Skipping the stairs, I pull myself onto the porch where the railing is broken. I lead my team to the door and silently gesture for us to split up. Four guys are to cover the yard with the rest of us splitting up between the front and the back entrances. Giving the other team to the count of ten to get to the back door, I gently and casually open the front door and peer in. Calmly, I move forward into the house.
The carpet beneath my feet is threadbare and there are stains all over the place. The smell that hits the second I enter is enough to keep me from trying not to gag. Looking left, I see a kitchen. Dishes are piled up in the basin and there are cockroaches running everywhere. Molding food sits on the table and upon closer inspection, I see maggots crawling around on a plate.
Exiting the room, I move deeper into the house. I don’t look back to see where my men are. They’re behind me, I know that as well as I know my own name. I will give my life for any of these men just as any of them would give their life for me.
The further into the house, the harder the music becomes. At the end of the hall, the house opens to a large room I’m assuming was once the dining room and living room but is now a mess. They have ripped out the wall that used to separate the two rooms and use it as a get-together room. There are bottles lying around everywhere, all the furniture is tattered or broken, and there’s no one in sight.
As I turn to my left, I freeze. Held down over the top of what appears to have once been is kitchen table is a young woman. She’s probably no older than seventeen or eighteen and has a shock of red hair and a shiner the size of an apple. She’s buck-naked and even from this distance, I can see the bruises and scars all over her body.
Tears stream down her dirt-stained face as the scrawny, dirty man behind her continues pumping his hips. He’s so out of it his head is thrown back and his eyes are closed. She looks me straight in the eyes and a sob racks her body.
“Take it, you whore,” the guy behind her slurs and wraps a hand around her throat. Her eyes bug out and I put my finger to my lips, showing her to be quiet. She stares straight at me and I see that she understands the gesture.
“Don’t make me hurt you, Kaiya. I don’t want to, but I will,” the man says again.
The urge to shoot him right between the eyes almost overwhelms me, but that will alert whoever else is in the building that we’re here. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Mad Dog approach the man holding Kaiya down.
Mad Dog doesn’t cower or slink toward the man. He doesn’t draw his gun or have any form of weapon in either of his hands. He walks up behind the man, takes him in a headlock, whispers something in the man's ear, and simply snaps his neck. It all happens so fast. If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it.
Kaiya slides from the table and crawls underneath it, pulling her knees up to her chest and sobbing quietly. Mad Dog removes his cut and then his shirt. He puts the cut back on and then crawls beneath the table. He holds his hands up, palms out to show he isn’t a threat while Kaiya tries to scurry further away from him. He talks to her softly in calming tones to convince her to take the shirt from him and cover herself.
My heart breaks a little at the confusion on her face. Just as she gingerly reaches out to take the shirt from him, a gunshot rips through the house. The scream that follows chills me to the bone and I want to run straight in that direction.
At the sound of it, Kaiya looks over at me.
“He has her in the basement. Middle room. Hurry please, he’s going to hurt her bad. Please, please help her.” She hiccups through her tears and even though her voice is soft, I hear every word.
“Kaiya, are there any other people in the house?” I look her in the eyes as I ask her the question.
“Only my brother Sam.” I must look confused, so she adds, “Viper.”
Momentum propels me to the stairs on the far end of the room. I know that Sparrow will follow me as we move down the stairs, but there are also two of my other brothers with us. Quietly, we move down the corridor until we reach the second door of the three. Peering into the room, I get to see the kick that he delivers to Hadley’s head before I storm at him.
I don’t think, I simply react without thinking of my own safety or that of my men. In the distance, I hear gunfire erupting, but all I can think of is the kick that Viper delivered. Relentlessly and mercilessly, I continue to punch him.
Arms come around my upper body, pinning my arms. I struggle against the hold even though I know it’s no use. Beast is one of our newest members and huge. He used to play college football until an injury took him out.
“Boss,” he says in my ear.
