapter after delivering the arms we were carrying, heading home to Sagebrush the next day. Instead, we’d left Flagstaff and driven straight back to the Los Cuervos compound.
Thinking about all the possibilities of what could be happening at home, Clover’s words rang through my ears, muffling the roaring of my Harley’s motor.“Priest… someone’s there.”Clover, a brilliant hacker and human trafficking survivor, had been monitoring the security system guarding my home when five men appeared in a remote corner of our property. The men attacked Bones and Indigo as they walked toward the clubhouse. A savage sense of pride surged through me when Clover told me that Bones and Indi had managed to kill two of their attackers before they were joined by a sixth person and knocked unconscious. Then they were dragged away, into a blind spot on our cameras and, I assume, into a vehicle. Clover identified the sixth individual immediately, and the moment his name passed her lips I’d sworn viciously and almost thrown my phone.
Fucking Pyro.
Bones and Ace had both mentioned Pyro to me, concerning his verbal abuse of Indigo. I’d brushed it off as simply hard feelings over the time she’d put him in his place in front of God and everybody. Pyro had always been a touchy bitch, but surely a Crow would be loyal to his brothers? When we patched into the club and officially became a part of the Los Cuervos family, we swore to be loyal to our prez and our mission. Hurting Indigo went against Duke’s express word, and the brand on my chest stood as a testament to the punishment of going against a president’s orders.
On the surface, we were a regional motorcycle club with ties to various criminal organizations through the underground in Reno. Unofficially, we were the spearhead of a covert effort to end human trafficking as far as we could. No one who held the Crow’s beliefs at their core would stab their brothers in the back like Pyro had done. My grip on my handlebars turned punishing as I remembered the day Pyro showed up three years ago to our compound; the Sagebrush, Nevada, chapter house and home of the OG Los Cuervos.
AC/DC bellowed from the Bluetooth jukebox in the clubhouse corner as I strode through the door. Ratched and Thor were at my back, recounting the match we’d just watched over at Savage Delights. Bear had been on the docket for a fight, and whenever he was in the ring, we always tried to have at least two Crows in the crowd in case shit went sideways and someone was needed to rein Bear in. He was one of the most ruthless street fighters I’d ever seen; cutthroat and viciously efficient. Thankfully, he’d stayed in an acceptably violent headspace, given that everyone was there to witness a little blood sport for fun, not an actual homicide.
“Jesus Christ, man,” Thor rambled to Ratched, “I swear I saw teeth fly out of that guy’s mouth when Bear nailed him with that right hook.”
Ratched shook his head, but agreed with our brother. “Oh, he definitely lost at least one tooth. I saw one land in the hair of the chick next to me, and she lost her shit.”
Ratched and Thor quit their recount of Bear’s fight as my voice harshly cut through the stream of their banter. “Who in the ever-loving fuck is that?”
Some random asshole with a huge wine stain birthmark splayed across his left cheek loomed over Ellis at the bar, trying his best to flirt with her. He obviously wasn’t aware he was chatting up our resident club princess, leering at her like she was for sale. Ellis was humoring him a bit, knotting one finger in a tress of her long dark hair and giving him a pity smile as she tried to find a reason to walk away from the conversation.
She needed to stop being so nice and just tell the guy she wasn’t interested. Always concerned with everyone else's feelings before herown, Ellis kept up her pleasant mask until the fuckstick touched her. She had waved and turned away like she was going to leave the bar when the rando grabbed her arm to stop her. Now she looked pissed, and I knew my face was dark with anger over this guy. As I strode forward to knock his hand off my little sister, I saw that the newcomer wore a Los Cuervos patch from one of our Texas chapters on his leather biker cut.
This must be the transfer Duke had been telling me about last week. Officially, he was a brother looking to relocate. Unofficially, his prez was having some behavioral issues with the guy, and he needed him out of Texas before he ended up catching a charge. Tinker, prez of the East Texas Los Cuervos, thought a change of scenery for him would benefit the club. My hand clamped down on his shoulder with slightly more force than was necessary as I gained the new guy’s attention and subtly edged my sister behind me, giving her a chance to make a break for it.
“Hey, man, how’s it goin’?” I’d try the pleasant approach first, so I resisted the urge to tell him to keep his eyes off my baby sister’s ass.
“Well,” he sneered, shrugging my hand off his shoulder and running frustrated fingers through his greasy hair, “it was better before you cockblocked me. There’s plenty of club bitches to go around, man. Find your own. That one’s mine tonight.”I chuckled mirthlessly as he tried to edge past me. My hand shot forward and landed on the center of his chest, abruptly ending his efforts to chase Ellis. “I know you’re new here…” I raised my eyebrows at the guy, waiting for him to supply his name. His nostrils flared, giving him an even more ratlike expression.
