by Amber Morgan
"I don't know yet." He pulled her into a rough embrace, not quite sure why he suddenly felt the need to hang onto her, but unable to resist it. "Let's go find out."
****
Beth closed her eyes as she clung to Tanner and they raced to the Five Mile Diner. She wished she could revel in being so close to him, with the sensations he'd created still rolling through her, but there was a knot of anxiety in her stomach getting tighter and tighter. She wanted to beg Tanner to drive past the diner and keep going, take her away from the Church and Warren's Mill and just ... escape.
She didn't think he was the type to run away though. Whatever had happened at the diner, he'd face it head on. She had to draw courage from his strength.
The diner's parking lot was empty apart from a few bikes, and the sign on the door was turned to "closed." No music, no lights. The welcoming, homely atmosphere she'd felt yesterday was utterly gone. Beth got off the bike and hugged herself, watching Tanner. He surveyed the parking lot, jaw clenched, eyes stormy.
"Wild Blood bikes," he told her. "At least it's not some shit going down with a rival MC." He snatched her hand in his and all but dragged her into the diner. The door was unlocked despite the "closed" sign.
Chaos greeted them. Chairs were tipped over and several bottles had been smashed across the counter, leaving sticky streams of soda and cola gleaming under the lights. Behind the counter, the floor was covered with cracked and broken plates, half-eaten burgers and splatters of apple pie. It was like a hurricane had ripped through. A chill ran through Beth.
"What happened? Where is everyone?"
"I don't know." Tanner headed for the door at the back of the diner. "Mia! Wolf?" he called, shoving the door open.
"Mia's room!" someone called back.
Mia's tiny bedroom was packed with people, and at first Beth couldn't see past the men to Mia. Three bulky bikers, all in leather vests, crowded around the bed. She recognized Rattler, and the auburn-haired, wiry man was the one she'd seen chasing a naked woman at the mill last night. The third man she didn't know.
But it was Mia who snatched her attention anyway, once Tanner elbowed the men aside so they could see her. She sat huddled on the bed, her clothes stained with ...Oh no. Beth gagged. Blood. Mia's pristine white shirt was streaked with blood. When she raised her head to look at Beth and Tanner, her face was a bruised, bloodied mess. She had one black eye and a split lip. Tears and mascara lined her cheeks.
"Oh, Mia!" Beth dropped to her knees in front of Mia, clasping Mia's hands in her own. "What happened?" A horrible guilt filled Beth. She wanted her fears to be wrong, but her heart knew better.
Mia smiled, and then hissed in pain. "Oh sweetie. It's not your fault."
Beth's stomach turned. "Who?" she asked. "Nathaniel?"
Mia nodded. "And two other guys. They scared Lacey off and they ..." She sobbed, ducking her head. "I didn't tell them anything." She addressed this to Tanner. "I didn't tell them where she was, Tanner."
"Jesus fucking Christ, Mia." Tanner dropped down onto the bed next to her, a mixture of rage and sorrow on his face. "You fucking should have. You should have sent them straight to my door and let me—"
"Fuck no, Tanner." The auburn-haired man shoved his shoulder, hard. "You bring these freaks down on the MC, how d'you think that ends?"
"Oh, so you're on Nash's side now, Wolf?" Tanner shot to his feet, shoving the other guy back with real anger.
Wolf staggered, but held his ground. "That's not what I mean. You cut up these guys on our doorstep, you're right back in the slammer. You wanna fight, fight smart."
Mia glared at them both. "Or you could do the really smart thing and go to the police. Which is what you should have done yesterday." Mia pointed at Tanner. "Beth needs real help, not Neanderthals slugging it out over her."
Tanner slammed his fist into his palm, clearly itching to strike out. "You don't know the full story, Mia."
"I know enough, now." Mia stood, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "Those thugs made it clear they won't stop looking for her. If you care about her, Tanner, get her proper, legal help."
"Legal help?" Tanner all but sneered at her. "Scumbags like these guys wriggle out from under the law all the fucking time. You think the police would do anything to help Beth? They don't give a shit when women are being beaten and abused."