“We got to go, boss. Other members of this godforsaken club have shown up and shooting has started outside. The girl needs to get to a hospital. Come on, boss.”
I shake off his hold—knowing that it’s only because he allowed it—and turn to look at him. “Take him with us. I want him put in the shed so that I can sort out this mess.”
Beast nods, lifts Viper’s prone body, and hefts him over his shoulder. Turning around, I look to where Hadley’s lifeless body lay and my blood reaches boiling point. I take a deep breath and struggle to clear the red haze clouding my vision. Sparrow is hunched down, leaning over her and feeling for a pulse. An irrational urge to rip his arm from his body rolls through me. No one should touch her but me. Walking up behind him, I lay my hand on his shoulder, knowing that I’m using too much force.
“Step away, brother, I’ve got this,” I say to him.
He looks up at me and nods before moving away. He tries to school his features but I still see the shock on his face.
“Make the call,” I instruct. “Get the van here. Both the girls need to see a doctor and we have a prisoner to transport.”
Putting his phone to his ear, he rises. The gunfire outside has stopped and I’m praying everyone is okay. Leaning down, I inspect her. I’m terrified to move her and cause further injuries, but I can’t bring a doctor here or call an ambulance. The only solution is to load her in the van.
Turning her slightly to the side, I can feel the blood drain from my face. There’s blood, a lot of it, all from the left side of her body. Her entire face is black and blue and her hair is also stained with blood. Her shirt is torn down the front and her breasts are out for the world to see. They too are bruised and if I’m not mistaken, covered in dried cum.
She’s pale, and when I feel for a pulse, it’s so weak I almost miss it. Standing, I remove my cut to cover her breasts and keep them from the sight of my brothers. I don’t need to lose my shit right now because one of them looks at her funny. Lifting her into my arms, I cradle her against my chest. She mewls in pain as she slightly opens the eye that isn’t swollen shut and looks up at me. She lifts her hand and touches the side of my face.
“Brandon,” she croaks before passing out again.
Chapter Sixteen
Wolf
By the time I reach the front door, all the guys are gathered and waiting. Pope pulls up the drive and parks the van, looking us all over.
“Everybody whole?” he questions no one in particular.
“Yeah, pres,” Sparrow answers me from behind.
“Luger got clipped in the shoulder but we’re whole. Both girls need medical attention and Viper got away. Three of the guys are out combing the surrounding woods.”
Pope nods his head and moves to open the back doors. Mad Dog and I both get in the back each, holding a woman to our chests. Luger has his t-shirt pressed to his left shoulder where the bullet hit him.
“I’m sorry, boss. The fucker snuck up on me, but I’ll find Viper and bring him back to you,” Beast says as he gets in beside me.
He sounds disappointed in himself and even though I have pure rage running through my veins, I know it’s not his fault. “Don’t sweat it, man. We’ll find him. I know it wasn’t your fault.”
He looks up at me and studies me closely before nodding his head and looking back to the floor of the van. As I g
lance past Beast, I see two members of the Mongrels MC lying dead on the grass. A perverse satisfaction weaves through me. Pope delegates the brothers who came with him to drive our bikes back to the compound and gets behind the steering wheel.
“Where to, Wolf?” he asks over his shoulder as he starts down the driveway.
“Is Doc at the clubhouse? I don’t want to take her to the hospital,” I say after thinking it through quickly. “Too many questions and we have none of the answers.”
“Yeah, Doc’s waiting on us.” He puts his foot down on the gas and drives like a bat out of hell.
“Is, is she going to be okay?” a small voice questions from in front of me.
“I don’t know, Kaiya, but I hope so.”
Looking her straight in the eyes, I wait for her to say something. To tell me what the hell happened.
“I tried to help. I spoke to Sam and begged him to let her go. When she was out from the tranquilizer, he wanted to have some fun, but I hit him in the back with a chair. I got this for my trouble and she still got hurt.” She gingerly touches her black eye.
