“You fucking touch a hair on her?—”
The line went dead.
I didn’t think. I didn’t breathe. I was already moving toward my bike.
“Tex—” JD called after me.
“I’m going back there,” I said, voice low and dangerous. “They know she’s alone right now, which means they have eyes on the ranch.”
JD’s eyes were sharp. “Or someone here is telling them.”
I started my engine, and the world narrowed to a single point. Rowan. “Agreed.”
“We need to keep the circle small. I’ll round up who I think can be trusted. We’ll be minutes behind you.”
I nodded and pulled on my helmet before starting my engine.
The wind tore at me as I pushed the bike harder than I should’ve, gravel spitting out behind me. Every second felt like one too many. Every bend in the road felt like a barrier betweenme and whatever the hell was happening back at her ranch—to her.
I didn’t really know this woman, and I sure as shit didn’t owe her anything, and yet my body was responding like I had known her my whole life. Like she was my personal lifeline to a world I didn’t deserve to be in, but wanted in nonetheless.
When her driveway came into view, my heart slammed against my ribs.
Her truck was gone and the yard was empty, but worse, the front door was wide open.
I killed the engine of my bike and ran. “Rowan!” I bellowed her name, the reverberations of my own voice the only thing that responded.
Silence answered me, cold and heavy as I stepped inside the house, every sense on high alert, every instinct in me screaming.
If anyone had laid a hand on her, I’d burn the whole damn world down to find them and make them pay. And when I found out who in our club was involved in this, I wouldn’t need Ridge or anyone else to tear them apart because I’d do it myself.
We never involved civilians in club business. Our problems never bled out into the world out there. I didn’t have family, or friends outside of the club, but I knew it was a whole different world from the one I lived in. I knew my world was a world that many couldn’t survive in, and I worked to keep the Kings circle tight and controlled. To know that someone I trusted could be doing this made me sick to my stomach and a deep sense of rage like I’d never felt before settled over me.
The ferocity of my thoughts was jarring, but it wasn’t for me to analyze right now.
The house was too still. Not the normal kind of quiet. This was the kind that pressed against your ribs, the kind that meant something was wrong.
I moved from room to room, checking every corner, checking every window. Looking for any sign that she’d left in a hurry, or worse, that someone had forced her out. But nothing was broken and nothing was overturned, yet the air felt wrong, like the echo of someone else’s presence still clung to the walls.
I moved through the kitchen, noting an empty mug on the counter and next to it, a shotgun. I checked to see if it was loaded, my worry growing when I found that it was.
Then I smelled it—smoke.
Not the sharp bite of a chimney or someone burning brush. This was different. It had a chemical, dirty tang to it.
My whole body went rigid as I stepped back out onto the porch, scanning the property. The wind shifted, carrying the smell stronger this time, and I realized that it was the south pasture, near the old equipment shed.
My pulse kicked hard and I was halfway down the steps when engines rumbled up the drive. Six bikes, familiar, loud, and fast, were pulling up. Moose was first off his bike, helmet barely off his head before he barked, “Where is she?”
“Not here,” I said, already moving. “Something’s burning though.”
Ridge swung off his bike next, followed by Bear, Confessor, and two prospects named Asshole 1 and Asshole 2. We named all the prospects Asshole, them only getting their real road names when they patched in.
Ridge’s eyes narrowed as he sniffed the air. “That’s accelerant. Someone’s lit something up somewhere.”
“Yeah, south side I think,” I said.
The smoke thickened as we crossed the yard, turning from a faint warning to a choking cloud of black. My boots hit the dirt hard, every step fueled by a single thought that Rowan could be out there. Hurt, trapped. Or worse.
