by Nikki Wild
“Close your eyes, then.”
I felt him leave my side, and soon a standing lamp was flicked on. I shielded my eyes in anticipation as the dim, fluorescent bulb quickly flickered to life.
After we recovered from the change in lighting, we quickly dressed. I examined myself on my smartphone screen, making sure my makeup wasn’t too smeared and my hair wasn’t a total mess.
It kind of was.
But then again…
I kind of didn’t care.
Triumphantly, we left the room, hand-in-hand. The club members barely paid us any mind, with the exception of a few of the more sober ones. They raised beers in respect as Hunter quickly paused to address his men.
“Gonna get some fresh air, take a quick ride. Grizz, you mind holding down the fort?”
The solemn biker merely smiled.
Moments later, Hunter helped me onto the back of his motorcycle, and soon we were hitting the road.
Night had long fallen over Los Angeles. We rode for a while, with my lover weaving between streets until we hit the main interstate, driving further into the sprawling city.
We must have rode for the better part of an hour before we finally pulled to a stop near a park. Hunter killed the engine and climbed off, helping me back down from his metallic steed.
“A park?” I chirped up, my gaze wandering. “I didn’t know Los Angeles had much in the way of parks…”
“I’ve been here a couple of times, usually at night,” Hunter remarked warmly. “Before the police raid that shattered the Dragons, I had to come this way two or three times to meet with the club to meet with Talon. Happened to come across this place, and it’s stuck with me since. I made sure it was still around while we were doing our little investigation, here in town.”
Hunter took my hand in his, and we began to stroll. Even at night, this place was beautiful. As I glanced over the trees and the winding lake around us, I reflected on this handsome man that walked beside me, and all that we had been through in our lives.
We were practically our first everything.
This beautiful, powerful man had always taken care of me, to the best of his ability. And he had been damn good at it, especially when we were young lovers against my sheriff father, against those who were jealous of our undying love, against the world…
Fate had intervened to tear us apart, and we had gone for almost a decade thinking that we’d never see each other until the day we died. But then it had transpired to bring us back together again…
“It’s beautiful here,” I told him, pulling closer. The streetlights and the surrounding city only made this gorgeous little respite from the urban life pop brighter. A younger couple walked past and smiled cheerily at us, clearly enjoying the beauty as much as we were.
“Yeah, it sure as hell is,” he whispered. “But it’s nothing compared to you, Princess.”
“You sly charmer,” I chuckled, but my cheeks warmed with the compliment all the same.
“Listen, Sarah,” he whispered, kissing my forehead tenderly. “It tore me apart when you left last time, especially after finally having you back…”
“I know it did,” I nodded sadly, resting my head on his shoulder for the moment. “It broke my heart to do it too, but it had to be done…”
“I know. I get it, just like I did a few months ago,” Hunter acknowledged sadly. “But these last few weeks have put things into perspective for me. I can’t let you be in danger again, and I think it’ll kill me if you just walk out that door again…”
I lifted my head from his shoulder and watched him as he continued to speak, turning to meet my gaze.
“You told me that you want me to continue leading the Devil’s Dragons. You said that you want me to stay in charge, no matter the danger, doing my best to make our world better for the sake of our child… are you sure that you mean that?
“I can walk away right now… Grizz won’t be happy, but he’ll understand. He can lead this club without me, taking it in better directions…”
“I meant it,” I answered calmly. “I want you to run your club. You’re good at it. You haven’t let them down yet. And you know that things need to change to keep them alive and prosperous.”
He nodded solemnly, accepting my answer. “Okay. But you have to realize, Sarah… if I do this… I just can’t do it without you anymore.”
I looked at him sideways as he dropped down to his knee. With a quick and graceful motion, the little black box he pulled from his jacket pocket flashed a beautiful little rock on a stunning engagement ring…
“Holy shit, Hunter,” I gasped in amazement.
The passing couple, discreet as they were trying to be, had noticed the scene and stopped a little way down. They were pretending to watch the twinkle on the water instead of the biker who was suddenly proposing to me in this wonderful place he’d brought me to…
“Told you before, Princess,” he grinned back up at me from his knee. “All sorts of funny things a kidnapping can do, sort of like proving what’s really important…”
“You were always a hopeless romantic,” I laughed cheerily, noticing with awe how the bright neon lights of the city danced off of the water surrounding us.
“Some things never change,” he chuckled.
I took the ring from the box, nodding with tears in my eyes as I placed the wet jewelry around my finger. While our nearby guests cheered us on, I was overwhelmed with how beautiful it looked on me.
My heart swelled with love and adoration.
I glanced down at my darling and replied:
“Some things change for the better.”
Twenty-Three
Hunter
Six Months Later
I gazed across the sea of babies in the newborn infirmary, watching their tiny, slumbering forms. Sarah was asleep in her hospital bed, dozing off the aftermath of a long and, at times, excruciating birth.
Wonder which one is mine.
