Page 38 of Revenant's Fire

Gallows catches my eye, raising a brow and tipping his head toward the idling pickup.

“Don’t ask,” I reply, slipping my sunglasses on.

Gallows looks at our lineup. Every patched brother is mounted, ready to ride, except Fogg and the prospect. They’ll be running comms and security from the clubhouse.

“Brothers, mount up-”

Gallows words fade on the wind when gunshots ring out.

“Get down!” Mercy bellows, shoving Jubilee off his bike in time to dodge the bullet that ricochets off his gas tank.

We scatter, sheltering where we can but the gunfire seems all encompassing.

“Who the fuck is shooting at us?” Gallows yells, pissed.

Whoever it is has a death wish. The main driveway and entrance was built to bottleneck intruders. To get to our clubhouse you gotta get through Gallows’ mom’s prepper booby traps and bullshit. But these shots aren’t coming from that direction. They’re coming from the side of the farm we’re on.

“Fuck! It’s the Wolves and they got teams coming at us!” Fogg yells down our earpieces, his fucking voice all I can hear over the sound of my heartbeat. I don’t have time for this shit!

“Report, prospect!” Gallows shouts and the prospect kicks into gear.

“We got a team of three headed straight for your position. Two coming on your right, another three coming straight up the club drive,” Grail spits out.

Gallows looks at me, then at the men scattered around us. “Fuck them up.”

We do as he says. Muscle memory kicking in as we break into teams.

“Rev, with me,” Hush yells, tipping his chin to the right.

He leads. Me at his back. Eyes sweeping the scene. My gun raises as soon as I clock something in my periphery. Bang. One Wolf down. Left foot. Right foot. My gun sweeps high while Hush sweeps low. Gunfire. Shouts. Ears ringing. The air is heavy with gunsmoke and blood. Then like a kick to the fucking balls it hits me. This could be my time. This could be when God calls me home. And for the first time in as long as I can remember…I don’t want to go. Not now. Not when I have Sunny.

A rifle cracks somewhere to my right. Hush flinches, stumbling a little before his knees buckle and he falls to the ground. He’s silent as I crawl toward him, heart in my throat, prayer in my mind. I can’t lose any one else.

I reach him, a dark stain on his shoulder growing the longer I look at it.

“I’m fine brother, go!” Hush yells in my face.

Shaking my head, I hold my hands to his wound, ignoring his screams. Blood bubbles through my fingers and my heart rate begins to spike. Not again. Not again. Not again.

The sound of my club brothers grunts and groans fill my head until my vision narrows. Brothers. Sunny. I can’t fucking save them all. I have to choose one. I have to choose one.

“Rev!” Gallows shouts, gaze intense. “Get Sunny back! Brake, Coyote! Go with Rev. ”

Sweat drips down my brow. “What about the club?”

“What about your woman?” My brow pulls low. “This is what he wants. You to choose. Choose right,” Gallows growls.

My boots are fucking frozen to the ground. I can’t up and leave my brothers. I can’t leave Sunny at the mercy of Bubbles and Split. Choosing my woman would be choosing right. But so would choosing my brothers. Fuck! Someone has to die for the others to live right? That’s the test. The one God has given me time and time again and every time it took a piece of me. I can’t do this again. I can’t lose.

“You can’t bend the rules to save everyone.”

“Of course I can.”

“What if it’s not God’s will?”

“Then why did He make me the kind of person that would keep trying anyway?”

My eyes squeeze shut, tension leaving my shoulders as a grin tugs at my lips. I get it.