Nodding, I look back down at Hadley. She seems paler and again fear courses through my veins. Before I can ask the question, we come to a dead stop. Looking up through the windshield, I realize we are back at our clubhouse. Pope opens the back doors and I scoot forward to get out. Straightening myself, I walk toward the door.
Storm comes running out into the parking lot and a wail is ripped from her as her legs give way and she collapses to the ground. I can imagine what she’s seeing.
Her dearest friend is cradled to my chest, covered in nothing but my cut and a pair of soiled jeans. She’s pale as a sheet of paper and I’m saturated in blood. She must think her friend is dead and if I were in her position, I would think the exact same thing. Pope comes running past me and picks her up too.
Walking into the clubhouse, I realize that sometime during all the commotion, Pope put the club on lockdown. All the old ladies, kids, club whores, and club friends are inside. People stare at me but make way to let me through. Luna comes toward me and I can see that she’s in professional mode. Never have I been so glad in my life to see her, knowing that with her training as a nurse she’ll be able to assist Doc.
“Your blood or hers?” she questions.
“Hers. Seems to be a bullet wound in her left side. Just under her ribs. I didn’t check to see if it is a through and through.” I walk and talk at the same time with Luna following behind.
“Doc is in the conference room.” Luna steers me by the shoulder in the direction she wants me.
“Pope texted that there were two women and a brother that needed tending. It’s easier if they’re all in the same room at the same time so that we can access them all together and see who needs the most help.”
Kicking the door to the conference room open, I see that the meeting table has been moved against the far wall with all the chairs on top of it. Someone—I’m assuming one of the hang-arounds—has carried three cots from upstairs and put them alongside each other.
Doc looks up at me upon my noisy entry. “Middle bed, Wolf. I have a feeling she might need the most urgent care from the amount of blood on you.”
Nodding at Doc, I lower her carefully to the bed. Her eyelids flutter but her eyes never open. Mad Dog comes in with Kaiya and lowers her to the cot on the right and stands to leave.
“Doll.” He stares at her until she looks at him. “If you need anything, anything at all, you come find me. Everyone knows me. My name is Mad Dog and I’m going to take care of you until you ready to fly on your own, little bird. You got me?”
She nods and a smile tugs at the corner of his lips. He turns and walks out of the room. I turn my attention back to Doc and Hadley.
“Does anyone know what happened to her? If I have a better idea of what happened, I will know the best course of treatment.”
Doc looks at me as he asks the question but I don’t have any of the answers he needs. For the first time in a long time, I feel utterly useless, so I just shake my head. “The only thing I saw was Viper kicking her in the head.”
It’s all I have to offer. The feel of a small hand on my shoulder has me looking up to find Kaiya standing beside me. It’s remarkable that she’s even able to stand, let alone try to comfort me. She has a question in her eyes, likely wanting to know whether she can trust Doc. I nod my head. She turns to Doc and starts talking.
“My brother did this. He brought her in yesterday knocked out cold and tied her to a chair. Left her in the dark alone for about two hours. He went back later and talked a lot of shit about you.” She looks me in the eyes as she says this.
“Says if he knew you were so hung up on her, he would have taken her sooner. Then he ripped her clothes and smacked her around a bit before jacking off on her. They argued and he knocked her out with Midazolam.” She stops for a moment, as though to gather her thoughts.
“He had me bring a mattress in and move her over. I asked him to let her go. He wanted to rape her while she was out, so I hit him in the back with a chair. I said he couldn’t handle a fight with the Gypsy Bastards and he gave me this in reply.” Again, she touches her shiner.
“He left us alone in the dark again and when he came back, Squid came down to fetch me. That’s where you found me fifteen minutes later.” She looks up at me with those emerald-green eyes and I nod.
“Thank you, Kaiya. You did all you could and could have been seriously hurt. But thank you for looking after her,” I say softly.
Doc clears his throat to get our attention. While Kaiya was speaking, he was assessing Hadley to see what needed to be done.
