by Rachel Cade
Nomad’s Bride
Death Skulls MC Book 2
By
Rachel Cade
Copyright © 2020 Rachel Cade
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Thanks so much for reading
I hope you enjoy the conclusion of Nomad’s Bride
It’s a very special book for me :)
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And if you enjoyed the book leave a review :)
Chapter One:
Heat Seekers
Lyndie stared at the glowing fire.
From here it seemed to be on one side of the home, but it was going to spread quickly.
“Yeah this is some bullshit.” Noa’s sigh was low as he stood next to her. “I better get back to the warehouse.”
Max squiggled in his arms as he passed him back to Lyndie.
“How are you getting there? It’s across town.”
Noa moved fast to put his boots on. “Run I guess.”
“I can drive you.”
Noa straightened after shoving his foot in his last boot. “No.”
“This is going to draw people out. If you’re just running around outside someone could see you.”
She watched his mouth flatten and knew he was about to refuse. “It’s the best and quickest way for you to get there.”
He stared at her and her baby.
Lyndie grabbed her keys. “Come on.”
They went to her garage and Lyndie strapped Max in his car seat. “Just a quick ride munch.”
“Okay how are we doing this?” he asked.
“Just get down in the back seat.”
Noa scoffed. “Easier said than done.”
He opened the back door and climbed inside.
“God,” he grunted as she hopped into the driver’s side.
Once she heard the car door shut, she turned on the ignition and began backing out.
Lyndie tried to drive at a brisk pace without actually speeding. “This fire doesn’t look good Noa.”
“They never do,” he answered quietly.
“I haven’t seen anyone out.” A siren kicked up in the air.
The town’s fire department was mostly volunteers and they must have been notified or seen it themselves.
“How the hell did a fire start up there?” Lyndie wondered out loud as she drove through a yellow light.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “But like I said it’s some bullshit.”
“Max’s first word will be a curse at this point.” Lyndie tried to smile over her nervousness.
“Sorry Big Man.”
“Okay we’re almost there.”
“Alright.”
Lyndie pulled up far behind the gas station near the warehouse.
“Okay.” She put the car in park but left it running. “You’re back in Death Skulls territory.”
After a grunt Noa sat up on the backseat’s floor. She turned to see him.
“Take Max and go straight home and lock up.”
She nodded. “I will. Be careful okay?”
Noa reached for her hand and kissed the top of her fingers.
“Yes, Mrs. Callas.” His eyes glanced around as he began scooting out of the car. “I need to get you a bigger car.”
She nodded. “Sure, make fun. She gets me from A to B.”
Noa pushed himself out of the hatchback. “Text me when your back in the house.”
“Okay.”
Smoke tinged the night as they separated. Lyndie watched as Noa disappeared behind the gated property before turning out of the driveway to head home.
When Noa walked into the club Tin was awake as were most of the guys.
“What the fuck is going on up there?” Noa asked shutting the door behind himself.
“We’re heading up to find out. Tried to call you.”
“When I saw the fire, I headed back. You think that’s a smart idea?”
“We stay here we look suspicious.” Tin grabbed his keys off the bar. “We go we look suspicious. At least we’ll know what’s going on.”
When they arrived on the scene several fire fighters were trying to put the fire out. It had spread to the second story and the flames licked up toward the sky. The night wind was pushing the heavy smoke in every direction.
“Keep back!” One of the firemen yelled toward them.
“Shit.” Tin said as he stared up at the flames.
Pretty soon the ancient house would be a pile of dust.
Noa stared at the fire. Cold hit his gut and he felt goosebumps on his arms. The last time he was in front of a fire this big his whole life had changed. It hit him so hard he forgot about everything for a moment.
“Dad!” Ashley yelled and she began running toward the house but was stopped by the sheriff who pulled her back. “Dad!” she screamed.
Ashley continued yelling.
Noa looked up to the second floor and could see movement. “Someone’s moving around up there!” he yelled, pointing.
A window broke. The shattered glass fell down the side of the house to the ground.
“Shit that’s Langley.” Tin muttered.
“Fuck is he going to try to jump?” Chaos asked.
From the window it was a straight drop down two stories.
“He wouldn’t make it.” Noa snapped.
“Do you guys have a tarp or something to catch him?” Tin called to Durand because the firefighters were busy.
Ashley was still fighting against him, Tin had to yell over her screams.
Langley’s hard coughing caught on the air from the window.
“Shit.” Noa looked around and spotted an American flag jutting off the large wraparound porch. It was pretty big and he hoped it was decent quality.
He rushed up to the porch passing Will and snatched it from the pole.