Beth's cheeks reddened as the men turned to look at her. She wanted desperately to run from the room and escape the glare of attention. She stood, shuffling behind Tanner. "I never wanted to cause any trouble."
"You haven't. These sick fucks have." Tanner slung his arm round her shoulder, forcing her back into the circle. "Their shitty acts aren't your responsibility."
"He's right," Rattler said, surprising her. His face was a mask of rage, his hands balled into fists. All his attention was on Mia—Beth was amazed he'd even heard Tanner talk. "A man hits a woman, he's not a real man."
"Let's stay focused," the third man, a hulking blond with a deep, commanding voice said. "Mia needs to get to the hospital."
"I'm fine—" Mia started before Rattler cut in.
"I'll take you. Don't argue with me, Mia. You could have a concussion or broken ribs or any shit. You're going."
Mia stared up at Rattler, looking like she was determined to argue. Then a spasm of pain passed through her, leaving her pale and shaking. "Yeah, okay. Thanks, Rattler."
After Rattler's bad attitude with her last night, Beth wouldn't have believed the solicitous way he ushered Mia from the room if she hadn't seen it. He treated her like she was made of glass, holding the door for her, one hand protectively placed on her shoulder. Mia paused in the doorway, looking back at Tanner.
"Don't do anything you'll regret," she said.
Tanner's eyes flashed. "I never have."
Once Rattler and Mia were gone, Wolf clapped Tanner on the shoulder. "You know these motherfuckers won't stop, right?"
"I know." Tanner pulled Beth so hard against his side, she let out an involuntary squeak. "So like you said, we fight smart. For Beth and Mia. They're not getting away with this shit.
"So what's the plan?" the blond asked, looking grimly pleased at the prospect of a fight.
"Norse, you take Beth back to the mill," Tanner said, giving Beth a brief glance full of reluctance. "Don't tell Nash about this, okay. Just do me a solid on this one and keep it low key. He doesn't need to know."
Norse frowned. "What, you're leaving me babysitting while you two go start a fight?"
"Tanner," Beth started. She wanted to tell him it wasn't worth it, terrified he'd get himself hurt—or worse. He silenced her with a quick, rough kiss.
"You're not going to spend your life running away, Beth. I won't let you."
"This is adorable," Wolf said, "but we're wasting time."
"Right. Norse?"
The big guy sighed and held his hand out to Beth. "C'mon, kid. Looks like we're missing the fun."
She took his hand reluctantly, unable to take her eyes off Tanner. He stared past her, face shadowed, body thrumming with energy. "What are you going to do?" she asked him, almost scared to hear the answer.
"Nothing I'll regret," he said.
Chapter Ten
To Beth's surprise, Norse bundled her into a truck instead of on the back of a bike. "Aren't you an MC member?" she asked him.
"Yeah, but my ride's back at the mill. Sometimes you want four wheels instead of two." He shrugged, his blond mane rippling with the movement. "Lucky for you." He turned the radio on and sped away from the diner as head-splitting metal music filled the truck's cab.
Beth resisted the urge to cover her ears and watched the diner disappear in the rearview mirror. Was Tanner going to go after Abram? She was certain he wasn't going to the police. The idea had never even occurred to her until Mia said it. Why would the police help? She remembered them coming to the Church several years ago, asking a lot of questions and then disappearing again. Abram had only said that God looked after His children wh
en anyone asked what the police had wanted.
If the police hadn't found anything bad or wrong in the Church then, why would they believe Beth now? She had no reason to think they would.
"Norse?" she asked, fighting to make herself heard over the radio. "Why doesn't Tanner trust the police? Why was he in prison?"
Norse glanced at her, surprise in his hazel eyes. "He didn't tell you already? I probably shouldn't then."
"He was going to. He said he wasn't ashamed of it. It's something to do with his sister, isn't it?" she guessed.
Norse grunted. "Yeah. His twin sister, Melissa. Their parents checked out on them pretty early in life. Tanner's always been looking after Melissa, but ..." He shrugged. "MC life, even if your club is on the straight and narrow, you get mixed up with shady guys. Melissa fell in with the enforcer from another local MC, real bad guy. Ran drugs, quick with his fists. She got pretty hooked—on him and his product." Norse shook his head. "Tanner tried to break 'em up, but Melissa's as boneheaded as he is. She was in love, she needed this guy, Tanner didn't understand, Tanner was wrecking her life." He whined the words, rolling his eyes and making Beth thought he might have heard some of the litany in person.
