PROLOGUE
KNIGHT
It was December,and bitterly cold, butpop-pop-popcracked through the night like the Fourth of July. In the distance, sirens wailed.
“Fuck!” Puck sprang to his feet, panic twisting his features into a snarl. “We’ve gotta get out of here!”
“We’re pinned down,” I said, careful to stay tucked behind a solid beam that would stop any stray bullets finding their way through the busted-out window. Most of the gunfire was for show. They wanted us to run so they could catch us and deal out their punishment face-to-face.
Most likely they’d beat us both to a pulp,thenshoot us and leave us to bleed out.
“You should have just thrown the fight tonight,” Puck growled. “I told you this would happen.”
I shifted positions, my ribs screaming a reminder that I’d taken a beating even before Puck had called me for backup.
“Hector would have lost his shit,” I said. “You know the Serpents all bet on my fights. Why couldn’t you just bet onmeif you owed these guys money?”
“Because that’s not what they wanted!”
I was the Sons of Serpents prize fighter in our illegal fighting ring. I’d won my match back at the warehouse against a giant named Titus who’d made me work for it, then helped Puck fight off four guys determined to take a pound of flesh from him. We’d barely made it into this barn, and now we were trapped.
I still had blood crusted into the creases of my knuckles. Various parts of my body throbbed in time with my heartbeat. My adrenaline kept me on my feet, but I’d give my right kidney for a hot shower and bed.
Pop-pop!Another round of gunfire went off, followed by the sirens growing even closer.
“I can’t go to prison again,” Puck said. “With my record, they’ll throw the book at me. I gotta get out of here.”
The members of our rival bike club, the Road Reapers, would cut down Puck in a heartbeat. They didn’t want to get arrested either, though. They’d scatter soon.
“Just wait. They’re going to leave.”
“It’ll be too late,” Puck said. “The cops will be all over us. I have to make a run for it.”
“That’s a bad fucking idea.”
“No shit,” he said. “But I’m not going back to prison for the rest of my life. That’s just as bad as taking a bullet.”
He took a big breath, eyes narrowing on the barn door, body tensed to run. I scanned the barn, looking for any other plan. Something that wouldn’t riddle my boyfriend with bullets.
“The loft,” I said quickly. “There’s a window. Climb onto the roof. Hunker down out of sight.”
“Will that really work?”
“I’ll draw their attention,” I promised.
Puck grabbed my face and gave me a quick, hard kiss. “You’re my hero!”
“Go,” I urged, chest swelling with pride.
When we met, Puck was the badass biker, and I was just the high school dropout without better prospects. A runaway who had no one but a few other lost kids who frequented a youth center. The Serpents had come recruiting. I wasn’t too interested until Puck blew me in the bathroom and told me that if I joined, we could hook up on the DL.
That was three years ago. I’d gotten my patch like all the other guys, risen through the ranks—mainly thanks to my fists and ability to take a hell of a beating in our illegal fighting ring. I was the club president’s personal cash cow, which was why I couldn’t have thrown the fight tonight.
No matter how much I loved Puck.
Hector would have seen through any act, which would have been my head. Even if he hadn’t figured out it was sabotage, he’d have made me pay for all the money he lost. Pay with crappy chores fit for a pledge, abuse from the other bikers, high-risk operations. I’d be on his shit list, and it’d take months to earn my way back to the top.
I couldn’t risk that. Not now that I was finally Puck’s equal.