“We can catch him.” Noa held up the flag as his voice rang out.
Tin nodded quickly. “Let’s do it.”
Noa, Tin, Chaos and Bleed quickly moved beneath the window.
“Old man you have to jump!” Noa yelled.
Fear was visible in his eyes as he looked down at the thin fabric they held out.
Langley pushed more glass out of the way. He appeared weak and Noa didn’t know if he had enough strength to lift himself through the window.
“Mr. Langley! Sir, you need to jump!”
Will was at Noa’s side holding another piece of the flag.
Noa vaguely heard the firefighters yelling and wondered if someone else had gone inside after Langley.
He leaned his body forward out of the window and his lithe figure dropped two stories.
Noa felt all his muscles tense the closer the man came toward the ground.
Gravity slammed his body into the center of the flag, shifting all the men forward on impact. It was a miracle it didn’t tear.
“Jesus.” Chaos muttered.
A vicious cough came from Langley as they gently lowered him to the ground.
“We got him!” Tin yelled. The heat had caused them all to dampen with sweat.
A firefighter came out of the front door carrying Scott’s limp body over his shoulder.
He stumbled with him as he tried to make it down the stairs.
Not long after an ambulance pulled up. Two men flew out of the van with their equipment. One of them immediately rushed to Langley to attend to him.
The fighters seemed to have contained the fire to one side of the large home.
The soot in the air had them all backing further from the house.
Will parted company with them without a word and it appeared he’d locked his fiancée in his squad car.
More people from the town were showing up, either walking or in their cars.
“Back folks, back please!” Noa recognized Henry’s voice.
His heart was pumping so fast in his chest he had to take more than a few breaths to steady it. For a second he thought his hearing had shifted like it had that night, after hitting the ground and waking up to everything sounding fifty miles away.
He was glad to see the fire dying down and hoped his anxiety would follow. A hand on his shoulder made him look to the side and see Bleed. He was looking up at the fire too.
“Quick thinking kid.” Tin’s voice helped him get a little grounded.
And he was thankful.
Will left Henry in charge of the scene and brought Ashley to the hospital.
“Is he going to be alright?” She tearfully asked one of the nurses.
“Your father has serious smoke inhalation ma’am. He’s going to get a bronchoscopy so we can assess his lungs. We’ll do everything in our power to make sure he’s okay.”
“This is one of the best hospitals Ash, I’m sure he’ll pull through.” Will tightened his arm around her to ease her trembling.
Scott had woken up at the scene and was taken care of by the EMT’s.
“Craig won’t even pick up his phone that fat bastard.” Ashley hugged her phone to her chest. Will pulled her into his arms as she started to cry again.
“It’s going to be okay. You know I’ve got you,” he said softly against the top of her head.
**
Home.
Noa stared at Lyndie’s text message from the couch back at the club.
“God damn. He didn’t look good you know.” Tin folded his arms against his chest.
“The dude’s old as dirt and jumped out a two-story window.” Noa ran his hands through his hair to push it back from his face. He smelled like the fire and needed a fucking shower to get it all off.
“You know our only standing in this town is Langley. Despite him selling us that property if something happens to him, who’s next in line?”
Noa’s mouth folded down. “Durand.”
“Yeah, the puppet loses his strings.”
“And like Lyndie said, he’s engaged to the daughter,” Noa added.
Bleed’s eyes went heavenward. “You picked a hell of a town Tin.”
“Alright, fuck.” Tin moved toward a chair at the bar and sat down.
“I brought you all here to try to get this spot established. Did I have any idea this shit would be going on, no. But I respect you all as Death Skulls. We’ve got Aztecs on one side, Los Bandidos on the other and now our sponsor might be down for the count. If any one of you feels like it’s more than you signed up for and you need to take a ride, I won’t hold it against you.”
Noa tucked his phone back in his pocket.
The room was quiet.
“The way I see it,” Bleed began. “You look like you need all hands on deck.”
Tin glanced around the room.
No one moved.
He nodded once. “Alright then. This cop we gotta stay on top of. He thinks he’s smart so we have to be smarter.”
“Why don’t you leave him to me?” Noa spoke up. “I’ll deal with him.”
Chapter Two:
Big Daddy
Lyndie sat in her car holding the steering wheel tightly in both hands.
It was dark and she would usually be asleep by now.
But she couldn’t sleep.
Instead, she found herself on the other side of town in front of Will’s house.
It was a pretty white Victorian with a wrap-around porch on a secluded patch of road handed down to him from his parents. She’d spent plenty of time in that place. But as she sat there in the quiet, she felt like an outsider.
His squad car was parked in its usual place, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but her gut was telling her something different.