"So one night we're having this big party at the mill. Everyone's feeling good, the booze is flowing, the pot's sweet, the girls are ... there," he said, obviously changing his mind about what he was going to say. "And Melissa comes in. And she's a fucking mess. Her guy beat her, and I mean he beat her. I never saw a woman in that kinda state. He could have killed her. And Tanner ..."
Beth shuddered, full of pity for Melissa. "Tanner went after her boyfriend?"
Norse nodded. "None of us knew about it until he got busted. Then it hit the papers and he was everywhere. This guy ... Tanner fucked him up. I mean, we all knew Tanner was good with his fists, you never bet against Tanner in a fight, but this was something else."
"He didn't ... He didn't kill him, though?" Beth asked.
"No. He gave it a damn good try, though. The guy's probably still pissing blood and eating his meals through a straw. Tanner was lucky—when the judge heard what went down with his sister, the other guy got put away for assault right alongside Tanner, and the judge went lenient on Tanner. Called it a 'misguided but understandable reaction.'" Norse snorted. "He got two years. Been out six months. The other guy's still locked up, thank fuck."
Beth digested that silently. She thought of the man who'd been protecting her from the second they met, the man who'd taken her to such wild pleasure not an hour earlier. She tried to imagine that man engaged in such brutal violence. It wasn't that hard, she found. Tanner had knocked out Nathaniel yesterday without hesitation when he didn't know Beth at all. What would he do for someone he loved?
It should bother her. It should scare her. It was the kind of eye-for-an-eye justice Abram always preached, and she hated that. But when she searched herself for traces of fear, there was none, not where Tanner was concerned. He'd told her he was no white knight, and she believed that, having heard Norse's story. And it didn't matter, she realized. Everything she'd been taught was good and noble in her life had turned out to be rotten. At least what Tanner had done, he'd done out of love and loyalty. And he'd paid the price. Abram had never had to atone for any sin he'd committed. He made other people suffer instead.
Anger coiled in her like one of Abram's snakes. Mia, poor Mia. She'd been nothing but kind to Beth and she'd been punished for it. Would Abram turn on Beth's own family? How could she not have thought of that before? Her mother, her sisters ... They were all at his mercy. Icy terror chilled her anger.
"You okay? You gonna puke?" Norse asked her.
She jumped and shook her head. "I'm fine." Her voice came out in a whisper. She couldn't tell Norse what was running through her head. She couldn't endanger anyone else. She sank down in her seat, letting the awful roar of music drown out her dark thoughts.
****
The mill felt deserted when they got back. No bikes out front, no sign of life inside. Beth's skin prickled. "Where is everyone?" she asked Norse.
He shrugged. "We don't live here. Well, Judge and Roxy do, but the rest of us come and go." He hopped out of the truck, light on his feet for such a big man. "You gonna be okay here alone?"
He was just going to leave her? Beth bit her lip and nodded, trying to mask her anxiety. "Sure."
He shot her a dubious look. "I'll stay if you want me to," he said. "I'm not an asshole."
"I didn't think you were. But you don't need to babysit me." She smiled sweetly and falsely. "Please don't let me interfere with your plans."
Norse didn’t even pretend not to be relieved. “I’ll let you in,” he said, fishing a clanking set of keys from his jeans. “Just make yourself at home. Roxy or some of the girls will probably be around.”
He was fumbling with the keys at the door, swearing under his breath, when the mill door flew open, slamming into him. Norse staggered back a few steps. Beth shouted a warning, but not before the man behind the door darted out and slammed a heavy wrench straight into Norse’s head. He didn’t stagger this time. He crashed like a felled tree, out cold in the muddy gravel.
Beth spared a second to stare at his attacker, Peter, another of Abram’s sons. Peter hefted the wrench in his hands and fixed his eyes on Beth. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.
