by Meg Ripley
“I understand your son is feeling better today?” Amar stepped out onto the deck and leaned against the rail, his dark skin shining in the sun.
“Word travels quickly around here, doesn’t it?” Gabe replied with a smile. “Yes. It’s not a surprise, though. Emersyn is an excellent doctor.”
“Good. We’ll need one. Our missions could be incredibly dangerous.” He adjusted his elbows on the deck railing, admiring the beauty that surrounded them. “Speaking of missions, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”
“Sure.” They could talk about anything he wanted. Gabe couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so good. He could take on the world.
“I just want to make sure all is well between you and Emersyn. I think you’ll both be incredibly valuable assets to this team, and we need every bit of skill and experience we can get if we’re going to actually settle this issue with the biker gangs. I wouldn’t want some old romance to get in the way.”
Gabe’s smile widened. It wasn’t an old romance as far as he was concerned. As soon as he got the chance, he was going to let Emersyn know not only his past and the reason he’d left her, but how he felt about her now. They were meant to be together, and they’d both tried to deny it for too long. The fact that he’d heard her in his mind when he was fighting Hunter should’ve been evidence enough, but the time they’d spent together the previous day had proven it. “I know things got off to a bit of a rocky start, but I think we’ve worked it all out.”
“You’re certain? Because things would be very complicated for us if I had to constantly keep the two of you apart. Also, I read the report from your encounter with Hunter and the San Bernardino conclave.” The disappointment was evident in his eyes.
“Yeah.” Gabe ran a hand over the back of his neck. “I wish that hadn’t happened. It wasn’t professional, and it certainly didn’t help our case. I lost control. Emersyn and I still had a lot of things to work out, and even though my fight with Hunter was uncalled for, I think it helped us bring things out in the open. We’ve talked a lot, and I think we’re headed toward the right place.”
“Good.” Amar clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s good to know. Especially since it’s time for the third leg of our mission. We’ll be splitting into teams to go talk to the gangs themselves. Can I count on the two of you to work as a pair again?”
His cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so much. “Absolutely. Not a problem at all.”
“Great. I know we have Hudson’s cell phones we can rely on for now, but I can’t wait until we get the chance to be linked. I think we’ll all be a lot safer when we’re out in the field. Anyway, we’ll go over all the details at the meeting. See you then.” Amar headed back in the house.
Gabe remained on the deck for a moment, allowing himself a thrill of excitement in knowing that he and Emersyn would be heading out together once again. He had no doubt it would go better than it had the first time. It would also give him an opportunity to tell her how he really felt. He stepped back inside, rehearsing the right words in his head.
A couple of hours later in the car, Gabe moved his hand from where it rested on the gear shifter and rested it on Emersyn’s knee. He felt her muscles contract and stiffen. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” she said quietly.
“If you’re worried about Lucas, he’s fine. He was feeling much better this morning, and he seemed perfectly content to stay with Melody.” Gabe hadn’t been completely sure about Melody at first, simply because he didn’t know her. But now he’d had the chance to see just how much she cared for the little boy and that the feeling was mutual. They were incredibly fortunate to have someone they trusted just down the hall.
“I know.” She turned to look out the window, but her eyes were more distant than the scenery.
He moved his hands back to the steering wheel. There was clearly some sort of tension in the air, but he didn’t know what had caused it. Only earlier that morning, Gabe had been completely sure of where their relationship was heading. Now he felt like he was driving in circles. “What is it, Emersyn? Is there something we need to talk about?”
She blew out a breath of air between pursed lips and looked down at her lap. “I guess so. I was going to wait until after we got back to headquarters. Right before a mission didn’t seem like a good time, but I suppose it’s got to happen sooner or later.”
“What?” He was growing impatient with worry.
Emersyn glanced at him and then away. “This is going to be my last errand with the Force.”
His heart came to a screeching halt in his chest. All the joy and hope he’d been feeling about the future dissipated. “What are you talking about?”
“I had my reservations from the start. I was worried about what to do with Lucas. I was worried about how I would balance the Force with the clinic. Those were enough to deal with, but now it’s like everything’s gotten more complicated. I don’t know that I can handle it.” She pressed the back of her hand to her lips.
“Do you mean…us?” He didn’t really want to know the answer to that. Rather, he was terrified of what the answer would be.
She nodded.
Gabe felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He’d been stupid enough to think that a fun little tumble meant something more. That sweet satisfaction of being with his soulmate had been intoxicating, but this sudden news made him feel like it was nothing more than a drinking binge followed by the worst hangover in the world. “Emersyn, I don’t understand what’s happening here. I thought everything had gone well. I thought…” He didn’t want to say out loud what he’d thought. It would make him sound vulnerable and foolish in light of what she was saying.
“I thought so, too, okay? I saw that temptation to fall back into what we used to be, and I just jumped right in. I was jealous of the mothers who don’t have to do it alone. I was worried that I might have made the wrong decisions for Lucas and that I needed someone to help me. I was tired and worried and I took the easy route. That doesn’t mean it was the right one.”
