Page 28 of Nicolette

Could it be the fact I’d only just become a shifter, and he was born one? Regardless of the whys and hows of it all, the simple fact was I would be no one’s favorite person off the bat. Oh fuck, that’s without them knowing I’m a lioness.

God, I just went from one fighting ring to the next, but at least this time, I healed a fuckton faster. Let’s not forget about the claws too. Those would absolutely come in handy. My lioness chuffed her agreement to that thought. Come to think of it, she was way more upset about them washing our scent off. If I was really a fated pair to Nine, how come she was so worried about the others? Clearly not in the mood to give me answers, she curled up and promptly fell asleep, all worn out from the marathon of sex we’d just had.

“Fat lot of help you are,” I muttered as I rested my cheek on Nine’s shoulder, watching the countryside go by.

I’d never been this far outside the city before. It was relaxing to have all the fresh air, open space, and wind in your hair as we rode. I’d always liked motorcycles, but there was never money for one and the maintenance that came with it. Now I was part of a biker gang whether I liked it or not, but I needed to find at least one perk. If I got my own bike once I convinced Nine to let me ride with the crew, that would be my bright spot in all this.

As the ride continued, I realized once more that Nine’s heart was beating in rhythm with my own. Or was it the other way around? Was this a side effect of being fated? Good thing I wasn’t tied to an anxious person with a heart rate of a million beats per minute. Really when you take a good hard look at the position I was in, it could have been so much worse. President of a fearsome MC, alpha to a pride of felines, hot as fucking sin, and until today, super emotionally stable. For a man who liked to have all his ducks in a row, I could imagine this was just hell for him. Nothing was going as planned, and he was losing control over his reactions to things. That was really some shit kind of thank you the universe decided to give him for rescuing me.

Once we arrived back in the city, my relaxed mood started to slip away. The reality of being back here where LC could find me and drag me back to Lucky Shot had me gripping onto Nine tighter. Then there was the issue of Mortas. I had no fucking idea what that fucking fanger wanted or why he decided to come after me now. He’d had plenty of time to steal me away after he killed my father unless he needed to wait for some reason.

I never did find out what agreement my grandfather made to free his son to be with my mother. I’d also chosen to keep the fact that I’d learned I wasn’t biologically related to my father quiet. She was already in so much pain from losing him, then to have to deal with raising me on her own while sick was enough torture for one person.

I knew that Savage Pride ran the opposite side of The Grid than LC, but I’d never been across the river before. Not that it looked all that different than the rundown shit hole the slums were in general. One leg up that Nine and his pride had to everyone on the far side was the train yard. I imagine this is how the Pride moved all the weapons they sold as the top arms dealers in the province. The train yard was massive, with tons of workers moving about like ants bringing back the goods they collected while they were out. When we finally passed the last block of the black iron fencing marking the yard’s boundary, Nine took a turn down a long alley.

At the end of the alley was a large parking lot with bikes parked everywhere, along with about two dozen four-wheeled vehicles of various sizes. The building must have been the apartments Nine had talked about, but this place was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. It was tall, like thirty floors high, but that wasn’t what was so odd. The damn thing was round. As if some crazy architect was like you know what, fuck square buildings. I was going to make mine tall and round, a majestic farm silo in the middle of the slums. There was one perk I was seeing though, and it’s that everyone had a balcony. Unless there were some apartments on the inner part of this cylinder, but the glass dome on top had me rethinking that.

Nine pulled up to a row of five garage doors and slid a remote out of his saddle bag to open it. The space was empty of any other bikes, so I had to assume this was the one he and the guys used. There were hooks on the wall with extra gear in six different sizes, which added to my theory.

Nine motioned for me to get off, so I tossed my leg over the back end and turned to look around the place I was going to call home. Tucking my hands into the pockets of my leather jacket, I tipped my head back to take in the whole building.

It was old, made of brick that I think was at one point tan. Now it was stained various shades of black and gray, marked by the pollution of the city, weather, and time. Support pillars attached to the balconies ran up the whole building, giving it an even more unusual look. I could see people on the lower patios, a woman hanging out laundry, a man smoking, talking on the phone. There were definitely kids somewhere, based on the shrieking and yelling I could hear. Everything about this palace was so fucking normal it was freaking me the hell out. I hadn’t been in normal society in ten years.

The only people I interacted with saw me as competition, a threat, a booty call, or just straight-up wanted to kill me to get my spot. That was simply the people I had to live with. I can’t even begin to go into the crazy that was those who frequented Lucy Chance.

“Did you want to stare at it some more, or can we go in?” Marco asked as he came to stand next to me.

I glanced at him but didn’t say anything right away. When the garage door began to shut, I knew my stalling time was over. It was time to meet the pride. Nine charged past me, jaw clenched as he side-eyed Marco, making sure he wasn’t touching me. Or that’s what I assumed he was doing. Rambler was right behind him, followed by Circus and Dice, leaving me with the twins.

“Um… is there some pecking order rule or something I didn’t get told about?” I asked as I started to follow after the group.

Polo frowned at me. “What do you mean?”

“Seriously? You two always bring up the rear with Thing One and Thing Two in the middle and Rambler right on Nine’s ass. It’s like you all have your position in the MC as one thing and your station in the pride as another,” I explained.

“Yup,” Marco answered, popping the P.

“That’s exactly how it is. Nine is alpha, a lion, and the leader of the MC because he has the power to back it up. Rambler is the second because that’s the place he lands in the scheme of things, but to be honest, I think a fight between him and Nine would be a close call,” Marco admitted. “Circus and Dice are both on pretty equal footing but for different reasons. Dice is ruthless, bloodthirsty, and has zero problem killing someone to take what he wants. Which, interestingly enough, is why he has his dice. They’re supposed to force him to think about what he’s going to do next based on the number he rolls. Instead, now it’s more like Russian roulette. If he likes the number you might live, he rolls a number he hates…”

“Dead faster than you can blink,” Polo finished.

“What about Circus?” I asked, curiosity peaked.

Polo took the lead on answering this time. “Circus is like the grim reaper. You never see him coming until it’s too late to do anything but accept your fate. The clumsy act is just that, an act. He finds particular joy in getting people to believe he’s a harmless fool, letting down their guard. Then the next thing you know, your throat is slit, and you’re gasping your last breath with his stupid face grinning down at you. I also think there is an element of being an adrenaline junky, pushing things to the edge, taking unnecessary risks, whatever he can do to push the limits.”

“Huh…” I grunted. “Guess I shouldn’t be surprised. No wonder I had a soft spot for the guy. I always seem to find myself surrounded by the crazies. Speaking of… what about you two? Out of the bunch, I’d dare say you’re practically normal.”

“We are,” they said in unison, making me laugh.

“The two of us are born shifters, and twins are rather rare. So when our parents got killed in a raid, the pride took us in. We’ve been raised around this place since we were ten, learning all the ins and outs of the system,” Marco shared. “Polo is a man gifted with numbers and science, leaving him with a hobby of making poisons and toxins that can affect shifters and other supernaturals. The only reason I’m part of the Savage Pride leadership is because Polo wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“That is not true,” Polo argued. “I keep telling you time and time again that’s not what happened. There is no one better than you at cracking code, safes, boosting cars, and helping to design the hide holes in the warehouses to keep the goods from being found. They just didn’t have another spot to put you, so you’re co-treasurer.”

I let out an impressed whistle upon hearing Marco’s credentials. “My, my… don’t you both fit the bill for undercover bad boys. You look so pure and innocent you’d never guess at the lovely hidden talents you guys have.” Now it was their turn to laugh as we entered the apartment building.

Chapter 13

Nicolette