The elderly nurse in the room answered the question for me, taking a small, sleeping infant from its bed and curling it up in its blanket.
I watched her walk around to the door and up the corridor before she carefully handed me my son.
“Congratulations, Dad,” she smiled. “Connor looks happy and healthy.”
Connor…
I’d let Sarah pick the name, although she picked a good one for our child. While I held him close and watched him sleepily push a finger into his tiny mouth, I felt the warmth of paternity overcome me.
The name suits you, kid.
“Are the rest of them with you?”
“Oh yeah,” I chuckled, glancing towards the waiting room doors. “Those are my other boys.”
The nurse pulled her lips into a grimace. “Coming up here in all that black leather, scaring everybody. Darn near gave some of us old ladies a heart attack!”
“Don’t you worry,” I grinned knowingly at her. “I’ll get them out of your hair soon enough.” My eyes filtered down to my newborn son in my arms. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go pull a Lion King moment…”
Holding Connor to my chest, I backed up through the doors and crossed the waiting room towards the Devil’s Dragons.
The nurse had been right – they were earning a lot of funny looks for our dress code. My men proudly wore their black leathers and jeans while taking up a quarter of the chairs by themselves.
The Devil’s Dragons had accepted Sarah in with open arms, especially after seeing the way she’d handled herself in the field in Juarez and in California.
I was pretty happy to realize that she was still a complete badass. Pregnant or not. Even my fireball of a bartender back in El Paso had started treating her with respect, especially when they heard that she’d shot a legendary arms dealer and lived.
Grizz was the first one to notice me, and patted the men on either side on the shoulders. Within seconds, the entire club was glancing over and ascending to greet me.
“Boss, is that–”
> “I told you it’d be a boy–”
“Takes after his old man–”
“What a tiny little thing–”
I proudly held my child up before them all.
A wide smile beamed across my face as they began to hoot and holler, startling the other waiting parties and causing the gang of nurses to look over at us, all flustered.
“Club, meet your newest member… Connor Hargreaves, heir to the Devil’s Dragons!”
You’re not done yet, turn the page one more time for Taming Grizz, part 3 in the Devil’s Dragons saga!
-Nikki xoxoxo
NIKKI WILD
For a limited time, EVERYONE who signs up to the WILD LIST will receive a free exclusive romance novel from Nikki Wild that you can’t find anywhere else!
The Wild List will send you exclusive updates from Nikki Wild and you can be among the very first to receive all of my hottest new releases!
Novels by Nikki Wild
The ‘Taking Beauty’ Trilogy
Taking Beauty (Taking Beauty #1)
Claiming Beauty (Taking Beauty #2)
Owning Beauty (Taking Beauty #3)
The ‘Saved by the Bad Boy’ Series
Saved by the Bad Boy (Saved by the Bad Boy #1)
Pride and Pregnancy (Saved by the Bad Boy #2)
Taming Grizz (Saved by the Bad Boy #3)
Hunter (Saved by the Bad Boy #4)
Bad Boy Mafia
Baddy (A Small Town Mafia Romance)
Bad Boy Suspense
Velocity (A Dangerous Romantic Suspense)
Bad Boy Sports
Play Dirty (A Bad Boy Football Romance)
Running Game (A Bad Boy Football Romance)
Bad Boy Fighters:
Knockout (A Bad Boy MMA Romance)
Bad Boy Bikers:
Biker Daddy (The Rogue Tide Motorcycle Club)
Malice (Hounds of Hell Motorcycle Club)
Saving Landon (A Bad Boy Biker Romance)
Roughneck (A Bad Boy Motorcycle Club Romance)
Rough Rider (Outlaw Kings Motorcycle Club)
Hard Rider (A Bad Boy Motorcycle Club Romance)
Brute (A Dogs of War Motorcycle Club Romance)
British Bad Boys:
Royal Prick (A Bad Boy British Romance)
Arrogant Brit (A Bad Boy British Sports Romance)
Rock Hard (A Bad Boy British Rockstar Romance)
Played (A Bad Boy British Romance)
London Kisses (A British Billionaire Romance)
Bad Boy Rockstars:
Illicit Behavior (A Bad Boy Rockstar Romance)
Rock Hard (A Bad Boy British Rockstar Romance)
Double Treble (A Twin Rockstar Romance)
Bad Boy Stepbrothers:
Lust (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance)
Richard (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance)
Pulse (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance)
Bad Boy Billionaires:
Protect And Serve (A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance)
Daddy’s Princess (A Taboo Billionaire Romance)
The Proposal (A Billionaire Romance)
Pretend Married (A Sexy Billionaire Romance)
Want More?
Want even MORE from Nikki Wild? My latest bestselling novel ROUGHNECK is live at Amazon RIGHT NOW!
Click here to read ROUGHNECK for just 99 cents or FREE with your Kindle Unlimited subscription!
Part Four
TAMING GRIZZ
Book 3 of the Devil’s Dragons Motorcycle Club series!