“Wow. That’s pretty damn insulting.”
“No.” She flapped her hand impatiently in the air. “I don’t mean for it to be. It’s just that it was too easy to fall into your arms, whether it was the right thing to do or not.”
“And why wouldn’t it be the right thing?” It had certainly felt right to him.
“I don’t know. It’s hard to explain, okay?” She flipped her hands impatiently in the air once again, effectively brushing him off.
Gabe was boiling inside. He’d been about to tell her what a colossal mistake he’d made when he’d left her, and even why he’d made it. That was something he’d never opened up about, and seeing her raising Lucas by herself had made him realize that. Now, the only thing he actually realized was what a fool he’d been. “Damn it! I missed my turn.”
“I’m sorry.” Her words were choppy and choked. “I know this was a bad time. Like I said, I was going to wait until later.”
“It’s not like waiting would’ve made it any better.” Gabe didn’t know if he would’ve wanted to wait or not. It would’ve been nice to bask in the glow of what he thought was happening between them a little longer, but maybe not if it was only giving him false hope. “I’ll just turn around.”
“We have to make sure this doesn’t impact the mission. It doesn’t matter for me so much, since I’ll be leaving, but I don’t want our problems to mess up your career with the Force.”
He realized this meant she would also be moving out of the shared house. “So that’s it. I get, what, three days of having my son under the same roof, and then you’re just going to take him away again?”
“I still have a lease on my apartment,” Emersyn snapped. “We can arrange for visitation. It’ll be fine.”
The only thing that kept him from arguing further on that point was the fact that they’d arrived at the Flaming Skulls’ clubhouse. The big brick building looked like
it’d been a factory of some sort at one point, and it was certainly in the right part of town for it. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“Fine.”
They stepped out of the car and up to the door. At one point, he’d been eager to go on this mission because he wanted to see how this particular gang lived. Now, he could care less. He just wanted to talk with them and head back home.
The door opened before they could knock, revealing a large man in a vest and a sleeveless t-shirt. He crossed his tattooed arms across his wide chest, accentuating his beer belly. His handlebar mustache frowned at them. “Can I help you?”
In this sense, the clans, the conclaves, and the gangs were all the same. They always had some hardhead at the front door to keep out the rabble. “We’re here to speak to Grizz.”
“Hmph. Wait here.” He slammed the door in their faces, but he returned a minute later to guide them inside. Gabe didn’t like how similar this was to their experience in San Bernardino.
Moving through an old garage area that was still used for the same purpose, Gabe took note of the motorcycles lined up along the walls. The gang also had top-of-the-line tools with which to work on them. It made Gabe wonder what kind of financial structure these guys had. Were they selling drugs? Eliciting payments from local businesses in exchange for ‘protection’ the way the mob did? Money laundering? All were possible, but he knew he might never find out. They were simply there to talk about the gang’s rivalry with other clans, and they weren’t going to let him see the books.
From the garage, they entered a part of the factory that had been refinished into a bar. Neon signs hung between large posters of half-nude women and antique motorcycle parts. Both the ceiling and the floor were made of solid hardwood, stained a dark color that gleamed in the colored lights. A jukebox pounded out an old tune for the bikers that sat at tables or at the bar, some of them with their arms around scantily clad women who eyed him uncertainly. Gabe was surprised at how clean the place looked.
“Here you go, Grizz.” The bouncer left them at the bar, where a large man worked away behind the counter. He eyed them carefully as he dispensed a beer and slid it down the slick wooden surface, but then he smiled. “So you’re from the Force. It’s funny. I heard such a thing existed, but I wasn’t really sure. I suppose I should thank you for your service to the country.”
Gabe noted the prominent American flag on the man’s vest. “Thank you. And I appreciate you taking the time to speak with us. We’re basically just trying to figure out how we can help settle some of the violence that’s been happening in this area without inciting even more.”
Grizz let out a roaring laugh that rolled like thunder through the bar. “Your diplomacy is duly noted, but I don’t know how far it’s going to get you. We’ve been living with the threat of violence at our backs all our lives. That goes way back, even before we had any formal conclaves in the area.”
“Surely you agree this is a problem that needs to be addressed,” Emersyn said. “I don’t have all the statistics in front of me right now, but I’ve been working at a clinic downtown. I’ve seen the results. There shouldn’t be any reason for so much brutality. We’d like to know what we can do to help.”
Grizz smiled at her, but it was a different look than she’d received from Hunter. This man looked at her more like a daughter than anything else, as though he admired her eagerness but also knew it wouldn’t really get her anywhere. “Sweetheart, that’s a lovely idea. If there’s anything I can do to help, then I will. But I can’t say I have much hope for it. Your best bet is to let our gangs work it out on our own.”
“Maybe if you just tell us a little about how you operate and what sorts of things you and the other gangs go to war over, perhaps we could map out actual boundaries, just like countries do when they’re fighting over territory. Negotiations, contracts, that sort of thing.” Gabe had been more involved in that sort of work when he was with the military than he’d ever anticipated and knew he had skills that could help.
