Chapter 12
Wrath
We're mounted up, engines rumbling like caged thunder. I grip the handlebars my knuckles pressing against skin like they're trying to break free.
We’re just waiting for Steel to give the word to ride out when he pulls out his phone and checks the screen. His eyebrows climb toward his hairline, and something shifts in his expression. "It's Viper."
What?
The Iron Serpents president is calling Steel's direct line. There's only a handful of reasons that happens, and most of them end in blood.
“Answer.” My voice doesn't sound human. Doesn't sound like me at all—it's the voice of something that lives in the darkest parts of me, the thing I usually keep chained down. "Put it on speaker."
Steel's finger hovers over the screen for a heartbeat. Then he hits the button, and Viper's voice fills the night air.
"Steel." There's tension in that single word, but also something that might be regret.
"You've got about thirty seconds to tell me why I shouldn't bring hellfire down on your compound and burn it to the fucking ground with everyone of you fucks inside."
"I fucked up, Steel.” Viper's voice is steady despite the death threat.“Massively. And I'm calling to make it right before this turns into a bloodbath neither of us wants."
"You kidnapped an ol' lady from our compound.” Steel's tone is low and ominous, each word delivered like a blade. "There's no making that right. There's only war and vengeance and bodies in the ground."
"I know what I did. And I know how it looks.” Viper pauses, and I can hear him breathing on the other end. "But she's safe, Steel. Unharmed. And I’d like to return her to you. No conditions. No negotiations. Just want to get her home where she belongs."
Safe. Unharmed. They want to return her.
I don't trust the asshole. Won't believe it until I see her, touch her, confirm with my own eyes and hands that she's whole.
I grab the phone from Steel's hand before I can think better of it. "Where is she? Let me talk to her. Right fucking now.”
"Wrath." Viper's voice gentles fractionally, like he's talking to something wild and dangerous. Smart man. "She's okay. She's safe. She's with some of our women?—”
"I don't give a fuck." I'm hanging on by my fingernails, about to lose it completely. About to burn down the world to get to her. "I want to talk to her. I want to hear her voice. I want confirmation she's alive and unharmed. Now."
Silence stretches. I can hear muffled voices in the background, movement, a door opening. Then?—
"Rhett?"
Her voice breaks something inside my chest. Cracks it wide open like an earthquake fault line. She sounds upbeat. And alive. Whole.
"Baby." My throat closes around the word, emotion choking me in a way I haven't experienced since I was twelve years old finding my mother's body. "Are you hurt? Did they touch you? Did anyone put their fucking hands on you?"
"No." She's crying now, I can hear it in her voice. "I'm okay, Rhett. I promise I'm okay. They didn't hurt me at all. They’re actually being very nice right now. I just—I just want to come home. Please come get me. Please."
The please guts me. Like she thinks I might not come. Like there's any force in this universe that could keep me from her.
"I'm on my way right now." I force the words through my constricted throat. “Ten minutes, angel. Maybe less. Just hold on for me. Just keep staying strong for me.”
"Okay." A shaky breath. Then, so quiet I almost miss it, "I love you, Rhett."
The words hit like an arrow to the chest. She loves me.
"I love you too, Cami.” My voice cracks completely. "So fucking much. I'm coming, baby. Just hold on."
Viper's voice comes back on the line, and I have to force myself not to crush Steel's phone in my grip. "We're at our compound. Main building. Come in through the front gate—it'll be open, the guards will pull back. No tricks, no ambush, no weapons visible. Just me and my club trying to make this right."
Steel takes the phone back gently, like he's disarming a bomb. "If this is a trap, Viper. If this is some kind of play?—"