The baby shifted a little bit in her belly and the pressure caused her to wince.
She let go of the steering wheel and touched her swollen stomach.
Just go home and go to bed, the words rang out in her ear.
It was the right thing to do, the logical thing to do.
But her heart…
Her heart was the reason she’d driven over here in the middle of the night.
And her heart belonged to Will Durand, but she knew something wasn’t right.
Just then, one of the lights in the front room flicked on. Lyndie’s window was down and she could hear laughter.
Quietly, she listened to the muffled conversation.
Not long after, the front screen door opened and Ashley Langley walked out.
The same laughter Lyndie remembered from high school fluttered on the air.
Will Durand, her boyfriend and the father of her unborn baby, walked out behind her with no shirt on. He reached for her waist to turn her around and they kissed. Not a peck, but the kiss of two people that had done much more than that.
Rage swiftly rushed in, crashing against her head as she pushed her car door open with a grunt.
Her feet carried her over the gravel until her body caught the light of the front porch.
Will’s eyes widened, still lip locked with Ashley, and he pulled away.
“You son of a bitch!” The words tore from Lyndie’s throat. “I knew you were lying to me!”
Will quickly moved around Ashley. “Lyndie, what the hell are you doing here?”
When she tried to open her mouth, she felt like her throat had been scraped raw. Her emotions were strangling her.
Will.
Not after everything. He was the only person she had. The only man she ever trusted. He was actually betraying her like this?
“What is she doing here?” Lyndie pointed hard in Ashley’s direction.
Will gnashed his teeth and came down the steps.
Lyndie backed away. She didn’t want him to touch her.
“Lyndie.” He caught her arm and she snatched it away.
He’d done enough touching.
A hard night breeze swept in as she stared hard into his eyes.
“How could you do this?” The tattered rasp of her voice barely hung in the air, the same way she was barely holding on.
Will looked away, briefly closing his eyes.
“Ashley Langley?” Lyndie whispered.
“We can talk about this tomorrow, okay? Why don’t you go home?”
He was talking to her like he didn’t know her, like he was on duty and she was some random bystander.
And not as though she’d been his girlfriend for the past five years.
The times they shared flickered through her memory, weighing her heart down even more.
“You know we always keep it real with each other.” It had been his little catchphrase for them. As she said it out loud her eyes began brimming with tears. “You had to lie to me? I know you were mad about the baby, but… I thought we were going to try to work things out… and be a family?”
She’d never been pregnant and she didn’t know anything about raising a child. She was scared and she didn’t want to do it by herself. His child was growing inside of her. He had to care about that… even if he didn’t care about her.
A sigh caught on the wind.
It was Ashley’s.
He was quiet as she spoke and poured out her heart, but there wasn’t an ounce of compassion in his eyes or in the words that followed. “That’s what you wanted.”
Ly
ndie felt her breathing quicken. She couldn’t believe this was happening.
“If you didn’t want to be with me, you could have just said it!”
“I don’t.” His eyes didn’t waver, his head dipped a little as if he was rubbing it in. “I don’t want to be with you anymore, Lyndie.”
If humiliation didn’t drown her first, the hurt would.
Ashley folded her arms, still standing on the porch, a smile raising the sides of her mouth. The one she’d seen many times growing up.
“We’re done, alright?” His eyes flicked up as he backed away. “Just go home.” Annoyance dragged his words. He was shooing her off like a dog.
He really didn’t care.
A cold weariness washed over her standing in the dry Nevada night.
“You’re a piece of shit,” she stated as his foot touched the porch step.
He turned around. “What-”
“And so are you, bitch!” Lyndie shoved a finger into Ashley’s direction.
Ashley’s brows rose before she started coming down the stairs.
“Your little scheme didn’t work, so now you’re mad?” she chuckled. “You’re a loser, Lyndie. You always have been.”
Lyndie felt herself running toward them, but was stopped by Will, who pulled her away from the house.
She struggled in his grip; in the wildness of it all, all she could think was that his arms had just been wrapped around her.
Will…
Her man… her future husband.
They’d been inseparable.
A sharp pain dug into her stomach. Something she’d never felt in her life.
And she cried out in the darkness, halting Will near the curb.
The baby. Lyndie’s whole world began swirling. How could she not remember the baby?
She screamed as pain stabbed her again and soon her knees were buckling-
Lyndie sat up hard in bed.
“Fuck.” It took her more than a minute to shake the emotions from the dream.
Her swear was a whispered rasp in her dark bedroom.
It was 4 a.m.
The fire at the Langley mansion had been put out. Noa had let her know by text that he was okay and that Langley and his son had made it out of the house.