The big man shook his head and laughed a little. “You have good intentions, I’ll give you that. Excuse me for just a second.” He moved down the bar to speak with one of his associates.
Emersyn’s elbow nudged sharply into his arm. “Hey, do you see what I see?”
“What?”
“Check out the back of the Alpha’s vest, and that plaque up on the wall. They’ve got the same symbol that was in the San Bernardino conclave’s meeting house. An eagle holding a flaming skull.”
He looked up where her eyes led him, and Gabe felt the blood drain from his body. He was sure that things like eagles and skulls were a pretty popular motif among bikers, and the name of this gang was the Flaming Skulls, but this was indeed the exact same symbol. It couldn’t be a coincidence. “Looks like Hunter was lying to us. That’s the only explanation I can come up with.” The man had assured them he had no interest in the biker gangs and would rather systematically annihilate them than deal with them. Was that simply a red herring to lead them in the wrong direction?
“I’m just going to step outside and call Garrison.” Emersyn pushed off the bar and turned back the way they’d come.
Gabe seized her elbow. He’d gotten caught up in their argument, and he’d ignored the fact that they might be heading into dangerous territory. Grizz and his members had made no move to harm them yet, but he didn’t like the chances. “Just… be careful, okay?”
“Always.” Several men turned to watch her walk out of the room toward the garage. One of them even dared to let out a low, appreciative whistle.
Gabe heard it and felt his bear growing restless inside him again, but he couldn’t make the same mistake as last time. He turned back to the bar just as Grizz was returning.
“Where’d your pretty little friend go?” the Alpha asked.
“She had an emergency phone call,” he quickly explained. “Her son is sick.” It killed him to say it that way, as though he didn’t have anything to do with Emersyn or Lucas other than being her coworker. But there had been enough problems the last time they were out together and he’d tried to get possessive, so this was the better option.
“I’m sorry to hear that, but it’s just as well she’s gone. I hoped I’d get to talk to you alone, man-to-man. Women don’t always understand how things are for us, am I right?” He leaned heavily on the bar.
Gabe smiled at that one. There was probably a lot he and Grizz wouldn’t agree on, but given how much Emersyn had confused him lately, this was definitely one of them. “That’s true enough.”
“You see, our little gang here might look to the outside world like some troublemaking force, little more than a problem to be dealt with. I can appreciate that you want the area to be nice and peaceful, but I want you to understand right here and now that it’s not going to happen. We have our reasons for not getting along with the other clans, and we’re not going to change it just because you tell us to. I don’t care that you were in the military or that you consider yourselves part of some elite group. You can’t just give yourselves authority over us because you want to. My suggestion for you is to butt out while you still can.”
His words only stirred Gabe’s bear up all the more, but he could sense all the sets of eyes that were now focused on him. This entire room was filled with potential enemies if their Alpha simply gave the word. He wouldn’t get out of it as easily as he had back in San Bernardino. Gabe held up his hands. “We’re not here to cause trouble.”
“Good, ‘cause—” His next statement was interrupted by the door from the garage slamming open. The man with the handlebar mustache held Emersyn roughly by the hair as he dragged her toward the bar. “I caught this little bitch calling for backup. What do you want me to do with her, Grizz?”
The Alpha narrowed his eyes. “What the hell did you do that for?”
“Let her go,” Gabe growled. It was coming. The shift was heading down the pipeline, and there was almost nothing he could do to stop it. He co
uld feel the bear in his blood and bones, bracing itself to shove his human form out of the way and let it take care of business. “Let her go right this second, or I’m going to rip that dirty mustache right off your face and shove it down your throat.”
The guard laughed. “You’re pretty damn brave for someone who wandered in here alone. I’d like to see you try.”
Emersyn’s dark eyes were afire with rage as she struggled against the big man, her hands holding her hair to keep his grip from pulling too hard on her scalp. “What’s the matter? Are you so threatened by a woman that you won’t let me go?”
“Shut up, bitch.” In one quick movement of his thick arm, he flung Emersyn aside. She toppled into an unoccupied table, taking it and the accompanying chairs to the floor with her.
Gabe let go. His human form melted away as his bear shot forward, expanding and mutating with such rapid force that it made him nauseous. He felt the thick strength of his paws as he dove forward from his position by the bar, the back half of his body catching up quickly as he finished the transition. His roar filled the room as he leaped for the guard, who was too startled to shift. Gabe’s teeth sank into the beefy flesh of his neck. The salty taste of sweat reached his tongue as he clamped down, sending the man down to the floor.
Commotion rang out all around him as the rest of the gang followed suit. As soon as Gabe turned from the man he’d attacked, he found himself completely surrounded by other bears. They filled the room, their dark, greasy fur smelling strong in a space that was plenty large for humans but not so much for beasts. A few of them lumbered forward, ready for a challenge, but it was Grizz that Gabe kept his eyes on. The man was huge as a bear, as big as Hunter had been, and the scars that slashed through his fur showed just how many battles he’d taken on.