Prologue
Dear Reader: I’m so excited to finally share Taming Grizz with you. While Taming Grizz is a full-length novel and can be read as a standalone, it is the third book in the “Devil’s Dragons motorcycle club” world. As a special bonus to catch you up, I’ve included a copy of Book 1, Saved by the Bad Boy AND Book 2, Pride and Pregnancy in this ebook! If you haven’t read all three, go to the table of contents and you’ll find book 1 and 2 of the Devil’s Dragons series to help catch you up (along with a couple other surprises)! I hope you love them as much as I’ve loved writing them!
-Nikki Wild
GRIZZ
I was born Gregory Jeremiah Hawkins but in the years that came to pass, I came to be known by a different name.
Grizz.
I don’t even remember where the name came from anymore. Someone spat it up one day and it stuck. Even my own mother called me Grizz when she was still around. It always fit the bill since the very beginning.
Some people have told me they think that there’s something gristly about me: a tough hunk of meat that life can’t chew up no matter how hard it tries.
Others tell me I look like an unstoppable bear ready to strike down on its prey.
I like that…
I’m built tall, broad, and brooding… and I’m damned feral when I’m really pissed off. I can see the similarities.
Maybe they’re right. Maybe there’s a great, unstoppable beast inside me… A feral beast that refuses to be put down.
I feel something inside. It’s rebelling at the chaos that surrounds me now. It rages at the broken pieces of my shattered life. I keep it buried just beneath the skin.
The beast inside led me to the Devil’s Dragons Motorcycle Club. It gave me a sense of purpose. It made me an outlaw and a renegade… And it ruined me.
None of that matters. It never mattered. There’s only one goddamned thing in the whole world that matters to me now.
Her.
Beautiful locks and sharp eyes. She challenges me. She completes me. This woman has always been my destiny.
She’s gone now.
I’ll get her back.
I have to.
This time, I’m letting the beast out of its goddamn cage.
One
Grizz
Two Months Ago
Sometimes, alone in the corner of the bar while nursing a tumbler of whiskey neat, it struck me how much the Devil’s Dragons club had accomplished.
The dangerous sex trafficking cartel Viboras Verde lay scattered to the winds.
The international arms dealer Soroka Sarkonov sat in federal custody, no longer free to arm violent war criminals and strike down innocent lives.
Hell, we’d even struck up a fragile peace with our most dangerous rival: Talon, the malevolent leader of the original Devil’s Dragons charter.
All that in half a year’s work.
Not bad.
The credit belonged mostly to the guidance of our fearless club president, Hunter Hargreaves, and his prideful woman, Sarah Buchanan.
“Grizz.”
I turned to the man I considered my leader, his hand resting calmly against the countertop. Hunter was one of the youngest among us, but his eyes were a damned sight older than they had any right to be.
“It’s time.”
I nodded quietly. “I know.”
A small, pleased smirk flickered across his face. “You know I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think it was necessary.”
Rising from my chair, I nodded again.
Hunter patted me sympathetically on my shoulder as I stood in front of him, clasping it tightly for a moment.
Together, we walked towards the front door of the ramshackle bar that still served as the temporary headquarters of the Devil’s Dragons.
Outside, the Dragons were scattered beneath the stars. Working by flashlight and moonlight, half of them were cleaning their bikes while others drank beer and shot the shit.
“Dragons!” Hunter called out to them, escorting me into their midst.
Our comrades paused what they were doing, looking curiously over at us. None of the others knew what was coming, and I envied them.
“You’re probably wondering why I pulled you out here,” Hunter began, stepping forward to command their attention. “No big, fancy speeches this time, boys. I’m gonna cut straight to the fucking chase.
A sarcastic, collective sigh came from the crowd while the bikers shared smiles.
Hunter turned towards the old bar.
“We got lucky getting our hands on this place, but you all know we’re on borrowed time here, boys. The cartels are keeping their distance and there’s not enough work to keep us running straight. I’m not gonna try and tell you otherwise. We need a place to start over.”
A proud smile was on his face when he turned back, fixing his gaze on me.
“That’s where Grizz comes in.”
All eyes were on me. I hated the spotlight, and Hunter knew it. Why couldn’t he just tell them after I left? It would be easier to just ditch in the middle of the night and let them find out in the morning…
“Grizz told me we need to be looking East. Said there might be somewhere promising for us to call home… somewhere to build up a real living again. He told me about New Orleans, over in Louisiana. It’s open territory, and I think it’s time we made it ours. We need to put some eyes down there and find our way forward...”
The Devil’s Dragons turned from him to me then back again, thinking on this while Hunter continued. I could see the gears turning in their heads.
A biker named Victor spoke up.
“Does that mean…?”
“Yes,” I nodded.
Murmurs began rising from the club. What Hunter was suggesting was rare to see in motorcycle clubs, especially out here, but it wasn’t unheard of.
