prologue
JENNA
My knees buckleunder me as the knife slides from my bloody fingers. The sound it makes as it hits the hardwood floor rings in my head like a siren’s song, pulling me into the darkness. I can hear the pounding of boots; doors being slammed and voices… his voice.Focus Jenna, focus on his voice. He’s here, it’s over.
But I can’t move. Breathing even feels like an unimaginable challenge. Falling to the ground, my vision tunnels. The only thing I can focus on are my bloody hands. They can’t be mine. A stillness calms my body as the cool air numbs the pain radiating from my abdomen.
“Jenna!” he yells in a gravelly voice, as if fighting to keep tears at bay. It’s the last thing I hear before everything goes black.
CHAPTER ONE
axel
FOUR MONTHS AGO
Bullets,blood and a shitload of anger follow us as we ride toward the clubhouse. The road in front of us is only lit by the headlights of our bikes, everything else is covered in inky black. I look in my rearview mirror to see Bear driving our black van. His expression is murderous and I bet if I check the faces of my brothers riding next to me, they will look the same. We ride into the darkness as if we are being chased by the devil himself, and maybe we actually are.
I’ve been a part of the Hell Chaser’s for six years now, their Enforcer for five, and never have I been a part of a shit show like tonight. We’ve been driving for almost thirty minutes now and I have run through every single second of our drop. From the moment we pulled up to the warehouse everything felt off. The job was easy; meet up with the buyers, unload the guns, get paid and then get out of there. But instead, we were ambushed, masked men entered the building from all sides, guns blazing before we even realized anyone was there.
Lucky took the first shot to the leg; next one was to his shoulder before I was able to get him into the van. Bear, Jax and myself were able to return fire and somehow get out of there without any more damage.
My bike rumbles under me as I push her to move faster. I need to release this frustration, but until I’m back at the clubhouse this is the closest I’m getting.
All I want to do tonight is get drunk, find a club girl to take up to my room and forget about this shit for a few hours. Tomorrow I’ll figure this out. Tomorrow I will find whoever thought they could fuck with us and slowly drain the blood from their bodies.
There’s a party at the clubhouse tonight, a welcome-home-party for Knife. I take a moment to reel in my anger as I park my bike, giving Bear a head nod as he drives the van around back.
“Get the fuck out of the way,” I growl at the clump of people standing in front of the door. This place is packed, I can barely get the door to open wide enough to pass through. One of the women from the clump looks at me and then quickly starts to pull her friends out of the way. No doubt she can probably feel the venom in my words.
My first stop is the bar.
Usually, I’m the happiest guy in this place. Booze and women are two of my all-time favorite things. But tonight, I’m not in the mood. I’ve never handled betrayal well, especially when it puts the people I’m supposed to protect in harm’s way. I crack my neck, allowing the tension to flow out around me as I muster up the energy to welcome Knife home after being locked up in State for the last five years.
A palm slaps down on the middle of my back and I hear a hearty laugh I haven’t heard in a long time.
“No shit, Axel, you’re Enforcer now?”
“Been gone too long, Knife. That’s old news.” I can’t keep the shit-eating grin off my face as we give each other a quick hug. “Good to see you, brother.”
“Built like a bear and the biggest asshole I know; guess you were born for the job.” His words are slightly slurred and fromhow bloodshot his eyes are I’m thinking Knife is making the most out of his first night of freedom.
“Hey, I’m about to go find Misty, but let’s talk tomorrow. I got some shit to sort through with you,” he says as he catches a glimpse of his old lady across the room.
“Okay, yeah, come by the shop, and we’ll talk. You good?” Warily I watch for any signs that something might be off. I’m already feeling on edge from earlier and really could go without anything new popping up.
He looks back at me with a smile. “Yeah, man, all good. See you tomorrow.”
Cal, Tank, and Mia are a blur behind the bar. The sound of beer bottles being opened and drunks yelling out their order fills my ears as I look for whoever is the least busy.
A flash of platinum hair whirls by me as Mia dances around, shaking her shoulder-length hair as she wipes a glass dry. Her large blue eyes scan the room, probably making sure no one gets out of line. She’s tiny, standing right at five feet, but has this whole mama bear thing going on. Mia is Cal’s cousin by blood but she grew up here with the rest of us. You would think she was everyone’s little sister by the way she’s constantly doted on.
I reach the bar just in time to catch the beer she slides towards me.
“Are you okay? You look pissed,” she yells over the rowdy crowd. Letting out a long huff, I pick up the beer and chug.
“You could say that.”
Her eyebrow rises as she gives me a“want to talk?”look. I can’t discuss what happened during the drop with her so I decide to change the subject. I nod towards the craziness behind me.