“Okay, the bullet wound is a through and through, but it nicked something, so I am going to have to open her up to stop the bleeding. Wolf, I need you to go down to the clinic and get the portable x-ray and the portable sonar. I need that so that I can determine what, if anything is broken.”
“I’ll go to the clinic.” A voice from behind me makes me jump and spin around. Behind me is Viking and he seems both heartbroken and pissed-off, gazing down at Hadley.
“Give me the codes and the keys and I’ll have two prospects help me. Wolf will stay here and look after the girls and help where needed.”
I nod at him in thanks and he turns to leave. Doc is hard at work and Kaiya takes a seat on the bed beside me. She looks up at me sadly with the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen.
“Thank you for helping me. I know that I’m not a Gypsy girl or any of your problem, but I do appreciate it.”
“Kaiya,” I sigh.
It feels like the weight of the world is on my shoulders and I’m unsure if I’ll be able to hold it up much longer. “I don’t have any idea what was going on in that fucking place, but I don’t care if you are my worst enemy. If I see a woman being treated the way they were treating you, I will do something. Always. It’s who I am and how I was raised. All of us are like that. We don’t treat women the way you’ve been treated.”
She looks at me thoughtfully and nods, returning her gaze to Hadley as Doc works. He and Luna are discussing everything that needs to be done and I’m confident in their skills. Luna walks over and lowers herself to her haunches.
“Hi, I’m Luna.” She holds her hand out to Kaiya.
“Kaiya.”
“Okay, Kaiya. We need to get you examined. I see you’re only wearing one of the guy’s shirts and we need to make sure you’re okay,” Luna tries to coax her.
“No need,” Kaiya replies. Her whole demeanor has changed, and she sits still as a statue beside me. “Same shit, different day.”
Looking at her, I cannot disguise my surprise or the rage that threatens to yet again overwhelm me. “Kaiya, you can’t be serious. We walked in on you being held down and raped.”
I’m shocked at her attitude. How can she be so calm about this?
“Wolf, I’m going to tell you something and I want you to listen to me carefully ’cuz I’m only going to say this once. S
ince the age of twelve, I have been living with that club. My parents died, and my brother was awarded sole custody. Since I was sixteen, I have been passed around the Mongrels MC. I have been fucked every which way from Sunday. I have been beaten, kicked, branded.” At this, she stands and lifts the shirt she’s wearing to show me a cattle brand with the letter M on her right butt cheek.
“And I have survived. I have been raped at least once a day for the last three years. I have never had consensual sex and I will never have children. They made sure of that. I’m a survivor and I will not have your goddamned pity. Do you hear me?”
She stands over me with her hands on her hips, scolding me like a three-year-old. I like the spunk she has and I appreciate her candor and the fact she’s decided to trust me with this information. It breaks my heart that she has been through this, but there’s nothing I can do to change her past.
“Yes, ma’am.” I smirk at her.
We hear a roar from outside the room and something connecting with the wall next to the door. Then there’s complete silence. Luna is crying, streams of tears running down her cheeks, but she averts her gaze and walks over to assist Doc.
“Also,” Kaiya says softly as she takes a seat beside me, “if you can put in a good word for me with the guys, I would like to stay on. I cook and clean and obviously fuck. Also, I can tell you everything I know about the Mongrels.”
She takes a deep breath. “They need to die.”
Chapter Seventeen
Hadley
Jesus, every part of my body hurts. I thought when you die, the pain is supposed to end. Did I die? Am I still in that room? God, I hope not. Carefully, I force my eyes to open.
The room is filled with light. Turning my head to the right hurts like a bitch. My head feels like a fucking watermelon that weighs fifty pounds. I see a wood-paneled wall and a large table stacked with chairs. Gingerly, I turn my head in the other direction. Against the wall is a large couch with Wolf sleeping on it. In his lap lies a small woman with flame-red hair. Her eyes are open and she’s watching me intently. The moment her green eyes connect with mine, she starts crying.
The Wolf Page 8