She didn’t believe him. She turned and ran. He yelled her name and she heard his boots crunching on the gravel as he came after her. Adrenaline and panic flooded her, pushing her faster. She had no idea where she’d run to. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was moving, staying ahead of Peter. But she could already tell he was closing the gap, with his ragged shouts getting louder and closer. She glanced back to see him close enough to grab at her. She veered to the right, away from his clawing hand, and lost her footing.
She skidded in the mud, flailing her arms to keep herself upright. Peter snatched at her shirt sleeve, yanking her over, and she landed hard on her knees. Bolts of pain shot through her. He seized her by the hair. “I really don’t want to hurt you, Bethany,” he said, sounding almost apologetic. “But you have to come home.”
She raked her nails across his hand, desperate to hurt him even if he wouldn’t let go. “No!”
“Bethany, think of your family. Your honor, your duty.” Peter pulled her to her feet, leveling the wrench at her face. The threat of the weapon was a sharp contrast to his gentle, almost pleading tone. “Father doesn’t want to punish you.”
Beth trembled, fighting back tears. “But I’m sure God has told him I must be punished anyway, right?”
Peter didn’t answer. He clasped her wrist, squeezing hard enough that she flinched. “Think of your family,” he said again. It sounded like a threat this time.
Beth wilted. “Has he hurt them?”
“Not yet.”
His words were a sting in her heart. “Damn you.”
“The Church isn’t your enemy, Bethany. My father isn’t your enemy.” He began to march her toward a battered brown pick-up truck parked at the side of the road. “This world, the people out here, they’re the ones you should be running from.”
Beth spared a glance back at Norse. He hadn’t moved and she realized with horror that Peter could well have killed him. “Nobody here has hurt me. Nobody’s even tried.”
“Then be grateful I found you before someone could,” Peter replied, implacable.
Hatred made Beth want to fight, but fear for her family kept her docile. She let him shove her into the truck and sat silently as he drove away from the mill, her heart in tatters. Without even laying a finger on her, Abram had broken her.
Chapter Eleven
Rage pounded through Tanner. Mia’s swollen, bloody face swam in his head, blurring with his sister’s. All he could think about was Beth and making sure that never happened to her. When he found these motherfuckers …
Out in the diner’s parking lot, he watched Rattler speed off with Mia clinging to him for dea
r life. His blood burned with the need for retribution and he wanted nothing more than to hunt down the bastards who hurt Mia and threatened Beth and kill them. Tear them apart. Wolf’s words—that they needed to be smart—rang in his head, but he didn’t want to be smart. He wanted to be savage and brutal and he wanted to crush anyone who thought they could take Beth from him.
The anger crashed out of him as he slammed his fist into the wall with a roar. The bricks sliced his knuckles open, spilling blood. He barely noticed. The sting of pain energized him.
He straddled his Harley and was about to fire it up when Wolf stepped in front of him, gripping the handlebars and leaning in to glower at him. “Do you even know where you’re going, man?”
“Roughly.” He’d start out past Heatherton Farm. The Church’s commune shouldn’t be that hard to find. And then he’d wipe it off the fucking map with his bare hands.
“Then I’m coming with you.” Wolf went for his own bike, a light, fast Ducati that bore the scars and scuffs of countless falls and crashes. Wolf was a reckless rider.
“I don’t need holding back, Wolf,” Tanner warned him.
Wolf flashed his cocky, easy grin. “Hell, brother. I’m gonna help you fuck these crazy bastards up.” His face darkened. “You think you’re the only one mad here? Mia’s practically family to this MC.”
Tanner nodded, revving his engine and channeling his rage down to a single focus. Find Abram. Cut off the head of the serpent.
****
Norse came round feeling groggy, pissed off, and embarrassed. It took him a second to remember why though. By then he realized someone was bending over him, and his first instinct was to swing his fist.
Nash caught it, blocking his clumsy blow with bored ease. “What the fuck are you doing down there, man?”
Norse growled and sat up, rubbing his head. A tender lump swelled under his hair and he suppressed the urge to wince as he prodded it. “Some asshole jumped me.”
Nash’s face darkened. “What happened?” he asked as he pulled Norse to his feet.
